by Kahlen Aymes
It was a long walk back to my apartment, but I started walking and kept going. I needed to mentally catalogue all that needed to be done to fight this. I knew that I needed to call Jeff to see what my options were legally, and I needed to meet with my editor and see if I could plead my case.
This odd misery seeping through every cell made me numb, except my throat ached and my chest felt hollow. Mostly, I needed to see my girl, hold her, and convince her that I didn’t do this awful thing she thought I’d done… but then my heart rebelled. She should know better. Didn’t she know how head over heels I was for her? Didn’t she think I had an ounce of integrity? And could I really spend my life with someone who didn’t believe in me?
No! my mind screamed.
I walked for hours, not feeling the cold, not noticing that the sun had gone down, or even knowing the direction I was walking… my mind tried to rationalize and even make excuses for why Addison could doubt me… but I came up empty. She was smart, and she shouldn’t have fallen for Gloria’s tricks.
I was left with was an empty hole where just a day earlier, my heart had been so full. Everything felt so fucking desolate.
I found myself getting out of a cab in front of my brother’s park avenue apartment building sporting a pint of Crown Royal in a small brown paper bag that was tucked into the pocket of my black Canada Goose parka. I was finally starting to feel a slight buzz and so the pain of the day’s events was dulling. Now, I was mainly pissed.
“Fucker must be richer than God,” I muttered. Looking at the impressive steel and glass structure. I craned my neck to look up and the top disappeared into a hazy fog. Maybe it was a low hanging cloud. The hell if I knew.
I walked into the lobby and past the desk, nodding at the doorman. The older security guard knew me, though I hadn’t been there in probably a year, and he acknowledged me in return.
“Is Jefferson in?” I asked, strolling by.
“Yes, sir. I’ll announce you,” he said, picking up the phone to call my brother’s apartment.
In a matter of minutes, my brother was yanking open his door and scowling at me. His manner of dress was casually elegant. Dark slacks and a dark grey half-zip wool sweater in a fine herringbone weave. I had a discerning eye and I could tell that damn thing was probably cost at least a grand. It was early evening by now and he was obviously on his way out.
My brother’s blue gaze roamed over my unkept appearance and the coat I was wearing with disapproval. “What the hell? You look like you just got dragged in from Antarctica!”
“Ha. Ha,” I huffed, walking inside without an invitation. “I need to talk to you.”
“It will have to wait. I promised mother I’d meet her for dinner to discuss some charity thing.”
“Jesus. Hobnobbing with Mom’s Philanthropy Club, now?” I rolled my eyes and pulled out the Crown from my coat and took a pull, holding it out to my brother. “Want some?” I asked.
“No, thanks. I prefer my booze in a crystal tumbler.” My brother looked agitated.
“Is this about that woman? Is she still playing hard to get?”
His apartment was a lot like mine, and a lot like the man. Neat, sparse and elegant with gleaming wood floors, modern furniture, high ceilings and tall windows with a magnificent view of Manhattan.
“Yes and no.” I sat down on his low leather sofa, leaned back and sprawled my legs out in front of me. I took another swig from the bottle in my hand. “What do you call this color?” I cringed, looking at it. “Baby shit, orange?”
My brother’s expression filled with anger. “Look, for bursting in here unannounced, looking like you came straight from Tennessee, it must be more important that all this B.S. Can you just cut to the fucking chase, Jax?”
I hooked an elbow over the back of his couch. “Gloria fucked me over and now I need a legal Pitbull.”
“What is it about?” I could see Jefferson’s legal Spidey sense starting to rise. He loved a good fight. I’d give anything if this was all a bad dream, but since it wasn’t, I knew my brother was the one to get me out of it.
“She stole a manuscript from one of my student’s and passed it off with the publisher as mine.”
“How did you find out?”
“The editor sent a copy of the edits to me ahead of schedule. Gloria must have thought it was something else, or she wouldn’t have forwarded on.”
