17. Danny
Danny
We planned to sleep in. The next step was to go out for breakfast. Pancakes for her, egg whites for me.
Jess didn’t have anything scheduled for the Con other than to meet a couple of her writers she had edited for, and I had media interviews later this morning followed by my torture session with Jorge in the afternoon.
These were the thoughts in my head when my phone’s incessant ringing dragged me from the cozy depths of our hotel room bed. Disentangling myself from Jess, I fumbled with my free hand until I grabbed the phone, but by that time I had missed the call.
“Too early,” Jess mumbled, trying to entangle herself with me again.
I checked my phone. Paige had called and she had sent four texts before that.
Criminal: You awake?
Criminal: Call me.
Criminal: Seriously. Call me.
Criminal: It’s bad.
A cold sense of dread crept into my mind, but I pushed it away. It could be anything. Paige thought anything remotely annoying was ‘bad.’ I tapped Paige’s number and called her back.
“Get up here,” she answered.
“Hello to you, too,” I responded lightly. “What’s going on?”
Her voice was tight and tense. “I can’t talk to you when you’re not wearing pants. Get up here.”
I rolled my eyes. “I could be wearing pants, you don’t know.”
“Danny!”
A foreboding feeling grew in my gut, but I pushed it aside. It was probably nothing. I pulled myself out of bed. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
Jess groaned in disappointment, pulling the covers over her head. “Nooooo. Sleep in. Then pancakes.”
“Paige is in a twist about something,” I explained as I pulled on whatever clothing that happened to be nearby. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Ugh. I’m awake now,” she muttered.
I pulled down the comforter so I could see her face and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Get dressed while I’m gone. When I’m done sorting out whatever it is with Paige, we’ll have pancakes.”
“I’m having pancakes. You are having egg whites. But I’m going to let you steal some pancake bites from my plate, and I’ll pretend not to notice,” she corrected me.
“Deal.” I grinned and gave her another kiss before heading out to the elevator.
It wasn’t until the elevator doors closed that my nerves kicked into high gear. I tried to remind myself again that Paige thought every slight inconvenience was terrible. She once declared the world was ending because Faye ate the last of her chocolate and peanut butter ice cream.
When I got to her suite, Paige stood in the entry hallway with an intensity that made me jump back as soon as I walked through the door. “Okay. You’re being creepy.”
She shoved her phone in my face.
I blinked. “Your order is arriving today?”
She pulled her hand back, swiped, and then held the phone to my face again.
I took the phone and saw the picture of me and Jess, dressed as Tyrst’an and Fiona. She was in my arms as I carried her to the elevator last week. But it wasn’t just a picture. It was a tabloid website. The headline read:
FROM PAGES TO PASSION: TYRANT LEAD ACTOR ROMANCES JKC RICHARDS’ HEIR!
Below the headline had the words that no one likes to read in this business: “Studio insiders claim…”
Anxiety and fear slammed into me, and there was a sharp pinch in my chest. “Fuck me.”
“Did you know about this?” Paige asked.
“No!” I said, scrolling through the article.
Paige glared at me. “Really?”
Then it hit me. “Shit. It’s Britta.”
“What were you two arguing about the night of the trailer shoot?” Paige asked, narrowing her eyes at me.
“She wanted to do some publicity about me and Jess. I told her no,” I groaned. “Reuben brought it up again after the trailer was released. I told him no then, too. I can’t believe they went and did it anyway.”
Paige thought about it for a second and nodded. She let out a huff and shook her head. “Well… it gets worse.”
She took her phone back, scrolling through the social media pages.
“These are the Tyrant hashtags. Fans are calling bullshit on you and Jess. They’re saying it was coercion from the start.
That you and her cooked up a fake argument online.
That you were both manipulating fans to get support for you.
Most of the people ranting are Brandon fans, and they already hated Jess. ”
“What?!”
Before Paige could respond, we were interrupted by hammering on the door. “And I’m betting Jess just learned this,” Paige muttered and let her in.
