Contracted For Love: Famous Love Series (17 page)

Reid noticed straight away and tried even harder to freak her out by touching her arm and whispering in her ear whenever he got the chance. By nightfall, Charlotte had seen enough and excused herself to go to bed. Her poor parents were left to deal with the rock star. She couldn’t see him going to bed early and putting them out of their misery, either.

A quiet tap on her door just before eight startled her, and she was surprised to see Nikki creep in quietly. She closed the door behind her and turned to Charlotte with wide eyes. “I can’t believe he looks like that in real life—when he’s not dressed for a wedding, I mean,” she whispered.

“I know. It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”

“Did I see your mother blushing out there in the lounge?”

“You did. I had to come to bed, because Reid just wouldn’t let up. I left Dad to deal with it.”

Nikki laughed. “It’s getting to the point where he’ll be dealing with it, alright. I came to show you this.” She handed Charlotte a newspaper cutting and watched as her eyes scanned the words.

“He’s going solo?”

“Looks like it. Did you read the whole lot? He said he’s going to write a whole album about his heartbreak over you.”

“That’s bloody great marketing. His agent is a genius.” Charlotte handed the paper to Nikki and shrugged.

“You think this is just for publicity? It doesn’t confirm that he misses you and he wants you back?”

“Nope.”

“Why is Reid here, then?”

“Why don’t you go ask him?”

“I can’t—I’m afraid I’ll start drooling on his shoes as soon as he looks at me. That man is gorgeous.”

Charlotte laughed. “He is gorgeous, but beware: there’s a new girl every night. If you don’t mind that, then go for it. I’ll bet he’s lonely, all the way out here. He’s not used to spending the night alone—trust me.” Nikki’s eyes widened and Charlotte watched her lick her lips. “Just keep the noise down, or take him to your house, so my mother doesn’t hear.”

“Do you think he’d come?”

“Reid? I saw him checking you out at the wedding. I suspect he’d jump at the chance.”

“Right. I’m going to invite him. Wish me luck.” She hugged Charlotte and was out the door without another word.

God, help us. Why do we all want a rock star?

Reid stayed an entire week. He popped in several times to plead Jack’s case, but Charlotte sent him away. The girls took him to a wildlife park and took photos of him holding a koala and feeding the kangaroos. For a worldly guy dressed in rock star getup, he was remarkably taken with his chance to pat the fur of the Australian icons he’d read about. He didn’t return to her house, but spent every night at Nikki’s place until it was time to leave. On their last day together, Charlotte consoled a predictably upset Nikki.

“I told you. You said you could handle it.”

“I can. I can handle it.” She sniffed as she watched his car drive away to the airport. “I just want to have a cry and get it out of my system. Charlotte, it was amazing—he’s amazing. I’m not going to meet anyone like him ever again.”

“You’re right about that. Now there’ll be two of us banned from internet searches of our rock stars. Mine, because he’s a dick, and yours, because he thinks with his dick.” They giggled together and went inside to share a block of chocolate and a box of tissues.

When Nikki was leaving, she turned to Charlotte. “I have to tell you something.”

“You’ve been here for three hours, Nikki. You didn’t think to tell me in all that time?” Charlotte grinned at her friend.

“I’d decided not to tell you, but I have to tell someone. Reid asked me to go to Vegas with him.”

“He did?” Charlotte frowned. “That’s a first.”

“Is it? Or does he just ask everyone? Obviously, I’m still here, so I said no.” She looked out to where her car was parked, “I wanted to say yes, though. I wanted to go with him tonight.”

What is Reid playing at? He’s not usually cruel like that.

“Well, maybe you can still go later.”

“Should I? Would you?”

“Knowing what I know, now, probably not. Maybe Reid has seen the error of his ways, though. He didn’t hit on me before he left, which, come to think of it, is the first time he’s ever left a room without asking to get into my pants or making some lewd joke about us together.” She smiled at Nikki. “Maybe he feels more than usual.”

“I don’t want to get my hopes up; I’m sure he’ll go home and fall into bed with the first woman he runs across.”

“That’s what he usually does. Maybe, if he can show he can keep his dick in his pants, you could go for a visit? Be prepared to have to ignore women at every turn, though—they throw themselves at the boys and they don’t even care who sees or knows.”

They hugged goodbye and Charlotte could see Nikki turning the scenario around in her head. She crossed her fingers that another heart wasn’t about to be broken as the fallout over her being introduced to Jack Fawkner continued.

***

“Hey, Nikki. I have a proposition for you.”

