Chapter 23 Reed
REED
“Seeing as how you won’t let me go on tour or interview C-Bomb,” Georgina says, her eyebrow arched, “you owe me something as good or better.”
“I’ll let you interview RCR and also Dean, individually.”
“Not good enough. Dean’s been interviewed a trillion times. He’s so good at being interviewed by now, I’m sure I’ll be able to chat with him for twenty minutes at the party tonight and walk away with an entire interview all sewn up.”
I can’t believe my ears. “You still think you’re going to that party tonight? Georgina, obviously, that’s off, too. Same as everything else.”
She throws up her arms. “No!”
“Yes.”
“But Caleb invited me!”
“And I’m uninviting you. I thought you understood the party being cancelled was part and parcel of everything else I’ve cancelled.”
“Okay, that’s it. The last straw. I quit.
” But she doesn’t move. She just sits there, stewing.
Thinking. Strategizing. Finally, she visibly lights up with an idea.
“What if I took off my press pass and went to that party tonight as a civilian? Not as a reporter. Just as Caleb’s personal guest. I could do that, and you couldn’t say boo about it. ”
My heart rate spikes. Fuck. The clever girl’s found herself a loophole. Fuck me.
Georgina smiles wickedly, and I know I’ve done a shitty job of maintaining a poker face. Indeed, whatever she just saw flicker across my face, it’s egging her on.
“You know what?” she says, sitting up. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Throw away my press pass and go to the party tonight as a civilian.
And not only that, I’m going to throw away my press pass for the entire week, and start my job a week later than originally planned, and go on the tour, too.
Why should I be an official reporter on the tour”—she levels me with her blazing eyes—“when I can be Caleb’s. .. groupie?”
Oh, for the love of fuck. She’s evil. A shark smelling blood. A demon.
Georgina licks her lips. “Band members are allowed to bring guests on their tours, right? I bet that’s even stated in their contracts.
So, fine, I’ll just be Caleb’s personal guest for the entire week and all my problems will be magically solved.
” She snaps her fingers. “Don’t forget, C-Bomb offered to get me a hotel room at the Ritz tonight, on his dime, just to make things easier on me after the party.
Wasn’t that sweet of him? So, I’m thinking, maybe, if I ask him really sweetly to get me rooms in every city along the tour, he’ll do it for me.
Do you think he would? I bet he would.” She drapes her arm across the back of the couch.
“And if not, then, gosh, maybe he’ll be willing to let me crash in his bed. .. every... single... night.”
Oh, my fucking God, she’s diabolical. Pure, unadulterated evil.
A force of nature. A human asteroid hurtling toward my planet.
How did I not see this coming? I’m normally brilliant at predicting my opponent’s tactical maneuvers.
But this time, I must admit, Georgina Ricci has outplayed me.
I clench my jaw, forcing myself to keep a poker face.
But, damn, this diabolical woman just laid down a royal flush to my two pairs and I’m losing my fucking mind.
“What was that groupie’s name in Almost Famous?” she asks breezily.
I force myself to sound nonchalant. “Penny Lane.”
“That’s right. I bet I’d get a ton of great content for Dig a Little Deeper, if I pulled a Penny Lane this whole week with Caleb.
” She swipes her palm through the air in front of me, like she’s imagining her name in lights.
“‘My Tantalizing Week as a Badass Drummer’s Penny Lane.’ By Georgina Ricci.
” She smiles wickedly at me and lowers her hand.
“Gosh, with a scintillating title like that, I bet the article would fly off shelves. It’d probably be the best-selling issue of Dig a Little Deeper yet, doncha think? ”
Oh, she’s good. But, still, as I sit here staring at her, I’m starting to smell her panic.
To make out the chinks in her armor that betray the panic bubbling frantically underneath all that gorgeous bravado.
Her shallow breath. Flaring nostrils. The crimson in her cheeks.
Ah, yes. Despite this little show she’s putting on for me, gorgeous Georgina is actually terrified I won’t call her bluff, but will, in fact, let her walk out that door to become C-Bomb’s groupie this week.
Now that I’m smelling her delicious fear, I’m positive she doesn’t want to do it.
Doesn’t want to be his, whether she had his poster on her wall as a teen or not.
If she did, at all. God only knows what this demon would be willing to say to fuck with me.
But, no, either way, this girl is dying to be mine and nobody else’s.
I’m sure of that now, thanks to the way her heart is visibly crashing behind her incredible tits.
Should I let her twist in the wind a little bit longer?