Jess stood there in the doorway, listless. Her outfit was a disaster, like she had grabbed whatever clothes were within reach before leaving the room. She wasn’t even wearing shoes. “We are so screwed!”
“We know,” Paige said quickly and pulled her in.
“You know?” Jess asked in disbelief. “How would you even know?”
“It’s all over the internet.” Paige held up her phone, showing the headline and the picture of her and I in costume.
Jess’s mouth dropped open in horror “What the actual fuck?!”
Paige and I shared a confused glance. “You didn’t know this?” Paige asked.
Jess’ hands went up to her head as she paced around the room. “Are you kidding me? No! What the hell is going on?!”
I froze in place. My mind was in panic mode, unsure what to do.
“So, this isn’t about the fans calling you and Danny out?” Paige asked.
Jess turned, focusing on me. “They’re calling us out?”
I nodded. I reached out to her, and she pulled away.
“What’s going on, Jess?” I asked, quietly.
She held up her phone, tears starting to stream down her face.
“I just talked to my parents. They got a letter from lawyers representing MaxFlick. They know about the book I gave Faye. According to the contract my grandmother signed with the publisher, she forfeited all media rights to the books. MaxFlick owns all those rights, including those stories. We have to give them up or they’ll sue us. ”
“That specific book? That Faye has?” Paige clarified, her tone getting suspicious.
“They said my book is an anthology written by my grandmother. You three and a couple of other people are the only ones I’ve ever shared that with,” she cried. “And now people are ranting against us? Why?”
“They think your whole endorsement and trailer was planned by the two of you,” Paige explained. “That we’re manipulating people and it’s all coercion.”
The color drained from Jess’ face. Her hands were trembling as she went through her apps and social feeds on her phone. I stood there mute and frozen unsure of what to do.
“Oh God! I’m losing followers. I’ve lost almost a quarter of my Patreon members! My forum is blowing up!” She blinked as her phone pinged twice. “My sponsors are asking questions about all of this!”
“Why is everyone shouting?” Faye asked, peering through the doorway from her room, still in her pajamas.
Jessica turned on Faye, her body movements becoming frantic. “Did you share the stories I gave you with anyone?”
Faye’s eyes bugged out as she stood straight up. “No! What’s going on?”
“A fucking train wreck!” Jess threw her phone across the room where it smacked against the wall and fell to the ground. Faye and Paige stepped away from the situation, giving each other wary glances.
Jess turned to me, crying and furious. “How did you let that happen?!”
“I didn’t do anything!” I protested.
“Those pictures! You said you weren’t going to do anything with them!” she shouted, pointing at Paige’s phone.
“We didn’t!” I shouted back, desperation seeping in.
“Then how is this happening?! How?” she demanded.
“We think Britta leaked it,” Paige said and reached out to touch Jess’s shoulder. She flinched away from Paige, backing away from all of us.
“I’m losing followers,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’m going to lose partnerships and editing jobs. My parents are getting sued! All because your publicist wanted you to look good? Did you know this?”
I hesitated, and Jessica saw it on my face. “Did you know this was going to happen?” she demanded.
“Britta and MaxFlick wanted to do a piece on us, and I told them no,” I admitted. “I didn’t think they’d leak it.”
“So, they did this? They screwed me over so you could get some better press? Britta ratted me out to the studio? Why? Out of spite?!”
“It’s going to be okay,” I said, approaching her.
“How? These people pay me to make content! I use this to pay rent and bills, don’t you see that?” Jess shouted, crying harder now.
“We’ll figure it out. I’ll help,” I promised.
“How?! I literally make more than you do!” She pulled at her hair, spiraling out and away from us. “Why is it that everything we touch blows up in our faces? Your career? My livelihood?”
“It’ll be fine,” I promised.
Jess let out a hollow laugh, burying her face in her hands. I tried to take her into my arms, but she shoved me away.
