“Hi, Madison.” Her voice was pleasant and even with no makeup on, she looked beautiful. Paige was one of those naturally pretty girls. I guess you had to be in this business.
“Hi, Paige. He’s waiting for you.”
“What’s he all wound up about? Do you know?”
I shook my head and smiled. “I have no idea. Good luck.”
She took two steps away from me before stopping and turning back. “I almost forgot.” A wide grin spread across her face. “Walker called me this morning. He asked me about you.”
My eyes got big. “How did he know that we knew each other?”
“Well, he didn’t. He called me at first to ask if I saw the part of the show last night where he brought you onstage.” She angled closer to me before looking around for prying ears, and lowered her voice. “That was really hot, by the way. You two were electric up there.”
My cheeks heated at the mention of our interaction. “And?” I asked, pushing her to continue.
“I told him that I saw it and asked him how he could embarrass you like that in front of all those people. He freaked out when he realized that I knew you. He wouldn’t get off the phone with me until I gave him your number.”
“Is that how he got it?” I asked as my jaw fell open.
“I only gave him your office number. That was okay, wasn’t it? I’m sure he’ll be calling you.” She tightened her lips and scrunched her shoulders in an apology. “Honestly, I didn’t think you’d mind.”
I sighed audibly. “He’s already called.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised. He was really determined to find you. What’d you do to him anyway?” Her face softened as she let out a sweet laugh.
“I have no idea. But you can tell him I’m not interested.”
She opened her mouth to respond when Jayson yelled, interrupting our hushed whispers. “Paige? Get in here! Leave her alone, Madison, we have business to discuss. And shut the door!”
I should be used to getting blamed for everything, but it still rubbed me the wrong way. Paige mouthed “I’m sorry” as she turned away and closed the office door behind her.
• • •
I managed to leave the office before seven p.m., but not before Paige informed me that she wasn’t the only person Walker had called trying to find me. By now a lot of people knew that he was looking for me, and it was only a matter of time before he showed up at the office if I kept ignoring him.
Unsure of what to do with that information, I begged Paige to tell him I wasn’t interested. She tried to tell me that Walker was a good guy, but I had actually laughed in her face upon hearing those words. Paige swore it was true, but I just shook my head. With all the accounts and photos in the tabloids and on the gossip websites, there was just too much smoke for there to be no fire.
By the time I arrived home that evening, Keri was just getting out of the shower. With her long hair wrapped up in a towel, she shouted at me, “I’m dying to talk to you. Don’t you dare leave the living room until I come back.”
Chuckling to myself, I walked into our kitchen and grabbed a diet soda from the fridge before plopping down on our black leather couch. My stomach rumbled as I waited for Keri to come back and hound me with a million questions about Walker that I wouldn’t have the answers to. But I was anxious to hear her thoughts.
“Okay, I’m here.” She panted, out of breath as she sat next to me. “Ooh, give me a sip of that,” she said, reaching for my soda as I reluctantly handed her the can, knowing from experience that telling her to get her own never worked. “I only want a sip, not the whole thing,” she would say every time.
After swallowing a giant gulp of my soda, she folded her legs underneath her and angled her body toward me. “Did he call any more today? And are you really not going to call him back?” She cocked her head to the side, giving me a disapproving glare.
“He didn’t call me again. And no, I’m not going to call him back. Why are you looking at me like you think I should? Last night before the concert you hated him too, you know?”
“But that was BOSH,” she said matter-of-factly, as if I had any idea what BOSH meant. When she saw my confused expression, she said slowly, “Before. On. Stage. Happened.”
I huffed out a deep breath, torn between half wanting to strangle my best friend, or end this conversation entirely by going into my bedroom and locking my door. “How does that change anything?”
“It changes everything, Madison! You didn’t see what you two looked like up there. It was fucking nuts, and I’m not the only one who noticed it. Half the lot was talking about it today.”
Heat spread over my face at the mere mention of people on a studio lot talking about my encounter with Walker. “They were not,” I said, my voice coming out more defensive than I had intended. Finishing off the last of the soda, I placed the empty can on the coffee table at my feet.
“They were. Anyway, I think you should call him. It’s not like you’re dating anyone. In fact, it’s been a while since you’ve been on any dates at all. What do you have to lose?”
“My pride? My dignity? My sterling reputation,” I said with a laugh as she swatted my shoulder. Why was I so hell-bent against this anyway? Part of me couldn’t remember anymore. Oh right, because Walker was the kind of guy who went out with a different girl every night. And those were not merely rumors. I’d seen the pictures. Plus, guys like him were on my Do Not Date list. At the very top.
She reached across her body for the soda and grimaced as she realized it was already empty. With an oomph, she pushed off the couch and walked into the kitchen, her voice raised an octave. “Listen, Mads. I know this goes against our personal rules and stuff. You know, we don’t date musicians, singers, actors, professional athletes, news anchors, yada yada, but I don’t think it can hurt anything if you call this guy.”
Part of the reason why Keri and I got along so well when we first met in college was that we possessed a similar work ethic. Call it occupational hazard, but both of us had insisted it wasn’t in our best interest to date any potential future clientele. We both knew what we wanted to be when we grew up, unlike our other friends in college who appeared to only want to major in drinking and the inevitable post-drinking puke fest. One night in our dorm room, we made a list of everyone we refused to date based on their occupations alone. It might have been childish at the time, but we had both stuck with it and it had worked for us.
So far.
I’d seen quite a few of my coworkers fall hard for our clients, even though it went against the rules of the agency. It still happened and it never seemed to end well for my associates when the relationship eventually ended. And it always did.
I pressed my head against the back of the couch and covered my eyes with my hands. It dipped slightly as Keri sat back down with her own soda in hand. If there was a God, I was convinced in this moment that he or she existed.
“Anyway, listen to this,” I began, and she leaned her body closer to mine, her eyes widening with interest as her lips puckered against the heaven-sent can. “Paige came in the office today and she told me that she’s the one who gave Walker my number.”
Keri fought to keep the liquid in her mouth as she choked down a swallow. “Shut the hell up! How? Why?”
“I guess he called her asking questions and she let it slip that we knew each other. He asked her for my number. She said he was really determined.”
Keri tapped against her lips with one finger, obviously lost in thought. “I think you should call him. See what he wants. Maybe he’ll stop calling then?”
My heart rate picked up speed. The idea of calling him made me nervous and I searched for the true reasons when it hit me. “This guy could throw me all off course. I’ve worked really hard at the agency and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize my career. Least of all get involved with someone like Walker and become gossip fodder. My boss would never stand for it,” I admitted.