Four Reasons to Come: A Reverse Harem Romance

by Sarah J. Brooks

  I was livid. Jeremy had done good by me for a long time, but I wasn’t against firing his ass if he wanted to ignore my wishes. There were plenty of other agents out there that would be happy to work with me and listen to what I wanted to do with my career.

  “Angelina, I understand. I just didn’t want you pulling away just because of a man.”

  “It’s not. You know I’m trying to make something legitimate here. I’ve got to do it my way; can you please just trust me?”

  There was a long pause before he finally answered.

  “Sure, are you still doing the taping with your mother tomorrow?”

  “Yes. Abigail will be there too. We will give them a ton to talk about, and then I’ve got plans to go out tomorrow night. If you insist on getting some publicity, have the paparazzi be at Dean’s play. I’ll be there when it gets out.”

  “Deal, keep in touch with me this week. I’d like to be able to prepare before any big fallout happens.”

  “Sure, talk to you later.”

  I knew giving Jeremy my location for the next night would be helpful. The paparazzi were probably already going to be at Dean’s play; it wasn’t like I was handing over some sort of secret agenda or anything like that.

  ***

  “You took my shoes; give them back to me,” I yelled at my sister as the cameras looked on.

  “They aren’t yours. I had them first, and you took them; they are mine,” Abigail yelled back at me and then pulled the shoes so hard that I tumbled right on top of her.

  It took every acting skill I had not to bust out into laughter as she seriously fought me for a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes. We had our play fighting down, it was our signature behavior when we were younger and our mother insisted on having our family taped.

  “Listen here little lady, these are my shoes. I’m trying to get my filming done,” I said as I stood up and tried to play the normal sister.

  Abigail wasn’t having it, though, and she grabbed my ankle playfully to stop me. Unfortunately, I was wearing heels from the movie filming I was doing all day. I lost my balance and tumbled right down onto my face. Luckily, my hand broke the fall a little, but I still split my lip wide open and blood gushed all over the place.

  Our play fighting was quickly over as Abigail rushed to my side and apologized. Of course, none of the television taping crew stopped recording to help out. Our mother also didn’t intervene until my co-star Matthew came into the room to help us, he clearly didn’t like the commotion that was going on or the attention we were getting. When my mother saw Matthew, then she put on a huge display of affection and concern over how I was doing.

  “Can we get a medic in here?” my mother announced loudly.

  Within minutes, there were an ambulance and four medics around me looking at my busted lip. If it had been anyone else, they would have laughed it off and continued about their day. I would have done exactly that if I didn’t have a crew full of cameramen and an angry film director standing over me.

  “I think she needs stitches,” my mother said dramatically

  Both Abigail and I rolled our eyes; I didn’t need stitches. It was a busted lip; it would heal just fine on its own. But before I could stop her, my mom was on the phone with a local plastic surgeon and arranging to meet him at the hospital.

  “See what you’ve done,” I whispered to Abigail as I walked with the medics toward the ambulance. “You know I can just ride in a car,” I said to the men.

  “Your mother insisted that we take you to the hospital,” one of the men said.

  “I’m riding with you,” the cameraman added as he slid into the ambulance with us.

  “Of course you are.”

  It was utterly ridiculous that my mother was having me see a plastic surgeon. Even more ridiculous that I was being taken to the hospital in an ambulance. I just couldn’t play the part anymore; I had officially had enough.

  Instead of lying down on the gurney, I sat there with the ice on my lip and my phone in my hand. I snapped a photo, but instead of sending it to one of my social media pages, I sent it to Dean. He was the only one I wanted to tell about the incident.

  “You won’t believe the lengths I’ll go to just to get out of taping my reality show … lol,” I captioned the picture.

  I waited patiently for Dean to reply. It was still early afternoon, and I knew he would be getting ready for his show. I stared at the screen of my phone hoping a little text bubble would pop up.

  “I knew reality TV was dangerous!” Dean replied.

  “Got roped into going to the hospital, ugh!”

  My phone started to vibrate, and I saw Dean was calling me. I was positive my heart actually flipped over with excitement.

  “Hello,” I answered.

  “Which hospital?”

  “New York Presbyterian, but I’m fine, really I am. My sister Abigail and I were just messing around.”

  “I’m with one of my buddies; I’ll be right there.”

  “Dean, no, seriously I’m fine.”

  “Girl, I’m coming there. Don’t argue with me,” he said firmly.

  His voice was calm and sincere, and I wanted him to be there with me. I didn’t want him there because I was afraid or because I was in a lot of pain, but I just wanted him there. It was a moment I didn’t expect, and I couldn’t have planned for.

  “Okay then; I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  “Was that Dean Morrison?” the cameraman asked, pulling me out of my moment.

  If looks could kill, I’m sure the way I looked at the man he would have exploded. I didn’t answer him; I simply rolled my eyes and went back to scrolling through my phone as a means to ignore the man.

  By the time we arrived, the plastic surgeon was there and waiting to see me. Luckily, he didn’t laugh in my face when he looked at the gash in my lip. I supposed he was used to famous people wanting him to rush and fix their tiny cuts.

