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Authors: Samantha Towle

The Mighty Storm (13 page)

BOOK: The Mighty Storm
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Shit. I

m going to have to go on tour with them. Of course.

I

m so screwed.

This morning I was worried I was never going to see him again, and now I

m going to be spending a huge amount of time with him, following him around, watching him, learning all about him, while we tour around some pretty cool parts of the world.

Yes, I am so completely and utterly screwed.


Call him,” Vicky urges one last time, placing my phone on my desk, tapping her nail on the screen before leaving me to it.

I stare at my phone and then with shaky fingers I pick it up and press redial on his number.

He answers on the first ring.


Tru,” his voice comes deep and sexy down the line.


Hi, Jake.”

Silence.


So…” I say, not really knowing what to say.


I

m taking it your boss beat me to it?” he states rather than asks.


She did.”


And?”


And what?”


Will you do it

the bio?”


Do I have a choice?”

There’s a really long pause. I can practically feel his tension radiating down the line.


There

s always a choice, Tru.” He sounds a little pissed off.


Sorry,” I recover. “That sounded a little shitty, it

s just a lot of information to process this early in the morning. Especially when I haven

t even had a chance to have a coffee yet.”


You haven

t?”


No, and I don’t function without coffee,” I say in a Spanish accent. I

m actually fluent in Spanish, something my mum insisted on, and it does comes in handy at times

well, mainly holiday

s in Spanish speaking countries. And my crap Spanish accent always used to make Jake laugh when we were kids, so I

m aiming for just that again.

He chuckles, deep and throaty down the line. It does incredible things to me. “I see you

re still an idiot.”


I am, and it still takes one to know one.”


That it does … so you

ll do it?”

I get the distinct feeling he

s not asking me. And really in what world would I ever say no.


I

ll do it,” I smile.

I can practically feel his grin down the phone.


Okay, so as your new boss

well one of them

I order you to go get some coffee as I can

t have you talking in that cute Spanish accent of yours all day. You

ll drive me nuts.”

I

ll drive him nuts?! In a good or bad way…


I

m seeing you today?”


Of course. Go get that coffee and I

ll call you back soon.”

He hangs up, and I sit staring at the phone in my hand, feeling a little dumbfounded.

And somehow a little played. I just haven

t figured out as to how yet.

I

m also feeling a little excited

okay a lot excited. I

m going on tour with The Mighty Storm … with Jake.

Shit. And double shit. I

m going to have to tell Will.

Well that thought quickly dilutes my good mood.

I don

t go and get a coffee straight away, I go to Vicky

s office.


You called him?” She looks up at me hopefully.


I called him.”


And?


And of course I

m doing it.”


Oh thank god! You had me worried for a moment there. Oh, Trudy, you are my superstar!” She gets up from her desk and hugs me in a cloud of her perfume and perfectness. “I knew from the second you stepped into the interview for a job here that hiring you would be the best thing I would ever do.”

She holds me back by my shoulders, smiling her gorgeous smile at me. “You, my girl, are going to lift this magazine off the bottom shelf and put it in its rightful place in amongst those glossy

s on the middle shelf.”


You really think this exclusive with Jake will do that?” I know it will lift sales but I don

t want her to pin all her hopes on this.


I do.” She nods emphatically. “This boy is unattainable. Getting a concise straight answer out of him is bad enough, but a full blown insight into his life

hell, all those women out there who sit listening to his album, watching him on TV, dreaming of Jake Wethers in their beds will wet their panties over this.”

I can

t help but laugh.


And they are also going to love the fact that you guys grew up together and have just reunited to do this story. Women will envy you and love you for bringing that man into their houses.”


Um.” I tuck my hair behind my ear.

I was thinking maybe we should keep that part under wraps.”

I

ve been thinking about this, and I don

t want all the attention it will bring me if people find out Jake and me grew up together. And there could be the chance that when the press is delving into mine and Jake

s history together, someone from our former years might just tell the story of what his dad did to him and his mum. I shudder to think. Somehow Jake

s managed to keep that part of his life out of the press, I don

t want to be the reason it comes out.

Obviously I

m not going to say any of that to Vicky. I

ve already quickly planned out what I

m going to say.


