Brian
There was a loud pounding that just would not stop. I rolled onto my back with a groan. After wiping at the drool on my face, I risked opening my eyes. It was dark. Dark was good. Now if I could only get rid of the noise.
“Brian!”
I frowned. Since when did my inner monologue sound like my assistant?
“Brian! Don’t make me get the hotel staff to open this door!”
I blinked again and looked around. I was alone in a dark hotel room in…Las Vegas? My brain started to wake up and connect the dots. After Ella rejected me, I’d driven to Vegas and gotten hammered. How long ago was that? A few hours? A day?
“Brian!”
Well. However long I’d been here, it was long enough for Scotty to come looking for me. Damn my overzealous assistant. “I thought I told you to take a few days off!”
With another groan, I rolled out of bed and stumbled my way to the door. I immediately shut my eyes against the violent stream of light that poured in the room from the hallway. “Why don’t you just come in and beat me to death with a sledgehammer? Enough with the damn pounding.”
Throwing the door open for Scott to enter, I grumbled my way back to bed.
“Here.” Scott chucked a bottle of aspirin at me as I crashed back onto the bed. “That ought to help.”
“It will if I chase it with a bottle of Scotch. You don’t have any of that in that magical man purse of yours, do you?”
“Someone’s a grumpy drunk.” Scott pulled a bottle from his messenger bag and tossed it to me. Water. Damn.
I chugged the water, along with a handful of painkillers, and then frowned at Scott. “I am a very lovable drunk, thank you very much. I’m just a lousy morning-after.”
“Try two mornings after.”
Two days? I tried to think and it made my head hurt. “Has it been that long?” I rolled over and snuggled up with my blessed pillow. “What have I been doing for two whole days?”
“Not answering your phone.”
“I don’t even think I’ve left this suite since I got here.”
“I’m sure,” Scott replied. “If you had, you’d have seen the news, and I doubt if you knew what was going on you’d be living your own personal The Hangover sequel.”
“That sounds ominous.” I pulled the covers all the way up over my head. Maybe if I couldn’t see Scott anymore, Wonder Assistant would disappear and let me go back to sleep. “So Kaylee’s on the rampage, then? Is my life ruined yet? Am I the most-hated person in America now?”
Scott yanked my covers all the way to the floor. “Not you.” There was enough irritation in his voice that I finally noticed the sense of urgency. “Ella.”
I sat up so fast my head spun. “What do you mean? What happened?”
Not waiting for Scott’s answer, I swiped my phone off the night table and dialed Ella’s number. “That’s not going to work,” Scott said, just as the operator informed me that Ella’s number was no longer in service.
Fear caused adrenaline to pump through my body, instantly pushing the last of the fog from my brain. “What’s going on? Why isn’t Ella’s phone working? Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been able to get ahold of her. I tried the phone number, e-mail, and instant messenger you have listed in your contacts, and they’re all out of service.”
I was ready to wring the answers from Scott if he didn’t explain everything right this damn second. I was so upset over Ella refusing to be a part of my life that I forgot I’d made her an overnight celebrity. Had her identity been discovered? Was she being harassed? Had Kaylee done something?
“Talk to me, Scotty. I know it’s bad if you followed me all the way to Las Vegas in your POS Toyota.”
“Actually, I flew here. I thought you’d want to go straight home and wasn’t sure you’d be in any condition to drive.”
Judging from the look Scott gave me as he assessed my rumpled state, he was probably right. “Good thinking.”
Scott smirked. “I thought so. I also used your credit card to book the flight and upgraded myself to first class.”
Even in the midst of my panic I had to smile at that. “You’re really starting to get the hang of this job.”
Scott pulled out his laptop and patted the table space next to him. “I learn fast. Pull up a chair. You’re going to want to sit down for this.”
. . . . .
I had been pacing the hotel suite for ten minutes, still too enraged to speak. This was a nightmare.
I knew there was going to be a media frenzy over the incident on Sunday, but I thought Ella would be safe. No one knew her real identity. I didn’t even know her identity. But I knew that something was going to happen. How could I just take off and not wait around to see what the fallout would be?
