Uncovering Kaitlyn (18 page)

“Well that answers a few questions. What would those grannies
say now?”

“Nothing, because nobody is going to find out.”

“I hear you. I never thought I’d hear the day you said
something like that.”

“I thought you knew?”

“I thought she was a fuck buddy.”

“Don’t talk about her like that.” I punched him on the
shoulder.

“Hey, calm down.”

“Respect, man. Respect.”

I had my usual driver pick us up when we landed and I gave
him a very generous tip when he said he’d have our bags sent over to the hotel
so we could go straight to Kaitlyn’s dinner. Ryan hit me over the head and
demanded why we didn’t just stay at the same hotel as the dinner and I had to
ask myself the same question.

We turned up at the dinner when everyone was just finishing
their main meal. I handed Kaitlyn a bottle of champagne and found my seat at
the table next to a young girl and Ryan.

“You’re Jamie Stark! Oh my God, I’m like your biggest fan.”

Ryan snorted his drink, and spluttered slightly. “That’s not
what I heard.”

I watched as Jake hid a smile and the girl gave a confused
look.

“I’m sorry, my idiot friend thinks he’s funny. Nice to meet
you.”

“I can’t believe Kaitlyn didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“I thought this was supposed to be a surprise. She probably
didn’t know.”

“If she saw to spare seats, she would have guessed. So was
the seat extra for your girlfriend?”

I had to choke back a laugh at her forwardness. I looked over
at Ryan who winked at me and leant over me.

“I’m Ryan, this sexy man’s plus one. Sorry we’re late; we
spent a bit too long in our hotel.”

“I… I never realised you were that way inclined.” The poor
girl blushed and Kaitlyn laughed across the table.

“Ryan, leave Bethany alone. You couldn’t get lucky with Jamie
if he was being paid.”

“Who says I’m not being paid?” Ryan countered.

“So you’re not gay?”

“No, unfortunately a rather large amount of people think I
am. It puts some of my fans off me. Graham reckons I sell fewer calendars
because of it.” I attempted to look defeated and the few people who had met
Graham laughed.

“Ignore those two idiots Beth. That’s Jamie and Ryan, I met
them in LA. They’re just roommates.”

“Like you and Jake?”

“Yeah like siblings.” I answered when Jake and Kaitlyn, just
looked at each other.

“So how did the launch go? We noticed a few appearances in
the States.” Ryan asked Aaron, who sat next to a plump woman, assumedly his
wife.

“You did? That’s great, we only sent pre-recorded interviews
over there and they sent a couple of magazines here. The sales are going well
so far and the fan-base has been brilliant. People are already arguing over
which song is the best.”

“What do you think is?”

“I’m not sure. I like the piano piece, but Kaitlyn doesn’t
perform that, so it’d probably have to be
bad boy hater
or
Blood and
Roses
. Yours?”

I had to think carefully for a moment, knowing that I wasn’t
supposed to have knowledge of the songs as in depth as I did.

“I like
bad boy hater.
It’s so different to the
others. I need to listen a few more times to get the gist of the whole album
though.”

The first time I heard the song I didn’t know whether to
laugh or be offended. Kaitlyn told me she had dedicated a song to TJ and I was
honoured. Then I listened to a song about how she hated him and I was like
‘what the heck, Kaitlyn.’ She made me listen a few times and I realised that it
was about how she wasn’t supposed to like a bad boy, and how she hated that he
was called a bad boy when he wasn’t. It was fun and upbeat and generally quiet
funny when she told me the inspiration for each line. There was a line about me
comforting her on Howard Collins, throwing her into the sea and about staying
up all night to check she was ok after the break-in. Basically it was our story
and I loved it. Ryan motioned for me to get a drink with him, and as soon as we
got to the bar he muttered “You’re a broken man, look at yourself, grinning
over a chick like its Christmas.”

Foxy
Jones- Ignore Ryan, you’re awesome. Tonight was great thanks x

Me-
Anytime, though I think I agree with him.

***

Graham woke
me up the next day with a phone call to say that I was to stay in London until
the weekend. One of the actors was sick and they couldn’t do much so I needed
to build hype back home. I swore at him then hung up. Even though it was great
to be able to spend time with Kaitlyn, he was driving me mad more and more. Graham
never understood the line between my life and work and seemed to think they
were one and the same.

I checked
the list he emailed me and compared it to Kaitlyn’s schedule. We didn’t have
any interviews together and there were only a couple of times that we were both
free. I had a live interview at eleven a clock tomorrow with ‘Good Morning’ and
I might be able to join Kaitlyn for lunch after as long as her interview didn’t
over run. Otherwise I wouldn’t see her until Thursday or Friday and that was
only as long as Graham didn’t make me do something else because I had a minute
free in my schedule. I swear he forgot I was human, even the terminator would
struggle to keep up with him. Today there was a fundraising fair at a school in
Cambridge that I was invited to and I was meeting a burns charity to talk about
doing some campaigns for them. Only days like this could compete with seeing a
film where I was lead premiere. It was days like this that I like being famous.

***

I walked
Ryan out to the lobby and put his ‘suitcase’ in the boot of the taxi for him,
knowing that he would hand his mum his washing to do when he got home. Little
did Ryan know that it was actually a case more suited to a drag queen than a
lazy student. I made sure to add a microphone and recorder into the case, so I
had something to tease him with on Facebook over the next few weeks. I then
went to get some breakfast and counted every free second I had until Graham
arrived. I only got to three hundred and thirty six before the slave master appeared
and summoned me to his side. In the car he briefed me on the ‘safe’ topics and
gave me a summary of the types of questions they said they were going to ask. I
was warned at least three times that I was not to curse on daytime TV. We went
our separate ways when we arrived and I was pissed off to have a nervous fan
girl as my make-up artist. That was another thing Ryan teased me about
constantly, the fact that I had a make-up artist. This girl was extra jumpy and
nervous. It was like she was expecting me to kill her or something. I knew I
had a bad boy reputation but as far as I was aware I wasn’t yet know to be a
psychopathic killer. When the girl handed me a tissue, I gave her a funny look
and she glanced over shoulder then faced me. She mouthed something which looked
a bit like ‘please’ and I opened the tissue up properly. I tried to read the
scrawl of writing and could only pick up something about Kaitlyn and a plane. I
looked back at the girl confused.

