Page 23

chapter

twenty-two

Seven

T hat fucking bitch accepted my money and never showed up to discuss damage control on the tabloid trash that was about to be published in The Nightly Mail . I paid her twenty grand, for fuck’s sake. What more did she seriously want for a couple of hours out of her day?

“Gem! She needs to be here to discuss how we—” I started on my twin again, despite knowing full well that he would not back me up on this.

“Nope!” he cut me off, not even letting me finish my sentence. Dick.

I glowered, fists balled at my sides. “Gemini, you fucking owe me. This infatuation you have with that stray cat is ruining my reputation, and if we don’t get ahead of it, then?—”

“Technically, Sev, I did you a huge favor the other night when your stunt double held up production again so I figure we’re about equal. Beside the fact that neither I nor Stella sold those images, we can’t be held responsible.” Gem was totally unconcerned, scrolling through the images that Jerry had sent on his laptop. Ollie was in them too, of course, but the story was all about Seven’s Mystery Woman thanks to the lovesick-puppy way Gem was staring at her in them.

The photo of her pulling into our driveway and leaving again hours later was damning enough. Especially because the article noted Gemini Harrison was on set for Keeper’s Pursuit that night.

Fuck my life.

“Jerry?” I pleaded, turning to our shared agent for some kind of backup. Gem was flat refusing to contact Stella and ask her to come over, and Ollie was in the middle of a press event for his upcoming release so was absolutely no help at all.

Jerry had been quiet for a while, letting my twin and I bicker like children while he tried to work out a damage-control plan. In fairness, he’d been our agent since we were fifteen and cut ties with our parents, so he was pretty used to our twin shit by now.

“Jerry, help me out here,” I prodded him. “If we are spinning this story, then she needs to be in agreement. Legally, if possible.”

Gem scoffed, and I extended my middle finger his way. In fairness, though, the NDA was entirely useless when she wasn’t the one selling sensationalist shit to the trash rags. That was more wasted money.

“Okay, we have two options here, so far as I can see,” Jerry said thoughtfully, his fingers steepled as he pondered it inside his devious mind. He was the best agent in town, and we were fucking lucky to have him on our side. “Either we get ahead and correct the story to the truth, that all those images are of Gemini and not Seven , effectively taking the air out of the scandal bubble…”

I didn’t hate that idea. Then I could play the part of victimized by the media for once.

“Is now a good time to mention there’s another Seven Harrison image hitting Bright Starz tomorrow?” Gem spoke up, looking the tiniest bit guilty. “Sorry, Bro. Clara Belle was super drunk at the party last weekend and thought I was you, so I took the opportunity to say a few things…”

I groaned, dropping my head into my hands. “I hate you.”

Jerry sighed. “Look, you want my professional opinion on this whole thing?”

Not really … “Yes,” I grumbled, irritated as all fuck. It’d been two weeks since Clara broke up with me and the sudden celibacy was making me all kinds of bad-tempered. I was used to having her at least blow me once a day. Her high sex drive was one of the major reasons I’d stayed with her so long. And now all I had was my hand and a bunch of bullshit rumors about a feral stray woman who couldn’t leave my brother alone.

“Your popularity is benefiting from this,” Jerry said, not beating around the bush. “Regardless of what Carriage Pictures is threatening with their morality clauses, you’ve had a massive uptick on casting inquiries in the last week, and there’s been a spike in viewing across all your movies. The viewers love a love scandal, Seven. There's a great opportunity here to spin something financially beneficial. Or we could come clean about the images being Gem and his new girl, which would undoubtedly see a rise in his personal stardom again.”

“Which Gem doesn’t want,” Gem said with a scowl. “If this drama is paying off in new roles and bigger contracts, let Seven keep it.”

I looked from my brother to my agent and back again. Gem had been really firm for a while now that he wanted to get out of acting entirely, so being suddenly thrust into the tabloids would really not sit comfortably with him. I could already see the idea stressing him out with the way his jaw clenched and his fingertips drummed the counter.

No one spoke for a few moments, then Jerry swept a hand over his graying hair. “What’s the image in Bright Starz , Gem? I’m assuming this is one Stella did sell?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I deliberately pissed off Clara and she slapped me in front of Stella’s camera.”

Jerry nodded. “So the image is her slapping Seven? What’s the story?”

Gem shrugged. “Beats me.” Then he winced. “Unless they reached out to Clara for comment…in which case I might have fucked up.”

I groaned again. “What did you say, Gremlin?”

He snapped a glare my way for the use of his old nickname. “I don’t remember the exact wording, but I did maybe mention the fact you were planning to propose at the premiere for Mirage and, uh, rubbed her face in the fact that you were taking your gorgeous new girlfriend instead.” He winced again. “Okay, I can see how this might have complicated matters. In my defense, I’d had a bit to drink and wanted a good photo for Stella to sell.”

