2. Wren
2
WREN
…six months later
I’m chuckling as I pop my phone back onto my desk after hanging up from Marissa. Marissa is the receptionist in the LA office, and she’s become a good friend of mine. Sometimes, I wished she lived closer so I could buy her all the drinks for going above and beyond her pay grade. She helped me relocate Stefan to LA earlier this year, and that was a feat in itself. While I’m here in New York, she does her best to try and corral Stefan into line but there’s one problem with that, she’s just too sweet and innocent for that man. He runs rings around the poor girl, and she doesn’t even realize it’s happening. Hell, he runs rings around me, and I’m no pushover. He really does live up to his “Doucheman” moniker, but I’ve never shied away from a problem client, and he will not be the first to beat me.
Speaking of the douche, he’s once again in the headlines for being, well, a douche, and once again, we’re in damage control. This time, he got into a fight with some guy at a bar for hitting on the guy’s girlfriend. She stepped in to stop it, and in doing so, took an elbow to the face from her boyfriend. Thankfully, it wasn’t Stefan who hit her, but as usual, the vultures—aka Margaret from What’s the Buzz and other media outlets—are running with it and saying what they need for clicks. I’m working overtime trying to come up with something to turn the focus to the good, which is A. he didn’t hit her, and B., ummm, yeah, this is why I’m working overtime to fix this before it blows into something bigger. When it comes to Stefan, there’s very little good, which makes my job a billion times harder. If he wasn’t such a stellar player, he’d be out on his ass by now.
“Knock-knock,” Jaxson singsongs as he walks into my office without waiting for me to invite him. He drops into the chair across from me and lifts his feet onto the edge of my desk. Raising my eyebrows at him, he removes his feet with a smirk. He totally did that just to piss me off. Feet belong on the ground, not on my desk.
“What’s up, bossman?” I say in greeting, and when I see the look on his face, I know something’s up. I’ve only been with Life’s Too Sport for a short time now, but I can read Jaxson like a book. For an agent, he has the worst poker face I have ever seen, but he somehow still manages to secure the best deals around.
Life’s Too Sport, or LTS for short, hired me as their in-house image consultant. A lot of their clients only know how to play their chosen sport, they don’t know how to handle themselves off the field or out of the pool, but that’s where I come in. I help them with their image and teach them how to handle the press and potential sponsors. I coach them and mold them into superstars. I mostly work with those new to the fame game and, occasionally, I work with those who need an image overhaul and are wanting to reinvent themselves.
Well, I try to help them. Occasionally, you come across someone, cough**Stefan D?uchmen**cough, who always seems to do the opposite of what I suggest or they blatantly ignore my ideas. Cough**Stefan D?uchmen**cough. When it comes to Stefan, it’s like speaking to a brick wall most of the time. Pretty sure a kindergartener listens better than he does. Mentally, I make a note for myself to arrange another face-to-face meeting with him. We were all hoping his move to LA was going to be good for him, but he’s literally just swapped one playground for another.
“Is this about Stefan and his latest antics?” I ask Jaxson when he just sits in the tub chair and stares at me. “Because from what I’m hearing, witnesses back up that he didn’t start the fight, but he was flirting with the girl so h?—”
“It’s not about that,” he interrupts. “But it is Stefan related.”
“You’re dumping him as a client, and we no longer have to deal with the douche?” I excitedly ask, sitting upright in my chair. Excitement brewing at the prospect of no longer having to face the pretentious douche anymore.
“No, he’s still ours but, umm,” Jaxson hesitates and that’s so unlike him. He’s one of the best agents out there, and I was stoked when he employed me, but seeing him unsure right now has my spider senses tingling.
“Just spit it out, Jaxson.”
“StefanNeedsAHandler” he says quickly, the four words tumbling out as one long word.
