Uncovering Kaitlyn (19 page)

Jake left me
with the others and they looked concerned. They didn’t say much while I got
myself sorted and headed out to the studio with Oliver. A few people looked
over at me and it was obvious that they had all just watched the show like I
had. If they hadn’t seen it for themselves then they would have been told
almost word for word by someone else. I went and sat on the sofa and placed
Oliver against it next to me and Aaron and Dad stood to the side so that they
were both in my line of site behind the interviewer. I was expecting a man, but
a young woman in her twenties came over and sat down instead. They’d clearly
thought that the gossiping women theme would actually work for me. I heard a
few shouts behind me then ‘action’ as the woman started to talk.

We chatted a
bit about my music and becoming famous then, she asked me about my love life. I
faked a laugh and said that I was sure she’d seen Jamie’s interview.

“So it’s
true then? You’ve caught the elusive Jamie Stark.”

“I didn’t
catch him. He came to me.” I laughed again “I never thought I’d be saying that
I was in a relationship with
the
Jamie Stark either. He makes me happy,
you know?”

“So is he
the inspiration behind your music? Are flowers
about the two of you? The
bad boy song has to be about him”

“That is,
yeah. Its parts of how we met compared to how people see him, but flowers are
about family and life. So he’s only got one song.” I laughed again and this
time it was almost genuine.

“So can we
hear some?”

“Sure” I
picked up the guitar and played flowers. It would probably help me sell more if
I’d played Jamie’s song but I wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction.

“Not a hint
of your bad boy song? Just for us please?”

“I really
wish I could, but I need a band to help me with that one.”

We wound up
the interview and Jake came over as soon as the camera was switched off. He
gave me a hug and stuck his finger up at the watching crew. Security headed
over to us, looking pissed with Jake.

“That was
Jamie’s security people outside. They’re here to take you home. The van is
actually a minibus with driver.”

“Sound’s
good to me. Why do they look pissed at you?”

“Because I
never told them to cancel the police and they just had a bollocking from
somebody. Wasting time and also they got a lot of paperwork now. I don’t think
swearing at everyone helped.”

I laughed
and took Jake’s arm as we left to go home. At the exit, two bulky men opened
the doors and walked me and the others to a minibus. Aaron started to head to
his car and I called him back. “I’m sure Wayne will drop you back so you can
pick it up later. Please come back with us.”

Aaron looked
relieved that I’d asked him to come and I had to remind him that he was family.
Family never had to wait to be invited. The journey to the apartment was calm
and I wondered if Jamie had overreacted when he set the bodyguards up the other
day. It wasn’t until we reach my street that we saw the full effect of the
frenzy that had started. There were vans and cars blocking the street and
reporters seemed to be prepared to camp out to get the story. We drove into the
private car park and the bodyguards hurried me inside. My phone had hundreds of
missed calls and messages. Mostly they were reporters but there was also a fair
few from people I rarely spoke to inviting me and Jamie for dinner and the
like. One message caught my attention. They said they wanted to talk to me and
Jake for our opinion on their article. I played it aloud and Jake went white.
Aaron turned off my phone and disconnected the internet and landline.

“It’ll calm
down. I’ll give the lawyer a call soon and she can have somebody give out a
statement and sort through the calls.”

I knew he
didn’t mean the gossipers who wanted the scoop on my relationship with Jamie,
but I didn’t say anything. I was happy without the extra hassle so I nodded and
put the kettle on instead of saying what I really thought; that they wouldn’t
drop it now that they knew because they never did, and me being famous made
this seem so much worse.

Jamie

Everything
was manic on the way to Kaitlyn’s. Graham was demanding to know what was going
on and I couldn’t ring Kaitlyn because my phone was being hounded by every
person I’d ever met and a few more that wanted to meet me. I was relieved when
the security agency turned up and told me that Kaitlyn was with her bodyguards
and they were planning on taking me to her flat until they had a proper plan.
Graham was calling publicists and switching his schedule around to fit whatever
his next screwed up plan was. The crowd outside Kaitlyn’s was massive and I was
thankful that she wasn’t alone. I’d never forgive myself if she got hurt. I
braced myself for the noise and flashes and jumped out the car. I waved
slightly then headed straight inside.

“Bad day?”
the doorman asked.

“You could
say that, how was Kaitlyn?”

“She was
fine. She has her brother, father and agent with her.”

“Thanks,
would you like an extra man down here with you? I bet the residents here aren’t
too happy.”

“They know
it won’t last. And Kaitlyn has offered to compensate them, but if you could
spare somebody that would be much appreciated.”

One of the
guys stayed downstairs and I automatically went to the stairs.

“There’s a
lift over there.” Graham winged.

“We use the
stairs here. It keeps Kaitlyn more private.” I ignored Graham’s lecture as I
ran up the stairs. I punched in the code for her hallway and knocked on her
door. Her neighbours came out and said hello.

“Is
everything ok? We tried to ask the security but they just kept asking where you
guys were. You did mean for us to call them?”

“Thanks, for
today. It means a lot to us. Why don’t you come over in about half an hour, I’m
sure Kaitlyn will be ordering a take-away of some description.”

“Thanks, we
might just do that.”

Kaitlyn’s
door opened and Graham shoved straight past the bulky man blocking it. I walked
in and gave Kaitlyn a hug.

“I’m sorry
about all this. How was your interview?”

“Nowhere
near as awkward as yours was. They asked a few questions but I kept it light
and didn’t give them much.”

“How did you
know?” Aaron asked me.

“Some girl
warned me about forty seconds before I went on.” I made a mental note to give
that girl the biggest gift basket Graham could find. I could do it myself, but
Graham seemed to like them more than me.

