“Trust me, from the look on your face, I believe it’s completely relevant.”
“Van’s not going to cheat on me,” I said quickly, the emotion I felt toward the subject coming through in my words. “He loves me.”
“Elisa, I really thought you had more sense than that,” Katherine said, essentially mocking me.
Well, she didn’t know anything. Van was different. He’d changed. He wasn’t going to do what he’d done before. Even if the past still haunted me, I truly believed what I’d told him the night before. I didn’t have anything to worry about.
I hated that Katherine even had the right to say those things to me, but a part of me knew I deserved them in some way. I’d mixed business with personal, and this was the cross I had to bear because of it. I told myself that she didn’t know me, and she didn’t know Van, not like I did. Her words were empty as far as I was concerned.
“You know, quite honestly, Katherine, I find your analogy to be irrelevant. I work in promotions. I set up media events. How is my relationship with Van going to interfere with that?”
A part of me felt like telling her my decision making was as sound as ever, and if she wanted proof, she could look back at the past month’s worth of decisions I’d made while I’d been dating Van. But then I would look like the liar I really was, and it would probably make things ten times worse.
“I don’t allow my employees to date clients. You know that.”
“Fine, so put me back on Sydney’s team full-time.”
“I don’t need you on Sydney’s team,” she told me. “I need you to work for Westside, like you committed to. That’s what I need.”
“But you just said that I can’t do that if I’m with Van,” I reminded her.
Katherine looked like she was waging an internal war with herself, and I wasn’t sure what she was thinking. For the first time since I’d sat down across from her, she seemed speechless.
“I want to fire you,” she said after several long moments of silence.
“Okay,” I said, feeling a lump form in my throat. I’d known it could come to this, but hearing the words out loud had still been a surprise.
“But I’m not going to.”
“You’re not?”
“No, because I can’t. Like I said, we’re in the middle of a world tour. We have shows and events lined up for the next four months, and there’s no way I could bring someone else into the mix now. You know the band, you know the team, and you know how to do this job better than anyone, so as much as I want to fire you, I’m not going to.”
“Thank you,” I told her gratefully, as she held up her hand and shook her head.
“You are by no means off the hook, Elisa. I’m furious with you, and I have half a mind to tell you that you can work out your contract with Westside and then go find work elsewhere. Although I’m not sure how easy it will be with all my connections in this town, but that’s not really my problem now, is it?”
“Is that your decision?” I asked, holding my ground, because regardless of the fact that I felt like I’d been dragged behind a car for several miles, I wasn’t going to let Katherine know that. “Am I done after this tour?”
“We’ll have to see,” she said haughtily, and I think she thought she was regaining the upper hand.
“We’ll see?” I questioned.
“Yes, consider these next few months a trial period. If you can prove to me that your relationship with Van won’t interfere with your work, then maybe I’ll let you stay on-board. But if you can’t do that, you might as well look for another job.”
I nodded. “I can do that. It won’t interfere. I promise.”
“Yes, well, I’ll believe that when I see it. And I don’t want to hear a word about you and Van being a couple. I definitely don’t want to see it.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re friends, and that’s it. The media can’t catch wind that anything else is going on, which means you two need to keep your relationship under wraps. It can’t get out that you’re dating.”
“Are you serious?”
“Of course, I’m serious,” she said as she rose to her feet. “You and Van can do whatever you want in private, but in public, I expect you to be nothing but professional, and that includes your interactions with him and the band. As far as your work is concerned, I will expect nothing but the best from you over the next four months, and I trust that you’ll deliver. If not, I will fire you.”
She turned and left before I could say anything else, and really, what could I say? She’d given me her ultimatum, and I knew I should consider myself lucky. I wasn’t sure I could say that, though. Her stipulations had basically put Van and me back into hiding, which was exactly where we didn’t want to be. It wasn’t the most ideal situation, but I guess it was better than learning I was unemployed. That probably would have been harder to swallow. I just had to make sure my work was impeccable for the duration of the tour and that Van and I kept what was going on with us hidden. We couldn’t risk it.
Sydney would kill me if I got fired, but worse than that, I knew this was my chance to prove to Katherine and to myself that I was as professional as I’d always believed I was, that I took my job seriously. I could be with the guy I loved, and I could have the job I loved. I was going to prove Katherine wrong, and there was nothing she could do to stop me.
* * *
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I eased my car through the gate in front of Cam and Dillon’s house and pulled up behind Van’s car. Seeing something of his had a calming effect on my somewhat frazzled nerves.
I wasn’t sure why I was on edge. Maybe it was the meeting with Katherine replaying over and over again in my mind. Ever since I’d walked out of that café on shaky legs, I hadn’t fully been able to get rid of the feeling of unease she’d elicited. I could be with Van but it had to remain a secret. I had my job, but that was only if I didn’t screw up, which included not letting my relationship get out. It was more pressure than I’d felt in a long time.