“That bitch is stupid. If she wanted to blow you up, why would she do that? She would have been smarter to take care of it all until the book miraculously appeared on bookshelves.”
I was incredulous. “Whose side are you on?”
“Well, yours but I deal with devious fuckers every day of my life. I can’t do anything about this until Monday morning, so call my secretary and I’ll have her fit you into my schedule.”
Heat from the coat I hadn’t take off was getting to be too much. I sat the bottle down on the coffee table in front of me and flung off the heavy coat. “This can’t wait!” I demanded.
My brother stood and walked across the room to the wet bar on one side of the room. This place was the perfect bachelor pad, I thought. Even more so than my penthouse.
He returned with a tumbler half full of ice and scotch. His face was more serious. “What is the situation with the contracts? Did the woman sign a ghostwriter agreement?”
I sighed. “I haven’t seen her contract, but Gloria insists she did.”
Jeff sat down across from me in a matching chair. “Well, bro, what does yours say? Is there a clause that says if you miss a deadline, she can use a ghostwriter?”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I was furious, but I felt exhausted and disappointed. And sad that Addison automatically thought the worst of me. “I don’t know, Jeff. I want you to represent the other writer!”
Realization dawned on his face. “Oh shit. Is that student you’re banging?”
My heart fell to the pit of my stomach and I flushed. When he put it like that, it sounded really horrible. “Yeah. Oh shit.”
“Fuck, Jax. You really know how to get your balls in a vice.” Jeff shook his head.
“It’s not like I saw this coming. I was in Tennessee writing for that damn deadline. I was blindsided!”
“Well, the first thing I’ll need is a copy of her contract, but if she signed it, it might be above board. Likewise, if you’ve got that loophole in yours there might not be anything, we can do about it.”
Anger burst within me and I jumped to my feet, scowling down at him. “Look, if I wanted someone to tell me to roll over and take it up the ass, I wouldn’t have come to you!”
“Hey, slow your roll.” Jeff held up his hands. “I didn’t say I couldn’t try to find a way out of this, I just said I need to see the fucking contracts, and maybe they’re iron clad. That includes agency and publisher agreements.” My brother was calmer than I was, but then it wasn’t his life that was about to be ruined.
“Oh, that’s another thing; Gloria forged my signature on the new book contract.”
“I thought you had a standing one with your publisher? What about the deadline?”
I was pacing back and forth in front of the couch I’d just vacated. “Kind of. Simon & Schuster has first rights of refusal on any new material, but the details on each new book or series has to be worked out on an individual basis. I knew they wanted something from me by the end of this year, but I instructed Gloria to move it back. Apparently, she sent over a contract with delivery dates on them and a copy of Addison’s manuscript, and Marcia must have signed it. She’d have no reason to doubt the validity. I’ve been with then since day one.”
“Well, I’ll have to file a motion to make them withhold publishing while we sue the agency. Will they work with you? What’s your relationship like?”
“I have a good relationship with my editor, Jefferson, but this is a huge wheel in motion, and the publishing house will lose a gargantuan amount of money unless they can drop something else into its place. It’s sl
ated out months ahead of time. It’s not just Marcia’s decision.”
“If Gloria just sent them the contract, then surely it’s not on the schedule this quickly?”
I was agitated and I whirled on my brother. “Look, I don’t know, okay? Maybe she sent the contract months ago. I don’t know! All I know is that Gloria is not who I thought she was!”
“Have you talked to her? Maybe she’ll work it out so that she won’t lose you as clie—”
“Do you think I was fucking born yesterday?” I interrupted. “Of course! Gloria was the first stop I made when I got back into town this afternoon, Jeff! She laughed in my face.”
“Calm down. I’ll file a temporary restraining order if the publisher won’t cancel the contract willingly.” He seemed matter of fact and dismissive. Clearly, he thought it was no big deal.
