by Laura Benson
Now I was fucking annoyed. “I don’t give a shit what Matthew and Eva do. What I care about is how I’m going to get you to fucking sober up in time for your goddamn concert!” Joey stared at me seemingly at a loss for words. Then he did something I’d never thought he’d do ever. He laughed.
“Oh, Charlie, c’mon, these are my guys, and my guys keep me happy.” He pointed to his face. “This is me happy.”
I narrowed my eyes and pushed my way toward him, poking him in his chest. “Yeah, well this is me pissed off. I’m about two seconds from leaving you to deal with all the shit that has to be done. You have contest winners coming to see you. VIPs are here, wanting some time with you. The goddamn L.A. Times is here.” Joey grabbed my hand and spun me around so my back was to his chest.
“Shhh…Charlie, it’s all under control. Just a few guys having fun. I’ll be fine by the time I need to put on the game face.” I closed my eyes trying to count to ten until Joey’s lips moved so gently against the back of my neck.
“For Christ’s sake, Joey. Get your act together, and we’re not done. You and I are having some words when your boys leave.” I gave each of them a deadly glare.
“Well, babe, there’s a bed in the back. I might be able to get it up for you. It’s been a while.” I pushed away from Joey and ran out of the room.
I was disgusted with what I saw in there. Fucking cocaine and heroin. A woman getting eaten out in front of people. Yeah, maybe I was a goddamn prude, but I was damn proud of it. This Hollywood life sucked, and I couldn’t wait until I was done with both of these guys. I was done.
Joey was poisoning himself in one room, and Matthew was getting his rocks off in another. This day was sucking ass big time. I continued walking along the corridor just trying to clear my head. I found a quiet spot, slid down the wall, and brought my knees up. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I took a deep breath. I lightly banged my head against the wall trying to figure out how to remain cool, calm, and collected.
I refused to cry. I wouldn’t cry for those two assholes. Even if they didn’t give two shits about this industry, I would make it so that Joey came across as the same Joey that everyone knew and loved. Matthew, well, he was on his own. I couldn’t give two fucks about him now.
I walked back to the so-called green room, hoping that it was cleared out and it was. Instead of chugging water like I had planned, I went right for the beer. It was going to be a fucking long night, and I needed liquid courage to deal with the shit going down.
I’d talked to the stage manager, managed to catch the reporter from the L.A. Times and listened to the opening band’s sound check when it was time for me to head back to the green room where our VIPs and contest winners would be arriving. We’d arranged for a bus to bring them to the Bowl from the radio station so I didn’t have anyone trying to sneak their way past security. Other than Stefanie and Ben, things for the most part on my end were going smoothly.
Since earlier this afternoon, I hadn’t seen Matthew and Eva nor had I bumped into Joey. When he was called for sound check, I hid. There wasn’t much singing just a lot of him repeating “check 1-2-3,” into the mic. The guitarist would hit a few chords, adjust the amp, and then repeat. For forty-five minutes it was the same over and over.
I was really impressed with the set-up of the green room. The radio station had hired a caterer and made sure their banner was prominently hanging on the back wall where Joey would sign autographs of CDs, T-shirts, and whatever else these people brought.
“Charlie?” Mary Harlow—the liaison from the radio station—called out to me. She’d arrived on the bus, as well. Well, it was show time.
“Hi.” I walked over to her and shook her hand. She was a pretty brunette, but she looked like this wasn’t her first rodeo and rolled her eyes.
“We have a lively bunch tonight. A few of them,” she just shook her head. “Well, you’ll see for yourself.” She looked around the room. “It looks great in here.”
“It does. I made sure no one touched anything, especially the food. Everyone who walked by couldn’t wait to dive right in!” I laughed. The door opened and a flood of people started entering the room. There were a few kids with parents, but for the most part it was teenagers or girls in their early twenties who were looking to hook a rock star. Now I understood what Mary meant. A few of the girls were dressed—or should I say underdressed—wearing something that I don’t think Lady Gaga would be seen in. And that’s saying something.