  “I can give you some shots and numb it up to do the stitching right now or we can put you under and do it that way. Which would you prefer?”

  Suddenly everything was getting real, and I felt the room start to spin. I didn’t want to be put to sleep to have my lip sewn up; I was alright with having a scar there, really I was. My breathing became labored, and I looked at him without answering him. My mother came running in shortly after, and the doctor filled her in on what was going on.

  When Dean arrived with his friend, they stood in the doorway, and I smiled at him, but it hurt so I just reached my hand out for him to come near me. He pushed past the doctor and grabbed my hand; it was the best feeling in the world to have him there with me.

  “I thought you were fine?” he whispered.

  “Me too, but they need to stitch it. I’ve never had stitches.”

  “Okay, young lady what did you decide?” The doctor asked.

  “Um, I guess you can just numb it and do the stitches here,” I said as I looked at Dean and then over to my mother.

  “Honey, wouldn’t you be more comfortable if they put you to sleep and did it really quickly? The doctor said you’d only be out for ten to fifteen minutes.”

  I adamantly shook my head back and forth. I didn’t want anesthesia; I didn’t want to be put to sleep all for a cut lip. What if something happened to me? What if something went wrong?

  “Do you want my opinion?” Dean asked as he looked at me and then glanced at the cameraman.

  “Yes.”

  I saw a look on my mother’s face as she started to butt in but then decided not to. It was amazing what control she could have if she thought something made for good television.

  “I’d let them put you to sleep. It’s your lip, and that’s a very delicate part of your body. You want the doctor to be able to do the best job possible, right? Doc, would it be easier if she was asleep.”

  “Yep.”

  I looked at my mom and then Dean. Never could I have imagined I’d be in an emergency room when the two of them met for the first time
. Hell, that morning I wasn’t even sure Dean and I were going to last the week, but there we were. Making my mother the happiest reality television mom in the world.

  “Okay, I’ll let them put me to sleep, but only if you can stay,” I said to Dean.

  “Of course. I’m here babe.”

  “What did I miss?” Abigail said as she came running past Dean’s friend and to my bedside.

  “Oh, my God!” Dean’s friend said as he started to go pale.

  “He’s in love with you,” Dean said calmly to Abigail as we all looked over at his friend.

  “Abigail, this is Dean,” I said.

  “Nice to meet you,” Abigail reached her hand over me.

  “Abigail, this is my friend, Luke,” Dean said as he pointed to Luke who was holding himself up against the doorway.

  “Nice to meet you, Luke!” she yelled at him.

  I wasn’t sure if his friend Luke actually heard her or not; he just stared over at us as he tried to gather himself. It was pretty adorable actually.

  “I’m Angelina’s mother, Rose,” my mother said as she thrust her hand out to shake hands with Dean.

  “Hello Rose, it’s very nice to meet you too,” Dean said as he stood next to me and held my hand.

  “Okay, I’m going to have the nurse get you prepped. I’d ask that everyone head out to the waiting room for the time being. You can keep one person here with you.”

  My mother looked at me and then motioned to the cameraman. She actually wanted me to send everyone else out and keep the damn cameraman in the room with me! That was my mother, more interested in getting the unrealistic reality show footage than she was about her own daughter.

  “Dean, will you stay?” I asked. “The rest of you can go,” I said as I waited for my mother to start moving toward the door.

  He looked tentatively at my mother and then back to me.

  “Of course, like I said, I’m all yours.”

  “Did you get that?” I heard my mother ask the cameraman as they started to walk out.

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head. The farther I got away from the reality television world, the more absurd it seemed to be. I really couldn’t believe some of the things we had taped over the years and that I hadn’t stood up for myself sooner.

  “I’m sorry you got videotaped; we can tell them not to use it.”

  “It’s alright. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. Just don’t ask me to take an Instamatch selfie right now.” He laughed.

  “What? This isn’t a good look for me?” I asked as I pulled the cloth from my lip and it oozed blood.

  Dean grabbed the cloth and gently placed it against my lip again. His eyes looked into mine, and I felt my heart calming. Just having him near me did something magical to my emotions. It was like I could handle anything that the world sent my way. I wasn’t afraid of being successful; I wasn’t afraid of being unsuccessful. The way Dean looked at me felt like he loved me, and I thought I was feeling it too.

  It was crazy! I knew it; how could I have feelings for a man I had just met? I wasn’t going to tell him, and I certainly wouldn’t say it out loud, but I was having feelings for him, that was for sure.

  Chapter 11

  Dean

  “I’ve got a plan,” I said softly to Angelina as she started to come out of the anesthesia.

  “Does it involve Manolo Blahnik shoes?”

  “No, but it could if you really want it to,” I smiled.

  Angelina opened her eyes slowly and looked around the recovery room. She had only been away from me for about a half of an hour, but she looked really disoriented as she started to come to.

  “How does it look?”

  “Excellent, the doctor said you won’t even see the scar. I guess that’s what they pay him the big bucks for. See this right here?” I said as I pointed to my old scar on my lip. “That’s what happens when you don’t have a top notch surgeon stitching you up.”

