Chapter 25 – Otis
The sound of a phone ringing brings me out of my sleep. I have no idea who would be calling at this hour, but it better be a good reason.
“Will you answer your damn phone?” Jasper mumbles, his voice full of sleep.
“It’s yours,” I reply.
“Mine’s turned off.”
Picking up the phone, I see Marcus’s name flashing on the screen and there is a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. He won’t be calling to wish me a good morning, which has to mean something has happened.
Jasper’s press conference had been two days ago, and overall it had gone well. Jasper had managed to get his truth out there and we had announced our relationship, well, engagement. It had been received as we expected. I had answered some questions but we hadn’t gone too far.
“Marcus, do you know how early it is?” I say as I answer the call.
“Otis, it’s almost eleven,” comes Marcus’s reply.
Oh, so not as early as I thought, but then Jasper and I had been up late celebrating our engagement and moving in together.
Jasper had bought me a new butt plug. It was bigger than my current one and I had instantly wanted to play.
The way my arse was twinging at the moment, it had been so worth it.
“What do you want, Marcus?” I say down the line.
“I’m guessing that you haven’t seen the news today?” Marcus replies, and I think I actually groan down the line.
“What the fuck has Clive done now?” I ask.
“Not Clive,” Marcus starts. “Marj.”
On hearing that name, I sat up in bed. We haven’t heard from Marj in months. Not since the picture she had with Clive. When Clive made the headlines without Marj we just thought that maybe she had given up. But by the sounds of it we were wrong.
“Jasper,” I say, giving him a nudge.
“What?”
“Wake up and turn on your phone. Marcus says Marj has done something,” I tell him before going back to my call. “Marcus, I’m putting you on loudspeaker.”
“Okay,” Marcus’s voice filling our bedroom.
“Marcus you better have a good reason for calling us this early,” Jasper states. “Otis and I were up late last night, celebrating.”
“I wouldn’t be calling unless it was important,” Marcus adds. “I have already contacted Charmaine.”
“Charmaine?” I questioned.
“Yeah, this is going to need a response, and soon,” Marcus states, and there is an edge to his voice that I really don’t like.
“Marcus what’s going on?” Jasper asks, suddenly awake.
“Have a look on your phone. The headline is trending at the moment,” Marcus adds.
Jasper picks up his phone and turns it on. Instantly, the phone starts beeping with notifications, but Jasper ignores them all and goes straight to a search engine and types in my name, but I can’t see the first result that comes up.
“Fuck,” Jasper mutters.
“Show me,” I demand, and Jasper slowly turns his phone around to show me the headline.
PROSTITUTE JASPER KNIGHT STOLE OTIS YOUNG FROM ME AND RUINED MY LIFE.
And there under the headline is a picture of Marj looking sad and dejected. Her eyes red, like she had been crying. All fake.
“What the hell?” I exclaim. “She was with Clive.”
“There have already been comments about that. She’s now saying that the photo was taken out of context. That her and Clive were just friends. Drawn together due to mistreatment they had suffered at the hands of you and Jasper,” Marcus adds.
“This is such bullshit,” I say.
“I know,” Marcus states. “Charmaine wants to make a statement in response.”
“The statement is that Marj is full of shit. We broke up last year. Hell it was about this time last year,” I tell him.
“Do you think that you can get to HQ? Charmaine wants to call an emergency meeting,” Marcus adds.
“Yeah, we can be there in about thirty minutes,” Jasper adds. “And Marcus, either you or Charmaine need to call Nicky. This needs to have more than just a statement.”
“What do you have in mind?” Marcus asks.
“I have an idea, but I need to talk to Charmaine first. See if you can get Nicky there in two hours,” Jasper states.
“I’ll try my best,” Marcus adds, then pauses for a second. “I’m sorry this is happening to you guys.”
“Unfortunately this is what happens when you become more than just a racing driver,” I reply. “Seems like scandal and celebrity is a package deal these days.”
“Still sucks,” Marcus replies. “See you in thirty.” And hangs up the phone.
“So are you going to keep your plan secret from me, too?” I ask as I get out of bed and make my way over to the wardrobe.
“I was thinking about how David having the exclusive interview with Nicky helped last year and that maybe we could do the same. We really didn’t talk much about our relationship at the press conference and maybe we should’ve.”
“You want to tell Nicky our story,” I repeat.
“Yeah, give all the details.” But Jasper pauses for a moment. “Actually not all the details. I think there is one aspect that needs to stay silent.”