I walked over to the table with the microphone and turned it on.
“Hi everyone!” I waved and gave them all big smiles. “I’m Charlie Banks, Joey Carino’s publicist.” Once I mentioned his name the screams started, and I could see the parents of the kids start shaking their heads. Wonder if they screamed for The Beatles, once upon a time. “I know that Joey is really excited to have you all here, and he congratulates you on winning the contest. We’ll have some swag bags to hand out before you go to your seats. Joey will be here in about thirty minutes, so please, just mix and mingle, have some food that our partners from the station have provided. You’ll notice a bartender in the corner. There’s a two drink maximum.” There were a few ‘awwws’, but I knew it was a good idea. “IDs will be checked, as well.”
“What happens when Joey gets here?” a young blonde in the front asked.
“Hi, and you are?” I asked politely.
“Amber.”
“Well, Amber, once Joey gets here, he’ll sit down at this table, and he’ll sign autographs. Unfortunately, there’s not much time to mingle, but he’ll make sure that you get photos taken and all that.” I looked pointedly at her. “Does that answer your question?”
She nodded her head and headed over to the table with the food. For the most part everyone was really nice. I talked to a few parents who told me that this was their child’s first concert. I was excited that they could see this, but a part of me was cursing Joey for his earlier act. This is why he should perform. Not for the fame, the drugs or the money. Because people enjoyed listening to him.
Goddamn him.
After walking through the room, I noticed Stefanie and who I supposed was her fiancé.
I walked over to her with a big smile on my face. If anything, she was a sight for sore eyes. I hugged her tightly. “I am so glad you’re here.”
“Me too, Charlie. Let me introduce you to Ben. Ben this is Charlie. Publicist extraordinaire.”
I took his outstretched hand, but wouldn’t have any of that and pulled him to me for a hug. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks, Charlie. We really appreciate your giving us these tickets. Stef keeps talking about going to school with Joey, but I would tease her that she was lying.” I looked slyly toward Stef who just rolled her eyes and looked affronted. An act by any measure.
“So how have things been today?” Stef asked as we walked over to the bar, I ordered a vodka cranberry while Ben and Stef stuck with beer.
“I’m drinking vodka, Stef. I never drink vodka.” I laughed.
“That good, eh?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s that bad.” The door to the green room opened again and in walked Amazonian Eva and Matthew. I nodded toward him. “He’s reason number one.” Stef looked around Ben and saw Matthew. His lips quirked up when he recognized her. Grabbing onto Eva’s hand, he started heading our way.
“Well this is my cue to leave you two. I’ll catch up with you at the after party?”
Stefanie took my hand and squeezed tightly. “Of course. We’re looking forward to it.”
“Ben it was great meeting you. I’ll see you after.”
Just as Matthew and Eva got to Stef and Ben, I bailed. I walked around the room making sure everyone was doing okay. I could tell that nerves were getting frayed as the thought of their idol would be there soon. My only fear was that I had to leave the room to get him, and I wasn’t sure what condition I’d find him in. Plus, I knew that I’d have to talk to Matthew about this, too. Watching
him talk to Stef and get introduced to Ben, I felt something that I wanted to push to the further recess of my mind, heart, or wherever I could shove it. When Matthew hugged Stef, his hand let go of Eva’s, and I watched as she tried to get it back. He was using his hands to talk to them, and Eva’s went behind her back. I smirked a bit, but knew that staring wasn’t getting me anywhere.
I snuck out of the room after finishing my drink and started walking down the hallway. A security guard was posted outside Joey’s room once people started showing up. With my press pass in hand, I walked back to the room where I’d seen everything that I hoped to never see. I knocked a few times, but was let in by someone I didn’t know.
He looked down at my lanyard which was perched right at my cleavage. “My eyes are up here, asshole.”
“Hey, Charlie!” Joey was wearing a towel around his lean hips. Another towel in his hand as he dried off his hair. A smattering of chest hair covered his upper half. He looked more toned and cut since the last time I’d seen him in this degree of undress. I moved closer to him and looked directly into his eyes. They looked clear enough that I wouldn’t have an issue with him meeting his fans.
