Rumor Has It (Limelight) (23 page)

He tilted my head so I was looking down at him. “I’m glad you feel that way,” he said. I leaned in to brush my lips with his. I wasn’t sure what to make of that comment but when I pulled away from him he smiled.

I motioned to the nightstand on his side of the bed. “Pass me my phone and we’ll see if anything has been posted online yet.” If I was going to have to deal with this I might as well get it over with. Mason rolled to his other side, grabbed my phone and passed it over.

“Sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“No sense in delaying the inevitable.”

“Sometimes it’s better not to even read what they say.”

I laughed and looked down at my phone, realizing it was turned off. Crap. I guess I hadn’t remembered to turn it back on after I’d had that embarrassing moment in the studio. I pressed the button and waited for it to power up while Mason’s hand rubbed my upper thigh.

Hmm. I had a message. Probably Skye or Katie just calling to see how my trip was going. I hit the voicemail button and put the phone to my ear.

“This message is for Ellie Wagner. Ellie, this is Tasha Stevens from Mediacon. I’m calling because you sent us a résumé this week for the position of Assistant Manager of Account Relations. It’s a bit of an unusual situation in that we’d already conducted the interviews and decided on a hire when we received your résumé, but your schooling is exactly what we’d been hoping to find when we posted the job. I wanted to see if you were available to come in for a quick interview sometime today. I’m sorry for the short notice but we need someone to start on Monday and if you aren’t going to be a good fit I need to call the other candidate this evening to offer her the position. If you could give me a call back as soon as possible I’d appreciate it. If I don’t hear from you today I’ll have to offer the other candidate the position but I wish you the best of luck with your search. You can reach me at—” I hit End on the message and looked at my screen. She’d called early yesterday morning. I let the phone slide through my fingers to land with a soft “thunk” on the bed while I stared straight ahead.

“Ellie. Ellie, is everything okay?”

While I’d been out here chasing after Mason and having a good time partying it up at a nightclub I’d let my opportunity at independence slip away. God, I was so mad at myself. I knew better than to put everything I had into a guy. I’d watched my mom do it for years and had seen it backfire on her time and time again.

Mason sat up and grabbed both my shoulders. “What’s going on?”

I picked up the phone and started the voicemail message again and handed the phone to Mason. He listened intently and put the phone down when the message finished.

“She called yesterday morning,” I said.

“This is all my fault. If I hadn’t asked you to come out here…”

“It’s not your fault, Mason. It’s mine. If I’d remembered to turn my phone back on I probably would have gotten her call.” I could’ve kicked myself. If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in lusting after Mason I would’ve checked my phone for e-mails and messages. Would’ve remembered there was a world outside of him.

“I can make some phone calls. I’m sure one of my contacts knows someone somewhere who’s looking for someone with your qualifications.

“No!” I’d said it louder and more abruptly than I’d intended judging from the look of surprise on Mason’s face. “I don’t want you to do that.”

“Ellie, I—”

“It’s not up for negotiation. I don’t need you to find me a job.”

Mason put both his hands up in front of him. “Okay. Consider the subject closed.”

I shouldn’t have snapped at him but under no circumstances did I want him pulling any strings to get me a job. I wanted to earn it. I was educated and bright and I could find a job on my own. Unlike my mother, I could make my way in the world without the help of the guy in my life.

“I need to get in the shower before we catch the plane,” I said and rose from the bed with the sheet still wrapped around me. I needed a minute to clear my head and I hoped Mason wouldn’t follow me.

When I reached the doorway to the ensuite I looked back to find Mason lying on his back with his palms pressed to his forehead. I guess we both needed a minute.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Ellie had been quiet on the plane ride back to Virginia Beach but over the past few days we fell into a regular routine. She’d go to work during the day and then come by the beach house and spend the night with me.

Neither of us had brought up what was going to happen when my time in Virginia was over. I knew we could make promises to each other about how we’d keep in touch and try to see each other when we could… I also knew being on the road wasn’t conducive to a relationship. She deserved someone who could be there for her. She should have a relationship that didn’t have to put up with the near constant rumour mill of speculation as to whether we were making up, breaking up, or making babies.

The pictures of us together in Los Angeles still hadn’t surfaced anywhere. I had a bad feeling about that. Experience had taught me the longer they took to make it in print the more salacious the story that accompanied them; true or not. They were probably up for auction between a bunch of the tabloids or someone was still trying to put a name to Ellie.

I walked out on to the deck to deliver Ellie’s glass of wine. She was sitting at one of the tables with my laptop checking to see if any new job postings had come up. Since she’d missed the interview while she was in L.A. she’d been diligent about checking the postings every night.

I placed the wine to the side of the computer as I walked by. “Here you go.” She nodded her head absently. She was concentrating deeply, her eyes darting from left to right on the screen while she read. I took a seat across from her.

Her natural beauty still struck me every time I saw her. Her face held such openness but there was a fiercely independent spirit inside her I’d only gotten a glimpse of in L.A. It was a unique combination. I kept most people at arm’s length—it was easy to do after you’d been burned by some opportunistic asshole or a gold-digging bitch. Somehow Ellie had managed to sneak past my defences without me really noticing, or her really trying.

I didn’t worry she was going to call and tip off someone about our whereabouts or try to bat her eyelashes to get me to buy something for her. She didn’t ask me to introduce her to someone so she could get a leg up. No, in fact Ellie was the exact opposite. When I’d mentioned helping her find a job she’d about bit my head off.

She let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair.

“Anything new posted today?” I asked.

“Nothing.” She grabbed the wine glass off the table and took a sip. “What’s your web address? I’ve been meaning to check your site out.”

“Should I be worried?” I laughed.

