Wild Ride: A Bad Boy Romance (14 page)

Colton was
introduced to Sheila through his agent. They met for coffee at an out of the
way place. This was just to get to know each other. The photo opportunities and
press sightings would happen later. Once the wedding planning was almost
complete, they could begin to be photographed together.

Colton hated to
admit it, but he was struck by Sheila’s beauty right from the start. She looked
very familiar. He felt like he had met her, but he couldn’t put his finger on
it.

She was very
young. Maybe 22 years old at the most. She had big breasts and a slim waist. She
was a little ‘hotter,’ perhaps, than his Katy was. But he hated himself for
thinking that…but he reconciled the feelings by telling himself that, after
all, he was a man, and he had regular male desires. He couldn’t help himself
admiring another woman, he thought to himself. It wasn’t like he was going to
cheat on Katy. No, he would never do that. He knew himself too well. And he
knew how much he cared for Katy. He couldn’t do anything like that, anything
that would seriously hurt Katy.

Colton tried to
remain calm and a little distant during the meeting. He needed to be polite though,
and offered to pay for their coffees.

“Not
necessary,” said Sheila, pulling out a hundred dollar bill. “No offense,
Colton, but I make a lot more money than you do.”

“No offense
taken,” said Colton.

“Anyway,” said
Sheila, sitting down across the table from Colton. “I think this will be good
for both our careers. At first, I was pretty hesitant about the idea.”

“Me too,” said
Colton.

“But then I
heard your name mentioned. That was what had done it for me, really. To be
honest with you, I’ve been a fan of yours for the longest time.”

“Even before
all the recent publicity?” said Colton, skeptical that she was a real fan. He
thought she was either just saying she was a fan to be polite, or perhaps she
had seen him in some talk show. There weren’t that many young girls who were
true and serious rodeo fanatics.

“No,” said
Sheila, emphatically. “I grew up around rodeo. I mean, I’m a true country girl
through and through. I’ve been watching rodeo since I was 8 years old. I’ve
followed all your rodeos…I stream them on my laptop if I’m abroad for a concert,
and can’t watch them on TV.”

“Wow,” said
Colton. “I’m actually really impressed. I didn’t think I had any fans.”

“Well I was
always a fan,” said Sheila. “So I thought: who better to have a fake marriage
with, other than a rodeo star you’ve had a crush forever?”

“A crush, eh?”
said Colton, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. He looked down at his beat up
cowboy boots.

“Yeah, a
crush,” said Sheila, batting her eyes seductively. She seemed to be sticking
her chest out a little, arching her back, so that her taut and youthful breasts
stuck out quite a bit, looking very attractive.

“I should let
you know that I’m already in a relationship,” said Colton, uncomfortably.

Sheila let out
a laugh. “Don’t worry, Colton. I’m not trying to steal you away or anything.
This is just for the press.

“Right,” said
Colton. “Just for the press.” But he wasn’t sure about Sheila’s intentions. But
despite his misgivings, everything else sounded good about the arrangement. He
and Sheila went over some documents that their agents had typed up. The agents
had arranged a whole schedule for them…when and where they were supposed to be
sighted. The paparazzi would be tipped off, and would be expecting them at each
of these locations, locations that had been carefully hand picked for the
maximum effect. And not to mention the wedding…the paparazzi would be there of
course, along with the best of the tabloid reporters.

Colton walked
away from the meeting feeling good…this would be good for his career. Sheila’s
crush on him had made him a little nervous. It wouldn’t have made him nervous
if he hadn’t been attracted to her body…and her nice smile, and she seemed like
a legitimately interesting person. Colton supposed you had to be an interesting
person to be a singer or an artist. But he figured he could just stuff those feelings
deep down. If he was careful and kept their relationship professional, then
nothing could come between Katy and him.

Colton got onto
his trusty Triumph motorcycle and gunned the engine.

As he drove out
of the parking lot, keeping the gears low, and letting the engine roar, he
caught a glimpse of Sheila getting into a fancy sports car. She looked quite
elegant, stepping one leg at a time into her car.

I was incredibly
busy planning the wedding for Colton. Because my business was on hold, it had been
a long time since I had planned a wedding. Even though I had been doing it for
years, and it was quite natural to me, I had somehow forgotten how much work it
was.