“I came to bring you to the green room. Have you eaten?” I asked trying to keep my voice light and professional.
“Nah can’t eat before a show,” he winked at me.
I groaned. “Just get ready so we can get this done. There are a couple of young kids there, so please, watch the language and innuendos. I don’t think the parents will appreciate that.”
“Aye, aye, Captain. Anything else?” My gaze dipped to his torso and below to where the towel was falling off.
“Just put your fucking clothes on.” I huffed and waited outside his dressing room.
Joey met me outside his room five minutes later. He was wearing what I suspected would be his outfit for the show. A strategically ripped black t-shirt with leather pants and combat boots that looked like they’d been to hell and back. My eyebrows hit my hairline when I saw him. He looked really good, and you wouldn’t have known that he spent the afternoon coking it up. Something that pissed me off to no end. If he could be this way, how many times had he completely deceived me? I stayed behind him as he walked down toward the green room. Another security guard had been placed at the door. Joey nodded to him and did some fist bump thing before he opened the door.
“Well here it goes, Charlie. Are you ready?” he asked with his hand on the doorknob.
“I’ve been here all day, I’m more than ready.”
“Well, baby,” he drawled. “It’s time to rock and roll!” he said just as he opened the door. It took a beat before the screams started. Girls started crying. Women started mobbing him, and I stood there frozen as I watched.
“Aren’t you going to save him?” a voice to my left asked. I looked over and saw Matthew staring at me as I continued to look dumbfounded at the mob.
“I think he deserves this for minute. I’ll save him soon.”
Matthew leaned down. “I think he’d prefer if you didn’t save him, sweetheart. He lives for this.”
I turned to Matthew and gave him the coldest look I could muster with all the heat he was giving off. I didn’t need him toying with me while his plaything was across the room. “I thought it was the coke and heroin he was doing in his room a few hours ago.”
Matthew stood stock still and ramrod straight. I started to walk away, but he grabbed my arm before I could make a clean getaway. “What the fuck did you say?”
“Your best friend was sugaring it up in his dressing room while a nubile young thing was enjoying getting eaten out. It was a very enlightening moment in my dreary life, honestly,” I spat back. I looked down at Matthew’s hand as he continued holding on to me. But now he was backing me into the furthest private corner.
“You’re telling me that Joey was using today?”
“I’m telling you that Joey is flying high on coke right now.”
“Goddammit! Charlie,” he leaned down to me face-to-face. “You should’ve come to me immediately.”
I looked over to where Eva was standing watching the two of us. “Yeah, well you were a bit busy, if I remember correctly.”
“I’ll deal with him, but I’ll deal with you too, Charlie. Later.” I was shaking with anger, and a strange bout of desire, as he stalked off, and I went to save the rock star.
“All right, Joey. I think the girls have had enough,” I said as I tried to break up the mob. Although with the quirk of the eyebrow from Joey, it seemed like he was enjoying this a bit too much. I grabbed on to his upper arm and dragged him to the table that was set up for him. Thankfully, Mary started rounding up the girls to get into some sort of line to meet up with Joey, again.
I made sure there were a few bottles of water on hand for Joey and there were plenty of silver sharpies to write on stock photos.
“You cannot show any favoritism toward any of these girls, Joey. I’m serious. I will shut this down faster than you can blink,” I whispered to him as he was getting himself situated. He looked up to me and gave me a bright, toothy smile. I leaned over the table, my face inches from his. “This shit is getting old today. You’re already on my dick list. Keep it up and see where else you end up.”
“On top of you?” he joked, and I groaned, backing away from him. “Just keep it clean and quick.” I turned around to watch some girls fighting for the top spot, but I wasn’t about to get involved in that. I looked over to the corner where Stefanie was standing with Ben. She gave me a sympathetic grin and a shrug. I just shrugged back. Matthew was back beside Eva, and although she was talking to him, he was looking, or more like glaring, at Joey. I backed to the opposite corner and waited until the girls settled down.
