“I’m sure.” In my mind’s eye I see Sheila rolling her eyes. “Thank you, Sheila. Thank you for helping with this.”
“Yeah, well. I know it doesn’t always seem like it, but I’m on your side. As long as you do me the courtesy of taking my calls, I’ll earn my wage and make you look as good as possible.”
“Will do.”
She grunts and hangs up.
Of course, I still plan to come back and see Keri Ann. At some point. Explain. Something. I just don’t know how long it will be. I pause at a stop sign and punch in Katie’s number. “Katie, it’s Jack. I just got to Hilton Head, but I need to head back to L.A. Can you make sure the jet doesn’t leave again. I’ll be back at the airfield in thirty minutes.”
I’d smile, but I feel too damn grim. I’m standing at the window on the twenty-second floor of an office building in Century City, looking out over the smoggy haze of downtown L.A.
Sitting around the table behind me is Sheila, Audrey, her agent and her publicist, Duane and two other guys from Peak Entertainment as well as a member of Peak’s legal counsel, a reasonable looking guy named Andrew. The cavalry. Their cavalry.
Audrey has finally shown up and the way she is acting should be laughable. But everyone is lapping it up. I left the table because I couldn’t sit still with all the bullshit flying around.
“These are some serious allegations, Mr. Eversea. Would you like to comment?” Reasonable Andrew asks.
What I’d like is to shower, shave, sleep for forty-eight hours, and wake up in a parallel universe. A universe where I was supposed to wake up and see Keri Ann Butler lying next to me and Spanish moss swaying outside the window.
“Well, obviously, none of it’s true.” Sheila jumps in. “Ms. Lane is a little confused by the sequence of events. Those pictures were taken after Ms. Lane’s affair. But, as we all know, that’s probably neither here nor there as far as the public is concerned. As for the assault, Mr. Eversea did, in fact, hit someone in Savannah, Georgia. But he is not, nor would he ever be, a physical threat to Ms. Lane.”
It’s a good thing the California coast is beautiful because there is nothing redeeming about the ugliness of the city I’m existing in right now. I turn around and put my back to the window.
“Mr. Eversea, your statement says you punched someone two months ago, and yet you have a bandaged hand. We will need a release from that individual in Savannah stating he waives the right to press future charges. But Ms. Lane’s statement says that during a disagreement eight days ago, you expressed rage and punched a wall so hard that you, obviously, required medical attention.” He looks meaningfully at my hand. “This doesn’t sound like Ms. Lane can be assured you pose no physical threat to her, and frankly, this is worrisome for your future dealings with Peak Entertainment in general.”
My shoulders are so tense, I’m in danger of going into a spasm. “Well, Andrew …” I face the window again and address the group behind me whose reflection is super-imposed on the grey city haze. “In the ten minutes preceding the point where I punched my wall in my house, I’d been informed that Ms. Lane, with guidance from my ex-agent, had fabricated a pregnancy. I’d just spent two months believing I was going to be a father.”
“I appreciate the surprise of that, Mr. Eversea, if it was indeed the case, but Ms. Lane claims it was not a fabrication and that she lost the baby.”
“I know what she’s claiming. We all do. You all have both our statements written out in front of you. And you’re clearly of the impression that she’s telling the truth and I’m lying. And frankly? I don’t give a shit. What I would like to know is what you’d like me to do to get past this point. How do we get to a point where I don’t have to interact with Ms. Lane in any further capacity, personally or professionally? Ever.” I hear a shocked gasp from Audrey’s direction but refuse to look at her.
“Well, obviously, we have a duty to protect the brand we have created with the Warriors of Erath franchise. As per your contract and our normal procedure, the relationships created as part of the brand should continue at least six months beyond the last project. As it stands, the brand took a rather large hit with the actions of Ms. Lane. In order to overcome that, we either need you all to continue being seen together—”
“No.” It’s out my mouth before I notice.
“Unacceptable,” Sheila says at the same time.
“Let me finish,” Reasonable Andrew says calmly. “The alternative is, since that seems likely to cause more harm than good at this point,” he looks pointedly at Audrey and then at me. God, I feel like I’m eleven. “We let the relationship end naturally, but to protect the public perception of both parties, neither can be seen to have a relationship for a period of time.”
For a moment, I regret not having my agent, a legal representative, in the room with me. But Sheila has danced enough of these proms to steer me right. I see her thinking hard.
“No. That still leaves everyone remembering what I did. That’s not fair!” Audrey pouts.
“Well, the fact remains, Ms. Lane, you did violate the contract first.” Reasonable Andrew is not such a bad guy after all. He obviously doesn’t believe Audrey’s claim that my relationship with “the girl in the picture” drove Audrey to do the same.
I fold my arms and look over at Audrey in detail for the first time since she walked in. I honestly feel like the last three years have been a dream. A different Audrey. This Audrey’s a stranger.
Dropping her eyes from me, nervously, she confers quietly with her agent and her publicist by means of some scribbled notes back and forth. Then she vehemently shakes her head. “I’m scared of him!” she bursts out, and her agent almost rolls his eyes before he catches himself.
Now I really do feel like smiling. I don’t, of course. There’s nothing funny about what’s going on here.
“Okay,” says Andrew. “I understand if you have a legitimate safety concern, we can address that issue in a moment. But first, the contract between you two is easily amended. As of today your relationship, as encouraged and endorsed by Peak Entertainment, is done. We had an earlier meeting to address some of our available options. Moving forward, as long as you both are under the time line from the original contract, we can amend the relationship portion, and Peak will adopt the position that we have no position on whether you are romantically involved or not.”
A small drop of tension slowly seeps from my shoulders.
Audrey looks spitting mad.
Andrew looks to Duane, who nods. “So given that we’d like to protect both of your reputations, and by extension the brand of the Warriors of Erath franchise, Ms. Lane will not make any accusations of infidelity toward Mr. Eversea. And in return, Mr. Eversea will not enter into any other relationship for the remainder of the contract term.”
Shit.
My mind is churning. No relationships for the rest of the contract. That’s at least four or five months.
Fuck.
Unreasonable Andrew looks at both of us, in turn, for a reaction to his proclamation that neither of us can date. At all.
I can see Audrey is bristling, but she’s also quietly smug at winning that round.