  “Wow, that’s really bad. I didn’t notice that before,” she said groggily.

  “That’s because you were busy looking at my package,” I joked.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “Well, my friend Luke is pretty much in love with your sister. I think he’d do anything in this world if it involved her. So I asked him and Abigail if they could take you back to your hotel to relax while I do my show, then the four of us are going to take over your hotel room and turn it into a movie theater tonight. How’s that sound?”

  Angelina paused as she looked around the room. She seemed to be looking for someone or checking to see if someone was there. I suspected it was her mother or the camera crew she was looking for.

  “Your mother and the camera crew left. Did you want me to call her to come back?”

  “My mom left before I woke up?”

  “No, she saw that you were alright and then left. I guess they have a lot of editing to do. Oh, and I think she was talking to your agent. Is his name Jeremy?”

  Angelina rolled her eyes, and I couldn’t help laughing. I didn’t have family that got into my personal business like hers did, that was probably why I was so amused by it all. Watching how she had to deal with her mother, though, it certainly gave me some insight into what her life must have been like growing up.

  “I really am sorry about all of this; I still haven’t learned how to say no to her yet.”

  “So is that a yes to my plan?”

  Angelina smiled, and as her lip pulled tight, I saw her flinch in pain. My hand squeezed hers, and she closed her eyes to rest for a minute, which turned into her falling totally asleep. It was nearly six o’clock, and I had to leave for my show soon. I didn’t want to leave her, but there were hundreds of people waiting for me.

  “Go to your show. I’ll rest and have Abby take me to my room,” Angelina said as she kept her eyes closed.

  I looked at the clock and then back to her. I couldn’t leave her; it felt horrible.

  “How’s she doing?” the doctor asked as he took at look at her lip.

  “I’m doing well, just a little groggy.”

  “That will clear up in the next thirty minutes or so, and you’ll feel as good as new. But take it easy the next couple of days.”

  “By ‘take it easy,’ do you mean film for fifteen hours a day for the rest of the week?” she joked.

  “No.”

  “Oh, that’s what I thought you said.” Angelina laughed. “I’ll do my best.”

  “That’s all any of us can do. I’ve set an appointment for you at my office in two weeks to make sure everything heals up nicely. The stitching is under the first layer of skin and will dissolve, but call my office if you notice anything unusual or have any pain.”

  “Thanks, Doc,” Angelina said as she opened her eyes. “Now get out of here and send my sister in so I can torture her with guilt over my injury.”

  “Okay, I’ll come over to your place as soon as the show is out.”

  “Deal.”

  “One last thing,” I started to say and then stumbled a bit. “I know you have business obligations in the social media world. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was putting down your way of life. I wouldn’t do that.”

  “I know. We can talk later; get your ass out of here.”

  I leaned down and gently kissed her cheek before going to the lobby to find her sister. In only a few days time, I had come to care about this girl a lot, and I was willing to make some adjustments to my own comfort level with the media if it was for her.

  “Luke, leave the poor woman alone,” I said loudly as I walked into the waiting room and saw Luke and Abigail flirting with one another.

  “Oh, he’s not bothering me,” she said with a huge smile.

  “Could you two get Angelina back to her room, and I’ll come over as soon as my show is over?” I asked.

  “Of course,” Luke replied eagerly. “Or I can come with you if you’d like someone to drive. I might be able to get you there a little sooner than the subway.”
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br />   “Actually, I’d feel better if you could stay with Angelina; she looked pretty weak and might need someone to help her into the hotel. I’d hate to leave Abigail to do it all on her own,” I said with a totally straight face.

  Luke was going to owe me big time for this one. Not because I had actually done anything to push Abigail toward him, but I was giving him the alone time with her and Angelina. It was up to him to make the time worthwhile.

  “Sounds good,” Luke said as he jumped up and held his hand out for Abigail.

  They did look good together; I wasn’t sure anything would come of them spending time together, but who was I to get in the middle of love? I hustled my butt to the Uber I had waiting out front and pulled up in front of the theater with only ten minutes before show time.

  The good thing about being so late was that all the fans were already inside; the bad news was the security guards that normally stood by the back door had been pulled and put inside to deal with the fans. I pushed my way past the paparazzi and knocked on the back door.

  “Is it true that you and Angelina had a fight and she is in the hospital?” one of the photographers yelled.

  “What did you say?” I replied as I stopped dead in my tracks.

  The door to the theater had opened now, but I was holding it while I turned to confront the jackass who had yelled at me. How dare he try to make Angelina’s accident into something nasty like domestic violence? Normally, I wouldn’t give them the pleasure of actually answering their absurd questions, but I wasn’t about to let a story like this get out.

  “There are pictures of Angelina with a bloodied lip; I asked you if you two fought and that was how she got the lip?” the man boldly repeated.

  “Dean, come inside; it’s not worth it,” I heard Cat say from behind me.

  “Listen here you little shit. Angelina got hurt while filming her movie; I wasn’t even there. Don’t go spreading that kind of crap or I’ll sue you!”