Take Me (27 page)

“Released? Released
to who?”
she shrieked, trying not to panic. She could just imagine the headlines. “Connecticut Girl Caught With Bad Boy Baseball Player” or

“Who’s The Mystery Woman?” or “Chad’s Latest Conquest!”

They’d critique her hair, her body, her clothes. She’d end up on Perez Hilton, like one of those girls who got caught with Charlie Sheen or Ashton Kutcher. Of course, those girls at least got to have sex with the guys they were accused of messing around with, and then they got to sell their stories. She didn’t even have a story to sell! All she’d done was kiss Chad.

“To the press.”

“Oh my God!” She was having trouble breathing, and she felt the blood drain from her face.

“Hey, calm down,” Chad said. He handed her the flavored water that was on the breakfast bar. She took a sip. “Don’t worry, Expera is owned by the Gulf Group, and they also own a lot of magazines.” He shrugged. “One of the editors at one of their publications got offered the picture, and so they put it on retainer.”

“Put it on retainer?”

“Yeah. They paid for an exclusive period of time to hold the pictures and decide whether or not they want to pay for the rights.”

“So no one’s seem them yet.” She let her breath out in one big sigh. “Thank God.”

“Nope.” He walked back to the stove and started dipping pieces of bread into the spiced up egg mixture and dropping them into the frying pan. She stared at him. How could he be so calm at a time like this? Yes, he was obviously a lot more used to this kind of thing than she was, but still. Wasn’t he worried about getting his picture plastered all over the papers?

“So there’s no problem then?” she asked hopefully.

“The problem,” he said cheerfully, “is that the people at Expera think you’re my girlfriend.” He flipped a piece of French toast expertly. The delicious smell of vanilla and brown sugar filled the kitchen, and Kenley’s stomach rumbled.

“So what?” she said. “Just tell them I’m not.” Her body was filled with nervous energy, and so she got up from the breakfast bar and started opening cupboards until she located the plates. All the cabinets were filled to the brim with plates and bowls and mugs. It made her a little sad, honestly, thinking of Chad picking things out for this kitchen, hoping his mom would come back one day and live here. Of course, he probably didn’t even pick the stuff out himself. He probably had some assistant or designer or someone do it for him.

“I can’t,” he says. “Because if I tell them you’re not my girlfriend, they’re not going to sign me.”

“I don’t get it.” She brought the plates over to him, and he slid a piece of French toast onto each one. They looked amazing, with the perfect hint of cinnamon, and the perfect amount of golden brown on the crusts.

“Well,” he said, “if they think you’re just some random girl I picked up at a bar, then that doesn’t exactly fit in with their brand.”

She brought her plate over to the breakfast bar and poured syrup onto the French toast. She took a bite and considered what he was saying. “So basically, if you don’t tell them I’m your girlfriend, they think you’re some kind of male whore, and the deal’s dead. But if you
do
tell them I’m your girlfriend, it makes it okay that I was leaving your hotel room, and you become the new face of Expera.”

He nodded. “Exactly.”

She shrugged. “Well, looks like you lost yourself a deal.”

“That’s fine,” he said, setting his plate down and sitting across from her at the bar.

“But if I loose the deal then they’re going to publish the pictures.”

She almost choked on her French toast. “The pictures of us together?”

“Well, yeah.” He picked up a paper napkin from the holder and spread it across his lap. He grinned at her. “Bon Appétit!”

“Why would they do that?”

“Let the pictures go to press?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, if they’re not doing a deal with me, then they have no reason to pay the money to keep them out of the papers. What do they care if America thinks I’m some kind of male slut?”

“Doesn’t America already think that?” she shot back.

“I’m rehabbing my image.” He grinned at her again.

“So this is your proposition?” she said, as everything fell into place in her mind.

“You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend?”

He nodded. She laughed, and threw her head back. That was ridiculous. “That’s ridiculous.” She forked up another piece of French toast.

“How come? You don’t think I’m cute enough for you?”

