“Matthew, this is Autumn. She has decided she wants to revamp her imagine and has decided Big Deal will be the company that does that for her. I want you to be her new PR manager.”
Bill was a smooth talking asshole. That was not how any of that went down but Hailey remained quiet. She was frozen at the situation playing out in front of her.
Matthew reached out and shook Autumn's hand trying to win her over with his charm. Bill stood up and clapped Matthew on the back. He said goodbye to Autumn and ignored Hailey as she still sat behind her desk.
After Bill had exited, Matthew took his seat. “Now what is the image you are looking for?” he asked, as if Hailey had become invisible.
Autumn giggled and her eyes sparkled as she spoke. “I'm sick of being the PG girl. I want to be the bad girl. I want the dirty roles. I need to shed this sweet girl image.”
Matthew smiled and threw back his head as he laughed his perfectly timed laugh. He stood and offered Autumn his hand. “I can definitely help you with that.”
His words broke Hailey out of her stupor. “Wait,” she yelled before they could leave her office. They turned around and Hailey stood up still holding onto the desk. “The reason I don't have Autumn's account is because she is dating Jasper. Jasper my client. Jasper the one I'm trying to rescue from the huge sex scandal Tara had put him in. Autumn can't be a bad girl and date Jasper, it will ruin the image we've worked so hard to repair.”
Autumn looked at Matthew, showing him she was going to let him talk for her. “That's not my problem,” he told her before leading Autumn out of her office and closing the door.
A sick feeling built up inside of Hailey. She wanted to call Jasper and let him know what his girlfriend had in store, but she didn't want to jump the gun too quickly. She needed to be smart about this. Autumn was now a client of Big Deal, and if Hailey did anything to sabotage her career, Bill would fire her without thinking.
Hailey leaned back in her chair and went through all the scenarios she could think of. Her head was pounding as her thoughts whirled around. Her phone rang, and she hoped it was Jasper. Her whole body stiffened when she saw Missy June's name flash on the screen. Resigned to the conversation she couldn't avoid much longer Hailey answered the phone.
Missy June was desperate to talk to Dustin, and it seemed he was determined to ignore her. Hailey promised she would get a hold of him so they could work something out. Every time she called Dustin he ignored her calls. Hailey figured she might be able to talk Jasper into getting a meeting set up between Missy and Dustin. Anytime they talked they never steered into the Missy and Dustin fiasco. Hailey figured it was time to talk about it.
When Hailey had calmed Missy June down for what felt like the millionth time, she called Jasper. She let out an annoyed breath when Jasper's voicemail picked up.
Chapter Six
Jasper was sitting on the edge of his bed as he flipped through his song notebook, thinking about how he was going to have to get a new one again which was crazy because he’d just gotten one. He had found himself writing more in the past week than he had in the past couple of months. A good thing for the band and the label but all the writing he’d been doing, mostly about Hailey, wasn’t helping his situation.
A reminder alert went off on his phone; he reached for his nightstand and flipped his phone over. The alert was from his calendar reminding him that he had a follow-up appointment with his doctor to look at his arm. His arm had been hurting more than usual lately, but Jasper just chalked it up to the extra practices he had been putting in.
Jasper unlocked his phone to call Hailey. He wanted her to come to the appointment with him for a couple of reasons. He didn’t want to go alone and definitely did not want to ask Autumn to go with him. He also thought that maybe he would be able to finally tell Hailey that she had to plan something for the new song. Hopefully, he would have enough courage to let her listen to it too.
The line rang three times before Hailey answered, “Hey, Jasper, is everything okay?” she always answered the phone like that, and something about how worried she sounded made him want her even more.
“Why do you always assume the worst when I call?” he replied in a playful tone.
“Because it is my job,” she said in that voice that Jasper knew meant she was dealing with something regarding with Dustin and Missy.
“Hey look I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow at 12:30 and wanted to see if you would come with me.”
“I don’t think that is a good idea plus I have too much work that needs to get finished.”
The fact that she was putting all this work before him was starting to get under Jasper’s skin. He just could not understand why she wouldn’t come out and tell him how she felt. It was obvious the way she’d looked when she saw him kissing Autumn. Why did she want to keep pushing her feelings aside for this stupid job, working for someone who didn’t even want her there in the first place?
“What do you mean you don’t think it’s a good idea?” Jasper said, trying not to sound as irritated as he felt.
“Nothing. Nevermind. I just have a meeting before then and a lot of stuff to work on for Missy. Speaking of Missy, she is calling me I have to go,” Hailey said, and hung up the phone before Jasper was able to say anything else.
Jasper threw his notebook across the room and started searching for his car keys. He just could not understand why she was acting this way.
Between Hailey pushing him away and Autumn becoming even more annoying by the day, Jasper was losing his mind. All she ever wanted to do was go out and party. It could be the middle of the day and Autumn wanted to party. Jasper never realized that people partied at one in the afternoon. The more she went out and drank the more trouble she was getting into. This was exactly what Jasper was trying to stay away from. Autumn had a reputation for being such a good girl, which was why Hailey wanted the two of them to get together. It was supposed to be good for his reputation and make sure he didn’t lose any more sponsors. This was not what she was doing for him at all with all her wild outings.