In all honesty, I hadn’t really wanted to go out. I would have been fine hanging out at Van’s house, but he wanted to go to Cam and Dillon’s. And after everything that had unfolded earlier in the day, I was more than willing to do what he wanted.
I hadn’t seen him since he and Marshall had dropped Amy and me off at my apartment, but he’d sent me a few selfies of his battered face. I obviously felt responsible, which only made me feel worse. To say it had been a shitty day was sort of an understatement.
The only redeeming part of it had been having dinner with my parents. Amy had decided moving home was going to be her best option, and I knew it secretly thrilled our parents. After everything with Troy had unfolded, and after what he did to Van, I think they were more than happy to have her close where they could keep an eye on her.
Although Troy had been charged with assault and battery, Van’s lawyer let us know he hadn’t stayed in jail long. Someone had bailed him out, and he’d been released in the late afternoon. Van hadn’t seemed very worried that Troy would come after him, and if he did, Marshall wouldn’t let him get far, but either way, I figured it was good we were leaving L.A. the next day. Van would have to come back for Troy’s court date in six weeks, but we’d be across the country until then.
I felt like this had been the longest day of my life, and now I had to go hang out with the guys from Westside and Cam’s girlfriend, Andi, who I’d really only met in passing, but I knew she was living with Cam, so she’d be there. And of course I’d be expected to be friendly with her, if for no other reason but the fact that we were dating guys in the same band. I just wasn’t sure I was in the mood to be social.
I smoothed out the sundress I was wearing and took a deep breath before I extended my hand and rung the doorbell. I wasn’t sure it had even fully rung when the door was yanked open, and there stood Van with a huge grin on his bruised and battered face.
“Hi,” I said, his presence alone calming
me.
“Come here,” he said, pulling me into his arms as he closed the door behind us.
I stood there with his arms wrapped around me, inhaling his familiar scent, and taking comfort in softness of his cotton t-shirt.
“Today sucked,” I mumbled into the fabric.
“You’re telling me. Have you seen my face?” he teased.
“Don’t make jokes,” I chastised him. “I hate Troy for what he did to you.”
“Yeah, but I’ll be fine. He didn’t do any real damage.”
I pulled back to look up at him, and he smiled. Then he leaned down and kissed me.
“See, I can still do that,” he said when he pulled back. “No real harm done.”
I reached up and ran my thumb under the bandage on his cheek. He winced slightly, so I dropped my hand.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly.
Van shook his head. “Don’t be,” he said softly. “I’m good.”
He smiled again.
“Why are you so happy? Today sucked.”
“In some ways, but in others, it was great.”
I raised a questioning eyebrow at him, which made him laugh.
“Okay, so getting into a fight wasn’t great, getting yelled at by Damon and Katherine wasn’t fun, and I know your meeting with her wasn’t exactly a party, but we had a killer day in the studio, and when we leave for Philly tomorrow, you’re coming with us. I was dreading the moment you’d tell me Katherine was pulling you from the tour, so I’m honestly glad things worked out the way they did.”
“We’re still in hiding,” I reminded him.
He leaned down and kissed me. “Partial hiding. The important people know we’re together, and that’s all that matters.”
I nodded. “I told Syd.”
“That’s cool. She won’t tell anyone.”
I smiled, remembering my conversation with her. I’d panicked when I’d left the café, and I’d needed to talk to someone. Van was still at the studio, so I couldn’t reach him, and I wasn’t going to bother my sister with one more thing. Knowing Sydney would understand all too well what it was like to have people try to dictate parts of your life, I figured she was my best bet. And Van was right. She wouldn’t say a word about us. She hated having her life catalogued, which was why she and Ryder were living in the middle of nowhere while he finished school.
“She was actually really supportive,” I told Van. “And she was pissed at Katherine.”
“I’m pissed at Katherine.”
“I know you are, but she’s holding all the cards. I can’t do anything but ride out my contract and hope that when I go back to working for Syd she’ll cut me a break.”
“What did Syd think?”
“She said she was glad I followed my heart and that she’s happy for us. She said she wished it could be easier, but she said it will be when the tour’s over. She even jokingly suggested that maybe you guys and her could do a joint tour so we wouldn’t have to be at opposite ends of the world next year.”
Van smiled. “I love that idea. And I’m glad she was cool with us being together. I wasn’t sure what she’d think. It always felt like she was only nice to me because she felt obligated, but in reality she couldn’t stand me.”
“She always liked you,” I told him. “She just hated what you did.”
“She’s not the only one,” he grumbled.
I shook my head. “It’s in the past,” I reminded him. “Although Katherine seemed to think history might repeat itself.”
Van’s eyebrows knitted together in frustration. “What do you mean?”
“She asked me what I would do as your publicist if what happened two years ago happened again. She asked–”
“It’s never going to be an issue,” Van interrupted, shaking his head. “Don’t even think it. It’s a non-issue.”
“I know,” I said, trying to calm him down, since he looked like he might erupt.
“Who the hell does she think she is?”
