“It was something fun to do.”
“I would only do it if I could do something for you,” she said and realized what that sounded like. “I didn’t mean sex!”
David chuckled.
“I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I might go for a straight-up sex deal, but I would feel weird having to pay for it. What if I had an alternative?”
“I’m listening.”
“I pay Matt’s portion of rent so that Taylor isn’t stuck. We announce that we’re dating, which gets muscle-heads and pencil-dicks off your back.”
“What do you get out of it?” she asked.
“First, I get to flaunt you in front of Matt. I know that’s childish, but I have absolutely no sympathy for him after he tried to get me hurt in the spring. Second, you’re not hard on the eyes. I have a few events coming up where if I had a girl on my arm, it would be helpful.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“My birthday party’s coming up, and I have a couple of ex-girlfriends who will be there. Having you there could ease the tension. I also have press stuff for my upcoming movie releases. I have a feeling that could be awkward if I don’t have a current girlfriend,” David listed.
“Why me? You don’t exactly like me,” Crystal said.
“Spending time with you today helped me see the real you a bit better. There are some things about you I don’t like but can put up with for a while. There’s another side of you I’ve seen today that I do like, and I see a lot of potential for self-improvement.”
David smiled at her unspoken question.
“No, I’m not going to go into detail. These are things you need to figure out on your own.”
He sat back and thought for a minute, then continued.
“I just have one rule that’s a deal-breaker.”
“What’s that?” Crystal asked.
“You better realize that people will be watching you. And if they get a picture of you hooking up with someone else, it’ll be front-page news. I can guarantee that, Crystal. And right now, I don’t need that kind of shit circling around my name. I don’t need people thinking I’m some pitiful sap getting cheated on … again.”
“What if I get …?”
“I’m not the one who said they weren’t willing to have sex.”
Crystal blushed.
“Are you saying that you’ll only have sex with me?” she asked.
David barked out a laugh.
“Hell, no. But I’ll make you one promise: I’ll never shove it in your face or embarrass you.”
“Will you promise to tell me when you do?” she asked.
“Why?”
“I want to be able to gauge how serious it is. If you find someone you truly like, I don’t want to be the ‘other woman.’”
“Fair enough. Deal?”
“Can I ask one more thing?”
“We’ve come this far.”
“I need a place to crash until Matt moves out. If I were to sleep with you … not sex … it would make us being together more believable. I’m saying that because people who know us realize that we don’t exactly like each other. They would never buy that we were dating, otherwise,” Crystal reasoned.
“I sleep in the nude,” David warned.
“Cassidy confirmed that he does, ma’am,” Ruth said.
“So do I,” Crystal shot back.
She could see that her declaration affected him, which secretly made her happy.
◊◊◊
Chapter 28
David
A week later, David woke to his phone ringing. Tomorrow he had two movies premiering on the same day, so he wasn’t surprised to see his publicist, Frank Ingram, calling.
“This is a total clusterfuck.”
“Well, good morning to you, too,” David said.
“Can you call your fixer and have him take care of Isabel Alexandra and Lexi? They’re about to fuck up your premieres,” Frank shared.
“Slow down and explain why any of this is my concern. I would think Ben would be the center of all this.”
“TMZ called me bright and early this morning to tell me they no longer agree to hold off on the Isabel and Ben breakup. That’s because it’s been leaked that Lexi made claims against Ben that have his production in Paris on hold while they investigate. There are rumblings that he blackmailed her and forced her to be his PA and have sex with him.”
“I call bullshit … and I might have proof,” David said.
“If you do, I need it like yesterday,” Frank said.
“When Isabel gave me the photos, I had Fritz hire an investigator to confirm it. Not that I didn’t believe Isabel, but you know how images can be doctored. Fritz told me that Ben and Lexi are, in fact, having a sexual relationship. I decided I didn’t want to see the video proof.
“I bet if you watched the video, you would see that Lexi wasn’t being coerced. I think she panicked when you and Kent opened your big mouths. That, by the way, caused her to try to call me like a hundred times. She must have concocted the harebrained blackmail story to explain it away. Now she’s backed into a corner and is doubling down,” David mused out loud.
“This will ruin Ben’s career. And yours, if you’re seen as supporting him in any way,” Frank said. “You know how the #MeToo thing works. The accuser is always right. If it’s found out later that the man was innocent, it’s too late. This shit is radioactive, and anyone near him will get splattered.”
“This is why I pay you,” David said.
“First, you have to disinvite him to your vodcast. Second, I’m going to pull you out of any interviews where the two of you would be involved.”
David had talked the cast from both movies into joining him for his class project. Professor Blum had moved the taping to their largest auditorium they could film in so an audience could attend. It sounded like the whole department and every film student was trying to get tickets. David had even been told they planned to hire professionals to work behind the scenes for this episode.
“Before we do that, call Paul Andon, Lexi’s dad and the man the studio put in charge of Love Letters and the Star Academy franchise. He might want to have a talk with his daughter and have her make nice. Lexi’s a smart girl, and her dad should be able to make her see reason,” David suggested. “Believe me, I know how bad this is, but let’s not cast the first stone on rumor alone.”
“I should tell him about the videos you have. As a father, it will kill him, but he needs to know the truth,” Frank reasoned.
“Be careful who you share those with. I don’t want Lexi or Ben suing me for it getting out on the internet,” David warned.
“If Paul wants to see it, I’ll show it to him on my laptop. I won’t let it leave my possession,” Frank promised.
‘If he does, I’ll send Paddy O’Malley to see Frank,’ David thought, even though he’d promised to never hire his fixer again. The man was more than a little scary.
For now, he would wait it out and see if the Ben and Lexi story broke or not. Frank hung up on him. David called his security chief and told him to personally deliver to Frank the proof the investigator had gathered on Lexi.
He lay back down, intent on getting another hour of sleep.
“Why are you getting calls so early?” Crystal asked.
Matt had promised to be out of the apartment by today, and that was going to make his life so much easier. He was all but positive that Crystal was intent on getting David to make a move on her. She, in fact, made good on her word regarding sleeping nude.
To put it into perspective, she had quickly made his list of the top four sexiest women he knew. The list included Rita James, aka America’s Sweetheart. Even though she was the mother of two adult children and pushing 40, she was one of those women who looked twenty years younger and had an ass that you could bounce a quarter off.
The retired—at the age of 28—supermodel Adrienne also was on his list. He’d met her at a modeling event where they’d been introduced after David signed his first contract with Ford Models. She’d been on the way out, as she wasn’t happy with their representation. Eventually, she opened her own agency. Adrienne had liked him and had become a friend and mentor.