I was going to kill him. That was the only solution here: I needed to kill my brother.

“Stop it,” Jerry scolded before I could launch myself at Gem and choke the life out of him for fucking with my private and public life all at once. Why the fuck couldn’t he hook up with a nice, normal fan like he used to?

“Sorry,” Gem mumbled, at least having the decency to look apologetic. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“All right, but you only said that to Clara Belle, yes?” Jerry asked, his mind clearly going a thousand miles a minute. “But if she repeated it to Bright Starz … Hmm. Okay, you two need to decide who is taking credit for these photos and this new relationship with Miss Charles. Which one of you is owning them?”

Gem and I exchanged a long look, and it was the kind of moment where I could read his mind with perfect clarity.

“God damn it,” I sighed. “You fucking owe me , Gremlin.”

The relief on his face was undeniable. Media attention had never sat well with him, and the last thing we needed was another incident like when we were sixteen. The press had been relentless on him and his girlfriend that year, and when they split up, Ollie and I caught him cutting his own arms. We knew something needed to change. Since then, we’d done everything possible to shift him out of the line of camera lenses for his own mental health. And yet here he was, sleeping with the devil herself.

“All right, good choice,” Jerry said with a nod. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

He then spent the next half hour outlining the plan that he’d somewhat concocted to not only spin the story in my favor away from Clara’s bullshit, but also to save my Carriage Pictures deal. According to Jerry, I’d split with Clara weeks ago and had been keeping the news private out of respect for her reputation, that the original images of “me” and Stella were taken well after my relationship with Clara had ended and therefore wasn’t cheating at all.

In Jerry’s version of events, Stella and I were madly in love and trying our best to stay out of the public eye to preserve the purity of our new relationship.

I had to admit, the way he pitched it…I was sold. There was only one problem, but it was a big one.

“How do we get the stray to agree to all of this?” I asked, cutting my gaze to my twin once more. “She hates me.”

Gem nodded, not attempting to spare my feelings. “That’s true, she does.”

“You’re very charismatic, Seven. I’m sure you can convince her,” Jerry scoffed, shaking his head in amusement. “Or if need be, I’m sure Gem can talk to her?”

Gem shook his head, the stubborn fuck. “Sorry, Jer. Not that I don’t want to help, but right now I’m fighting to even get her to go on a date with me. Asking her to fake-date Seven when he literally tried to hold her hostage and extort her into signing a legal document?” He grimaced dramatically. “I think we’ll have better luck asking Hell to freeze over.”

Jerry threw up his hands. “Well, this plan only works with her cooperation, so I suggest you two put your heads together and work it out. Fast. Ideally before Bright Starz finalizes tomorrow's story so we can get ahead of it all. Oh, and don’t forget she will need to attend the premiere as your date, Sev. That will be your public debut as a couple.”

Oh. We were already fucked. I may not know a lot about Stella Charles, but one thing I was positive about? She was a stubborn, spiteful bitch. If I even hinted that this would benefit me, she’d say no purely on principle.

Jerry’s phone rang, and he flapped a hand at us to say he was leaving, answering the call before he even got out of our front door. He paused on the doorstep, picking up a package and placing it on our foyer table before continuing on his way.

Ollie was pulling into the driveway as Jerry left, and I decided I would ask him for help, since Gem was being a selfish dickwad. While I waited for him to park, I opened the package and found it was full of panties. Used panties. Gross. Our fan group was fucking intense some days.

It took us the better part of an hour to get Ollie up-to-speed on everything, from the photos to the tabloids, to Jerry’s idea of how to spin it all. Then I asked very nicely if he would please speak with Stella to gain her cooperation.

Ollie, fucking asshole, burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” I growled, glaring at him through narrowed eyes.

He shook his head with a wide grin playing across his lips. “You. Why don’t you just pay her to come to the premiere?”

I blinked at him in confusion. “What?”

Ollie sighed like I was a dense fuck. “You don’t need to appeal to her good graces or beg for a favor. You also don’t need Gem or I applying a guilt trip—which neither of us would agree to anyway. You simply have to offer her a business proposition. You already paid her to sign the NDA so she’s not talking to reporters about anything, so all you actually need is for her to show up at the premiere. So… pay her for her time .”

I was a little taken aback by that suggestion, despite the fact that was literally what I’d tried to do today. “She’s not a prostitute, Ollie. That seems a bit insulting doesn’t it?” Pretty sure I already knew what her answer would’ve been. So what the hell could I do to make the offer sweeter?

He snort laughed. “Good, because she’s not going to actually fuck you, Sev.” Then he smirked Gem’s way. “Me, on the other hand…”

Gem threw a piece of his sandwich at Ollie’s head and glowered. “Stop hitting on my girl, asswipe.”

“She’s not your girl, Gem,” Ollie snarked back, grinning like a hyena. “She’s Seven’s now.”

Fucking hell, I was already regretting this stupid plan.