He sat across from her at the long, shiny conference table, tracing a finger along the condensation on his own water glass. Next to him was his agent, Paul Blackwell, who intimidated Grey so much she was afraid to look him in the eye. They’d never met before, but his reputation preceded him. He hadn’t bothered to introduce himself to her when he’d arrived, simply greeted Ethan and buried his nose in his phone.
She felt a rush of gratitude for Renata, sitting next to her with her rhinestone-encrusted glasses perched at the end of her nose, her phone extended as far away from her face as her arms could stretch. Grey watched Paul smirk as he looked up from his phone and observed Renata’s efforts. He glanced over at Ethan, who, to his credit, stared straight ahead, ignoring him. Grey was surprised that she felt grateful for him, too. She’d been Renata’s client long enough to know that this display was part of her strategy: lull everyone into thinking she was harmless, and strike when they least expected it. Grey focused on Paul’s spray-tanned forehead, trying to figure out exactly where his natural hairline ended and his hair plugs began.
They were in another of the private Greenfield & Aoki conference rooms, this one roomy and spacious, with a table large enough to seat thirty people. At the moment, though, it was just the four of them. Paul leaned over to Ethan and muttered something in his ear. Ethan turned his head to listen, but his eyes were fixed on Grey. She quickly looked away and took another sip of water.
Audrey entered the room, trailed by a middle-aged man in a suit. She smiled at them as they both took seats at the head of the table.
“Thanks again for coming in, everyone. For those of you who don’t know, this is Kevin Singh, chief counsel for the firm.”
Kevin nodded in greeting as Grey and Renata said hello. Ethan grunted, and Paul ignored him entirely, still scrolling through his phone.
Audrey continued. “Now, I think this goes without saying, but what we discuss here today never leaves this room. Kevin has drawn up a very thorough nondisclosure agreement to that effect that I would appreciate everyone signing before we go any further.”
Kevin passed out the contracts. Grey scanned hers. It all looked pretty standard. Her eyes caught on one line in particular: Each Party acknowledges and agrees that upon a material breach of the Agreement, reimbursement of $1,000,000 (one million dollars) in damages will be owed by the disclosing party. She swallowed and flicked her eyes up at Ethan, who was signing it without hesitation. Of course. That was probably couch cushion change for him. Grey had spent her Poison Paradise money prudently, saving most of it, but a million dollars still represented a huge chunk of her net worth. Not to mention that she wasn’t exactly rolling in it after almost a year without work.
She glanced at Renata, who was looking it over herself, lips moving silently as she read. Renata looked back at her and gave her a reassuring nod. Grey picked up her pen, initialed, signed, and dated, and passed back the contract.
Kevin flipped through them and made sure everything was in order. “Looks good.”
“Wonderful. Let’s proceed.” Audrey smiled at the four of them. “I don’t think this has to get ugly, do you? I’m quite fond of both of you, and I think you’ll enjoy getting to know each other.” Grey thought she saw a playful glint in Audrey’s eye. “So, before we begin, let’s remember that we’re all friends here, and this arrangement is meant to benefit everyone. If anyone finds the terms unfair or…uncomfortable, for any reason, please, speak up. Don’t be shy.”
Grey snuck a look at Paul, who was leaning as far back as his chair would allow, tapping his Montblanc against his ivory tie pin impatiently. No need to worry about that on their end.
Audrey shuffled her notes. “Let’s start with duration. I thought six months was a good starting place, with the opportunity to renegotiate once we get to that point and see where we are. Thoughts?”
Renata looked at Grey, who gave a little shrug. “Works for us,” said Renata.
“Isn’t six months a little long?” asked Paul, tapping the pen against the table now.
“We want to give the impression that it’s somewhat serious, don’t we? If people think it’s just a fling we might be worse off than when we started. I think six months is the absolute minimum, don’t you agree?”
“Six months is fine,” mumbled Ethan.
Paul rolled his eyes. “Six months it is, then.”
Kevin recorded it on his laptop. Audrey continued.
“Next item: frequency.” She flipped to the next page in her notes. “The two of you need to be photographed together a minimum of two times per week. One public outing and one overnight.”
Grey blushed and quickly poured herself another glass of water from the pitcher on the table. Renata sensed her discomfort and jumped in to her rescue.
“Define ‘overnight.’?”
“One of you will be photographed entering the other’s residence, and exiting the next morning. Whatever happens in between is none of our business.” Audrey smirked. Her words conjured up images that Grey had been fighting to suppress since Ethan’s hand had wrapped around hers at their lunch last week: Ethan’s hands on her body. Ethan’s hot breath on her neck. Ethan’s limbs entangled with hers, the solid weight of his body pinning her down.
Grey flushed even redder and stared at the table. Her embarrassment only made her more embarrassed. An ouroboros of embarrassment.
“Audrey.” Ethan’s tone was soft but chastising.
“Sorry, sorry. Couldn’t help myself. Where were we?”
“These public outings,” Paul commented, scribbling furiously on his legal pad. “What qualifies as ‘public’? My client has purposely cultivated a private image. If he starts showing up at the opening of every bottle in town, it’ll attract the wrong kind of attention. People won’t buy it.”
“Naturally,” Audrey responded. “We need to ease into it. Public means grocery store, coffee shop, maybe dinner at a restaurant once in a while.” She turned to look at Grey and Renata. “Ladies? Thoughts?”
Renata scrawled a few words on her legal pad and slid it over to Grey. Grey looked at it and nodded. Renata adjusted her glasses.
“My client is also a private person. However, I think we can all agree a certain amount of networking is necessary in this business, no? This may be a change from what your client is used to, but isn’t that the point of this whole exercise?” She didn’t wait for any of them to respond before barreling ahead. “At least one of those public outings per month needs to be a formal press event. Premieres, galas, launches, anything with a step and repeat. We want it to be clear that nobody is anybody’s dirty little secret.”
Renata cleared her throat before casually delivering the final blow. “We would also like to propose one exclusive interview and/or profile with a major news outlet.”
At the words “formal press events,” Ethan sank down in his chair a little and ran both hands through his hair; he appeared even more perturbed with “major news outlet.” Paul glanced over at him, ready to object on his behalf, but Ethan nodded without looking at him, his hand sliding down over his eyes.
Paul sighed. This negotiation was clearly not going the way he wanted it to. “Fine.”
“Lovely. Now, how do I put this delicately?” Audrey paused. “We don’t need to spell this out in the contract, but I think we need to all be on the same page regarding…displays of affection. I’m not suggesting you show up on the red carpet with your tongues down each other’s throats, but it wouldn’t do to have the two of you out and about with enough space between you to drive a truck through, you gather my meaning? There are people out there with nothing better to do than analyze celebrity couples’ body language. We don’t want to give anyone any reason to believe that you two were brought together by anything but the goddamn hand of fate. Otherwise this will all be for naught.”