“I sent him away, because of this. I let him leave because I was scared, because I didn’t want this, because I didn’t want the world to know my name.”
“I know. I know.” She held me tight but it was no use, nothing could make it stop.
“It happened anyway. All of it.”
“It’s no good thinking about that now, Gemma. One day Jason Redfern will be a distant memory. I promise.”
But I didn’t want him to be a distant memory.
That was the very last thing I wanted.
I pulled myself into some kind of vague shape for work that evening, but I needn’t have bothered.
RS442 Gemma Taylor: Access disabled. Please contact your supervisor.
Sheena asked me to call her via messenger. Not a good sign.
“I’m sorry, Gemma, but you can’t work. Not now. The lines are ringing off the hook with idiots trying to find you, and we have to conduct an investigation. The papers say you met him through chat. You didn’t, did you? Please tell me you didn’t.”
My silence spoke volumes.
Suspended without pay, effective immediately.
The nightmare was getting a whole lot worse.
I wondered if the same was true for Jason.
Chapter Twenty One
Jason
April sat down on the sofa opposite, far out of the lamplight. I poured myself another whisky. Even in anger she had perfect features.
“Don’t start again,” I said. “I’ve had enough.”
“I wasn’t planning on it. I’m tired of shouting, Jason. You never fucking listen anyway.”
“What do you want?”
Her face was drawn, like a pale sheet of paper. “Why her?”
“Why not her?”
“I’m being serious. I’ve seen the pictures, I just don’t get it.”
“You never will.”
“Try me.” She crossed her legs, tapping one foot in mid-air, over and over. “Is she a pervert, like you? Is that it? You need an ugly girl to play your sick games?”
“She’s not an ugly girl. Not even close.”
A thin smile crept across her lips. “If you say so.”
I sighed. “I met her on chatline...”
“That figures.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Do you want to know or not?”
She rolled her eyes. “Go on.”
“Gemma is funny, and sexy and vivacious. She’s natural, and she’s real. She doesn’t have any bullshit expectations, or stupid ideals. She’s just her. I find her beautiful.”
“And she’s a pervert? She must be.”
“That’s none of your business.”
She groaned. “I can’t believe your twisted needs landed us here again, I thought you were done with all that.”
“She’s different.”
“Yes, she is. I’ll give you that.” She checked her nail polish. “I was angry earlier. You know as well as I do this can’t be over. We’ve too much invested. Another decent season at the club could set us both up, I’ve got the Cherry Electric reunion tour brewing, you’ve got your sponsorships, if we manage to keep them. We need another twelve months.”
My heart fell through the floor. “We don’t need another twelve months. We both need out. The sooner the better.”
“You still aren’t going to sign the house over, though, are you? I don’t want to drag this through court, Jason. The humiliation is bad enough already.”
I could feel my jaw tensing. “What are you angling for, April?”
“I’m angling for an agreement to ride this shit out for twelve more months. I’ll set up a meeting with PR tomorrow.”
“I’ve already told you, I’m not saying a word against Gemma. Not one word.”
“You won’t have to. PR will say it all for you. We just ride it out, scoff about the rumours, claim you were visiting some poor fan who’d been ill or some crap.”
I smiled at the absurdity. “Nobody would believe that.”
“Everyone will believe that. Nobody wants to believe Jason Redfern, national superstar, had a seedy affair with some chatline girl. Fat girls having sex makes people uncomfortable. They’ll laugh about it, but they won’t believe it, not really. She’ll be a storm in a teacup, and it’ll be the best thing you can do for her.”
I didn’t want to believe her, but the fucking bitch was right. Shallow-arsed fucking losers and their online trolling. The sooner this scandal crap could blow over the sooner Gemma could get her life back. Hell, I wanted that. “You know, it’s funny. I’ve spent years surrounded by women who only want me because of who I am. How ironic that the one girl who really means anything is the one who finds the celebrity a deal breaker.”