I huffed in disgust. “If there is a ghostwriter clause in Addison’s contract, and Gloria already sold it to them, they can use it under someone else’s name, even if I refuse. I couldn’t stand that, Jeff! At least if it publishes as me, I can give her the royalties and I can control some of the publicity.”
“It sounds like you’ve worked it out with the writer. At least, that’s something.”
I shook my head in disgust. “Hardly. She won’t even speak to me. Apparently, she doesn’t trust me. I wanted to talk to her, and I knew we would need a copy of her contract to fight this, but she won’t take my calls.” I didn’t want to admit to my brother that I’d been shut down cold when I went over to her apartment, so I intentionally left that part out.
“Well, email me a copy every contract you’ve signed with Gloria and any publishers in the past seven years. I’ll contact your girlfriend to get a copy of hers. In the meantime, go speak with your editor or whoever you deal with over there, and leave the young woman alone. Give her a chance to cool down. Let me contact her about the contract. Now, I really have to meet mom and her lady friends.”
I glowered at my brother and reached for the bottle wrapped in the brown paper off of his coffee table where I’d left it. I had Marcia’s direct number so maybe I could reach her, though she might be more receptive if I waited until office hours on Monday. I wasn’t sure if I could stand waiting that long. I felt like my skin was melting off. I grabbed my coat and stormed toward the door.
“Have fun with the blue hairs,” I spat as I stormed toward the door.
“Maybe you should come with me? Mom would be happy to see you and who knows, maybe you’ll meet a MILF! Of course, you’re dressed for shit.” I knew Jeff was just trying to take my mind off my problems because there wasn’t much either one of us could do for the next thirty-six hours. “Some cougar pussy might be just what the doctor ordered.” He chuckled. “Some older women are hot.”
“Nah, you’re welcome to the double-baggers,” I tried to put a humorous tone into my voice with the joke, but I couldn’t. Inside I felt like hell.
“Talk Monday, Jax. If you need to play a game of racquetball to blow off steam tomorrow, I’m game.”
“We’ll see.” I raised a hand to wave without turning around. I opened the door. “Thanks,” I said and then closed it behind me.
24
“Addy?”
Michelle’s voice called from the main room of our apartment. I was tired of crying in front of her as I had done for hour upon hour. Now, I was exhausted. My head hurt, and my eyes were swollen, and a new bought of tears began when Jax showed up unannounced. Well, not exactly unannounced. My phone had been going off non-stop until I shut it off.
The buzzer to the apartment had wailed for ten minutes straight until she finally gave in, after I’d refused to answer it.
We knew who it was immediately, but somehow, I just couldn’t face Jax. I wasn’t even ready to speak to him over the intercom. My heart was shattered and to look at him would hurt so badly and I was positive I’d break down. I couldn’t let him see me like that.
What was I supposed to believe? I was young and naïve, and I was ashamed of falling for any of it. This entire situation was humiliating as hell, and I just wanted it to go away as if none of it had happened.
When Michelle had finally gone downstairs to speak to him, I hid away in the bathroom to soak away the misery, the headache, and emotional pain. I couldn’t bear to hear any excuses and worse, I didn’t want to fall for his charming charisma. I was beginning to think he loved me… as I knew I did him, and it would be too easy to fall into his arms and believe every word he said. I was heartbroken at the turn of events. How could something so perfect suddenly fall to shit? I’d just shut off the water when my roommate knocked on the door. Tears still squeezed from out of my closed eyes, so I ignored her, too.
“Addy?” Michelle called again.
I focused on my big toe as it burrowed into the faucet on the old free-standing tub. The water was cloudy with soap, but as still as glass; marred only by the small waves my foot made as it moved. I gasped in a breath as I tried to hold back a sob. “I just need some time, Michelle.” I was curious to find out what Jax had said to my friend, but another part of me was terrified.
“Don’t you think you should have talked to him?”
Her voice was soft, but I could clearly hear her through the closed wooden door. “I was afraid of what he’d say.” I spoke so softly, maybe she wouldn’t be able to hear my answer.
