Hollywood Princess (Hollywood Royalty 2)

“Um, I think she ate lunch. Why?” she asks, walking to the door and seeing it closed. “Why is the door closed, and why are you outside of it?”

“She told me to get out, something about getting in the zone, but she was pale as a ghost,” I tell her, running my hand through my hair.

She looks at the door, her hand on the handle, and then she turns to look at me. “I don’t know how one person can fuck up as much as you, but you better fix this.” She doesn’t say anything else. She just walks in the room and slams the door in my face, and no one comes out until it’s time for her to go onstage. She walks out and still doesn’t look at me, and she has the makeup person on one side and then Cori on the other and she just looks at me with daggers in her eyes. Kellie grabs the mic, and she walks into the little box.

I stand here watching right next to Cori. “I honestly don’t know what to say, but I will give you this.” She starts talking, and I look at her, but she just looks ahead. “The two of you will be the only ones on that bus tonight. She doesn’t know, or she wouldn’t get on it.” I put my hands in my pockets. “I’ve seen her through lots of things that you have no idea about. Everyone thinks about how amazing it is being on top of the world, but they don’t see the sacrifices she makes. The fact she has never had a relationship that was just hers. The fact everyone around her wants something from her. But yesterday, she walked around a city being just her, and you gave her that.” I swallow the lump in my throat that’s getting thicker. “So for that, I’m giving you this. You are going to lose her.”

“I don’t have her,” I say quietly, and she just laughs.

“Oh, you silly, silly boy.” She turns now to look at me. “This is your last shot. You fuck this up, and I’ll do what I need to do, and that’s getting you replaced. I don’t care if I have to bring in an army of security details, but you will be gone.” She doesn’t give me a chance to say anything before she just walks away and leaves me replaying her words over and over in my head.

For over two hours, I listen to her sing to the crowd. I watch the screen in the back and see what she wants the world to see. She flirts with the crowd, she gets them singing, and she smiles. Never once missing a beat. People in the back start gearing up for take down when her encore song comes on, and she finally takes her last bow, then turns and runs off the stage. Cori is there waiting for her, handing her a water bottle that she finishes in record time. Her chest heaves as we usher her out of the venue, and she gets on the bus. She walks to the back of the bus, and the door closes. I sit on the couch, and the door opens and then I hear it close. “Okay, she’s in the shower. She has no idea I’m not going to be here, so if you need me, you send up the bat signal, and I’ll do my best to make it to you.” She doesn’t wait for me to answer. She just walks off the bus, and then the bus takes off.

I sit here, my hands all clammy as I wonder what the fuck is going to happen. “Cori!” I hear yelled out, and I wonder if I should go back there. Finally, after the third time, I get up and walk to the back and knock on the door. “Come in.”

I stick my head in and see her standing there, her long hair wet from the shower she just took. She’s wearing sweats and a huge sweater that falls off her shoulder. “Hey.”

She looks at me, her eyes big. “I called Cori.” She looks down. “Can you ask her to come in here?”

“I would,” I say, walking into the room, “but she isn’t here.”

She drops the towel she has in her hand. “What do you mean she isn’t here?”

“I mean, no one is here except me and you,” I tell her, putting my hands in my back pockets.

“That is unacceptable,” she huffs out and then tries to walk past me, but I stop her. “Move.”

“This is enough,” I hiss out, my temper taking just about as much as I can handle right now. “Jesus, Kellie. Can we just talk about this for a second?”

“Talk about what?” she asks. Standing in front of me, she crosses her arms over her chest. “There is nothing to talk about.” She looks away.