Star Struck

by Goss, Shelia

  “I’m sure you’ll get to the bottom of it. I’m confident in GT Securities.” Hailey stood up. “Brenda, will you be accompanying me on my interview at Hotel Bel-Air?”

  Brenda looked at Garrett. Garrett responded, “I’ll go with you. I want Brenda to follow up on the IP report.”

  “Let’s go. I’m already running late.”

  John said, “See what I have to deal with.”

  “Oh I can handle her.” Garrett teased.

  Hailey waited by the door and patted her foot. “Step. Step.”

  Garrett opened the door. “After you.”

  ***

  Hailey wished Brenda would have come with her instead of Garrett. Garrett sitting in the corner pretending to be invisible made her nervous. She was already nervous interviewing for the People magazine article. The ride over to the hotel lobby went smoothly only because they both avoided talking about anything personal. They spent the ride talking about her fan website and making small talk about the weather and traffic.

  The brown-haired female reporter pulled out a tape recorder and asked her several generic questions to ease the tension. “I learned earlier today that someone hacked into your fan website. Is that true and how do you feel about it?”

  Hailey responded, “It’s true and I apologize to my fans for having to endure receiving the mass email that was sent out about it. We have people working to resolve the problem and hopefully they can ensure that it doesn’t happen again.” She looked in Garrett’s direction.

  “I haven’t had a chance to see the email that went out.”

  “It wasn’t bad; it could have been worse.”

  “Rumor has it that you have a deranged fan out there.”

  Hailey squirmed in her chair. Garrett nodded his head as if he understood her nervousness. “I’m not sure what rumor you’re speaking of.” She hoped she sounded convincing.

  “One of my sources said that this person has been sending you hate mail at the studio and your home.”

  “Well, you might want to check with your sources again. You can’t believe everything you hear.”

  “I will do that. Changing the subject. How do you feel about your Daytime Emmy nomination?”

  “I’m thrilled of course. I’ve worked hard to get to this point and I appreciate being honored by my peers.”

  “A lot of people didn’t think you could do it.”

  “Exactly. They only saw me as a pretty face. When I was approached about doing the talk show, I almost turned it down.”

  “I’m sure you’re glad you didn’t now.”

  “Am I? I proved to myself and to some of the naysayers out there, that you can do whatever you put your mind to.”

  “Some have accused you of exploiting other women to keep your ratings up.”

  “Those are my haters. My shows deal with issues that the average woman faces. I don’t exploit women, I help build up women’s esteem.”

  “Do you know what you’re wearing to the awards show?”

  “I haven’t decided yet. I like so many designers. I recently wore a dress by Fazio, so who knows.”

  “Thank you Hailey. Good luck.” The reporter extended her hand.

  Hailey shook it. “Thank you.”

  The magazine’s photographer stepped in. “Now you’re all mine.”

  “Take me, I’m yours.” She winked.

  Hailey, with Garrett not far behind her, followed the photographer to the outside of the hotel. “I want to take a few by the swan lake and then some over there near the fountain.”

  “Beautiful choices.”

  She was handed a Versace two piece dress. It didn’t take her long to change. She let the hair and make-up people pamper her. She seduced the camera and changed clothes several times for the hour photo shoot.

  Being in front of the cameras felt good. A part of her missed it, but the other part that wanted to settle down, liked not having to travel to a different spot every week.”

  Was Garrett over there sweating? Did she see lust in his eyes? She blew him a kiss and laughed when he looked away. Can’t stand the heat can you?

  ~ 17 ~

  Hailey made him feel like a horny teenager. He could have sworn she was seducing him, the way she looked at the camera. Not one straight man in the area could resist the looks she gave the camera. He couldn’t wait to see the photos when they were released. He was tempted to pay the photographer some money on the side so he could have his own private collection.

  “If you care to stop daydreaming, I’m ready,” Hailey interrupted his lustful thoughts.

  “Where to now madam?”

  Hailey looked at her watch. “I’m hungry. What about you?”

  “Do you like Mediterranean food? I know a restaurant that’s not too far from here that’s great.”

  “I’m in your hands.”

  Once they were seated behind the doors of his SUV, he said, “I have a confession to make.” Hailey looked at him waiting for him to continue. “I hate small talk.”

  “So do I,” she responded.

  “Let’s make a pact that we won’t indulge in it.”

  “As long as you don’t want to talk about you know who, I’m cool with it,” she responded, as she pulled down the visor and brushed her eyebrows with her fingers.

  “Well, that’s one promise I can’t make.”

  She put the visor back up. He pulled out into the highway. “We might as well get it over with. You have five minutes to say whatever it is you want to say about you know who.”

  “Say his name.”

  “Never again.”

  “So you finally woke up.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means after going to the party, you finally realize that Trevon has moved on without you.”

  Hailey stuttered. “It didn’t quite happen like that.”

  He listened to her go over the events of Sunday evening. He had turned his ringer off to get some much needed rest. He wished he wouldn’t have after listening to his messages and now hearing Hailey tell him what went down the night before.

