“What should I wear to let them know I'm the epitome of a good rock star?”
“Oh, what you normally wear will be fine. I'm finished with your statement. Go put some clothes on and we can go over what you want to change.” Her eyes moved to the side of his head, and Jasper hoped that she was having a hard time keeping her eyes where they were.
“Alright, I'll get dressed.” Jasper walked slowly into his room wanting to look back and see if Hailey was watching him.
This time Hailey seemed to be waiting for him when he emerged from his room dressed in dark jeans and a black button up shirt.
“What do you have for me?” Jasper asked, sitting on the couch closer to her than the last time.
Hailey flitted around grabbing her tablet and tapping away on it nervously. Jasper leaned even closer to her so he could see what she was doing.
“This is the statement I wrote. Read it and we can edit it to sound like you.”
Jasper liked the flustered tone she spoke in with him so close to her. Her voice took on a breathy timbre that turned him on. He stayed where he was, bending over until his chest was pressed against her arm and read what she had written. It was good. Her writing was smooth and professional. He felt a shred of hope that Hailey would be able to pull him out of the mess he was in.
“It's good,” he admitted, not moving from his spot.
“Do you want to change anything?” she asked as she leaned on the side of the couch putting some distance between them.
“Nope. You did a good job.”
Hailey beamed at him as she stood up. “Alright, let's go. The media is waiting outside. I explained it could be an hour or two before your statement, but honestly the faster the better. This way we can get a jump on anything Tara's publicist is planning.”
Jasper's throat tightened when he thought of having to go speak in front of all those people. It was silly of him to feel anxious about speaking in front of tons of media outlets when he sang in front of thousands. Singing was different for him. It was his way of expressing himself while his audience was able to understand him a little better. Well that was until he started singing cookie-cutter songs his label gave him. Being on stage, he didn't feel the claustrophobia pushing down on him, like he was now feeling.
“You know what. Why don't I look at that again?” Jasper couldn't hide the panic that washed through his voice.
“What? Why?” Hailey’s smile dimmed.
He took a deep breath. He didn't like disappointing Hailey. She had worked hard to help him get his reputation going back in the right direction. His social media was already starting to get some positive feedback since she took over. Jasper concluded that he needed to explain his fear to Hailey if she was going to help him any further. “I'm claustrophobic. I get sick when people crowd me and I can't see a way of escaping.”
Hailey nodded her head, and Jasper was thankful she didn't bombard him with the usual questions he got when he admitted his fear.
“Ok. Let me see what I can do,” she said in an authoritative voice that had his jeans tightening.
Hailey got on her phone and paced the room as she made several phone calls. He couldn't tell what she was talking about mostly because his brain was focused on her round ass as it swayed with every step. While her back was toward him, he adjusted his jeans. She finally made her way back to Jasper, sitting on the couch with a wary look.
“You don't have to talk to the press.” She picked at the side of couch.
Jasper had a bad feeling that he wasn't going to like the alternative.
“Jemma agreed to do a one-on-one with you. I tried to get her to come to your hotel room, but she made a good point that it would take too long to set up and by then Tara could get out of jail. Carl is waiting for us in the service entrance. We need to get going.” Hailey stopped picking at the couch and folded her hands in her lap.
He was right to have a bad feeling about the alternative. Jemma was the one that got away. Her shyness and creative spirit attracted him to her. When she walked backstage after one of their shows for an interview, Jasper found himself smitten with her immediately.
Jasper thought Jemma was put into his life at the right time. He had just agreed to sing the first cookie-cutter song and hated himself every morning for doing it. Jemma seemed like just what he needed. Someone down to earth that he would be able to talk with on a deeper level, instead of the superficial level he had been living with since he signed with his label.
The problem with Jasper's solution for self-loathing was Jemma had feelings for another. Jemma agreed to go out on a date with him. He tried to show her that he was a good guy, but she never relaxed around him. After a few more failed attempts to get Jemma to really give him a chance, he stopped trying. Jemma thought it was probably for the best.
Jasper quit trying to find a girl that would understand him after Jemma. He decided if a wholesome girl refused to let him share his true personality with them, there was no point of trying to find a meaningful relationship with anyone. He threw himself and his dick in any hot piece of ass that got his attention. He should have stayed on that path instead of taking a side-route with Tara. Jasper understood Tara wasn't right for him, but he thought that when they ended it, it would be that they both realized they had run their course. He never expected her to turn out crazy and pull him along with her.
“Maybe I'll just talk to the crowd.” He hadn't talked to Jemma since she’d gotten back with Daniel. Jasper sighed, getting off the couch and going to the window. He looked down and saw that the media waiting outside had already started to dissipate.
“Come on, Jasper, stop being such a baby. We’ll do the interview and return here to start planning your comeback. If we spin this right, what happened last night with Tara might actually be a good thing.”
“I don't know,” Jasper said, weary of the whole thing.
“It's not your job to know, it's mine. Let's go. Carl is waiting.” Hailey reached over to grab her vest she had discarded on the table.
“I'll do it if you leave the vest off.”
