Double Your Pleasure Bundle (70 page)

Chapter 4

“Good morning, Mrs. Garret,” Caleb said as he put a steaming hot cup of coffee down on the nightstand beside me. I tried to open my eyes to look at the clock but my eyes were still blurry.

“What time is it?” I asked him as he sat down with the morning paper in the chair across the room.

“Time for you to get up. You have an interview with Pop Express Magazine in an hour.”

“Oh, shit,” I said as I sat up in bed. “How did I forget about that?” I ran around getting ready while I sipped on my coffee. “Are they coming here, or do I have to meet them somewhere?” I asked as I put my favorite earrings in.

“You have to go there. They’re doing a photo shoot, remember?” Oh God, it all came rushing back to me. The photo shoot and the interview I didn’t want to do, but that Erika talked me into.

Once I was ready, I kissed Caleb goodbye and headed on out the door.

***

“Sasha, darling,” Rauel, the photographer, said when I walked in the door. I’d worked with him before and was glad to see a familiar face. He walked over and took my hands before kissing both of my cheeks.

“It’s so good to see you. How are Carla and the kids?” I asked when a costume designer came walking over.

“Here’s your outfit for today, Miss Storms,” she said as she handed me a thin piece of fabric that could barely be used as a hair net.
You’ve got to be kidding
, I thought as I held the thin material in my hands.

“Just grin and bear it,” Rauel said as he looked down at the so-called dress I was holding and raised and eyebrow.

Bare it is right
, I thought. I went into a dressing room and fit myself into the skintight sheath. When I emerged every head in the place turned. “There is no way this dress can go on the cover of any magazine,” I said, outraged.

“That’s what Photoshop is for, darling,” one of the magazine people said.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said. “You make me bare all for all of you, but when it goes on the cover you’re going to Photoshop the hell out of it? Forget it. The interview is over.” I went back into the other room and tore the dress off my body.

That was just bullshit. Everybody wanted a piece of me. Some people wanted money. Some people wanted me to introduce them to influential people. And now some people wanted to get a good long look at my body for absolutely no reason.

I came back out holding the crumpled and tattered dress in my hand. Tears poured down my crimson face. I was more than furious as I threw it at the designer and headed for the door.

“You’re going to have to pay for that, Miss Storms,” she said as she followed me. I reached into my purse and found $1.50. “This should more than cover it,” I sneered as I whipped it at her before I stormed out the door.

***

When I got back home Caleb was waiting for me. “What the hell happened over there today?” he asked.

“You wouldn’t believe what they did,” I cried.

“According to the news, wild child pop diva Sasha Storms threw a hyper fit, knocked over tables, punched the photographer, and knocked out the costume designer.”

“What? None of that happened. I did get angry, but none of the rest of it, and why is it on the news already?”

“Oh, you were almost arrested for assault, sweetheart. You really need to rethink this bad girl image and remember who you are.”

“Oh, the money. When I threw the money at her, she probably considered it assault. So am I getting arrested or what? Maybe I can share a cell with Lindsay,” I laughed.

“You’re not getting arrested. Charlie put a spin on it and said it was your time of the month. You suffer from horrible hormonal changes when you have PMS.”

“What? How could he do that to me? He had no right...”

“Shut up, Sasha. At least it’s fixed and you’re not getting arrested.”

“Yeah, but...”

“Just stop. Stop it.” He walked out of the room and left me standing there with nothing but memories of one of the most humiliating days of my life.

I sat down on the bed and started thinking about it. As angry as I was with Charlie for the excuse he used, I was grateful to him for coming up with a cover on the fly. I knew the day I hired him to be my spin doctor that he was the perfect man for the job, and he’d never proven me wrong.

Every time something bad came up in the press, he turned it around so that it went along with my image, but didn’t make me appear unlovable.

As I was sitting there thinking, Caleb came back in the room. “Oh, and Erica called. She said it’s urgent that you call her back right away.”

Chapter 5

I rolled my eyes as I tousled my hair. Shaking my head, I took my cell phone out of my purse to return her call.

“Hello, Erica. It’s me.”

“Sasha, I’m glad you’re back home. How are you holding up?”

“Not so good. I’ve been to hell and back today. Caleb just told me you called?”

“Yeah, listen. First, I heard you cancelled the pop star Beat interview? Sasha, that’s not good. You needed that interview.”

I sat down on the bed. “Me listen? You’re the one who needs to listen. You should have seen the dress they gave me to wear. I’m sorry, but they can’t pay me enough to interview for their magazine.”