“The
producer will want an explanation from you both.” Graham snapped.

“And we’ll
give him one. Calm down.”

I went in
search of a takeaway menu and found Kaitlyn’s favourite pizza number taped to
the wall near her piano. I dialled and ordered six large pizzas and gave them
my credit card number.

“You’re
ordering pizza. You just ruined your career and you’re ordering pizza.”

“Yes, I’m
ordering pizza. I happen to be hungry.”

“What do you
mean by he’s ruined his career?” Kaitlyn’s dad demanded.

“He has a
reputation to maintain. While I’m sure your daughter’s sale will flourish,
James won’t be wanted. People want an actor that fits the role and has a large
fan base. He won’t have that anymore.”

I was
majorly pissed. How could Graham even say that?

“Graham,
shut the fuck up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So it’s a
coincidence that she’s got a song about a bad boy, that’s thought to be a
number one hit? Use your brain, James, she’s using you.”

“Don’t you
dare. Kaitlyn is everything to me. Have you even listened to the song? Because
if you had, you’d know that it’s about me. It’s about how we met and how people
see me. Have you listened to the rest of her music? She writes about her life.
I’d be more offended if I didn’t feature.”

“You are
throwing everything away. For what? A little tramp of a girl, who is so
desperate to be noticed she’ll sleep her way to fame.”

“That’s
enough. I’ve had it with you. It was bad enough when you control my acting,
then you tell me when I could see my parents and now you’re telling me who I
can date? I don’t care about my career anymore. I want to act. I want to be
with Kaitlyn. I don’t want to be your robot. You’re fired, we’re done. Say it
how you want. Get put out and find another bloody life to ruin, you’re not
welcome in mine anymore!”

The room
went silent and when somebody knocked on the door, Aaron, two bodyguards and
Kaitlyn’s dad jumped to answer it. Jake sat on the sofa, barely paying
attention. He hadn’t said a word since I arrived.

A man came
in and scooped Kaitlyn up. “You’ve done it Kaitlyn. You’ve broke America.”

“What do you
mean I’ve broke America?”

“Your album
is in the top twenty midweek charts. Two of the songs are in the top twenty
single and one of them is in the top ten. Here you’re currently top of both
charts for the midweek. I know everything is a nightmare right now, but I had
to be the one to tell you.”

I waited for
Graham to leave and then pulled Kaitlyn out of the bodies that surrounded her
and gave her a proper hug and a kiss to match.

“I love you”

“I think I
love you too.”

I held
Kaitlyn in my arms and felt her tense slightly. Even after all this time, Kaitlyn
was still hiding something from me and I didn’t know what else I could do to
show her that she could trust me.

***

I stayed
with Kaitlyn for the rest of week and she was becoming more and more distant.
She was always smiling and laughing, but it was the fake laugh she used in
interviews not the real smile that made my heart melt. I asked her what was
wrong a few times and she either lied to me, saying she was fine or she said
that she was tired and it’d been a stressful couple of months. Jake wasn’t much
better. He stayed at Kaitlyn’s every night and didn’t say much to either of us.
Once Kaitlyn was shaking in her sleep and when I woke her up, she said nothing
and went to find Jake. Aaron gave me a sympathetic look one morning but he
refused to say anything. I was meeting Ryan at Zinc for a drink before I went
to LA and I asked Kaitlyn if she wanted to join us. She replied that she was
planning on catching up with Jake so I should go have a guy’s night out.

“You look
shit” was Ryan’s greeting to me.

“Thanks.”

Ryan handed
me my pint and grabbed a stool next to me.

“Trouble in
paradise?”

“You know
talking to you got me into trouble before.”

“Nah, I
fixed it. Talk you're Uncle Ryan.” He teased.

“If I knew
what the problem was I would. Kaitlyn’s hiding something and her family is
helping her. She won’t talk to me about it.”

“Then she
doesn’t want you to know. There’s no point digging. Go home and be you or
whatever it is that you do to get chicks to love you.”

“I suppose
so. So how’s what’s her name from uni?”

“Engaged.”

“Sucks. It’s
down to you to get a number then. I vote barmaid.”

“Barmaid?
You can’t do better than that?”

“I’m not
allowed to look, I’m a taken man” I laughed.

“I thought
it was just touching that you couldn’t do.”

“With the
amount of people staring at me right now, I think looking is out too.”

“You’re a
miserable bastard, you know that?”

“I’ve had a
long week.”

“You’ve had
a good week. You can be with Kaitlyn and you don’t have to hide anymore. You
should be showing her off to the world. There must be something you’ve wanted
to do with her that you couldn’t?”

“You’re
right.” I pulled out my phone and opened a message for Kaitlyn

Me- Hey
Foxy, time to get dressed you’re being picked up in twenty.

Foxy
Jones- What? I thought you were out with Ryan?

Me- Be
ready in twenty.

“Are you
leaving?”

“Sure am.
Quick question first. If you knew I was seeing Kaitlyn, why did you hit on
her?”

“What do
mean?”

“At the
barbeque. You were pestering her all afternoon.”

“Oh yeah. We
thought maybe you’d come to her rescue or say something but you just laughed
and watched her struggle. I didn’t think you were a fan of Shakespeare.” Ryan
winked at me and a few people watching me laughed.

“It was an
inside joke.”

“It was
romantic crap.”

“It was a
joke about poison.

“What? That’s
not romantic.”

“It wasn’t
supposed to be.”

“Somehow, I
don’t get how you have a smoking hot girlfriend and I don’t. You hit on her
with poison jokes.”