“Hey, everyone!” Joey said into the mic. that was in front of him. Even though the room wasn’t big, it was loud and no one would hear him over the din. “I said, HI EVERYONE!” He shouted. I could’ve sworn the range of decibels broken would’ve given Guinness a world record. My ears would never be the same.
“That’s more like it. So how is everyone tonight?” More screaming, with a few ‘awesomes’ thrown in for good measure. “Excellent, just what I like to hear. So what do you think of this amazing set-up. How was the food?” More screams. More crying. “What do you think of my girl, Charlie? Pretty hot, eh?” I turned to look at Joey who just smiled as the girls continued with their screams. They probably didn’t even hear what he was saying. “I see my manager over there, Matthew, say hello to the ladies.” Matthew never removed his gaze from Joey, but managed to wave. “We’re gonna have a kickass show tonight, and you’re gonna make it happen, right?” The sound became unbearable, and all I wanted to do was hightail it out of the room.
“So I guess you’re all my winners from the contest at the radio station. It’s really awesome to see you here. I hope you had a great time, will have a great time, and make sure that you enjoy yourself. Now I understand that you’re here to come up and meet moi. So if you form a line for Mary and Charlie, we can get this show to rock and roll.”
My cue to walk to the front of the line. I would’ve preferred to put the youngest ones up front, but they somehow were edged out by the eager beavers, and I didn’t mean that as a compliment.
“Just because he thinks you’re hot, doesn’t mean you’ll score with him,” one of the girls said to me as she waited in line. I just looked at her with disgust and continued on. If they only knew. The first girl made her way up to the table and promptly started screaming after Joey kissed her cheek. I looked up to the ceiling and felt like in that moment, I really wanted to dismember my dad. Once all the formalities were done. Pictures taken, questions answered, the line started moving.
When it was time for the one who insulted me to meet Joey, I just shook my head and rolled my eyes. I could tell that she would be aggressive with him, and I was looking forward to seeing him put her in her place.
“So Joey…” she drawled, and then leaned over to whisper someth
ing in his ear. All we could see from our vantage point was a big smile on Joey’s face and minute blush on the whore’s. Joey turned to one of his security, who wrote something down, while nodding his head. As the bimbo was leaving, she gave me a satisfied grin. I might have mentioned something about ‘sloppy seconds’, but I would’ve denied it left and right if anyone asked. Once everything was said and done. The room was empty of fans and left just me, Matthew, Joey, the security guards, and Eva.
Joey had just stood up from his seat when Matthew knocked him back down.
“What the fuck, dude. coke?” Matthew shouted, loudly. Joey shot a look to me. But I didn’t care; I was wiping my hands free and clear of this shit.
“Hey,” Joey retorted. “Not like you haven’t been there before, man. We pre-gamed a bit. It’s fine. I’m fine.” He held his hands up in mock surrender.
Matthew’s jaw started clenching, and his hands were balling up into fists. “I haven’t touched that shit in years, and you know it, asshole.” His voice was measured, but I could tell by the pulsing vein in his forehead that he was about to blow a gasket. “And she walks in on you while you have a fucking girl in there?” Matthew’s head flung in my direction, spittle flying by me. He looked particularly rabid right now.
“I have never been more disgusted to know you than I am right now.”
Joey blanched at that. “Fuck you, Matt. Where were you today?” his gaze slid over to Eva. “Fucking your girlfriend up against the wall? Huh?” I watched them like a tennis match.
Until I’d finally had enough. “Stop!”
Three sets of eyes focused on me. “This is getting us nowhere, and Joey needs to get ready. We’ll discuss this later and not tonight either.” I focused on Matthew when I said that. “When everyone has their shit together.” I said over my shoulder as I walked toward the door. Right now I needed to be away from both of them. I’d watch the show from the sidelines, avoid them for the evening and hope that everything went smoothly from this point on.