“I’ll try to smooth things over and...”

“No. No, you won’t smooth anything over. I’m not doing the interview. Not now and not ever.”

“We’ll talk about that later. I have something else I wanted to discuss with you. Prince Jonathon is in town, and he wants to take you out for that lunch date that you passed up a few months ago.”

“Seriously, we’ve been through this already. Tell him no. You know I can’t do that.” I shook my head in frustration even though she couldn’t see me.

“It’s just one lunch. What harm can it do?”

“Erica...”

“Look, your last album’s sales are tanking. You just cancelled a major interview. We need publicity wherever we can get it, and you going to lunch with a prince is going to attract media attention.”

“What do you mean, tanking?” I asked, feeling as though my heart were crushing deep inside my chest.

“I mean your sales are at an all-time low and your label is considering whether or not to renew your contract. Unless you do something fast this one won’t go gold, let alone platinum.”

“But how is that possible?”

“Times are changing. The bad girl thing isn’t as popular as it used to be. It’s time to change up your image and reinvent yourself. Go on a couple of dates with the prince and develop a more sophisticated grown-up persona.”

“We don’t have to go that far,” I laughed. “We could just come clean about Caleb and it would fix the whole problem.”

“It might fix your image but it wouldn’t fix your sales. Dating a prince would. All you have to do is go out to dinner with him a few times, attract the paparazzi, and get people interested in you again. It’s no big deal.”

I felt so torn. My career was the most important thing in the world to me. But the way she made it sound, if I didn’t date the prince, I wouldn’t have a career left. I couldn’t imagine betraying Caleb like that.

“I don’t know, Erica...”

“Do you want to be a has-been at twenty-six, or do you want to want to keep that pretty little mansion of yours?”

I closed my eyes and thought for a second. I couldn’t imagine going back to the way my life was before I started singing. Back then I worried about where my next meal was coming from and where I would sleep at night.

“Okay, I’ll go to lunch with him. It’s just for photo ops, though. That’s it.”

“That’s a wise decision. Now we were thinking a couple of dates would be ideal to create the illusion of a relationship.”

“Erica, seriously. What are you trying to do to me here?”

“Just a couple of dates, that’s it. I promise.”

“Okay, I’ll do it. When am I meeting him for lunch?”

“You’re being picked up in an hour.”

“You said yes before you even talked to me. What if I said no or hadn’t gotten back to you yet?”

“Well then, I’d have been in quite the pickle. Just make sure you’re ready, and please make a good impression. This has to look good to the photographers and the fans.”

“So you’re saying I have to play him?”

“Well to look good to them, it has to look good to him.”

“So yes, then?”

“Yes,” she said as I hung up the phone. I couldn’t believe that I had to date another man in order to save my career, and I had no idea how I would explain it to Caleb.

***

“You heading out again?” Caleb asked as I ran down the staircase in my stilettos. I could tell by the look on his face that he was annoyed.

“Another interview,” I lied. “They sent a driver to pick me up.”

“Behave this time,” he said before he kissed me goodbye.

As I stepped outside, closing the door behind me, I hoped he’d still love me when he found out the truth. I walked over to the limo, and got in next to the prince.

“We meet again, sweet Sasha,” he said when he saw me.

“Hello Jonathon.”

***

As we sat in the restaurant eating our lunch, I was surprised at how down-to-earth he was. There was no royal staunch. He was just a guy. We laughed while we talked, and I had a really great time. When we were almost finished, he told me he’d like to see me again. I agreed, remembering what Erica had said earlier.

As we stepped out the door onto the front steps, I was blinded by all the flashes of light. There must have been a hundred photographers there snapping our pictures from every angle.

“How long have you two been dating?” one reporter asked.

“Is a royal wedding in the works?” another shouted.

Who the hell tipped off the press?
I thought as we pushed our way through the crowd. Then it hit me: Erica. This was so important to her, she probably called every one of her contacts and arranged all of this, every single bit of it.

I tried to shield my eyes with my hands, but remembering that publicity was extremely important, I put them back down. I did my best to open them as wide as I could and put on my biggest smile as we walked back to his car, where his driver was waiting.

All the way home I kept thinking about how I had to come clean with Caleb. It wouldn’t be fair to let him wake up to pictures in the tabloids in the morning. I shook my head as I thought about the fallout.

“You okay?” Jonathon asked.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just a lot on my mind.”