“You tell me,” she said as her fingers raced across the keyboard. “Found it.” She scrolled through for a few minutes. When she was done all she said was “Huh” and looked up at me. Her forehead wrinkled in what I guessed to be confusion.

“That can’t be good,” I said good-naturedly. But seriously, what the hell was that about?

“It’s just…I don’t know. That site doesn’t really do much for you. It’s basically just a bunch of links to your music on iTunes and press coverage you’ve gotten. It’s really more a sales page than a fan-building page. You don’t even have anywhere for your fans to sign-up for a newsletter. Are you on social media at all?”

So. She really didn’t like it. “I have no interest in doing that shit. I don’t have time for it.”

“You need to make time. I can’t believe your manager and PR people haven’t told you this already.”

“Oh, they have. I’ve ignored it.”

“Mason, you could gain so many new fans by exposing them to your music. People will follow you who’ve never listened to anything you’ve done because it’s easy to just click ‘follow’ or ‘like’ on social media. There’s no commitment. If they don’t like what you have to say they’ll just unfollow you.”

“I have no interest in letting people into my private life. I have a hard enough time keeping things private as it is.”

She reached her hand across the table and placed it over mine. “It could help you land the reality show.”

She definitely knew how to pique my interest and not just by leaning over the table and revealing her cleavage.

“I’m listening.”

“Let me tweak some stuff on the back end of your site and show you the kind of things you can do on the social media sites. If you don’t like it you don’t have to move forward with it and you can leave everything as is.” She reminded me of a kid at Christmas waiting for permission to open the presents. Her eyes were wide and she bounced up and down on the edge of her seat waiting for my answer. She must really miss using her skills. As much as I didn’t want to have to open myself up to social media I found it near impossible to say no to those big doe eyes of hers.

“All right.”

“Really?” When I nodded my head she came around the table and plopped herself on my lap, giving me a big hug. I felt her tits pressing against my chest I knew I’d said yes for a reason.

“You won’t regret it.” She pulled back and brought her plump lips down on mine for a brief kiss. Much too brief for my liking so I pulled her back in. As the kiss started to deepen she pulled away. “I’ll need to know your passwords and your web host.”

I pulled her back to my mouth. “I’ll have everything sent to you. Let’s not worry about that now.”

I didn’t hear anything else about my website or social media after that. In fact, we didn’t talk much at all the rest of the night.

*****

I’d decided to come home after my day at Beachside Realty. I had spent every night that week at Mason’s. I’d used the excuse that I needed to get caught up on my laundry but in actual fact I needed to put some space between us. I was becoming too dependent on him and I needed to prove to myself I could survive one lousy night without mooning over him the whole time. Besides, I only had a bit more work to do on his website and I’d wanted to finish up so I could have a big unveiling for him after our plans tomorrow.

Mason was visiting a woman’s shelter the next day and had asked if I wanted to accompany him. I had Saturdays off so I’d agreed but I was nervous. I had no idea what to expect. Apparently this was part of what Mason had to do to keep his mother from serving jail time. Originally they’d wanted him to travel to Texas to make the rounds at some local community charities there, but Mason had insisted he wasn’t leaving Virginia Beach. They’d agreed and now as he toured the country he’d have to make some charitable stops along the way. He could pick the charities. I’d wanted to ask why he’d chosen this one but I suspected I already knew the answer, given some of the history he’d shared about his mom’s past.

My phone buzzed. I grabbed my purse off the end of my bed, pulled out the romance novel I was reading, pushed past my hair brush and found it sitting at the bottom. A picture of Skye smiling wide with hair whipping around her face was displayed on the screen.

“Hey, chica.”

“Are you sitting down?” she asked.

My stomach dropped. Something was wrong. I could tell by the sound of her voice that whatever she had to tell me, it wasn’t good. I’d already been sitting on my bed but I moved to lean back against the headrest for extra support. “What is it?” I asked, my voice breaking at the end.

“I was online checking my e-mails, Facebook, Twitter, then I decided to go into my Pinterest account—”

“Skye, get to the point.” She had a habit of rambling on when she was nervous.

“I went on to some celebrity gossip sites and I saw something…something about you.”

I blew out a relieved breath. The pictures of Mason and I leaving the nightclub must have surfaced. I’d steeled myself for the talk about who I was and what the nature of our relationship was. “It’s okay. I know about it.” I felt some of the nervous energy I’d been holding in the pit of my stomach dissipate.

“Wait? You’re okay with this?”

“I knew they got a picture of us when we were in Los Angeles.”

“Sure, a picture of you together is one thing, but this…”

I chuckled. “What? Are they saying we’re engaged, or that I’m pregnant?” I laughed.

“Ellie, have you read the story?”

Something in the way she asked the question made the hairs on my arms stand like soldiers at attention. “No…”

“I think you should take a look.”

My heart beat wildly in my chest and a giant lump formed in my throat. “Hang on.” I grabbed my laptop off the dresser. Skye said nothing as I waited for my computer to boot-up; the silence between us was thick and full of tension.

I pulled up a gossip blog, typed Mason’s name in the search field and hit enter. Those seconds between hitting enter and the image appearing on the screen seemed endless. I’m not sure what I was expecting but when I saw what was staring at me from the screen my jaw dropped.

“What the hell?” I yelled.

It was a picture of Mason and me leaving the club all right, but instead of me looking as sexy as I’d felt I was coming down the stairs in front of Mason with his hand on my upper arm. My eyes were somewhere between open and shut, my leg was at a weird angle that made it look like I was in danger of tumbling down the stairs. I looked like I was drunk as hell and could barely stand up straight. The picture must’ve been taken when I stumbled and Mason had prevented me from falling. The headline underneath read, “Why Can’t Nash Keep the Addicts Away?”