Jasper made his way down to the parking deck where his Silver 2016 Charger was parked. Not the typical expensive car that magazines had caught him in. Jasper was not into all the flashiness that came with being a rock star; he liked things simple and clean, also known as boring.
He parked his car right in front of Hailey’s building. He didn’t know if she was actually going to be there, but it was 5:30 on a Friday night. As much of a workaholic as she was, she didn’t like to stay late at the office. She liked to get home, change into something more comfortable, turn on her TV, and cuddle up with her oversized cover, her phone, tablet, and a large glass of wine to continue working. The thought of Hailey with a three sizes too big t-shirt over her bra and panties turned Jasper on even more, causing him to slam his door. He had some weird turn-ons, he thought as he entered her building.
He made his way into Hailey’s building and up the stairs. Speeding past the crowd by the elevator because it was going to take too long, and he didn’t want to take the chance of people noticing him and stopping him for an autograph. He had one thing on his mind and that was Hailey.
He finally made it to her door and knocked three times so hard that at one point he thought he was going to punch a hole in it. Jasper was about to knock again when the door flew opened. Hailey was standing in her doorway looking shocked and so pale, as if she’d seen a ghost.
Jasper finally put his arm down. She was still in her work clothes. There was something different about what she was wearing. Her clothes were tight and showed off her curves in all the right ways. He was not used to seeing her in clothes like these.
“Were you getting ready to go out?” Jasper was finally able to say after getting his gaze back up to her face. He wanted nothing more than to shove her back into her apartment and rip her clothes off.
“Ummmm. No. I just got home from work and was planning to order some food,” she said. “What are you doing here?�
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Jasper didn’t respond right away because he was daydreaming about all the things he wanted to do to her. Once he snapped out of his daydream, he gave her a slight grin.
“Can I come inside?”
Before Hailey was able to answer, her phone started ringing from her living room. She turned around and ran toward her phone. Jasper could not help but stare at her ass. It was perfect, and in the tighter pants she was wearing, it was phenomenal. As she swiped her phone to answer, she moved inside and he followed her.
He stepped through the doorway closing the door behind him. This was not the first time he was in her apartment so he was aware of where things were. He walked into the kitchen and pulled out two glasses for wine. Hailey was a person of habit. She had a routine, stuck to it, and very rarely deviated from it. The previous times he'd been at her place after she got off work, she had always ordered food, changed her clothes, and poured a glass of wine. Then she'd flipped through the TV channels until she found something she liked, and worked from her sofa until her food arrived.
Jasper poured the wine and made his way to the living room. He wasn’t trying to listen into Hailey’s conversation because he was worried that it was Missy on the other end. But something was different about Hailey’s voice, it was more personable with a hint of displeasure. If she was talking to Missy, she would have sounded more professional and aggressive.
“No, yeah, it’s ok I understand.” Hailey had a disappointed look on her face. “Sure, whatever you say. We can do it next weekend.” She said as she turned around so that Jasper would stop looking at her.
This didn’t work because now instead of looking at her face he was fixated on her legs. He was so focused on how good Hailey’s legs looked that he didn’t even notice that she had turned back around to face him.
“I will text you later and we will figure out a new time. Have fun.” Hailey hung up and locked her phone before placing it face down on her glass coffee table. “Is that for me?” she asked as she pointed to the glass of wine he was holding in his left hand.
Snapping back to reality, Jasper looked back up at her face before he was able to get the words out. “Oh yeah, here you go. Is everything ok? You sounded a little upset.”
“Everything is fine. It was just my friend. No big deal.” Hailey took a sip from her glass.
“Why do you always insist on lying to me, as if I don’t know when you are hiding something?”
Hailey let out a deep breath before explaining what was going on. Jasper sat there listening intently as she went on to tell him everything, starting with what happened at Mathew’s place the other morning. He could not believe how much of a douche bag that guy was. It really made him feel even worse than he already did about pushing her to go out with him. How could Matthew not see how wonderful she was and how her clothes didn’t matter because she was beautiful inside and out. The more Hailey told him about what Matthew said to her, and how he was trying to get close to her just to get Jasper’s account, made him so upset that he thought about complaining to her boss. He knew that wasn’t a good plan because Bill already didn’t care for Hailey and didn’t even want her to work for him as it was. If he went and said anything, it would only hurt her more than help her.
Hailey continued to tell Jasper that she was supposed to go shopping with her friend Samantha, and she was blowing her off yet again to go to hang out with some guy. By the way she was explaining everything he could tell that this was not the first time this had happened. The one thing Jasper could not understand was why she called the chick her friend.
“Wait, hold on,” Jasper interrupted Hailey mid-sentence. “You are telling me that this is not the first time?”
“Well, I mean, yeah, she has a new boy-toy that she wants to spend the weekend with. It’s not that big a deal. It’s only shopping. I could go by myself but I wanted her to come to help me get more things like this,” she said, looking down at her outfit of the day. “I’m sure I can just go by myself tomorrow.”
