Chapter 25 #2
Jade’s subdued manner conflicted with her usual bubbly personality.
“Very late night.” She perched on the edge of the chaise lounge, looking ready to take flight. Is Conor with TJ Wallace?”
“Recording a song with him. How’d you know that?” This tour was like PopWiz on wheels for the amount of gossip it generated.
“Rhys told me. He really admires Conor.”
“Conor thinks Rhys is a great drummer.” I closed my book, inserting my finger between the pages. Was Jade going to tell me she couldn’t do the behind the scenes recording anymore? That was the least of my worries right now.
“Noelle...” she twisted the corner of my towel into a knot “...I’m the one who took the pictures of Ashley and Tomo—and I’m the one who sent them to PopWiz.”
I took a swig of water that went down the wrong way and coughed violently for a few seconds. I wiped my eyes and studied Jade. With her gazelle-like long legs and doe eyes, she didn’t look like the devil.
“Why?”
“I...” She stopped when the waiter delivered my iced tea and asked her if she wanted anything.
“Bring me a spicy margarita, please, heavy on the tajin around the rim.”
“First, let me say I had no idea that it would affect you. I thought it would help Conor and you. "I thought she'd finally have to stop lying. I’m so sorry.”
“Why did you take the pictures?”
“I didn’t do it to catch them or anything.
Most of us dancers already knew those two were hooking up.
” She tapped her phone, clutched in her hand.
“I was just taking pictures backstage one night, mostly of the dancers messing around. I got several of Tomo stretching—he is a beautiful man—and followed him to the back after. He went straight into Ashley’s arms. I don’t know why I did it, but I clicked several photos before sneaking away. They never noticed me.”
Running a thumb down my sweating glass, I said, “Okay, so you had incriminating photos of Tomo and Ashley. Why did you keep them? Ashley hadn’t even gone on her blame Conor rant at the time you took the pictures.”
She lifted her shoulders to her ears. “I don’t know. A little voice just told me to hang onto them.”
I wish that little voice had told her not to post them.
“What made you decide to send them to Conor?”
“You know.” She waved her arms around. “He was getting booed on stage. He didn’t deserve that after putting his all into his music and his performances.”
“Did you expect him to go public with the photos?”
“Maybe not go public but at least let Ashley know he had them. I already tried that myself. I sent them to her, and I could tell she was nervous about them, but they didn’t make her change her behavior—about anything.”
I massaged the back of my neck. Ashley wasn’t known for being kind to her dancers—unless they were built like Tomo and had dicks.
“When Conor didn’t take the bait, you decided to send them to PopWiz to...get back at Ashley.”
“It wasn’t just that. I had a lot of reasons—her behavior to everyone is trash. When I twisted my ankle at rehearsals, she looked right at me and said dancers are replaceable. But she was also hurting Conor...and you, and then there’s Rhys.”
“Rhys?” My eyebrows shot up. “What does he have to do with any of this?”
“Conor is his friend—and he’s really hoping to land a spot with the backup band for the Five2Go reunion tour. He was getting worried that Conor’s sinking image might affect the tour—but he also didn’t like seeing Conor take the fall. They’re bros.”
I sat back against my chaise lounge and took a long sip of my tea.
“I didn’t realize until Ashley mentioned it that the pictures were going to mess up your job, Noelle.” She put her hands together as if in prayer. “Do you believe me? I’m so sorry.”
“I believe you.” I squeezed my eyes closed.
I mean, why would you think blowing up the reputation of the concert’s headliner would negatively impact the PR person for the concert?
But at least Jade had her reasons, and for the first time in days, someone had chosen the truth over a better story.
“Thank you.” The chaise squeaked as Jade stood up to take her margarita from the waiter. She licked the rim and poured half of it down her throat. “I just wanted to let you know that nobody was out to get you by releasing those photos. A-are you going to tell Ashley?”
“I am not going to tell her, and I suggest you don’t go running to her with your confession, either. Who else knows?”
“Me, you, and Rhys.”
“Keep it that way. I’ll deal with the fallout.”
Jade clutched her drink, a sprinkle of red spice on her upper lip. “I figured you could fix it, Noelle.”
As she walked away, I tapped my laptop.
Everyone expected me to fix this.
I just wasn't sure there was anything left worth fixing.