“Cool. What naughtiness are you going to get us involved in now?”

Charlotte laughed. She’d worried all night about making this offer to Nikki. Now she hoped her best friend would be as keen for this adventure as all the other times she’d talked her into doing something impetuous. “I’m going back to LA. I want you to come with me as my assistant.”

“Really?”

“Really. It’s not a long-term promise. Six months for now. I need to go back to complete my next movie and I need someone I can trust to have my back. If you like it, and my career takes off, we can talk about making it permanent.”

“I don’t know, Charlotte. I’d have to quit my job.”

“I know. I totally understand if you don’t want to come.” She watched her own face in the mirror as she said the words she knew would get Nikki to agree, “You’ll be closer to Reid, though. You could find out if he’s serious about what he said.” She closed her eyes ignoring the guilt that gnawed at her insides when she spoke. Reid, at least, would be impressed at her tactics.

“I know what you’re doing, Charlotte.” Nikki didn’t sound annoyed with her, she actually sounded like she was smiling. “I’m in. When do we leave?”

“A couple of days from now. Come over and I’ll book our tickets.”

***

An hour later they sat with Charlotte’s laptop between them. As Charlotte’s finger hovered over the booking key, Nikki squeezed her arm. “Can you afford to hire me as your assistant?”

“I can. Only for six months though, that’s why I gave you that time frame.” She smiled at Nikki as she explained, “I’ve been paid for the movies I’ve done and that gives me a nice little buffer. If the next one goes as we expect it to, then I’ll be set for money for quite a while. I don’t want to get your hopes up, though. We could both be coming home broken-hearted next time.”

“No, we won’t. It’s all going to work out for us, Charlotte. I’m so excited to be coming with you.” She nudged her as the online booking was completed, “You aren’t going to be one of those crazy divas are you, ordering me around every second?”

Charlotte laughed as she printed out the booking confirmation, “Absolutely not. I’m counting on you to keep me grounded and you also have to engineer a fun Christmas for us, since we’ll be alone. Your biggest task will be to make sure Jack and I don’t cross paths, though. I don’t want to see him. At all.”

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. I definitely want to see Reid.”

“That’s why I knew you’d come with me.”

***

The next two weeks passed in a blur. Charlotte and Nikki rented a cheap apartment in Hollywood and set about conquering the world. Their arrival in December created a buzz of excitement amongst the local press as word spread that Charlotte was back in the States. The tabloids started reporting that she’d come back for a Holiday reconciliation with Jack, and Nikki was careful to keep talk of him to a minimum.

Jay was thrilled she hadn’t stayed away too long and he jumped right into booking her for any audition and magazine interview he could. She endured the inane questions of the interviewers, which almost always came back to talking about her relationship with Jack. She said all the right things, even though she wanted to lash out and tell the world their relationship hadn’t been real.

Her first movie was set for release in the middle of January and Jay wanted to capitalise on the publicity as much as possible. As the girls shared a quiet Christmas together, he inundated her with headshots of available men, and begged her to choose an escort for the night. Charlotte rejected each one.

As the date approached Charlotte and Nikki got more and more excited about attending their first premiere. The agent who had so confidently insisted she married Jack last year wasn’t so sure of their plans.

“You can’t take Nikki as your date.”

“I can do anything I fucking want, Jay.”

“Come on, Charlotte, I can find you a handsome date in two seconds. I’ve sent you lots of eligible men. You need to promote yourself as desirable.”

“You can just fuck off with that thought process right now. You know what happened last time you promoted me as desirable.”

“I wish you’d stop bringing it up like I did something wrong. It had the required effect, didn’t it?” he looked hurt that she still blamed him for the debacle her two months with Jack had turned into.

“It did and I’m grateful for that. I wouldn’t have wanted to endure him for no good reason.” She glared at Jay as he continued.

“Jack should be happy with the outcome, too. Freddy had the genius idea to presell his new album and it’s a huge success.”

“Good on Freddy. I don’t want to hear a thing about what Jack is doing,” she snarled as she got up from her chair and went to the fridge.

“Have you heard the first single?”

He’s more oblivious than I first thought.

“It doesn’t matter, does it?” Nikki cut in. “Can we go back to discussing the premiere?” she arched her brow at Jay and widened her eyes, trying to communicate that he should definitely shut up about Jack.

He smiled at Nikki as he watched Charlotte’s back. She prepared herself a drink and didn’t turn to face him as he continued. “Okay, fine. The premiere. I wish you’d go with a man, as I said. I don’t want the press reporting that you’re a lesbian.”