Once I decipher what he says, my head begins to nod. Leaning forward, I rest my elbows on my desk, take my chin between my thumb and forefinger, and ruminate his suggestion. “I like it,” I tell him, as I rack my brain trying to think of someone who could handle this task, but I’m coming up blank. I feel sorry for whoever the sucker is. “Do you have anyone in mind?” I ask when I can’t think of anyone up to the task.
“I do,” he offers.
“Who?” I ask.
“You,” he states.
Sitting here, I rapidly blink and process his words. “I’m sorry. I thought I heard you say me.”
“I did,” he confirms, his head now bobbling like mine just was.
“Me?” I screech like a banshee. “You want me to become Stefan’s handler?”
“Yes, Wren. You.”
“You want me to live with him? Babysit him? Keep him in line?” Jaxson nods emphatically. “But … but I live in New York, he’s based in LA.” I pause. “I live in New York.”
“It’s only temporary, and LTS will cover all expenses.”
“But why me? Do you hate me that much?”
“Wren, you’re the only person who I would trust with this task. I know you won’t fall for his charm and end up between the sheets with him. I think you hate him just as much as he hates the world and everyone in it.”
“But why me?”
“Because you and I both know, Stefan D?uchmen will not change without constant supervision. Yes, you’ve done great with his image, but it’s still not enough; he’s still being Stefan, but he needs to rein it in, or he’ll lose it all.”
“LA won’t re-sign him?”
“It’s a possibility that at the end of his contract that they’ll let him go.”
Silence envelops us as I process all that Jaxson just dumped on me. The idea of being his handler plays over and over in my mind, and the more I think about it, the more I know it’s the right move, but me? Why does it have to be me? It’s because you are great at what you do. This will not be like the last time. You will move to LA, overhaul his image, and be back in New York in no time. Easy-peasy, right?
“Please, Wren,” Jaxson begs, breaking the silence in the room and my internal thoughts/debate. “You and I both know that without twenty-four hour supervision, Stefan is going to continue to spiral. Leif Barber, Tania Clotsdale, and I all agree this is what’s needed.”
“You went above my head and spoke to them before me?” Tania Clotsdale is the owner of the LA Legends, and Leif Barber is their head coach.
“Actually, Tania called me and suggested it and, for what it’s worth, Tania asked for you personally because she’s seen how you handle Stefan firsthand. She has faith that you’ll be the one to tame him … and so do I”
“This is what I get for being the best,” I mumble. Pausing for effect, I continue, “You know what, Jax?”
“What?”
“The only reason you’re doing this is so you can retain your top agent status. Re-signing Doucheman to LA will be a massive feat, considering how much of a douche he is.”
“That is a bonus, but I happen to agree with Leif and Tania. You’re the best at what you do, Wren. It’s why I hired you.”
“But, umm, well, you know what happened the last time I was assigned something like this…” I drift off, not finishing that sentence because it’s a time of my life I’m trying to forget. It’s why I switched from dealing with movie stars and into working with sports stars.
“The past is the past,” he emphatically states as memories of my last job and the shitshow at the end play on a loop in my mind. “Look, Wren, what happened previously won’t happen again because I know you’ve learned your lesson. Imagine what you’ll do for the agency, and your career, when you become the person to tame Stefan D?uchmen and his wild ways.”
“This better come with a serious raise and a massive-ass bonus.”
“Done,” he agrees without blinking. Dammit, I should have asked for more. “ Leif and Tania will be informing Stefan of this tomorrow morning. Your flight leaves for LAX at 6 a.m., and when you land in LA, there will be a car waiting to take you to meet with them. Then you and your new roomie will head to your new home by the beach and?—”
“I’m leaving tomorrow?”
“Yep, we need to nip this in the bud, ASAP.”
“I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
He shakes his head. “No, you don’t, and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry you’ve been saddled with him.”
“No, you’re not,” I hiss at him, but I know he is from the sheepish look on his face.
Jaxson gives me all the finer details and then wishes me the best of luck before leaving me to pack my things.
Looks like I’m moving to LA … and in with Stefan D?uchmen, yay!