Great One

by Nayla Matthew

  “I’ll be in the car behind you,” Zahara says, closing the door. May helps me buckle Lorelei into the seat in between us.

  “What’s happening mama?” Lorelei asks.

  “Nothing baby, nothing,” I say, caressing her face. We pull out of the private garage and it’s nothing but flashing lights and screaming fans. Nobody can see me in the tinted windows, and I couldn’t see anybody else. My phone buzzes in my pocket, to the point where I can’t ignore, and I’m forced to pull it out. Laila’s face on my screen, I answer and both her and Geo pop up.

  “What is going on?” Laila says.

  “Zahara has it handled,” I whisper into the phone.

  “Who said it? Was it Bo? I swear to god I’m going to kick-” Geo growls, but I turn the phone towards Lorelei and his words evaporate. “Hi Sunshine!”

  “Hi Gigi!” Lorelei says. I turn the phone back towards me.

  “I’ll talk to you guys when I know more okay? Tell my mom I’m okay I just really need to figure this all out,” I say.

  “We understand,” Laila says, before blowing a kiss and hanging up the phone. I shove my phone in my pocket sinking back in my seat, my heart thudding in my chest and the only thing racing through my head is what the media was thinking, what Jacob was thinking. America’s sweetheart, has a three-year-old child? A secret child to be specific.

  I could hear the bloggers now.

  Why didn’t she tell the truth?

  What else is hiding?

  Who’s the father.

  Lorelei’s privacy was down the drain. The car stops and we’re in another underground parking garage, when the door opens Zahara is standing with three guards.

  “May, please go with Tony,” Zahara says, May nods unbuckling Lorelei from her seat. “Adeya with me, quickly,” Zahara and I take a different elevator, up to the meeting floor where Jacob waits with the head of marketing, and half of his lawyers.

  “There she is, one of my favorite recording artists,” Jacob says, standing and pulling me into a hug.

  “Jacob, I am-”

  “Take a seat lovebug,” he says, pointing to the chair. Zahara and I drop into the only seats available. “Now, let’s get straight to business,” he says, taking his seat again. “If I’m clear last week you visited home?”

  “Yes sir,”

  “And you did the performance at the bar, which did get a lot of good coverage and hype for your upcoming album,” he says.

  “Yes sir,” I reply.

  “And you informed your former boyfriend, about Lorelei?” he asks, I look over at Zahara and she’s staring down at the table, I return my gaze to Jacob.

  “Yes sir,”

  “Was he aware of Lorelei’s lack of publicity? Or that she wasn’t in the public eye for good reason,” he says.

  “He was aware sir, I informed him of everything,”

  “And who else know Adeya, I need names first and last names,” Jacob says. “Someone gave away that secret, even released a few pictures of the lovely barbeque party at your parents’ house, so I want all the names of the people who were there” One of the lawyers, slides a paper across the table and gives me a pen. I write out every name of every attendee, not including Geo, Laila, and my parents who were already sworn into secrecy. “Now Adeya, you understand the backlash you might be facing because of this secret,”

  “Yes,”

  “We’re already coming up with some press releases, we’re going to try and make this disappear but if we can’t, we have to think proactively,” Jacob says.

  “We understand,” I say.

  “Now I’m not angry at you, things like this happen trust me you’re not the first scandal I had to deal with, this would be better if you would have told Lorelei’s Father before her birth like I told you but we have to focus on the future,” he says, and I just nod. “For now, I want you to post on social media, something about the truth being revealed in due time, post it now before the blogs think you’re ignoring the situation,”

  “On it already sir,” Zahara says.

  “Good, now you’re going straight home, and I want you to work on the album at home until everything is all cleared up okay?” he says.

  “Yes sir,”

  ++

  “How are you feeling?” Zahara asks, I pull myself into a barstool at my kitchen island. Surrounding me are my very concerned friends, Alec pouring drinks and Calum still trying to talk Zahara off the edge.

  “Lorelei is asleep,” I respond, resting my head on the counter. “I knew this was going to happen,”

  “Everything is going to be fine,” Alec says, setting down a glass beside me. I sit up taking the cup and downing it sliding towards him.

  “Keep it coming,”

  “Have you talked to Abraham?” Zahara asks, I set my phone on the counter missed calls from Mrs. Clifford, Abraham, & My mother.

  “I don’t know what to say to him,” I admit, Alec slides me another drink and I sip it this time. “I can’t comprehend why anyone would do this,” I say, gripping the glass tighter in my hand.

  “Money, it’s always money,” Calum says.

  “And once we figure out who did this, they won’t be able to spend any of it,” Zahara says. My phone lights up again, Braum’s name popping up on the screen. I grab my phone, answering it pressing the phone to my ear.