Fruit juice sprayed across the kitchen cupboards as Charlotte turned towards him, giggling. “What the fuck, Jay? Stop worrying about stupid things. I couldn’t care less if they think I like women. I’ve said it before, I will not live my life worrying about what the press are saying.” She walked over to Nikki and put her arms around her, all the while watching Jay’s face. “Besides, Nikki is hot. Who wouldn’t want to be linked to her?” Both women laughed at the look on Jay’s face and Charlotte finally took pity on him. “I’ll make sure to announce that’s she’s my best friend, okay?”

He pursed his lips as he nodded and took his leave. As the door closed behind him, Nikki said, “This town makes people fucking crazy.”

***

The limousine pulled up outside the theatre and Nikki squeezed Charlotte’s hand tightly. “I can’t believe we’re here,” she whispered. “You really are going to be a famous actress.”

“Now, now. I hired you to keep me grounded, not to suck up to me. I’m just as terrified as you to get out of this car. So lets just be ourselves okay?”

“Okay. Are you ready? You look great, by the way. I’d hug you but I don’t want to crease your dress.”

“Thanks Nikki. I’m so glad you’re here with me.”

Before she could say anything else, the door opened and the cameras blinded her as they started flashing. Charlotte stepped from the car, fighting the urge to giggle at the thought of Jay’s face had Nikki hugged her right before the door had opened and the cameras started clicking. She smiled and waved to the crowd, as she was quickly ushered to the side to give her first interview.

“Charlotte, how does it feel to be on your first red carpet?”

“Honestly, it’s scary!” she reached behind her and grabbed Nikki’s hand. “So I brought my best friend with me to make it a bit easier.” Nikki smiled as the interviewer ignored her and continued, “We thought you might have brought a certain rock star with you tonight.”

Charlotte faltered and rolled her eyes to cover the silence as she considered what to say. “Well, as you know he’s quite partial to the ladies. I’m not sure he’d be the best company here with so many beautiful women to choose from.”

Take that, Jack Fawkner.

“Come on, Charlotte. Haven’t you heard his new song? He only seems to have eyes for you.” Charlotte gritted her teeth and forced herself to keep smiling.

I should have known this would happen. Will I never be free of questions about him?

“I’m sure his next release will be all about how he’s moved on. Which is exactly what I have to do now. Thanks!” She shut the interviewer down, took Nikki’s hand and moved further up the red carpet. Another interviewer was waving madly at her and she took a deep breath before she endured the next round of questioning.

“Charlotte Shipton. Oh wow, you look beautiful. Who are you wearing?”

“Who? I have no idea! Nikki and I went shopping for our dresses at a store yesterday.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I had so many offers of clothes to wear that I didn’t want to offend anyone, so I just bought my own.”

“That’s sweet. How does it feel to finally be in a big budget movie?”

“It’s surreal. I can’t quite believe that a year ago no one had heard of me, and now I’ll be in three movies in one year. I’m so excited and I’ve met and worked with some amazing people. Even if it all goes away after this year, I’ll always remember my time in Hollywood.” The crowd close by screamed and Charlotte looked behind her to see who’d arrived in the next limousine. No one was there and she looked back at the interviewer, confused.

“Yes, those screams are for you, Charlotte.” The interviewer turned to the crowd, “Don’t you all love Charlotte Shipton?” the crowd roared their approval again and Charlotte waved to them with an enormous smile on her face. As she turned to move further toward the theatre door she caught Nikki’s eye and they exchanged a silent look of understanding.

This really was happening!

The next interviewer was someone she recognised from morning television in Australia. Jason Madigan was hopping from foot to foot and she made a beeline straight toward the man. She thought he deserved it; no one had ever looked so excited to see her. “Come here, come in close.” He turned to the camera, “I can’t believe it. I’ve got Charlotte Shipton here and we’re about to find out if it’s true!” she laughed at him and asked him what he was talking about.

Please, please don’t let it be another question about Jack.

“I’ve been set a challenge by the morning crew. They wanted me to ask you if you swear as much as we’ve been hearing back in Australia.”

“Of course I fucking do Jason. I’m a bloody Aussie aren’t I?”

He fell around laughing and arms reached out for her from the crowd. She moved forward and posed with some of the fans who had their phones outstretched. As she was smiling she caught sight of Nikki frowning but she quickly flicked her attention back to the photos. When she finally pulled away, the interviewer had his microphone down by his side and she asked him on the way past, “Did I just ruin your live feed?”