Page 26 of Vegas Love (Love 1)
"Really?"
"Yes, sometime I will have to show you."
"You could show me something else for now," I say, finally pulling her dress completely off and reveling in her naked beauty.
Negative Press
Ashlyn
I get an email from Vanessa every day with what she calls my daily dashboard. This is something that Brandi never did for me, and I'm not sure I like it. Part of me wishes I didn't know what people were saying about me, but Vanessa has a completely different approach and it feels much more cultivated and professional.
Listed first on my dashboard is the positive press.
There are multiple links for stories and photos of me attending the fashion shows and parties from yesterday.
Under the neutral category are all the stories regarding my secret engagement to Zach.
Are they or aren't they?
Will Zach choose love over his family?
Zach in hiding while Ashlyn attends Fashion Week.
Then there is the negative press column.
Zach's mother says the couple broke up last week and are not engaged.
Zach defies his family with secret proposal to Ashlyn.
Mama Ellison refuses to sit by Ashlyn Roberts at fashion show.
What follows is an article quoting Zach's mother--live from Fashion Week--saying that her son is not engaged. Which must have led others to infer that Zach is defying his family.
Another article goes on to report that there is more to the story. Their inside sources close to the family say that Zach's mother was very upset by my sex tape. That she will never allow her son to marry someone of my moral character.
There is yet another story falsely claiming we were seated next to each other at one of the fashion shows and that there was much drama when Mrs. Ellison refused to sit next to the tart and the designer was forced to rearrange the seating to accommodate her.
I call Vanessa. "This is bullshit."
"From everything I have heard, Mrs. Ellison is a very nice woman. Do you believe what the press is saying?"
"She may not want me with her son because of the sex tape, but I don't think she would say those catty things even behind closed doors."
"From what I've seen, his mother avoids the press. Any statements their family makes come through their publicity team. So where is all this coming from?"
"I don't know. Part of me wonders if Zach is playing it. He told me something in Vegas that I didn't catch at the time, but I realize it could be important now. He said that his publicist wants him to have a sexier image, so he could launch a solo career. Which is weird, because Zach always refers to their publicists as the team."
"Do you think he's hired someone on the side to help him break away from his family?"
"I think so. I'm also thinking he purposely leaked our meeting for drinks to the press."
"I'm going to see what I can find out. I'll get back to you."
An Easy Target
Cash
We're drinking champagne in one of the Fashion Week tents when a guy walks up to Ashlyn and says, "I really need to talk to you."
"Luke, I don't want to talk to you. Don't do this here."
Luke? As in asshole sex-tape-releaser, Luke?
"She said she doesn't want to talk to you," I say quietly, but sternly.
"I need to," he argues.
"You need to go fuck yourself," I say, taking Ashlyn's elbow and leading her away.
But later, while Ashlyn is backstage at a show talking to Vale, he comes up to me.
"Are you Ashlyn's body guard?"
"No, I'm--I work with her agent. And it's taking all my self-control not to punch you in the face right now. So get away from me."
He hands me a slip of paper with an address on it. "If she won't listen to me, maybe you will. Meet me. I have proof that I didn't release the sex tape."
While she's at another show, I do just that.
Then I call Vanessa Flanning.
When Ashlyn arrives back at our hotel suite, she finds Luke, Vanessa, and me sitting at the dining room table and asks, "What is he doing here?"
"Luke has been trying to talk to you, because he didn't release the sex tape. He didn't even know about it until after he broke up with you."
"What?"
Luke stands up and walks over to Ashlyn. "Come sit down and let me explain."
She looks at me and I nod, indicating that she should.
When she sits down next to him, he says, "Let me start by saying that I'm an idiot. I loved you, but I got caught up in wanting it all. The fame. The tours. The gold records." He lowers his eyes. "Which made me an easy target for Brandi."
"If you think you're going to blame it on Brandi, it's not going to work. I'm the one who asked Brandi to help you."
"You did, but I doubt you asked her to seduce me. And I doubt you told her in confidence that you were going to break up with me."
Ashlyn can't hide her shock. Her mouth is hanging wide open. She finally recovers and says, "You're right, I didn't."
"The night she covered for me was the first time we had slept together. I felt horrible. And you knew it the second I walked in."
"But that doesn't make sense. If she seduced you, why would she cover for you? Didn't she want you for herself?"
"She did, but she hadn't made the sex tape yet. Think about it, Ash. Who told you to go buy something sexy to wear? Who drank with you and sent you to my apartment? Brandi. She set it up. I didn't know about the tape until I told her that I was going to come clean. That I was going to tell you about my indiscretion and that I was going to beg you for forgiveness. She told me if I did, that she would release the tape. That's why I left for sushi and never came back. I was trying to protect you."
"So then a year later, after your last album bombed, you call me back and miss me? And when I say no, you release the sex tape? Or are you going to blame that on her too?"
"I'm going to blame her, because she is responsible. I called you because I was trying to get you away from Zach. I thought maybe if I sweet-talked you like I used to that you would agree to meet me. I didn't expect her to release the tape so soon." He hands me a photocopied sheet of paper with Brandi's handwriting on it.
Zach Ellison
Solo Career Track
1. Zach records solo song.
2. Start a website dedicated to him. Included are numerous photo shots with him shirtless, highlighting how sexy he is, to break his teen boy band reputation.
3. Zach takes Ashlyn to Vegas to do an event. This will be the first public hint of him going solo. He needs to show his sexy side. (Send cocaine with him, so he will freaking loosen up!)
4. Release sex tape of Luke and Ashlyn, driving a wedge between Ashlyn and Zach's family from which she could never recover.
5. Zach stands by her--asks for fan's prayers and best wishes through their trying times. (By staying with her, women will appreciate his faithfulness. His willingness to stand up to his family for the woman he loves. Women will see him for the grown-up, sexy man that he has become.)
6. Get him a contract with an underwear designer. Want him on a billboard in Times freaking Square.
7. Ashlyn and Zach's courtship becomes sexier. Not the sweet sugar shit. Clubs. Late nights. Drunk public kissing.
8. Zach goes to red carpet event with Ashlyn. Accidentally lets it slip that he's working on a solo album.
9. Family won't know what to do. They will have to act like he has their support.
10. Release solo song.
11. Sign with big label for solo album.
12. Worldwide solo tour.
13. During tour, Zach and Ashlyn break up due to "their schedules".
14. Zach announces that during the tour he fell in love with his publicist, Brandi, and they are dating.
15. Big, amazing, romantic, and very public engagement. (Reminiscent of TomKat.)
16. Televised wedding.
17. $$$$
"Wow," is all Ashlyn says. I want
to sit next to her and wrap my arms around her, but I know this is something she needs to deal with on her own. It's time for her to take control of her career in the way my brother thinks she should.
So I sit and wait to see what she does next.
And what she does, surprises me. She grabs Luke and pulls him into a hug. "I'm so glad that I was wrong about you."
Then she leans back and looks at all of us. "So, what are we going to do about this bitch?"
