Playing the Game (14 page)

“
I don’t give a damn about
the show. What if you get arrested?”

His laughter did nothing to calm my nerves.
“They won’t arrest me. I didn’t do anything to the little punk. He
won’t press charges anyway.”

“
But what if this gets out
and people decide to investigate?”

“
Let them,” he said, cool
and confident.

“
What about your career?”
My heart ached and my stomach knotted.

“
It won’t hurt my career.
Let’s worry about yours.”

I ignored his comments and continued to
whine. “What if they question me tonight? What should I say?”

“
Tell them the truth,
Aubrey,” he said, reaching the end of his patience. “Tell them what
the idiot did to you. Tell them how he intended to use that DVD to
hurt you but I stopped him.” He took a deep breath and cursed. “I
shouldn’t have destroyed that DVD. Damn.”

“
Aubrey Rose!”

“
Jess, my mother’s yelling
for me. She was supposed to call the producers so I better go see
what’s going on.” I sighed. I didn’t want to hang up with him. As
long as I had him on the phone, it was like having him with
me.

“
Call me later and keep me
updated.”

“
I will,” I whispered.
Hanging up, I trudged down the stairs. My mother stood in the
kitchen, hands planted firmly on her hips.

“
Miguel wants to question
all three of you separately. You have to get to the studio early.”
She glowered at me. “Now I want to know the whole
story.”

I told her what happened at the party - how
Samantha spiked my drink and Gary tried to make out with me. I
explained that I’d called Kendra and that she’d picked me up and
let me stay at her place. I told her how I’d gone to see Jess and
he’d discovered the bruises. Finally, I ended with the story about
how Jess had confronted Gary and retrieved the damaging DVD from
him.

“
I cannot believe you
would allow Jess Rivers to threaten another contestant! Why didn’t
you stop him?” my mother demanded.

Did she not hear the story?

“
Would you rather I allow
some man to maul me,
on
video
, and have said video played all over
the news and the Internet?”

“
Maybe you misunderstood,”
she continued. “Gary is such a nice boy.”

“
No he is not! He’s a
creep! And Samantha is just plain evil! Why can’t you take my
side?” My face burned and my skin practically steamed from the heat
of my blood.

“
Why can’t you stay away
from Jess Rivers? He is nothing but trouble!”

“
Because I love him,
Mother. I have no plans of staying away from him.”

“
You’re just like your
sister,” she said sadly, sinking to a chair. “I thought you were
different. I never thought you’d break my heart.”

The guilt came in bucket loads. Sitting next
to her, I took her hand. “I’m not trying to break your heart, Mom,
but I do love Jess. And he loves me.”

She smiled weakly. “I hope so. He hurt you
so badly before, I’d hate to see it happen again.”

“
It won’t,” I vowed. I
kissed her cheek and stood. “I’m going to take a shower and head
down to the studio.” I waited for her nod then ran up the
stairs.

But as I stepped into the shower, my vow
echoed in my head and I wondered how sincerely I believed it.

Chapter Eleven

Miguel was very sympathetic as he ushered me
to his office. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. He
offered me a soft drink and I took it so I had something to do with
my shaky hands.

“
Do you actually know Jess
Rivers?” he asked.

I was stunned, literally, into silence. Of
all the questions I expected, this one was not even on the top one
hundred list. I blinked at him, trying to get my twisted tongue
untangled. “Yes. I…um…knew him in high school.”

He nodded his graying head and smiled.
“We’re trying to keep this ugly incident under wraps. You’ll be
happy to know that we’ve convinced Samantha to remove her blog
entry. I don’t know yet how many people have read it and how much
of this story has gotten out but I’m sure we’ll find out soon
enough.”

“
Did you talk to Samantha
already?” I blurted. I was afraid he’d believe her story over
mine.