“He came all the way back from Tennessee to talk to you. He’s freaking out as much as you are.”
She had a point, but what if he was just a great illusionist; a magician who used his good looks and charms to trick people into doing what he wanted? My heart seized up just thinking it. Maybe it was just a trick Gloria was trying to play, but what if she was just like me? Maybe she loved him, and he broke her heart, too. Maybe I was no different from anyone before me. My face crumpled again as a sob threatened to burst from my chest. My mind was racing with all of the horrible possibilities. I should have known not to trust anyone. I should have known by the way every woman reacted to him, and his success. I should have known that I was a fool to think he could love someone ordinary like me.
Silence followed and I could only assume Michelle had moved away from the other side of the door and back into the main room of the apartment.
Part of me was disappointed Michelle didn’t force Jax’s words on me, but another part was grateful. It was like taking a final exam and wanting the relief of knowing how you did, but terrified of finding out that you failed. Only, this was worse. I knew it would take forever until I’d even be able to breathe. How would I ever be able to write when I felt like this?
I’d been crying for the past twenty-four hours, ever since Luke had brought me home. He was sweet when he implored me to let him stay, but I couldn’t even answer him because I was so hurt. I was anxious to read my contract and to find out if I was royally screwed, and to get into the privacy of my apartment before I fell apart. In my heart, I already knew the answer. I’d rushed inside and scrambled to pull out the contract from Bloom and Wandough.
After twenty minutes, I finally found the ghostwriter clause in the fine print on the second to last page. It was one sentence buried in the “all future work” paragraph. I wanted to kick myself. It was barely mentioned, but there it was. I’d be paid a fee of ten to fifty thousand dollars depending on the success of the author I was writing for. Even now, after a full day of processing, I still couldn’t fully wrap my head around how monumentally stupid I was. Sure, Gloria and Jax may have taken advantage of my ignorance of the industry, but I should have known better than to sign the fucking thing without reading every word at least ten times.
It had to be late into the evening on Saturday night, and I was utterly exhausted. I prayed Michelle was going out with her boyfriend, so she’d stop looking at me with that pitiful sympathetic expression on her face. I just wanted to be alone, fall into unconsciousness and stop thinking. I wanted to stop feeling.
Luke had called or texted almost as much as Jax had been do
ing, but I didn’t want to talk to either of them. Luke worked so closely with Jax and he was the first one to assume the worst of him. I was just tired of hearing it. Two years working together had to give him a good sense of Jaxon’s true character. Ugh. I moaned as the realization sunk in.
I didn’t want to call my parents. They’d just lecture me about how stupid I was to hand over my manuscript so trustingly and sign a contract without having a lawyer look it over. It wouldn’t matter that I was in love and I didn’t think there was any chance Jax would take advantage of me or deliver me to someone who would use me so badly.
I put my hand to my aching head and acknowledged I had to get out of the tub. The water was barely lukewarm, and I’d drained some out and added more hot water by increments until the water heater was barren.
For the first time in almost three years, I hated this apartment. I hated New York. I hated writing. I hated Jax for being so fucking perfect that I let the stars in my eyes blind me like every other idiot woman that laid eyes on him or read his books. Most of all, I hated myself for being so dumb.
A loud knock on the door startled me. Water splashed over the side of the tub as my body jerked. “Addy! Mark wants to go out and it’s too late for me to take a shower, but I want to know you’re okay before I go!”
“I’m okay,” I answered, pushing out of the tub and starting to rise. I spoke loud enough to make sure she could hear me this time. “I’m sorry that I took so long in here.”
The towel I had laid by the tub was now soggy on one side from the water that sloshed from the tub. I picked it up and wrung it out over the now draining bath. The toilet seat was closed, and absently, I sank down on it, half assed draping the damp towel around my body.
“Are you coming out?” Michelle asked, concerned.
