When Ace doesn’t answer, she looks for an out. “Like I said, Jack, I’m sorry. For everything. I never meant to let things get this out of hand. I swear.” She squeezes my arm before walking away.
“Do you know what she’s talking about?” I ask Ace.
“No fucking clue.”
“My agent has been calling. Give me a sec, okay?”
Ace nods, and looks down at his phone while I make the call.
“What’s up, Kirby? Ashley just freaked out on me.”
“You doing okay, Jack? How you holding up?”
“What, with the Tess thing? I’m fine but she’s a mess. And I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with Ash.”
“You haven’t seen the video?” Kirby asks, desperation in his voice.
“What video?”
Ace shoves his phone screen in my face. He presses Play on the Periscope app, revealing a poorly shot video of Tess and me this morning in the limousine.
“Holy shit,” I say, under my breath, as the screen is filled with Tess going down on me.
“I’m working with Lola and the rest of the PR team right now. They’re creating a press release. I suggest you get home if you aren’t there now, and keep Tess with you. If her apartment isn’t as secure as yours, cameras are going to be lining up, shoving this in her face for a comment.”
“Shit. Okay. I’m at Spades now; I think Tess is here, too.”
Ace nods at me, and takes back his phone to make a call—hopefully getting Tess on the line.
“Okay,” Kirby says. “You know this woman, Tess? She’s from the other night, correct?”
“Yeah, she’s a close friend of mine.”
Kirby keeps it professional, which I appreciate. “Good. I’m glad she’s someone you trust. When you talk to Lola, I’ll be in on the call—but, Jack, as your agent, listen to me for a second. If there is anything on this girl, you need to tell me the second you know. We need to be ahead of this story.”
“Got it.”
“I really hope this doesn’t fuck up the deal with Kendrick Music Group.”
“Me too, Kirby,” I tell him, realizing how deep in shit this video is putting me.
Ashley did this to me, and now it might ruin everything she wanted to have.
I hang up the phone and shake my head.
“Fuck, man. I’m really sorry,” Ace says. “Tess was just leaving the apartment, but Emmy caught her in time. We’re gonna go around back, okay? Thousands of people are looking at you out here in the open.”
I follow him to the back of the casino, where his driver is ready to take Tess and me away.
Emmy and Tess are waiting for us, and neither look happy.
“I’m so sorry, Tess.”
Ignoring me, she looks at Ace. “Can you tell Carla that I won’t be at work today? She’s my shift manager. Maybe ask her to call me?”
“Don’t worry about it, Tess,” Ace tells her. “Not to be intense, but are you going to be okay together? If you’d rather, Tess, you can stay here, with Emmy and me.”
“No, I’ll be fine.” She gives them each a hug, and gets in the limo.
“Thanks, guys.” With Tess in the car, I add, “Is she okay, Emmy?”
“No, something is seriously wrong.”
“It’s the video, Emmy,” Ace says. “Of course she’s freaked out. A sex tape of her just streamed across the entire world.”
“I don’t think that’s it, babe.” Emmy crosses her arms, leaning in to whisper. “I honestly think she was more upset about the photos. She was going on about blonde hair, and if people would recognize her. And then she insisted on leaving.”
I swallow, knowing this is more about her past than it is about me.
“Thanks for telling me, Emmy. And I’ll be sure to call later.”
I slide into the car, next to Tess, but she just moves farther away.
Fuck. Whatever was between us a few hours ago is really fucking far away.
And this video isn’t helping a damn thing.
TESS
I blink back tears as the limo rolls down the strip. I can’t look at Jack, and I’m only in this car with him because it’s my best chance of getting away. If I’d stayed with Emmy, she and the crew would have watched me too closely and not let me out of their sight.
With Jack, though, I think he’s more likely to let me do what I want. And what I want is to stick to my initial plan.
This whole sex video just amplifies that. I need to take my money and run.
Jack seems to know better than to push me with a slew of questions right now; instead, he keeps his eyes on his phone screen.
Thinking past my own emotions, I realize that this video is worst-case scenario for his career. How do you put a good spin on an early morning sex tape, on the heels of breaking up with a music star?