“No. I can’t do this. Not to you, not to me,” she snapped. She gave me one last devastated look before heading for the door.
“Jess!” I ran after her, but the door slammed shut in my face. I turned around to see Paige on her phone tapping away and Faye frozen in place. “How do we fix this?”
“Working on it,” Paige grunted. “Hang on. I’m calling Marv.”
My phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID and saw Reuben’s number. A flash of anger ran through me, and I stabbed the phone with my finger.
“Danny Boy!”
“Fuck you, Reuben.”
He let out a small hiss and paused before replying. “Hey, listen, I didn’t leak that story.”
“Bullshit,” I snarled back. “Studio insiders? That’s you, Reuben. You’re so inside, your own head is up your ass.”
“You got no proof of that, kid. Listen, hopefully this thing will blow over, but if it doesn’t… We’ll be canceling the contract. Probably the series as well. If you could maybe release a—”
“Fuck you, Reuben and fuck MaxFlick.” I hung up on him and turned to Paige.
“Hey Marv, listen, do you have anyone in your office who knows anything about literary contracts?” Paige had her hand up to me, concentrating on her call.
I felt a hand on my arm. I turned, and Faye looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “I didn’t tell anyone,” she whimpered.
I pulled her into a hug, and her arms wrapped around me. “I know you didn’t.”
“Is she mad at me?” Faye asked.
“No, she’s not,” I assured her. “She’s just upset. You didn’t even tell me about her being JKC’s granddaughter. I know you didn’t do anything wrong, and she will know that, okay? Go get dressed.”
Faye wandered back to her room, wearing a forlorn expression. I took a breath, trying to focus on what to do next, but my mind was a mess.
“I talked to Marv,” Paige said, getting off the phone. “He’s going to look into the JKC’s publishing contract. It’s not going to be cheap.”
“I don’t give a shit about money right now,” I growled. “How did they do this? That picture was on your phone.”
“I didn’t do it!” Paige protested.
I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Sorry. I know you didn’t. But it was on your phone and tablet. How did they get that picture?”
Paige’s face went pale. She turned away, covering her face with her hands.
“What?”
She paced the room circling around the couch. “I sent all the fan pictures to Britta. She was going to share them on your social media account. I must have forgotten to take her pictures out. Oh, man, I fucked it all up!”
Somehow hearing Britta’s name again centered me. I had someone to focus my anger on.
“Oh, Danny, fuck that bitch. I can’t believe I did something so-”
I gently put my hands on Paige’s shoulders.
“Hey. Hey. It’s not anyone’s fault. I know you didn’t do this.
You gave the pictures away. That’s all. I told her no, and she didn’t listen.
We know she was in that room when Faye was talking about the books from Jess.
She’s the one who told the studio. We’re not blaming ourselves here. We know who to blame.”
Paige’s brow furrowed as she scowled. “I’m going to kick her ass,” she declared, heading for the door.
I grabbed her arm, holding her back. “Later.”
Paige glared at me. “She screwed us over! Look what she did to Jess!”
“Right now, I need you on damage control,” I begged. “And by that, I mean Jess. I could give a shit about the role right now.”
Her eyes widened. “Danny! You can’t--”
I shook my head. “You have a job at the end of all this. Faye will be covered. I’ll be fine. I’ll take bit roles and work at the garage if I have to, I don’t care. But Jess first. Okay?”
Her jaw clenched, and I knew I had my sister on track. “I’m going to fix this,” she declared. Somehow, she made it sound more like a threat than a promise.
“That’s the sister I know and love,” I joked.
She took a deep breath. Then she punched me in the arm. Hard.
“What the fuck are you doing just standing here?!” she shouted at me and shoved me towards the door. “Go find her for Christ’s sake!”
She didn’t wait for my response. Paige turned and shouted. “Faye! I need your help!”
I bolted for the door. I ran into the hallway and found it empty.
Jess was gone.