“It was my grandmas,” she said.
“You hide yourself too much, Little Bird. If you expose a bit of yourself, I’ll expose a bit of myself.
Hailey looked at him and then back to the vest. For a moment he thought she wouldn't leave it, but in the end she tossed it back on the table and hefted her purse over her shoulder. “Let's go.”
Jasper held the door open for Hailey. They headed down the backstairs to avoid any lingering paparazzi. Efficiently, she led him through the kitchen and out the back door to a waiting Carl.
“How did you know where to go,” Jasper asked, impressed by her directions.
“I googled the hotel layout,” Hailey told him, not bothering to look up from her tablet as she tapped away.
He smiled, impressed. Time to go see Jemma and prove to the world he wasn’t an asshole.
Chapter Five
“Jasper, long time no see,” Jemma extended her heavily diamonded left hand when they stepped into her home office.
Hailey looked out for signs there was any spark left between them. She wanted to smack herself for the unsettling jealous thoughts floating around in her brain. Jasper was her client, and she needed to remember that. Jealousy or any other feelings besides professional ones were prohibited. He’d confessed on the way over how he’d felt about Jem at one time. After, she’d told him her grandma had raised her after her mom passed away from cancer, and her grandma was the one to pass on her wardrobe, which Hailey now wore.
Jasper tried to pry further, but thankfully Carl was pulling into Jemma's place stopping their conversation.
“Jem, it's nice to see you.” Jasper took Jemma's hand and placed a kiss on it.
“I'm Hailey. Thank you so much for doing this for us,” she interjected, quickly breaking up the two. She would have to try harder to keep her emotions together.
Jemma shot her a smile that seemed to say she knew what she was t
hinking. Hailey's face burned red as she smoothed down her tank top.
“Not a problem,” Jemma said. “I have been doing stories on Tara since I started my blog. She alone is job security. I appreciate that you thought of me as the person to give Jasper's official statement to. You could have picked anyone else. This is going to blow up my site.”
“I figured with your history you would be the best person to start with.” Hailey didn't flinch as she told her double lie. One, Jemma was a last minute resort to help her client out in a fearful situation, and two, her blood temperature seemed to rise at the mention of her affiliation with Jasper.
“That makes sense,” Jemma commented, not giving anything away on their past relationship and making Hailey's blood burn a little hotter.
“We’ll be using some of the footage to give to the news outlets that have been reporting on this story. Would that be okay with you? Would you be willing to sign a release for that?” Hailey told her.
“Of course, the more exposure the better.”
If Jemma was one thing, she was efficient. She had Jasper in a seat, her recorder on, and her keyboard set up quickly. Jemma was going to do a two-part interview. Hailey wanted Jasper's main statement to go live immediately. She had just gotten word that Tara was trying to post bail. After the statement was released, the social media sites would spread it around like wildfire. Jemma would then write a blog post about the whole interview using quotes she’d recorded getting the real story of what happened the night before.
Hailey had already contacted the club and received grainy black and white video of Carl assisting the girls in getting a cab. Jemma was going to upload it to her blogsite, giving more clout to Jasper’s story of being the victim in Tara's crazy world. She hated to admit it but her insides did a little happy dance that Jasper was telling the truth about not going home with those two girls. Jemma understood that part was to look like a leak. She would say that Jasper tried to appear all bad ass taking two girls away, but the truth was he had second thoughts. Jemma said her fans would eat that up.
Hailey was proud of Jasper. He read the statement verbatim the way she had written it. She had already emailed Jemma a copy of it so she could post it on her blog. While Jemma interviewed Jasper, Hailey updated his social media sites. She added some stories about Central Park and the checker players, and about the beautiful graffiti art he had shown her.
She looked up at Jasper and they made eye contact. He scrunched his eyebrows together while Hailey continued to stare at him. She contemplated if the reason he had shown her all of those places was so she could see the true him. She had been aware of how relaxed he was when he was doing what he loved. Hailey vowed she would work even harder to get Jasper's reputation back in the good and give his fans a glimpse of the man behind the rocker.
Jemma ended her interview snapping a few pictures of Jasper and the gash on his head. “This is great,” she said, turning off her recorder and putting her camera away.
“Thank you so much for doing this, Jem. I appreciate it,” Jasper got up from his chair and walked over to where Hailey was sitting tapping away at her phone.
“Did you even hear the interview?” he asked.
“I was half listening. With the statement, it will clear up most of the night. I'm hoping that this will stop further sponsors from firing you. This was just a way to get your voice out there before Tara. We have a long road ahead of us. I wish this blog piece could be like a magic wand and remove everything that has happened. Unfortunately, that isn't how this business works. Don't worry though I have some other things up my sleeve.” Hailey stashed her stuff in her purse and stood.
Jemma came over and eyed both of them, as if she was trying to figure them out. “Jasper, can I speak to you in private?”
“I can wait outside,” Hailey said, already heading for the door.
“You can talk in front of Hailey. She’s my PR lady so she should hear everything right now so I don't make this any worse.” Jasper motioned with his head for her to come back over.