  “Adeya?” he says, I just want to melt. “Please don’t hang up on me,”

  “Do you want to know why I kept her a secret Braum? It’s not because I didn’t want you finding out, I mean that was one of the reasons but because I wanted her privacy, she still doesn’t fully comprehend my life, she is terrified of cameras and people screaming and I didn’t want that happening to her every time she left the house….Now that’s gone,” I say.

  “And I’m so sorry,” he says.

  “Sorry can’t turn back time Abraham,” I say, the words pushing out of me. I never called Braum by his real name, even when we fought, he was always Braum to me. “Someone took pictures of her at the barbeque and sent them to every news source they can find, her name is on the front of websites,”

  “It was my Father,” Braum says, I nearly break the glass dropping it on the counter. “And he regretted doing it right when he did! He didn’t want this to happen!”

  “Why, why would he do this?” I ask. Zahara, Calum, and Alec all turn their attention to me.

  “He was upset that you hadn’t told me, he was mad that you were keeping her a secret, like you felt ashamed,”

  “He had no right,”

  “I know that, I know that and I’m sorry my mom can’t feel worse right now,” Braum says.

  “Shit!” I scream, slamming my phone down.

  “What happened? What did he say?” Zahara grabs my phone ending the call. “What happened?”

  “It was his Father, his father did it,”

  “Are you sure?” Alec says.

  “I don’t know,” I say, running my fingers through my hair. “He could be lying to cover Demetra’s ass, maybe even Bo,” I slide out of the chair. “I need rest,” I leave before anyone can say anything else, I go upstairs, stopping at Lorelei’s room where she slept quietly. I walk into the room, slowly crawling into bed, curling up beside her. “I’m going to protect you, no matter what,”

  Chapter Ten

  When I wake up, Lorelei isn’t in bed with me. I had sweat running down my back, and my heart is thudding against my chest. I climb out bed, slowly moving out of the room, I can hear someone making food in the kitchen.

  “Good morning baby,” I say, walking over to Lorelei in her seat kissing the top of her head. I turn to Alec bouncing around the room like nanny McPhee. “Good morning,”

  “Morning! Coffee is in the pot, Zahara said you should sleep in,” he says. “Feeling better?”

  “I feel like the world is crashing around me,” I admit, walking over to my cabinets and pulling out a mug. “I’ve never felt less in charge of the outcome of my life,” I pour myself a cup of
coffee, adding almond sweetener, and milk before sitting on the counter next to the stove watching Alec cook.

  “Calum had to run to his office and Zahara said she would see us tonight, your phone has been ringing since I woke up,” he says, gesturing to it sitting on the kitchen table. I slide off the counter grabbing it off the table, taking a seat beside Lorelei who patiently waited for her food. I had a dozen missed calls from Laila and my mother, but I didn’t have the energy to reply. I had a few missed calls and messages from Braum, but I didn’t want to hear anything he had to say. He was either lying about who released the information or he’s going to try to apologize for his Father, and I didn’t want to hear any of it.

  “How did you sleep love?” I ask Lorelei, turning my attention to her.

  “You slept with me mama,” she replies.

  “I did, I did,” I say.

  “Did you have a bad dream?” she asks.

  “No, I just missed my cuddle bear,” I say, reaching over and ruffling her hair. A ring of the doorbell pulls me away from the table, May waits for me at the front door.

  “They beefed up security,” she says, with a humorless laugh. I open the door allowing her in closing and locking it behind me.

  “Sorry, if I’m causing you trouble, I can talk to Zahara about a raise,” I say.

  “No Deya, it’s cool,” she says, before making her way into the kitchen. I follow behind her, she peppers Lorelei with kisses, before helping Alec finish breakfast.

  “You need to eat mama bear, you have a full day of writing and rehearsals,” Alec says, bringing a plate over to me and pushing me down to the seat.

  “I’ve got Lorelei’s work already for her, so she’ll be pre-occupied,” May says.

  “I really don’t want to leave her,” I say.

  “You won’t be leaving her, she’ll be in her playroom and you’ll be in your writing room, she won’t be far,” Alec says. “And she probably doesn’t even realize what’s happening right now,”

  “Just another day in Hollywood,” May says. After breakfast, May, takes Lorelei to wash up and get ready for the day. I move to my room where I change out of my dirty clothes and take a long hot well needed shower before heading towards my writing room. Before starting, I return my mother’s call figuring I wouldn’t get any peace if she was calling me every 5 minutes.

  “Hello? Adeya?” My mother says.

  “Hey mom,”

  “Where have you been? Why haven’t you been answering your phone? Everyone is very worried,” she says.

  “I’ve been busy mom, I had a lot to deal with yesterday,” I say.

  “I heard,” she says. “I can’t believe someone would do that,” she says.

  “Braum said it was Mr. Clifford, is that true?” I ask.

  “Oh, heavens no! Robert would never do that! He thought it was a great idea that Lorelei isn’t in the limelight, children stars are always the crazy ones,” she says. He lied to me.