Let her panic boil over? Yes, I should. Unfortunately, though, I’m too worried I’m wrong about her not wanting to fuck Caleb to risk it.
Taking a long, deep breath, I drape my elbow over the back of the armchair, matching her posture.
“I’d strongly urge you against pursuing a ‘Penny Lane’ strategy with C-Bomb.
You might get one scintillating article out of it, but you’d likely torpedo your career. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, baby.”
“Would an article like that torpedo C-Bomb’s career?”
“Of course not. An article like that would add to his mythos as a sex god.”
“That’s sexist.”
“Maybe so, but that’s life. He’s the drummer in a rock band, and you’re a brand-new baby journalist who needs to be taken seriously.”
She presses her lips together, conceding I’ve just scored a point in our game of table tennis. A point she’s awfully glad I’ve scored, if I had to guess.
“Plus,” I say, “is doing an end-run around me, the CEO of River Records, really in your best interests, long-term? Even if the other night had never happened between us, even if I had no designs on you for myself—which, to be clear, I do—do you honestly think it would be wise for a summer intern at Rock ‘n’ Roll to defy a direct order from the founder and CEO of the very label she’s been assigned to write about?
Tread carefully, Miss Ricci. Think about the full consequences of your actions. No more flying off the handle.”
Her chest heaves. And her nostrils flare.
And I know she’s pretty much crapping her pants at her predicament—and the corner she’s painted herself into.
“All right,” she says. “I’ll put my Penny Lane piece on the back burner.
.. for now. But only if you offer me something that’s as good or better.
Because there’s no way in hell I’m going to call my boss, who isn’t you, by the way, and say the assignment she gave me is off because, oh, gosh, the CEO of the label I’m assigned to write about wants to fuck me, and therefore doesn’t want me to be alone with Caleb Baumgarten. ’”
And... she’s back. Guns blazing. Damn. I must admit, I’m proud of her for pulling that rabbit out of her hat at the eleventh hour.
Deeply impressed, as a matter of fact. “That one-on-one interview of Dean?” I say.
“It’ll be a full-day thing at his compound in Malibu.
In fact, if I ask him to, I’m sure he’ll give you a tour of the place.
Maybe even cook for you. Stir-fry, probably.
That’s his specialty. Plus, Dean loves to surf, so we could do a photo shoot of him on the beach with his board, and he could talk about how much inspiration he derives from the ocean.
Surely, a clever girl like you could parlay all that into something deep and meaningful that CeeCee would run in Dig a Little Deeper. ”
Georgina sniffs like my offer is shit. But it’s got to be tempting to her.
Dean is a global rock star. A revered musician, songwriter, and heartthrob.
And yet, he’s not a famewhore, which means he doesn’t do a whole lot of in-depth interviews—preferring, instead, to do a thousand and one superficial ones—only whatever publicity is minimally necessary to sell the band’s latest release.
“You’re not concerned I’m going to have sex with Dean if I spend the day with him at his compound in Malibu and eat his stir-fry and watch him surf?” she asks, her brow arched wickedly. “He’s not too shabby to look at, if you haven’t noticed.”
“I’m not worried.”
It’s the truth. Dean’s not a threat to me.
For one thing, he’s a good guy. Not an asshole, like Caleb.
And if there’s one thing I know about my Georgie girl, she likes herself a good asshole.
Also, Dean’s not on the prowl. He’s been in love with the same girl his entire life—the girl he wrote his band’s debut single about years ago—Shaynee—and she’s recently re-entered his life.
And, finally, even if Dean’s heart weren’t otherwise engaged, he’s the kind of guy who’d respect an off-limits designation by the head of his fucking label, unlike Caleb.
In short, the guy’s not a threat to me, any way you slice it.
Georgie doesn’t flinch. “Well, that’s a lovely offer, Mr. Rivers.
Thank you. I’ll take you up on all that.
But it’s still not enough to keep me from calling CeeCee and ratting you out.
If you want me to call my boss and tell her I’m not going to fulfill the assignment she gave me, because Reed Rivers wants to fuck me so badly, then you’re going to have to give me more.
” She gazes at her manicured fingernails, as if she’s suddenly bored as hell.
“Frankly, Reed, if Dean is all you’ve got to ‘bribe’ me with, I’d just as soon throw my press pass into the trash and become C-Bomb’s personal Penny Lane.
I’m sure CeeCee wouldn’t mind me starting my job one week later than originally discussed, to get a meaty article like that. ”