I set up a
little office in my apartment. My actual office had been closed down. I had let
the lease on it slide, and the place that had been my own for many years was no
longer mine. I had driven by recently and it seemed like it had been turned
into a dentist’s office or something like that.

But there
wasn’t much time to think about the tragedy that was my former business, or my
friendship with Sara. I knew that I would find another job, something else to
do, something else to occupy my mind. Once Colton began getting more and more
famous, he would have more and more commitments, and would be able to spend
less and less time with me. As of now, Colton was my full time job. I didn’t
have any need for other distractions or commitments.

Colton was off
meeting his future fake bride. I felt a little anxiety at the thought of them
alone, having coffee, and chatting. But I tried to push the feelings aside.
After all, I had work that needed to be done. Lots of work.

Fortunately, I
still had all my old contacts from my business…caterers, wedding cake bakers, florists…everything.
Most of them expressed a lot of regret when I told them I was closing the
business…I told them there was a chance I might be opening back up again
sometime soon. I hinted at problems with business partners, but was careful not
to mention Sara’s name, or to say anything too specific. I knew that with a
lawsuit hanging over my head, I had to be careful with who I told and what I
told them. Anything I said could later be used in court against me…Sara was
bound to bring in witnesses.

I was talking
on the phone with one of my favorite florists, trying to get the arrangements
just right for Colton’s upcoming wedding, when my phone started beeping at me.
There was an incoming call.

“Sorry,” I
said. “But can I call you back? I’m getting another call. I think it’s from one
of the bakers.”

“No problem,”
said Mrs. Bucklebottom, before hanging up.

“Hello?” I
said, pressing the call button that allowed the new call to come through. I
didn’t even look at the caller ID. I was getting so many calls it was hard to
keep track of them all, and I was now in the habit of just answering the phone
no matter what.

“Katy?” said a
familiar voice on the other end of the line.

“Yeah?” I said.
“I’m sorry, but who is it? You sound really familiar, but it’s been a long day
and my brain’s not working well right now.”

“Katy, it’s
Sara.”

My heart began
to beat faster. I felt my face grow red and hot. Anger was bubbling up inside
of me. Not just anger, but rage. Pure rage. I almost slammed the phone closed.
I wanted to hang up on her.

“Sara!” I
practically yelled into the phone. “How dare you call me…after what you did to
me. And I called you. I called you plenty of times. You never even sent me a
text message, let alone return my calls.”

“I know, Katy.
I know. Trust me, I know,” said Sara.

I felt myself
growing too angry for my own good. Like most of my problems, I had been trying
to push the problem with Sara far to the back of my mind. I had done the same
thing with my Father’s death…I had barely thought about him or my Mother since
meeting Colton. For better or for worse, that was my way of dealing with
things…probably for worse, I realize now. Because once the problem finally
confronted me, all that rage that I had bottled up started to release itself on
its own accord. “I’m going to hang up now,” I said, sternly, with anger in my
voice. It was the best I could do in that situation. I knew that if I stayed on
the phone longer, I was bound to yell and scream, and at least I had the foresight
to realize that that level of anger was going to hurt me as much as it hurt
Sara.

“Katy. Wait,”
said Sara, in a muffled voice. Her voice sounded strange and far away.

“Are you
crying?” I said.

“Yes,” said
Sara, clearly choking back tears.

“What’s going
on, Sara?” I said. Despite my anger, I remembered our friendship. I felt our
friendship deep in my bones. I felt bad for her. Why was she crying?

“Look, Katy,”
said Sara. It sounded like she was crying even harder than before. “I know I’ve
been terrible to you. I know I’ve been an awful friend. It’s just…I’ve been in
a terrible relationship.”

“You were
dating?” I said. My curiosity was getting the best of me. I was no longer
having to fight my desire to hang up the phone. Now I wanted to know what was
going on. After all, it had been so uncharacteristic of my sweet best friend to
turn around and sue me like that…maybe there was something more going on that I
needed to know about.

“Yeah,” said
Sara. “I didn’t want to tell you about it, Katy. I guess I knew that things
weren’t going well. I knew something was wrong with him right from the start.
But I was so lonely. I just wanted to be with someone, no matter what.”