“So I bet
you hear some gossip working here?” I asked her in what I hoped was a subtle
tone.

“Not really,
no one wants to talk to the artists, only the celebs like you.”

I looked at
her again and clogs started to twirl in my head. I pulled her close to me and
whispered into her ear so that no one else would be able to hear. “They know
don’t they?” The girl simply nodded slightly and carried on working. I stood up
and pulled out my phone while on the lookout for Graham. I started dialling and
waved Graham over when he came back into the room.

“You need to
call Kaitlyn or Aaron. Anybody she’s with. Even Ryan if you must. You need to
tell her we’re being set up.” Graham gave me a strange look, but I didn’t have
time to explain since somebody picked up the phone.

“It’s Jamie.
I need you to find that number.”

An assistant
started to call me over and I gave Graham a pleading look as I was taken down
to the green room. At this rate, there wouldn’t be a Kaitlyn and I for much
longer.

Chapter Eleven

Kaitlyn

I arrived on
the set, with Oliver on my shoulder. Jake, Dad and Aaron were busy organising
everything for the day and I warmed up with
Daddy, don’t cry
and went to
dressing room to get sorted. I was still nervous but at least this was
pre-recorded and there wasn’t a studio audience.

Dad and
Aaron came in drinking tea and I gave them a soft glare. I wasn’t allowed to
drink anything that might mark my white scarf or jeans until recording had
finished completely. Aaron assured me that one day he’d thank me for this
advice when he saved me from being humiliated online and in magazines.

“Where’s
Jake?”

“He’s on the
phone. I think it might be Diana.”

“That’s
good. He needs to fix things with her.”

“He will,
don’t worry.”

Aaron gave
me the usual run through of preparation questions and I answered them the best
I could. He added some random questions to put me off and I managed to answer
most of them reasonably well. Dad’s phone rang and he seemed confused when he
answered. He looked from me to Aaron and then back to me again.

“Thanks for
the heads up.” Dad pulled up a chair next to me and asked an assistant to find
Jake. “That was Graham, Jamie’s manager or agent, whoever he is. He said that
Jamie thinks you’re both being set up. He’s on live TV right now.”

Aaron
searched for his briefcase and pulled out his laptop. It took about three
minutes to load. Jake came in and joined us just as Jamie walked onto the set.
They exchanged pleasantries and then a rather excited host brought up a blurry
video. There were two people sat next to each other on a train or airplane. The
voice was unmistakably Ryan and the second Jamie.

“Well
she’s not worth an autograph. She doesn’t fit the game.”

“Does she
need to fit the game?”

“Stop
playing dumb Ryan, you’re treating me like a man whore, you know I’m in love
with Kaitlyn.”

“Well
that answers a few questions. What would those grannies say now?”

“Nothing,
because nobody is going to find out.”

I froze.
Jamie seemed to be able to stay calm, while the host smiled sweetly at him.

“So, we’re
assuming that would be Kaitlyn Fox? This is the guy that told the world he
never wanted a girlfriend while sat next to her. So how long have you been in
‘love’ with Kaitlyn, before that interview or after?”

The host
actually made the quotations with her hands. I felt sick. I didn’t know what to
say or how I was supposed to react. Jamie loved me, but all I could see was the
thousands of people who would be watching this live, right now. Jamie took a
minute to talk, he tapped his knee lightly and I knew instantly how pissed off
he was, despite the cool façade. Every so often I spotted Jamie doing that when
he was talking about how annoyed he got at the constant questions he faced. He
couldn’t stop doing that when he explained what actually happened at the petrol
station and how he had been asked not one about how the girl and baby were
doing now.

“
That
would definitely be Kaitlyn Fox, She’s just amazing, and I’m so pleased to have
met her. I would say I’ve loved her since I threw her in the sea.”

Jamie gave
the audience he’s mouth-watering smile and the host seemed annoyed that Jamie
wasn’t reacting.

“So are
your playboy days over? Is this the end of Jamie Stark?”

“I wasn’t
aware I’d had any playboy days. Back on Howard Collins I said I’d never had a
girlfriend before. I never once said I didn’t want one, everyone made that
assumption. Kaitlyn is the love of my life and I wouldn’t change that for
anything.”

A man came
in looking like he was from security and he waited for all eyes to be on him.

“Miss Fox, there
is a van outside claiming they are here for you. We have called the police
already.”

“Did they
say who it was?” Aaron asked.

“No. They
said they were here for the Smith and Jones account.”

I saw
recognition flash across Jake’s face. He didn’t know that I was named Jones by
Jamie, but I could see him put the pieces together in his head. I was Missy
Jones and he was Thomas Smith. He also knew that Jamie was TJ Smith in my
phone.

“I’ll go
sort them out. You go out there and do the interview.”

“I can’t. I
think I’m going to be sick. I can’t believe this is happening.”

“And I can’t
believe your boyfriend was a moron enough to say that to Ryan on an airplane
full of other passengers. But he did, so you need to go out there an act like
nothing’s happened. Jamie’s right, they’ve set this up so they both get the
exclusive first reactions. Go out there and sing. Give one word answers if you
must. Aaron and Dad will be right there.”