Ella’s personal identity hadn’t been leaked, but, thanks to Kaylee, her online one had. Her Facebook and Twitter had been deleted and her e-mail address was no longer valid. Her blog was still there—thank the Lord for some miracles. I would have been heartbroken if all of her posts for the last three years had been erased forever—but the comments feature had been disabled and she hadn’t posted anything since Saturday.
I didn’t have to imagine the kinds of things people posted on her social media for her to delete everything, because there were plenty of other places on the Internet for me to read it. A charity case? An obsessed fan? A psycho stalker? And those were just the nicer things. I wouldn’t repeat the nastier stuff.
And it was my own damned people who started the rumors. Ella must hate me. In fact, I knew she did, because even if she had to delete her online persona, the public didn’t know her cell phone number and instant messenger ID. She didn’t have to get rid of those, but she did. She’d made it impossible for me to contact her.
She didn’t just delete her online presence—she deleted me from her life. It was unacceptable. I had to do something. I couldn’t let her write me off without giving me the chance to explain. I needed a plan, but I wouldn’t be making that plan with the people who usually helped me.
I stopped pacing and turned to Scott, who still sat at the table in front of his laptop, waiting for me to come back from my internal rant. “I have a lawyer, right? I’ve got to. I probably have a whole team of lawyers, right?”
Scott nodded. “Candice Regan and Associates.”
“Candice Regan.” I committed the name to memory. “Get me Candice Regan on the phone.”
Scott tapped on his iPad for a minute, then dialed my cell phone. “Yes, I have Brian Oliver on the line for Candice Regan. Then I suggest you interrupt it. I really don’t think Mr. Oliver is in the mood to wait. Yes, I’ll stay on the line, thank you.”
Scott handed the phone over just as an older woman’s cheerful voice came on the line. “Brian! What a pleasant surprise. I haven’t spoken to you directly in ages. What can I do for you?”
“My entire management team,” I said slowly, trying to control the anger still raging inside me. “I want them all fired by the end of the day, and I don’t want to be sued for it.”
“Fired! Well!” Candice sputtered a second and then said, “But they’re all under contract, Brian.”
“Which is exactly why I called you. Are you aware of the story they ran with Sunday evening?”
“The charity case with the wish for a kiss?”
I gritted my teeth. It wasn’t this woman’s fault. I shouldn’t yell at her. Still, when I spoke, I sounded downright dangerous. “It was bullshit. All of it. Ella is not a fan. I was not working with any charity, and I wasn’t even still engaged to Kaylee when I kissed Ella. My so-called team made up the story with Kaylee in a meeting I wasn’t present for. They ran it without my knowledge or approval, against the protests of my personal assistant, who told them I’d never allow it.”
Candice was too flustered to speak.
“There has to be a breech of contract in there somewhere.”
“I’m certain we can find something, but if not?”
“They’re all still fired,” I said firmly. “It’ll just cost me more.”
“If they really acted without your permission, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I’ve been unavailable. The first I heard of any of it was fifteen minutes ago.”
“In that case, give me a couple hours and I’ll let you know what I find.”
“I appreciate it. I’ll wait to drop the news until I hear from you.”
I hung up and Scott smiled. “That had to feel good.”
“Not as good as firing them will.”
“So what’s next?”
I thought for a minute. “I’ve been with my agency since I first started out. My career’s come a long way since then. I think I’m due for an upgrade, wouldn’t you say?”
“Definitely. Am I calling CAA, ICM, or WME?”
“All three.” I started pacing again, trying to stay focused, even though my thoughts kept drifting to Ella. “Inform them of the situation—the whole situation—and tell them if they want me, they’ve got until tomorrow morning to come up with a plan as to how they would approach this mess. Tell them I’ll sign with whoever has the best idea. And Scotty?” Scott looked up at my pause. “Do make sure they understand that Ella is my top priority here, and not my own damn career.”
Scott absorbed that statement and shook his head as if he thought I had lost my mind. “This should be interesting,” he murmured as he began tapping away on his tablet again. “I’ll have it all set up by the time you’re out of the shower.”
I looked down at the pajama pants I’d been wearing for apparently two nights and ran a hand through my messy hair. “I take it that’s supposed to be a hint?”
“More like a friendly request,” Scott said, never lifting his eyes from the glowing screen in front of him. “You stink, boss.”
I laughed all the way to the bathroom.