  “Your little boyfriend wasn’t too happy about us showing up at his party together. He cussed me out and had the nerve to threaten me.” He decided since they were being open and honest, he would share that tidbit of information.

  “Ex-boyfriend. We haven’t been boyfriend and girlfriend since college, so don’t get it twisted,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “Ex-boyfriend, lover or whatever you want to call him, he’s my boy, but he almost got punched out this morning acting like he had an overdose of testosterone in his system.”

  “Wish I could have been there to see it.”

  “It was funny seeing him trying to warn me about seeing you, when we’re not really seeing each other.”

  “We could always change that.” Hailey flirted. She reached out and gently rubbed the top of his hand.

  He jerked his hand. “We could, but we won’t. We’re just buddies remember.”

  “Don’t get scared now.” Hailey let out a hearty laugh and leaned back in her seat.

  Garrett got caught up in her sexy laugh as they drove the rest of the way to the restaurant in silence. He flipped on an Anthony Hamilton CD.

  ***

  Hailey couldn’t recall the last time she enjoyed going out with a man. Although she and Garrett weren’t on a real date, she enjoyed his company. His sense of humor had her laughing throughout their meal. She was a little sad that he refused to come in when he dropped her off at home. He managed to do something she thought was impossible. Spending time with him had made her forget about Trevon.

  “Brenda, I’m home.”

  Brenda walked in the hallway with Bach right behind her. “Good. We have some good news. We were able to track down the person behind the IP address.”

  “Brenda, if you were a man, I would kiss you.”

  Bach cleared his throat. “I had some help in this.”

  “And for that I’m grate
ful,” Hailey said, as she kissed him on the cheek. His hand lingered on his cheek.

  Brenda said, “He’s just a big old pussycat.”

  Hailey looked from one to the other. Did she sense an attraction there? Both were single and in similar fields. A love connection could be brewing. “Let me call Garrett and tell him the good news,” Hailey said, leaving them alone.

  Hailey dressed for bed and dosed off a few times. Maybe, just maybe this person would be caught and her nightmares would be over. Her cell phone jolted her out of her sleep. Without looking at the caller ID, she answered.

  “Can you ever forgive me?” Trevon asked from the other end.

  “I thought I told you I didn’t want to talk to you ever again in life,” she snapped.

  “I do care about you.”

  “But not enough to marry me. You proposing to another woman broke any bond that we had.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll end things with her. I love you.”

  Hailey felt her heart tug. She was confused. “I can’t Tre. You made your decision. I don’t want to be someone’s afterthought.”

  “I’ll end things with her tomorrow. You’ll see. It’ll be you and me; just like it used to be.”

  “Tomorrow. You have until tomorrow.” Without saying another word, she hung up the phone. She laid on her pillow and cried. Her tears soaked her silk pillow cases. Before long her body was shaking from the earth shattering tears that didn’t seem to stop.

  “Why am I so weak when it comes to you? I’m supposed to be letting you go,” she yelled in between sobs. She beat her pillows until her hands got tired. She rocked herself to sleep.

  ~ 18 ~

  Garrett waited at the head of the table in the conference room for everyone to arrive for their weekly meeting. Trevon was the first to arrive. Trevon reached his hand out to him and said, “Hey man, I wanted to apologize for going off on you the other day.”

  “Consider it forgotten.” He pounded his hand.

  Trevon hummed as he took a seat next to him. “I’m going to do it.”

  Garrett remained silent for a moment to see if he was going to elaborate. He didn’t, so he asked. “Dare I ask what?”

  “I’m going to end things with Shareeka and go back to Hailey.”

  “Hailey’s moved on,” Garrett responded.

  “Naw man. She’s giving me one more chance and I’m taking it.”

  He thought he was hearing things. When he last talked to Hailey she informed him that she was through with Trevon. What happened in less than twenty-four hours that would change her mind? He didn’t believe Trevon would end things with Shareeka and even if he did, Shareeka wasn’t the type of woman to let things go over easy. Hailey didn’t need that type of drama and if it was up to him, she wasn’t going to be a part of it.

  He had been too quiet about his true feelings too long. He hadn’t come to full terms about his feelings to himself yet, but he would not sit idly by and allow Trevon to hurt Hailey again. Not now. Not ever.

  The conference room filled up and he sat back as Trevon went over a slide presentation. His mind was partially on Hailey so he had very few comments during the course of the meeting. After the meeting, he lingered behind and so did Caroline.

  “You okay? You didn’t ask your normal million and one questions,” Caroline said.

  “Just a lot on my mind.”

  “If you need to talk, I’m an earshot away.”

  He was momentarily taken aback by Caroline’s gesture. Not that she wasn’t an attractive woman; that she was. He had never once thought of her, well correction; rarely thought of her in a sexual manner. He knew when a woman was making a pass at him and Caroline’s gestures, softly touching his hand and rubbing his shoulder indicated that she was more than just concerned.

  “I’ll be fine. Go take care of what you need to.”

  “You sure? What I have to do can wait.”

  “Positive.” Once she was out of view, he let out the sigh he had been holding in.