“My boss,” I reminded him around a sigh.
“I wish we could change that.”
“Me too.”
“Hey, so are you two going to join the party, or are you just going to stand by the front door all night?”
Van and I turned in tandem to see Dillon standing ten feet away with two drinks in his hands.
Van’s hand slipped into mine as he said, “Naw, man. We’ll be right there.” He turned and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Come on. Let’s forget about everything that happened today and just have some fun.”
“Sounds great,” I said with a smile – that was only a little bit forced.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Elisa
“Of course. I’ll take care of it,” I said, trying like hell to mask the frustration in my voice.
“Thank you,” Katherine said icily. “I’ll be at the venue early tomorrow, and I’d like you to meet me to go over the agenda for the event.”
I quieted the sigh that wanted to escape my lips, because we’d already gone over the agenda – nine times, and said, “Sure thing. I’ll see you first thing tomorrow.”
“Very good.”
Katherine hung up without a goodbye, and I dropped my phone on the desk with a sigh.
“What did she say?” Van asked from where he was lounging shirtless on the bed, waiting for me to finish working so I could join him.
It was late, after one in the morning, and I still had a laundry list of things to accomplish before I could even think about closing my eyes. I’d been working non-stop since the concert had ended at ten, but I hadn’t made much headway. I probably would have been able to get everything done if Katherine hadn’t started calling me every five minutes with a question or a request. After the fifth time, it got really old, but we had a big event the next night, so I tried to be understanding.
Westside was hosting and headlining a benefit that included four high-profile acts and four up-and-coming bands. It was all to raise money for an area of Texas that had been ravaged by a hurricane a few weeks earlier. After all the negative press the band had gotten after Phillip’s incident and Van’s publicized fight with Troy, Katherine felt they needed something positive on their resume, so she decided a benefit would be a great idea.
Coordination had been a nightmare, since we had such a short timeframe to complete everything, and too much of the work had fallen on me. But at least Katherine had let me hire an event coordinator who specialized in charity events. She had been an absolute godsend.
Normally I wouldn’t have shied away from working hard for a good cause, but I had a feeling Katherine had not only delegated more work to me than was necessary, she also did her best to manufacture extra work that had nothing to do with the benefit. I was inclined to believe that she was trying to slowly kill me.
We’d planned the concert around Westside’s tour schedule, which landed us in New York for two nights for their regularly scheduled back-to-back shows and a third night for the benefit. Riptide, one of my favorite bands, was going to be there, as were a few other bands that I was excited to see – if I got the chance. I had a feeling I’d be back at the hotel working while everyone else enjoyed the concert.
After their show earlier that night, Van had begged me to come to the after party with him, but I wasn’t able to get away. With as crazy as my workload was, my only option was to hunker down in our hotel room and try to get through the nine hundred things Katherine had added to my to-do list. Van had gone without me and had gotten back to the hotel twenty minutes earlier, having cut out of the party early so we could spend some time together. I hated that I’d been a less than stellar girlfriend since he’d gotten back.
A few kisses was all I’d been able to give him before I had to break away to continue working. Then Katherine had called – again – to put three more things on my list that she wanted me to present to her the next day, including research into a new Westside clothing line – which had absolutely nothing to do with the benefit
. It was an insane request, but to be honest, I wasn’t surprised.
Ever since our conversation a month earlier when she found out I was dating Van, she’d been not only cold and unfriendly to me, but she’d taken to making sure I rarely had any downtime. Little by little she’d been giving me projects to work on for both Westside and Sydney, which made juggling everything in my life harder than ever. I knew it was a test. I knew it was her way of pushing me, and I knew she wasn’t going to stop.
Maybe she wanted me to quit, maybe she just wanted me to suffer because I’d defied her, or maybe she was just being spiteful and wanted to make seeing Van as hard as possible for me. Regardless of what she wanted and what she threw at me, I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of caving. I was exhausted, and I felt like I’d been completely neglecting Van as of late – even if he’d never admit he felt that way – but there was no way Katherine was going to take me down. Nor was she going to do anything to hurt my relationship with Van. I wasn’t going to let her win.
She could hate me all she wanted. She could be upset that I lied, and she could resent the fact that she couldn’t fire me like she’d wanted, but she wasn’t going to break me. I was going to do everything she asked, no matter how crazy it was, and I wasn’t going to ever let her see that she was getting to me. I wouldn’t let her have that satisfaction.
At least Van understood. He was as supportive as ever, even offering to help me with my work, which I’d taken him up on a time or two. But I knew it couldn’t go on forever. I had to hope that Katherine would grow tired of the game and let me go back to what I’d done for the first part of the tour. Then I might be able to actually get some sleep.
“Tell Katherine to go fuck herself,” Van said from the bed, and I stole a glance back at him.
That was probably a mistake, because he was gazing at me with half-hooded eyes, with his hands behind his head, which only made his arm and chest muscles look that much more defined. He looked way too hot not to entice me.
Westside Series Box Set Page 75
