Seeing Stars (The Celebrity 1)

“Of course I called them,” he said, looking rather proud of himself. “You have any idea the amount of publicity you’ve given me? I got at least a dozen voice mails and a hundred e-mails as a result of it. Other agencies have been trying to land Walker for years.”

“The paparazzi are relentless, Jayson. They followed me to my house last night! They were there when I opened the door this morning!” I gasped, the air closing in around me as I tried to make sense of it all.

“You can deal with it. You’re a big girl. I want you to keep dating Walker until he makes up his mind on an agency.” His bloodshot eyes settled on mine. “Not that anyone else would touch him. They assume he’s already made his choice. And when he does, it better be this one. Don’t make me look like a fool.”

I sat back in the chair, bristling. “Uh, no. I won’t do that.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said no.” My defensive instincts kicked in. I refused to let this slimeball I called a boss do this to me again. “I’m not your pawn, Jayson, or your whore. I’m your assistant. And what you’re asking me to do is beyond unethical.”

His fists slammed down hard on top of his desk, causing my unopened bottle of water to tumble over and roll to the floor. “Unethical?” He let out a sinister laugh. “You have no idea just how unethical I can be,” he threatened.

“I won’t do it.” I shoved out of the chair and stood stiffly in front of his desk, trembling with anger and the injustice of it all.

“But you will,” he said smugly. “You love this job. You’re good at it too, and I know how badly you want to keep it. So, you’ll go out with Walker until he signs with us. After that, I don’t give a fuck what you do with him.” His attention abruptly shifted from me back down to his keyboard. Apparently our conversation had ended.

My throat constricted again and I wished I’d had some of that water. “No,” I croaked out.

“No?” His voice sounded shocked as his gaze slid menacingly back up to meet mine.

“No. I won’t go out with him. I won’t force him to sign with us and you can’t make me. This is illegal, Jayson. This is bullshit!” I spat at him, completely disgusted.

“I dare you to find anyone in this office who would agree with you,” he said coldly. “If you ever want to work in this town again, you should choose your next words carefully.” He suddenly pointed a ballpoint pen right at me, reminding me of the way Walker had pointed at me last night, and I lost it.

Completely fucking lost it.

“I’ve worked for you for over two years,” I said tightly, “and I’ve never once complained. I took all your bullshit craziness and handled it like a champ because I wanted to get ahead in this industry. I wanted to be an agent here. But if this is how you do business, I want no part of it. You disgust me. This whole place disgusts me.” I waved my arm out toward the door, indicating everyone who sat outside of it.

I referred to Jayson’s bosses. As much as I’d like to think that they were clueless in how he handled his business, I knew better. All anyone cared about was the bottom line. Their lives revolved around money, and I wanted mine to be more than that.

“If you think this industry is filled with rainbows and sunshine, sweetheart, you’ve got another think coming.” Tiny balls of spit formed in the corners of his mouth as he continued shouting. “It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and if you don’t eat the fucking dog, you get eaten! You have no idea what it takes to get ahead. And even if you did, you don’t have the balls to do it. You’ll never make it as an agent. You’re too soft.”

“Fuck you,” I shot back. “I’d rather not be an agent if it means I have to treat people the way you do. I value the basic human decency you lost a long time ago, if you ever had it to begin with. I feel sorry for you, and I never want to be like you.”

“You never could,” he said with a sneer. “You’re weak and pathetic.”

My heart pounded as I gripped the back of the chair for support and leaned the upper half of my body toward Jayson’s desk. “And you’re an asshole who doesn’t care about anyone but himself! I hope all your clients see you for who you are and dump your sorry ass.”

He barked out a mean laugh. “I make them way too much money, they’d never leave me.”

“You mean, they make you money,” I shouted incredulously, my temper rising to an all-out boil. “Not the other way around. They don’t work for you, Jayson. You. Work. For. Them. No wonder you’re so screwed up.”

He snorted. “You’re so naive. You’ve just signed your own death warrant in this business, sweetheart.”

“We’ll see about that,” I shot back with confidence, but wondered how much weight he truly held outside these office doors. “And don’t call me sweetheart.”

“Get the fuck out of my office,” he shouted, spraying spittle all over his desk.

“Gladly,” I said coldly. “I quit.”

I turned around as quickly as my shaking legs would move and slammed his office door with all my strength. Something in his office rattled and crashed to the floor as I stalked to my desk, and I allowed myself a satisfied smile.

The office was eerily silent. All my coworkers were standing up in their cubicles, peeking over the partial walls with wide eyes focused on me.

I grabbed my clutch and the few personal items I kept here as well, and walked hastily toward the elevator. A few hesitant claps broke out in my wake, but the rest stayed quiet. My face burned as I wondered what they were thinking.

In the parking garage, anger seared through my veins, charring everything in its wake. Even the tears that threatened to fall failed to form, choked out by my anger and the adrenaline that still pumped through me. Reaching for my cell phone, I dialed Walker’s number. It didn’t even register at the time to think it odd that he was the first person I wanted to call.