I just think it will seem even better if they don

t know of my history with Jake. It might take the focus off the bio when they realise Jake and I have history, and I don

t want that to be the running feature. I want it to be about Jake and Etiquette.”

She grins at me. “Good thinking. Always the journalist. Have I told you how much I love you lately?”


No.” I grin.


Well I do, lots and lots and lots.”


So the tour … Jake

s said he

s going to see me again today

assumedly to talk about the tour, but can you give me the heads up now?”


You

re seeing him again

today?” she grins, sitting back down.

She

s like a teenager at times.


Yes, about business. Brief me about the tour, please, boss?”

She leans back in her chair. “Seven weeks. Touring Europe for the first three, then America and Canada for the last four.”


And I can come home in-between the dates?”


There are a lot of dates in the tour. It

s pretty intensive

ten dates in Europe and thirteen in the US and Canada. There is a two week break between Europe and the US, and I can

t imagine you

ll be needed all the time

but check with Jake.”


What about my column?”


I was going to get Jane to cover what you couldn

t manage?”


Sure. Sounds like a plan.”

I get out of my chair. “What did you think of the piece of the interview with Jake that I sent you?”


Really good. I emailed back a few possible changes, have a look

let me know what your thoughts are. But there

s no rush on finishing it as I think we

re going to use it as the pre-cursor for the bio.”

I start to leave her office, then stop at the door. “Why do you think Jake never mentioned the bio to me last night?”

She shrugs. “You said last night was a catch up on old times, so maybe he didn

t want to talk business with you at that point.”


Hmm, maybe… he could have called me first thing this morning … but I guess it doesn

t matter.”

She leans forward resting her elbows on her desk. “You want my honest opinion? I think he asked you out to dinner because he wanted to see you again. I think he hired you for the bio because you

re fabulous at your job

and also because he wants to have sex with you.”


Vicky!” I screech, eyes wide.

I can

t believe she just said that.


What?” she says innocently. “I

m merely pointing out the conclusive facts.”


Which conclusive facts?”


That Jake wants to have sex with you.”


Will you stop saying that!” My face is flushing bright red. “And Jake could have sex with anyone he wants and trust me he wouldn

t want to have it with me.”

I think of the little brush off at my door last night. I don

t tell her of course.

She frowns at me and shakes her head. “Sometimes I don

t think you realise how gorgeous you are, Tru.”

I pull a face at her skewered compliment.


And yes, you are right. Jake could bed any women he wants to … but currently I think he wants to bed you.”

I frown at her. “It

d be an awful lot of trouble for him to go through just to get laid, when he can have it so easily accessible elsewhere.”


Easily accessible can get boring, my darling. And you are right, it certainly would be a lot of trouble to go to.” She raises her eyebrow. “So I guess that shows the worth of the person as to the level of trouble he

s willing to go to.”


Or just the new challenge.”


That too.” She leans back in her chair. “Just be careful, my darling, when mixing business and pleasure. Things can get awful messy sometimes.”


I don

t intend on mixing anything. I

m with Will, remember.”


You are.”


And I don

t think Jake is like that, contrary to popular belief, I think he

s professional in business, I don

t think he screws the staff

just everyone else.”


Of course. I can imagine Jake Wethers to be the upmost professional.”

She

s being snarky.


He was actually a real gent at dinner last night.”


He was?” She smiles, a real genuine smile. “Good. I

m glad.”

I ignore the little nag of disappointment, tugging away inside of me, that Jake Wethers, who is well known for screwing anything that moves, had no interest in me whatsoever last night.

Of course it stings. I would never have slept with him, of course, because of Will. But I would have kissed him for sure.

But then kissing is cheating too.

Ugh, my head is all gooey right now. I need a coffee.

I

m being irrational and silly that my pride is hurt, I know, but I

m a girl and it

s my prerogative to be just so.


You want a coffee?” I ask Vicky, as I

m leaving her office. “I

m making.”


I

m fine, my darling, thank you.”

I

m just heading past my desk, on my way to the kitchen to fire the kettle up when my mobile starts to ring.

I lean over my desk and grab my phone. It

s Jake. I get little butterflies setting flight in my tummy.

I

m going to have to knock this off if I

m going to be working with him…

BOOK: The Mighty Storm
12.34Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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