Hailey strolled back over throwing her shoulders back making sure her spine was straight. She was impressed Jasper had been so smart in having her stay. Right now, any wrong move could topple him from stardom. She wished her heart wasn’t so heavy when he’d said she was his PR lady. That was what she was. So why did it hurt when he said it? Also, his being alone with Jemma for a minute shouldn’t have raised any flags because she was a happily engaged woman, but better safe than sorry.
Jemma laughed. “It isn't anything bad. I just wanted to apologize for the way I ended us.”
Hailey's body stood taller at Jemma's words. So they were an item at one time. Hailey clutched onto her purse tightly as she pictured them together.
“It's fine, Jemma. You don't have to apologize.”
“I do have to apologize, Jasper. And you're going to let me. I should have trusted you when you told me you were being genuine. It was hard for me to trust that you really were a nice person and you weren't just putting on an act. It was wrong of me to disregard you the way I did. I wouldn't change it though.” Jemma smirked as she flashed her diamond-studded hand. “I just wish I would have handled it better. It was my insecurities that wouldn't let me trust you with my heart, and for that, I do apologize. You're a good guy, Jasper.”
“Thank you, Jemma. That means a lot to me. Doing this interview means a lot to me as well.” Jasper hugged Jemma.
Hailey’s mind was a million different places. She knew they were acquainted, she didn’t know they’d been romantic. The news hit her in the chest and she hadn’t been expecting it.
“I'll get this published as soon as I can. But, Jasper, you really do need to stop pretending to be who you aren't. The real Jasper is a great guy. I'm not a fan of the other one and in all honesty, you shouldn't be either. Look at all the bad decisions you have made being the other Jasper. Remember when you wrote that song for me? That’s when you showed your true self.”
Her face burned with heat she couldn’t control. He wrote her a song! She wished she had stepped outside.
***
The whole ride back Jasper’s head spun. Hailey was talking, but he didn’t hear it.
Jemma's words were beating down his brain trying to get in somewhere they would be heard. Jasper knew she was right, but his label didn't want a good-boy rocker, and Jasper wasn't sure he wanted to be one. Of course, when he thought about it, what did they want? They wanted him to be bad, but not so bad some girl was posting nudes on his Instagram. Where did he draw the line there? When he put himself out on the line and showed people who he really was, it seemed to end up badly.
“What happened between you and Jemma?” Hailey asked, she said it fast like she’d been holding in the question, when they got back to his place. The moment she walked in, she went straight to the couch and started pulling stuff out of her bag.
“Nothing,” Jasper said, his mouth tipping up a bit that she cared. “Sorry, it's old news and I really don't want to talk about it right now if that's ok?” Jasper went to the kitchen and pulled open the fridge. He groaned when he saw there was nothing in there worth eating.
“I get it. Besides, we have a lot of work to do,” Hailey yelled to him.
“Do you want to order room service? I'm starving and if we are going to get an attack plan together I want to have food.”
Hailey looked up from her tablet and blinked. “Yes, food sounds amazing. We do have a lot of work to do. I think Jemma's interview was a big help. I was just checking and already your statement is everywhere.”
“Well, then let's celebrate. Not a big celebration, I know we still have work to do, but this is a start.”
“You're right. I want a big cheeseburger and fries.” Hailey started to rub her flat stomach. She hadn't put the vest back on when they got back but she did throw a blanket over her legs she pulled from the sofa.
“Where do you put it all?” Jasper’s eyes followed the movement of her hand.
&nb
sp; “I jog,” she responded in the no-nonsense way he was starting to recognize was her way of deflecting the conversation.
“Yuck. I hate running. Thankfully performing on a hot stage keeps you pretty fit,” Jasper said, dialing room service.
After they had gorged themselves on greasy food, Hailey's phone pinged and her eyes lit up. A hot emotion that Jasper refused to acknowledge as jealousy ran through him as he pictured Matthew trying to get Hailey to go out with him again.
“That was the supervisor of Helping Garden's Grow. It's one of the charities I was telling you about. They are doing an impromptu flower planting today at one of the kid’s homes close to the hotel. She saw the statement and wanted to know if we wanted to show up for an hour. There are already some camera's out there, so this is perfect timing.” Hailey bounced up and down on the couch, and Jasper was enamored by her enthusiasm. Who would have known the little bird had other outside interests?
“Let me change and we can head out.”
“Can I get a T-shirt? I don't want to bend down in this thing.”
Hailey was wringing her hands together when Jasper turned around.
He shook his head a little, a wide grin spreading across his face as a sexy, mouth-dropping image of her popped into his head. He should make her go out in that skin-tight tank top, but when he spun around, the smile melted from his face. She wrung her hands, and insecurity lowered her gaze. Jasper’s open mouth slowly shut. If he wanted her to be comfortable and open, he would have to say goodbye to the image of her on all fours, in the dirt, and her body straining against that teeny tank top.
He was going to give her a hard time and make her go out in her skin-tight tank, but when he noticed the insecurity on her face, he shut his mouth.
“I'll grab you something.” He sighed heavily.
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