“
Just briefly on the
phone. I reminded her of her contract in which she’s not supposed
to disclose things about the show. Of course, this doesn’t directly
pertain but it’s close enough. She agreed.” He tented his fingers
under his chin and studied me for a moment. “Why don’t you tell me
what happened?”

I took a sip of the soda then drew in a deep
breath. I told him the entire story, shame flooding my cheeks.

“
How did Jess Rivers know
there was a video?” he asked, his fuzzy brows pointed down in
confusion.

I shrugged. “Not sure. I guess he kinda
figured that’s what they were planning.” I took another deep
breath. “Jess never hurt him, though. He never threatened him
either. He just asked for the DVD and told him to leave me
alone.”

“
Did Gary hurt
you?”

“
He just squeezed my
shoulders hard enough to leave bruises,” I muttered, dropping my
eyes. What had I been thinking?

“
I’ll speak to him about
that when he comes in,” Miguel assured me.

“
I don’t want anyone
kicked off the show because of this,” I pleaded. “It was a stupid
mistake I made by going to the party in the first place. If I would
have avoided her house, none of this would have
happened.”

Miguel chuckled. “I don’t think anyone is
going to get kicked off the show, Aubrey. Unless this story gets
out and brings bad press. For right now, we’re just going to let it
play out and see what happens. I just want the truth before
anything happens, if it does.”

I nodded my understanding, heart full of
relief. As much as I detested Samantha and Gary, I didn’t want to
see either removed because of a juvenile incident. “Was there
anything else you needed to know?”

“
Were there any other
people present? Samantha mentioned Jess had a few friends with
him.”

I swallowed a huge lump. I didn’t want to
bring Troy and Derrick into this mess. “There were two other people
but they didn’t do anything. One of them stood with me and the
other stood behind Jess. They didn’t hurt Gary or threaten him or
anything.”

“
I understand,” Miguel
said. “But it would be better if you told me who they are rather
than Samantha or Gary.”

“
Samantha wasn’t even
there,” I muttered, stalling for time.

“
I know but she’s the one
with the blog so we have to question her also.” He sat back and
scrutinized me patiently. I knew he was right – it would be better
if I told.

“
Troy Neal and Derrick
McKinney,” I said in one whoosh of air. “But they didn’t do
anything and I’d rather if their names weren’t dragged into this
mess.”

He laughed. “They won’t be, don’t worry.
We’ll keep as much of this story under wraps as possible.”

He leaned forward, eyes suddenly sparkling.
“Are you friends with these baseball players?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Sort of.” I mean,
well, I talked to them when they talked to me and stuff but it’s
not like I had Troy or Derrick on speed dial.

Miguel chatted with me for a few more
minutes then allowed me to leave. I ran to my car and hit Jess’s
number on my phone. He answered immediately.

“
Well?”

“
It’s okay, I guess. But
he asked me who the two other people with you were and I tried not
to tell him but I had to. I knew Gary or Samantha would. And I told
him that they didn’t do anything but stand there.” I paused to
breathe. “I’m sorry.”

Jess chuckled in my ear and the sound sent
shivers down my spine. “Don’t worry about them. They knew what was
going down when they came with me and they, too, are a little more
concerned with you right now.”

“
Really?” I
squeaked.

“
Yes, Aubrey,” he sighed.
“Troy especially. He was pretty pissed when Kendra told him what
that punk did. Something similar happened to Kendra when she was
younger only much worse. Troy doesn’t like guys pushing themselves
on girls. I don’t, either, but Troy saw red.” Jess laughed loudly.
“I should’ve just let Troy have his way.”

“
No!” I shouted. “You guys
don’t need trouble.”

“
No one is going to get
into trouble. Relax. You’ll pass tonight and go on to win next
week.”

That reminded me.

“
Hey, Jess,” I said rather
quietly.

“
Yeah?”

Why was this so hard? All I had to do was
ask and I’d get my answer. “Um…I know you’ll be on the MVP break.
Will you come to the finale?”