“First, no one would believe it.”

“Why not?”

“Because! How did we meet?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “We could concoct some kind of story.”

“And what would I have to do?”

“Spend time with me,” he said, shrugging. “Just long enough for us to be seen out together, for some other photographs of us to end up in the tabloids.”

“No.” She shook her head. “No way. I don’t want to end up in some tabloid with you.”

“You do realize that if you don’t do it, you’re going to end up in some tabloid anyway.”

“But it’s not true!”

“What’s not true? That you made out with me in my hotel room just an hour after meeting me, and then a paparazzi caught a snapshot of you leaving? Yes, that’s very true.”

“I’ll sue them.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know.” There had to be something. Defamation of character or libel or something. Celebrities were always suing tabloids for things that were really true. Of course, in order to do that you probably needed lots of big name lawyers. And in order to get lots of big name lawyers, you probably needed lots of money.

“Well, whatever.” Chad had finished his French toast, and he reached over and forked up a piece of hers without asking. “I tried.”

She looked at him, thinking about it. He was trying to act like this whole situation didn’t mean that much to him, like it didn’t matter if he signed the deal with Expera or not. And from a financial standpoint, it was probably true. When you were making ten million dollars a year, another ten million on top of it was nice, but definitely not necessary. He didn’t seem like he was hurting for money, like some of those professional athletes who ended up blowing their fortunes and filing for bankruptcy. But still. He wanted that deal with Expera. And he wanted it badly enough to bring her here, to ask her if she would pretend to be his girlfriend. He needed something from her, and he was trying to pretend that he didn’t, that he was doing her a favor by keeping her picture out of the newspaper.

“What’s it worth to you?” she asked suddenly, the wheels in her head turning.

He stopped eating. “What’s it worth to me?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “How long until you sign the deal?”

“A few days.”

“And then we can break up?”

“Yes.”

“So like I said, what’s it worth to you?”

He looked her in the eye, and she didn’t look away. She wanted him to name a figure. She would try to get him up of course, because she wasn’t going to do it for anything less than twenty five thousand dollars. Even though it would be in a more legitimate way, she was still going to end up in the tabloids. Her name was still going to be out there, linked with his forever, at least as far as google was concerned. Twenty-five thousand dollars in a few days would be way more than she’d ever made in her life. It would give her time to find another job, to relax while she did it, to not have to worry about anything for a while.

“A hundred thousand dollars,” Chad said, his tone serious.

Kenley almost blinked. But she forced herself to take a moment, to act like she was thinking about it. And then, finally, she said, “Deal.”

One hundred thousand dollars. The words had been out of his mouth before he even knew what he was saying. Chad was no stranger to being a little extravagant –

bottles of Cristal, the best hotel rooms, thousand dollar pairs of sunglasses. But those were treats, and at the end of the day, you at least had something to show for it.

You’ll have something to show for this, too
, he told himself as he walked through the airport in New York the next morning, fresh off his flight from Florida.
You’ll have a
shiny new endorsement deal, which could be a springboard into other, shinier
endorsement deals.

When he really thought about it, though, the hundred thousand dollars wasn’t the problem. Yes, it was a lot of money, but if it got him the deal, it was a small price to pay.

The real problem, the problem that had been nagging at the back of his mind ever since he left his mom’s house and Kenley yesterday afternoon, was that he had been so quick to offer it.

He hadn’t planned on offering her any money. Yes, he knew there were probably going to be expenses – clothes and dinners, that kind of thing. But those were normal expenses you had when you were dating someone. He hadn’t planned on actually
paying
her to pretend to be his girlfriend.

He’d underestimated her, though, because she’s come right out and asked him what it was worth. And in that moment, he’d wanted her to say yes so bad that he’d blurted out a hundred thousand dollars.

Why was she having that effect on him? He’d never seen anything like it.

Actually, that wasn’t true. He had seen something like it, on his best friend Jay Havens.

It was the same way he’d acted when he’d met his fiancé, Alyssa. The thought was so disconcerting that Chad picked his phone up and immediately called Jay.