  “Then who was it?” I ask.

  “My guess is that Demetra girl, something about her always gave me bad feelings, at Braum’s graduation party she just seemed like a lot to handle,” my mom says.

  “Thanks mom, I’ve got to get going, I have a lot of work,” I say.

  “You’ve got it sweet pea, keep me updated! And answer your phone!” she says.

  “Gotcha,” I hang up the phone, immediately texting Zahara the new information before calling Braum.

  “Adeya?” Braum says.

  “You lied to me,” I say, the other side is silent. “Braum I want this to work, I really want this to work and it is so hard for me,” I say.

  I never stopped loving you.

  I never stopped loving you.

  I never stopped loving you.

  “And I know I kept her a secret, and that was my bad, but you can’t lie to me not about her okay?” I say.

  “She didn’t mean any harm,” Braum starts, I sink back in my seat squeezing my eyes shut. “She didn’t know it was that big of a secret,”

  “Bullshit!”

  “Adeya,” Braum says, his voice washing over me like waves sending me back to time when all I could think, talk, or breath was him. “She was just, upset about it all,”

  “Why? What does this have anything to do with her?”

  “It has everything to do with her, she is my girlfriend and my ex comes back with my child and she just feels,”

  “Jealous?” I say, silence again.

  “She didn’t mean any harm,” he says. He referred to me as his ex, his ex. A word that seemed like it meant nothing for him to say, I didn’t know how to refer to him, I didn’t even know how to talk to him, but here he is defending his girlfriend to me.

  “I can’t control whatever legal actions they take,” I say, before hanging up the phone and chucking it across the room. The loud crack that fills the room, confirms that I probably need a new phone now. The door immediately swings open, and Alec rushes into the room.

  “What is happening?” he asks.

  “It was Demetra,” I say. “She was jealous because I came back with Lorelei, and he defended her,” Alec immediately runs to my side, pulling me into him. “I thought he loved me,” I whisper, crumpling into him.

  “It’s okay,” he whispers rubbing my back, as I sob into his shirt. The emotions of the last week finally breaking through the threshold, as Hurricane Adeya continues to crash through everything in its course. When I calm down, Alec makes us tea and we sit on the back porch and smoke a raw roll-up he brought. May keeping Lorelei occupied so we were completely alone. “What do you think is going to happen now?”

  “I don’t know,” I admit. “He told me he never stopped loving me,” I say, Alec whips his head over to me.

  “When?”

  “Before we left on Sunday, before I went to the airport, he was saying goodbye to Lorelei and he told me never stopped loving me,” I say, squeezing my eyes shut. “And for one minute, one small minute I believed him,”

  “Oh baby,” Alec grabs my hand. “I’m sorry,”

  “At least I have inspiration for my third album,” I joke, earning a laugh. We roll back into our comfortable silence, looking out at my backyard cluttered with all of Lorelei’s lawn chairs, and even her wading pool. “I feel like this is all payback, for not telling Braum when I first found out,”

  “Don’t say that,”

  “No, it probably is, Karma does stuff like that, balances everything out,” I say.

  “This is what you call balanced?” he says, crushing the rest of the roll up under his boot. The back-door slides open, and Calum walks out followed by Zahara.

  “Do I smell MJ?” Zahara asks.

  “All gone sheriff,” Alec says, Zahara rolls her eyes before sitting down in front of me.

  “How are you feeling girl? I already ordered you a new phone,” she says.

  “I feel shitty,” I admit.

  “Well, I informed Jacob of everything and he said he was going to get his lawyers to get in contact with her,”

  “What’s going to happen?” I ask.

  “If she doesn’t admit to doing it, she’ll be sued,” Zahara says. “If she tells the truth, Jacob said he’d cut her a deal if she gives away all the money and doesn’t take credit for the reveal,”

  “Okay,” I whisper.

  “The ball is in her court now, but she does have to come to California to meet with the board,” Zahara says.

  “Well that’s going to be a show I’m going to hate missing,” Alec mutters.

  “I’m going to have to be there?” I ask.

  “Only if you want to, and I don’t want you too, I’ll go in your place, it’s what’s best,” she says. “The ball is in their court now and all we have to do is wait,”

  “And what about the media? Am I going to tell everyone about Lorelei? What am I going to say? I don’t want my fans to hate me,”

  “They’re not going to hate you,” Calum says.

  “Honey, I know you
haven’t been on the internet, but everyone is on your side,” Zahara says. “No one likes their privacy invaded, Jacob recommends we don’t say anything until we get everything sorted out legally with Demetra,”

  “I’m sorry Zahara, I know I’m making your job hard,”

  “Honey, this is nothing when I first started Gabrielle Johnson locked herself in a hotel room high on crack, with two of her brothers,” Zahara says.

  “Christ,” I mutter.