“You never even
told me you were dating,” I said, merely repeating what Sara was telling me.
But I couldn’t help it. It was just so astounding. At this point, most of my
anger was dissipating. I still had a little knot of it somewhere down in my
stomach, though. I was hanging onto this little last piece of anger.

“I know,” said
Sara. “I know, Katy. And I’m sorry. If I had told you, this whole thing would
have never happened. You would have told me that he was a manipulative jerk and
I would have dumped him. But that’s exactly why I didn’t tell you. I was so
lonely that I wanted to stay with him no matter what. And he…he convinced me to
sue you. He said I wasn’t being treated fairly.”

“We were making
the same amount of money!” I said, nearly screaming into the cell phone.

“I know, Katy.
I know. Just listen to me for a moment.” Sara had stopped crying as much as she
had been, and now her voice was a little bit more intelligible. “But he got
inside my head. I knew you were my best friend…but...he was threatening me. He
was telling me that if I didn’t sue you it was an act against him. He said we
needed the money….”

“Wait what happened?”
I said in a quiet voice. “Why are you calling me now to tell me all this. What
changed your mind? I suppose you have changed your mind, since you are calling
me?”

“Yes,” said
Sara, hastily. “Of course, Katy. Of course I’ve changed my mind. I called my
lawyer this morning. I told him to drop the whole suit. I owe him a whole bunch
of money in legal fees...I don’t care though. That’s not important now.”

“Wow,” I said.
“So it’s all over?”

“Yeah,” said
Sara. “Thank God. I’m so sorry, Katy. I know it was a nightmare for me. It must
have been ever worse for you…”

“Maybe it was,”
I said slowly. “All though it sounds pretty bad on your end.” I was surprised
that my anger was fading away…. But, after all, she had been my friend for so
long. How could I stay mad at her?

“It was
terrible….” Said Sara, beginning to sob again. “I can’t believe I did that to
you.”

“Listen,” I
said. “What’s done is done. Don’t worry about it. Tell you what, why don’t you
come over? It’d be good to see you again. The office is closed. But you know
where I live. I’m working on a new project now, and I could use your help on
it.”

“You’re
planning a wedding?” said Sara. I could hear the excitement in her voice. We
had both always loved planning weddings together. After all, we used to do it
together for fun when we were younger.”

I explained a
little bit about dating Colton, and about the wedding I was planning.

“So we’re
planning your own wedding?” said Sara, sounding very excited. “Katy! That’s fabulous.
We’ve been waiting for this ever since we were little girls. This is amazing.”

“Well, it’s not
exactly my wedding…” I said, not quite knowing what to say, or how to explain
it.

“What do you
mean, it’s not your wedding?” said Sara, sounding concerned, her excitement
partially draining from her voice.

Even though I
hated to tell her all that was going on with Colton and his fake marriage, I
still found it…enjoyable, I guess. It was just like we were old friends again.
The lawsuit was already long behind us, and we were chatting just like we
always had. I told her all about Cambridge Whitehead and how I had offered to
plan the wedding for Colton and the young country singer.

“I think I’ve
heard of her,” said Sara. “Maybe I saw a music video of hers on TV or
something.”

“I still don’t
know who she is,” I said. “But she’s supposedly quite famous, or else there
wouldn’t be any advantage to Colton’s career, I suppose.”

“Well,” said
Sara. “I don’t like the sound of it, Katy. I don’t like the sound of it one bit.
But if you’re sure it’s the right thing for your man, then I’m with you 100%.
And I’d love to help you plan the wedding.

Sara drove over
immediately after getting off the phone with me. We hugged and cried and
laughed. Then we lost no more time and got down to business.

It was amazing
how much easier it was planning a wedding with a second person. And I was
planning the wedding with Sara, nonetheless. Sara and I had equal experience in
the field, but there were many things that I simply wasn’t good at…where to
place the flowers, for instance…I just didn’t have a knack for certain things
the way Sara did. Of course, and Sara would be the first person to tell you
this, there were plenty of things that I was better at than Sara. All in all,
we fit together well. We made a good team.