He laughed again, softer. “Of course I will.
I’ll sit right next to your mom.”

I groaned. He was trying to kill me, I just
knew it.

“
Jess,” I
warned.

“
Hey, I’ll be home Monday
and since I didn’t make the MVP team, how would you like to have
dinner and console me?”

Was he asking me on a date? Sounded like it.
Did this mean he wanted to see me? Had he made a decision while
he’d been gone?

“
Sure.”

“
Great,” he exclaimed a
little too smug. “I’ll bring your mother roses. Think it will
work?”

I snorted. “Not likely.”

He laughed. “See you Monday,” he said and
hung up. I rolled my eyes, fighting my excitement.

***

My mother quizzed me relentlessly as soon as
I walked through the door. I answered her quickly, my mind only on
Jess and our upcoming date. Finally, she shut up long enough to let
me shower - I had to prepare for the results show. Although I was
fairly confident that I would be passed, I still had my doubts
thanks to Samantha’s blog.

Once I returned to the studio, Samantha’s
eyes shot daggers at me constantly. Obviously, her interrogation
hadn’t gone as smoothly as mine. I was thankful, for the first time
ever, for being dubbed a sweetheart.

Gary put extra effort into avoiding me. I
couldn’t help but smile. Poor guy. I hoped Miguel ripped into him
for his actions. It was no less than he deserved.

All thoughts of Jess left my mind as I stood
on the stage and waited for my turn to face the judges. I was sure
they’d probably heard and perhaps even read Samantha’s blog. I
clamped my hands behind my back to hide the tremor.

Gary stepped before them first and he
received his comments without mention of the blog. I released my
breath. Gary was passed to the next week with a grin.

Samantha took her turn in
front of the panel. Her comments were a little more enthusiastic,
much to my dismay. She beamed proudly as though she’d just rescued
a kitten from the jaws of a fierce pit bull. I rolled my eyes.
Knowing Samantha, she’d probably
fed
the poor kitten to the pit
bull.

Finally, it was my turn. I barely heard
Stephen, Chelsea, and Big D rave over my performance. They pretty
much said the same thing over and over anyway. It was Richard and
Marissa I dreaded.

Marissa once again commented on my hair and
told me she was very happy I was developing my own style. She
frowned on my choice of music, calling it boring and said she hoped
I’d wow her next week. When she closed her lips, looking at
Richard, I took that as my cue to face him.

“
I agree with Marissa. The
hair suits you and I am hoping that next week, when you’re allowed
to choose your own style, that you’ll do something to blow me away.
You have to if you want to make the final five or the final
three.”

I nodded, heart dancing that I’d made it
through to the next week. I stepped back in the line and ran music
selections in my head, not even hearing which contestants were
booted.

***

Gwen surprised me by calling when I got
home. After congratulating me, she raved over my hair. Then she
asked me to come see her Friday morning at the shop.

I sat in her shop and chattered about
nothing important while she performed her opening rituals. Finally,
when she took a seat behind the register, she fired questions at
me.

“
What’s going on with
Samantha? I heard about her blog.”

“
How did you hear about
it?” I asked, terrified word had got out somehow.

“
Mom,” she smirked. “She
actually called me and complained about your attitude lately. I’m
proud of you, by the way.”

Blushing a little, I laughed. “Well, Mom’s
not too happy with me but you and Jess are both right – I need to
grow up.”

“
What’s going on with
Jess?” she asked, resting her elbows on the counter. She looked a
lot better than the last time I saw her. The dark circles were
still there but not as dark.

“
I don’t know for sure. He
did tell me he still loves me and he asked me to have dinner with
him Monday night.”

“
But?” Gwen asked, tiny
smile gracing her lips.

“
Well, he told me before
he left on this last road trip that he would think about things. I
don’t know if Monday’s dinner date is going to be when he tells me
he doesn’t want to see me or if he’ll tell me he does want us to
give it another try.”