  All he needed was his trusted secretary of three years to come on to him. He had to be delusional. His feelings for Hailey was clouding his judgment. Caroline was only being her usual helpful self. He shook off the feeling he had and went back to his office.

  Caroline had a can of soda and glass of ice waiting for him on his desk. He smiled. She was always taking care of him and Trevon. He shrugged off his earlier thoughts.

  ***

  “That’s a wrap,” John said, in her earpiece.

  Hailey thanked her guests, said her good-byes to the audience and before being cornered by other fans, she snuck to the back of the stage. “Do you ever get tired of this?” Brenda asked, as they walked to her office.

  “No. I love it.” She went to her mini refrigerator and took out two bottled waters. She handed one to Brenda. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

  “The celebrity treatment, the freebies; who wouldn’t want to live your life?”

  “It comes with its perks but it also comes with a price.”

  “Let me guess—one word—paparazzi,” Brenda said.

  “And don’t forget the occasional crazy fan.”

  “Well those are the ones that keep money in my pocket.”

  “Let’s hope this guy they are questioning confesses so I can put this whole mess behind me.”

  “That’s the call I’ve been waiting on.” Brenda clicked on her cell phone.

  Hailey retrieved her cell phone out of her desk to see if anyone had called. She had a few missed calls from Trevon. In the past, she would be happy to hear from him, but now seeing that he called, only made her chest tighten. She was about to return his call when Garrett burst through the door.

  “Have you ever heard of knocking?”

  “Brenda knew I was coming through.”

  She looked at Brenda for confirmation. “Hey. I’m not going up against the boss man.”

  “It figures.” Hailey pretended to be upset but wasn’t.

  “We have good news and bad news,” Garrett said, as he sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk.

  “Give me the good news first.”

  “Brenda, you do the honors.”

  “The guy admitted to hacking into your fan site. He claims he loves you and only wanted to share the video of you he took when you were on the beach a few weeks ago with other fans of yours.”

  Hailey’s skin crawled. “Uggh. That doesn’t make me feel better.”

  “Since I’m the boss man, I’ll give you the bad news.”

  Hailey watched Garrett as he spoke. Her eyes were focused on his lips. They reminded her of LL Cool J’s lips. She recalled how they felt when she kissed him. Soft. Tasty. Mesmerizing, are all the words that described them.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Can you repeat that?”

  Garrett repeated that the man denied being behind any letters. After further investigating, they were unable to prove that he was, so whoever was behind the letters was still out there. That didn’t make Hailey feel better, but at least her website hacker had been caught.

  “What’ll happen to him for hacking into the site?”

  “It’s a misdemeanor; so he’ll probably get a slap on the wrist and a few weeks of community service,” Brenda stated.

  Garrett added, “We’ll still keep a close eye on him just in case he tries something else.”

  Jackie entered her office. “Okay, nobody’s knocking today,” Hailey said.

  “The phones have been ringing off the hook. They want a statement from you about the computer hacker,” Janice said.

  “Tell them, to see this week’s issue of People. In fact, get me the reporter from People on the line now, so I can give her a statement.”

  “Will do.”

  “Excuse me y’all while I take care of this slight media blitz.” Hailey picked up the blinking line and gave the reporter her comments about the hacker. It took longer than she thought it would. When she hung up the phone, Br
enda was no longer in the room. Garrett sat across from her staring at her with his piercing ebony eyes. The look he gave her seemed to pierce through her soul.

  Her cell phone chirping broke their stare. She saw that it was Trevon and hit the ignore button. “Don’t you have a maniac fan to catch?”

  “Brenda’s on the job. I wanted to talk to you.”

  Her phone chirped again. She turned off the ringer. She picked up a tissue and wiped her hands. Her palms were sweaty. He was making her nervous.

  “I talked to Tre.”

  “Good. I haven’t.” Her eyes darted away.

  “If you want Tre, I understand.”

  For a brief moment, she saw pain in Garrett’s eyes. It tugged at her heart. She was confused. Why did she care how he felt. “I…we…we’re not together,” she stuttered.

  “A little birdie told me he was breaking off his engagement sometime today, so apparently your little plan to make him jealous must have worked.”

  “I may not want him back.”

  Garrett stood up. “Keep telling yourself that. From the outside looking in, you still want him. I wish you two the best.”

  He walked out without waiting for Hailey to respond. Hailey wanted to run after him and tell him he was wrong; but he was right. She was getting what she wanted. But were her wants changing?

  ~ 19 ~

  Hailey needed a pick me up, so she went to Mo’s dressing area to have her makeup and hair redone. “Hook me up please.”

  “You look like you lost your best friend,” Mo said.

  “Let’s just say I might have lost an old friend.” Hailey plopped down in the swivel chair.

  Mo took out his make-up kit. “Let’s do some bright colors. Maybe that’ll help cheer you up.” He removed the old make-up from her face. She closed her eyes and gave Mo an update on the situation with Trevon.

  “I’m finally getting what I want, but I’m not happy about it.”

  “Then do something about it.”

  “That’s just it. I’ve been telling myself I want him for so long. Now that I’m about to get him one hundred percent, I’m not so sure.”