Grabbing his phone from his pocket to send a quick text, he said, “Nope! Put some shoes on. We are going shopping right now!”
Jasper jumped up off the sofa and grabbed the wine glass out of her hand. He made his way to the kitchen to put them in the sink.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” Jasper pulled her out the front door, barely leaving her enough time to lock her door behind her. They made their way down the stairs again ignoring the elevator, this time not out of anger but out of excitement. Jasper was so excited to do this for her that he didn’t notice all the flashing lights when they hit the street as they got into his car. Jasper sped off into the street and in no time they were parking again right in front of a boutique.
Nothing was more appealing than the smile that came across Hailey’s face when she had on an outfit she liked. She must not have gone shopping often by the way she continued to refold the clothes she didn’t think looked good on her. After about four hours and half a dozen bags of clothes later, Jasper and Hailey were both starving.
“What do you want to eat?” Jasper said as they got back into the car.
“I could go for some sweet and sour chicken.”
“Chinese it is then.” He brought up his phone screen on his dashboard and called his favorite Chinese spot. The ride back to Jasper’s hotel was silent but since the hotel was only a couple of miles away, it was not awkward. Every now and then he looked over at Hailey and admired how relaxed she was. He hadn’t seen her like this in what seemed like forever. He didn’t want to disturb her calmness by telling her about the song.
They made it back to his place just in time to catch the delivery guy with their food in the lobby. Jasper paid and showed Hailey up to his place.
“Would you like some wine?” he inquired, knowing that he was asking a question that didn’t need an answer because there was never a time that Jasper had seen where Hailey turned down a glass. Glancing over at Hailey confirmed it; she had her do you even have to ask look on her face. Walking over to the dining room table he saw her shoulders were relaxed and she leaned back instead of sitting straight as a board like when he arrived at her apartment earlier that night.
She served each of them a good amount of food as he set the glasses of wine next to their plates. After a couple of bites, Jasper could not hold in his secret anymore and he finally told her everything that was going on. He told her about the song, about the event that she was going to have to plan, and about how the label wanted him to write more. Hailey was only there for about two hours before she insisted that she needed to get back to her place.
They were having such a good time, and Jasper didn’t want to see her go, but he also didn’t want to push it too much. The last time he pushed the boundaries too far it ended in Hailey running out on him, and him ending up in the annoying cast.
Chapter Seven
Hailey couldn’t even enjoy her first-morning cup of coffee because of the guilt from not telling Jasper about Autumn’s plan to rebrand her image into a “bad girl.” She wanted to tell him, but every chance she got, she chickened out because she didn’t want to ruin the night.
He didn’t even mention her the entire time they were together. She was going to have to tell him at some point before it all blew up in her face, but she just knew last night wasn’t the best time. Jasper and Autumn were obviously getting along well and spending a lot of time together. She didn’t even want to hurt his feelings by telling him his girlfriend was pretending to be a good girl.
Taking another sip of her coffee, she turned to look at the dozens of bags that she hadn't unpacked from her spur-of-the-moment shopping spree with Jasper the night before. When Samantha called to cancel their shopping date for the second time Hailey couldn’t stop herself from looking and sounding disappointed, and Jasper knew right away that something was wrong. Hailey always had trouble hiding the way that she truly felt around him.
She tried to stay as professional as possible with him, but she
just could not help letting her guard down. When Jasper asked her what was wrong, it was like the floodgates had opened up and she couldn't stop the words from coming out of her mouth. But the thing that really shocked her was him telling her he was taking her shopping.
The sound of her tablet constantly dinging snapped her back to reality. The notification sound it was making let Hailey know that someone was responding or retweeting something. The last account Hailey was on was Missy. Before she was able to put her coffee mug down and grab her tablet from the other side of the sofa, her phone started ringing and Missy’s picture lit up her screen.
“Hello,” Hailey answered the phone after the first ring. Hailey could put two and two together, the constant notifications and now she was calling her, something bad was about to happen.
“I am completely over this. This jerk does not know who he is really messing with!” Missy was screaming into her phone with the wind blowing in the background.
“Where are you going?”
Ignoring Hailey’s question Missy continued, “I just don’t understand. I’m having his child and he thinks it is OK to completely ignore me? I just want to have a grown up conversation with him.”
Hailey rolled her eyes at that line.
“I just want to talk about what we are going to do.”
“Missy! Where the hell are you going?” Hailey was starting to get upset. Reaching for her tablet, she opened up to Missy’s Twitter.
“Well since that ass hat wants to ignore my calls and not confront the situation at hand. Then I am going to bring the situation to him. I’m on my way to his stupid band practice right now.
“What, Missy? What would make you think that this is a good idea? How did you even find out where they were practicing?” as the question left her lips, she got the answer she was looking for. The reason Hailey’s tablet was going off so much. Missy had tweeted asking where they were holding band practice. “You know what, don’t answer that. Missy, this is not a good idea! You promised me that you would let me handle this. I told you it may take some time but I will fix this.”
Managed 3: A Rock Star Romance Page 5