“Are we still on for dinner tomorrow night?” he asked when he dropped me off at home.

“Yes, of course.” I gave him a convincing smile, even though I was already planning how I could talk Erica into getting me out of it.

That’s when he reached over and kissed me again. I melted in his arms as my lips met his. When his tongue touched mine and they moved together, butterflies erupted in my stomach and my heart started pounding. I had no idea that any other man could make me feel that way.

“I have to go,” I said, breaking away from him. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

I got out of the car and smoothed my skirt.
I have to get out of that dinner
, I thought as I hurried to fix my tousled hair on my way in the door. I was between a rock and a hard place, and I knew I was about to get squished.

Chapter 6

Pick up the damn phone
, I thought as I dialed Erica’s number frantically. I kept dialing and dialing but her line was constantly busy. Finally, she picked up.

“Sasha, what’s up? How did lunch with the prince go?”

“Good, fine, whatever. I’m supposed to have dinner with him tomorrow night. I need you to cancel it.”

“No can do sweetheart. Today was beautiful. It was all over the news, and the tabloids are going to run wild with it. You need to go with this for a little while.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because...”

“Because isn’t good enough,” she said as she slammed the phone down in my ear. She never listened to a thing I said.

***

“Hey sweetheart,” Caleb said when he got home a few hours later. He walked over and kissed me as he sat down beside me on the couch.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I said. “There’s something I need to talk to you about. Do you remember the prince that came to my concert in Zimbabwe?”

“The one you kissed on stage, right? How can I forget that fiasco? I’ve been doing my best to forget it.”

“Well, there’s a little problem,” I said as I folded my hands in my lap. “He’s in town and he wants to date me.”

“How the hell is that a problem? The answer is no.”

“It’s not quite that easy, honey. See, the record label, my manager and my press secretary are insisting on it. Apparently I’m not hitting the charts like I used to, and sales are taking a dive.”

“Insisting on it? Listen to yourself, Sasha. You have a mind of your own, you know,” he said as his eyes narrowed.

“Not if I want to keep singing.” I reached out to touch his arm as he stood up.

“Don’t touch me. If you go out with him, we’re done.”

“Please don’t say that, sweetheart. I love you.” I stood up and followed him across the room.

He turned around and his eyes met mine. “Oh my God, you already did, didn’t you?”

“It was just lunch,” I cried. “Please don’t leave me. I love you more than anything in this world. I just need the publicity right now. Otherwise, this house, everything we have is gone. I’m not making enough money to keep up with the bills right now.

“Things are really that bad?” He reached out to me and wrapped his arms around me.

“They’re really that bad,” I said as I buried my face in his shoulder.

“Okay,” he said. I stood back to look at him to make sure I had heard him correctly and he put his hands on my shoulders. “But we’re going to set some ground rules. It’s just a few dates for publicity, so you get back in the press again and revive your sales. Once everything’s back to normal, you end it. Oh, and absolutely no physical contact.”

“About the physical contact thing...”

“Sasha, come on. I just came halfway with you. You’re not really going to go there, are you?

“It’s just that for it to look good, he’ll have to put his arm around me or I might need to hold his hand.”

“Okay, smart ass. No kissing, no screwing. And this royal romance ends after just a few quick dates. Got it?”

“Got it,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He wasn’t about to give up our lifestyle any quicker than I was, even if this was the only way to keep it.

***

In the morning I awoke to several newspapers landing on my stomach.

“I see phase one of the royal romance went according to plan,” Caleb said as he stood over me. I sat up in bed and looked at all of the photos of the prince and I standing in front of the restaurant and getting into his car.

“Oh, there’s a really good one of me,” I said, admiring my image on the front page.

“The captions are my favorite part,” he said. “‘Royal Screw-up to be the Next Royal Princess,’ ‘Royal Duo Does Lunch,’ ‘Hottest Couple in Hollywood,’ it just goes on and on.”

“Are you jealous?” I laughed as I sorted through the papers.

“Jealous? Of course I’m jealous. I’m your damn husband. Don’t forget that. I could leave now and still take half of everything.”

“By the time you get me into court I’ll have nothing. What’s half of nothing, you mathematician you?”

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders, looking defeated. “When are you seeing him again?”

“We’re having dinner tonight.” I cringed as I said it, waiting for his reaction.

“At least bring me back a doggy bag,” he said as he walked out of the room.

With that attitude you’ll be lucky if I throw you a bone
, I thought.