“Is that how you rock my world when you tie me to beds and use new butt plugs?” I say over my shoulder to Jasper, who still hasn’t moved out of bed.
“You know, I don’t think I’m ever going to get over the fact that I get to see your naked body anytime I want,” Jasper says, a smile spreading on his face.
“Will you get up?” I state, throwing a t-shirt in his direction.
“Looking at you, I already am,” Jasper responds.
“I suppose going to HQ with a hard on will be fine. No one is going to notice,” I reply.
“Well that worked like a cold shower,” Jasper mutters.
“Think of it this way. The sooner we get to HQ, the sooner we can get back. Maybe show me that new plug again.”
Suddenly Jasper is leaping out of the bed and striding over to me. A huge smile back on his face.
“That is a plan that I can get behind,” Jasper adds, giving me a kiss and making me chuckle.
Thirty minutes later, we were pulling up to the gates of HQ to a swarm of reporters.
Most of them trying to get a picture of me.
I could hear them screaming my name and I just pulled the baseball cap I was wearing down so that it covered my face.
The cap had been Jasper’s idea. He remembered that we had made him wear one when we got him out of the hotel, and now I was so glad that I had listened to him.
“Shit that was crazy,” Jasper says as we pull into a parking space.
“Prime meat,” I reply.
“Are you okay? You seem to be handling this all really well,” Jasper asks.
“I’m pissed. So bloody pissed. I wish I knew why they’re doing this. Why now?” I reply.
“I wish I knew, too. Clive has been out of my life for years. I made the headlines last year, so what has changed for him to suddenly start talking now?”
Getting out of the car, Jasper walks to the front and waits for me with his hand held out, and that’s how we walk into HQ. Hand in hand, and not for the first time I wonder why I wanted to keep what Jasper and I have secret from the team.
“Hey guys,” Marcus says, coming over to us and pulling us into a hug, “We’re in Charmaine’s office, she’s waiting for you. I also managed to get a hold of Nicky. He’ll be here.”
“Good,” Jasper replies, “Let’s get to Charmaine. I think we have a lot to talk about.”
The three of us walk to Charmaine’s office in silence. None of us really wanting to talk about what’s going on, plus there is nothing that can really be said or done, at the moment. What we do know is that we need to get a plan together.
Jasper knocks on the door but doesn’t wait to be called in, before opening the door and walking in.
“Jasper, Otis. This is not the shit show that I expected to wake up to this morning,” Chamaine states.
“Me either,” I state back, “Thought that she had decided to leave me alone.”
Charmaine is just about to say something when Jasper’s phone starts ringing and we all turn to face him. He quickly pulls out his phone, and I think he was about to say sorry when he sees the name on the screen.
“It’s Doug,” Jasper announces. “Let me get this. He might have some information for me, or us.”
We all stand there watching Jasper answer the call. I hoped he would have put it on speaker, like I did this morning, but he doesn’t, and we have to listen to a very one-sided conversation, before he is eventually thanking Doug and ending the call.
“Well that was interesting,” Jasper states. “Doug found something on Marj and Clive. He even managed to find Clive’s wife, or ex-wife. Who is surprisingly on our side.”
“Come on, tell us,” I demand.
“Well it looks like they – both Marj and Clive – have gotten themselves into a little bit of a money situation. Clive has gambled almost everything away and Marj is in debt up to her eyeballs trying to sustain a lifestyle she couldn’t afford.”
“So, they did this for money,” I say. I want to say I’m surprised, but when I think back over my relationship with Marj, she was only ever interested in how much I had won in each race. I just wish I had seen it back then.
“Yeah. Looks like the plan was to leak the photos of Clive and Marj together, and eventually come out saying that they were drawn to each other due to the way we treated them. Sell their exclusive story. I don’t think they were banking on me coming out and confirming everything and then us announcing our relationship. ”
“Marj got greedy. Thought using both our names could double her money,” I say. “She double crossed Clive.”
“Looks like it,” Jasper states.
“Jasper, can we use any of this in a statement?” Charmaine asks.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that,” Jasper replies. “I got Marcus to call Nicky. I think that Otis and I should give an exclusive interview with Nicky.”
“Is that wise after last year?” Charmaine adds.
“It’s because of last year that makes using Nicky perfect. He will want to get back into Vincent’s good books. He knows how much he lost out on. Nicky will tell our story truthfully.”
“Let’s do it then, but we will need to make sure that Vincent is on board,” Charmaine adds.
“I’ll talk to him,” Jasper says with a smile, and I’m not sure if I feel slightly sorry for Vincent.