“Yo,” Jay said when he answered. “Where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days.”

“Question,” Chad said while he waited for his luggage to come around the carousel. He kept his head down so that no one would recognize him. Luckily the area he was in was relatively free of foot traffic at this time of day, but in New York, it was usually only a matter of time before someone spotted him. “When you met Alyssa, how did you know she was the one?”

“Because I couldn’t stop thinking about her, and I’d do anything to be with her.”

Through the phone, the sound of Alyssa saying
‘aww’
could be heard in the background.

The two were always together, ever since they’d gotten engaged.

Chad loved Alyssa – she was cool and fun and always called him out on his shit, which he found refreshing. But normally, he would roll his eyes at the fact that that Alyssa was so close to Jay that she could overhear Jay’s conversation. Today, however, Chad thought it was sweet. The thought was alarming.

“Why?” Jay asked suspiciously. “Why do you want to know how I knew Alyssa was the one?”

“No reason.”

“Did you meet someone?”

“No.” His suitcase came around the carousel, and Chad reached down and picked it up.

“Who is she?” Jay asked.

“She’s no one,” Chad said. “I told you, I wasn’t asking because of that.” On the other side of the airport, near the wall, a woman wearing a tight sweater and a pair of jeans that showed every curve of her body smiled at him. Chad smiled back. See? he thought to himself. He didn’t care about Kenley. Here he was, back in New York, flirting with the first hot woman he saw for God’s sake. He was back to his old ways, back to his old tricks, getting all worked up over anything in a form-fitting outfit. The problem was, he didn’t feel all that worked up.

“You weren’t asking because of what?” Jay asked.

“What?”

“You just called me up and asked me how I knew Alyssa was the one, and now you’re saying you didn’t call and ask me about that for any good reason.”

“Oh.” Chad shook his head and stepped through the sliding glass doors to the traffic circle outside. One of the team cars was waiting for him there, and he held up his hand to stop the driver from getting out to take care of his luggage, preferring to do it himself. Then he slid into the car and gave the driver the address of his apartment in Brooklyn.

“Hello?” Jay said.

“Yes, I’m here.” Chad pulled his sunglasses off and looked out the window. The city was cold and gray, much colder than it had been in Florida. This was one thing that wasn’t fair about the off-season -- whenever he had time off, the weather was complete shit. Of course, he could have spent the winter somewhere warm, but the Brooklyn Heat organization frowned upon that kind of thing. They wanted the players to stay in Brooklyn, to become part of the
community.
It was a bunch of bullshit.

“What’s going on with you?” Jay asked. And he sounded worried.

“Nothing,” Chad said, trying to force himself to believe the words as they came out of his mouth. “Absolutely nothing. I’m just starting to get worried about myself, you know, because I can’t find a woman to settle down with.” It was a lie, of course. Chad had never worried about this in his life. But he couldn’t have Jay knowing what was really going on.

“You want to find a woman to settle down with?”

“No,” Chad said, trying to sound cocky. “That’s the problem. I can’t imagine myself with just one woman. I’m starting to think there might be something wrong with me.” As he said this, visions of Kenley at all his games, sitting in the stands and wearing his jersey, danced through his head. He’d take her home afterwards, make her dinner, and then they’d have a glass of wine in front of the TV while watching shows on HGTV.

Jesus Christ. What was wrong with him?

“Why?” Jay asked. “What have you gotten yourself into now?”

Chad hadn’t planned on telling him. But he didn’t want Jay to think he was turning into some kind of romantic sap, and before he knew it, the whole story was pouring out. Meeting Kenley. The pictures. The meeting with Expera. Him paying her to be his fake girlfriend. Of course, he left out the part about how much he’d been thinking about her, and spun the whole thing like it was going to be some huge colossal headache, just another classic Chad Parnell scrape that he’d gotten himself into.

“How much?” Jay asked.

“How much what?” Chad shifted uncomfortably on his seat.