***
I prepped for my meeting by taking a shower after the pool, not bothering to blow out my wavy hair, not putting in my contact lenses, and throwing a blazer over my tank top and shorts.
Ashley and I would be on Zoom with Dina, Orlando, and a suit from 92 West. Everyone but Ashley would see me from the shoulders up, but for a more professional background, I reserved a small conference room at the hotel.
I stopped at the coffee shop in the lobby to grab a chamomile tea. There would be more than enough type-A energy in the meeting. I didn’t need a caffeine jolt to deal with these people.
I beat Ashley to the conference room and set up my laptop. She wouldn’t have a computer, so she planned to sit beside me to chime in whenever she had a brilliant idea to contribute.
I accessed the Zoom meeting and joined it. Dina’s face appeared immediately.
“Hi, babe. You look...tired, and your nose is sunburnt.”
I rubbed my crispy nose. “Uh, spent the afternoon working by the pool.”
She lowered her voice, although nobody else was in the meeting. “I’ll do what I can, Noelle, but you had one job here.”
Before I could respond, Orlando joined the meeting, followed by Nash, one of our senior account executives.
Orlando spoke first. “Is Ashley there yet? How’s she doing?”
She’s been doing Tomo.
My lips stretched into a smile. “You know Ashley. She’s a trooper. She’s on her way, probably just getting a coffee.”
“Did I hear my name?” Ashley strutted into the room, shaking a plastic cup filled with ice and cream-colored coffee. “I’m here. Austin is deadly hot and humid. Whose idea was it to take this tour across the South in the middle of the summer?”
Nash snorted. “Probably the same person who came up with the tired fake dating scheme.”
Ouch. The suit had me in his sights already.
He continued. “Dina, you run the show. I’ll sit back and...observe.”
Nash probably had a secret code word to use that meant fire Noelle Martine now.
“Okay, we have a few problems.” Dina pursed her lips. “The first is Ashley’s image. We need to fix that right now. I’m taking suggestions.”
“I’ve got one.” Ashley scooted her chair close to mine and raised her finger to the laptop’s camera. “I was thinking sex addiction.”
My mouth dropped open. I thought she was kidding when she mentioned it on my balcony.
Orlando stroked his goatee. “Okay, okay. Tell me more.”
“I got the idea from my ex, Nico.” Ashley nudged me out of the camera’s view. “It worked for him. We could say I’ve been battling this addiction ever since the breakup of my marriage. Tomo was a temptation I couldn’t resist—despite my love for Conor.”
Dina said, “I could work with this.”
“Except it’s a lie.” Nobody heard me, or if they had, they didn’t acknowledge me.
“Sex addiction.” Orlando nodded. “You could even do a song.”
Nash coughed.
Finally, sanity.
I took a breath and dropped my shoulders, until he said, “We could turn it into a PSA for her.”
I blinked.
What language were these people speaking?
“Maybe Tomo rescued me.” Ashley wriggled in her chair.
“Perfect.” Dina steepled her fingers.
I bumped Ashley’s chair. “Except the photo shows him groping and grinding.”
They all talked over me at once, drowning out my voice.
I tried again. Flipping through my notebook, I said, “We could start by having Ashley tell the truth about her voice.”
Ashley slammed her coffee cup down. “Absolutely not.”
“That’s not happening, and we’re not discussing that again—ever.” Orlando folded his arms over his waxed chest, visible through his open shirt.
Dina took a hit off her vape. “Back to the sex addiction.”
“We could totally do this.” Orlando snapped his fingers at someone off camera. “Mischa, take notes.”
Dina rubbed her hands. “Noelle can draft the statement for Ashley. She’s such a good writer.”
“No.”
This time they heard me. Silence descended on the meeting.
After a pause, Dina said, “You can do this, babe. I know you can word it perfectly, make it believable.”
“You mean lie.” My hands curled around the arms of my chair like two claws.
“What’s she saying?” Nash hunched forward, the nose hair from his nostrils visible. “What’s she saying, Dina?”
“I said, no. I’m not doing that. I’m not doing this.”
Dina laughed nervously while Orlando growled, “Excuse me?”
I straightened my notebook on the table next to my laptop and pushed back my chair. On shaky legs, I headed for the door.
A chorus of voices erupted behind me.
“Noelle.”
“Where’s she going?”
“We’re not done.”
As I walked through the door, I called over my shoulder, “I quit.”