Ashley wrung her hands. “You’re so white. You’re not going to faint, are you?”
“Maybe.” Was it just last night she’d gone home and congratulated herself on having a second chance?
“Should I get you something? A glass of water or— Oh, you’ve dropped your coffee. Look at the mess.”
A stain couldn’t compare to everything else that was going on. Gail pointed to the door. “The other line’s ringing. Someone has to answer.”
“Right. Of course. No one will get through. You can count on me,” she said, and snatched up Gail’s cup before scurrying out.
Bracing herself for what she might find, Gail checked the call log on her cell phone. Sure enough, she had thirty missed calls. All of which had been left in the past two hours.
Almost every one of them came from Simon or Ian.
What was she going to do?
She had no chance to decide. A second later, the outside door banged open and everyone started screaming while trying to stop the man who’d stalked inside. It was Simon. And he had his eye on her office as he shoved one person after another out of his way.
4
Gail jumped to her feet and put her desk between them. She had no idea what else to do. She’d never seen Simon this angry, not even when he’d punched out his costar for calling him “Tiger Woods” after news of his divorce, and the reason behind it, broke.
“What the hell kind of game are you playing?” he yelled. “I told you I’d reverse whatever Ian did to your business. We agreed last night. Didn’t you believe me?”
The veins that stood out in his neck made Gail as uncomfortable as his bloodshot eyes. If she had her guess, he hadn’t been to bed since she’d seen him. Unshaven, with his thick black hair mussed and his clothes wrinkled, he had lines of fatigue bracketing his eyes and mouth. But he still looked gorgeous.
Gail considered that more than a little unfair. At six feet tall, he wasn’t even short like so many other male actors.
“I’m not playing games,” she said. “I believed you, and I can…explain. If you’ll just give me a chance.”
He pulled Hollywood Secrets Revealed out of his back pocket and slapped it down. “This is bullshit! All of it. And you know it.”
Her knuckles ached with tension as she clasped her hands in front of her. “I do. And I’ll admit it. I promise. We just need to brainstorm how…how to proceed from here, figure out the best way to neutralize the damage.”
He tilted his head as if a new thought had occurred to him. “Is that why you did it? To get me back in here? So we could work together again?”
“What?” Losing some of her fear, she stood taller. “Absolutely not. I’m the one who kicked you out to begin with.”
His lips, so sensuous-looking in the movies, thinned. “But now you regret losing the income.”
“I regret that it cost me my other clients. I don’t regret that it cost me you. You’re a mess and it’s time someone had the guts to tell you.”
“I’m a mess?” he repeated. “At least I’m not falsely accusing anyone of a felony!”
She cringed. “Right. That’s bad.”
“If you agree, then why? I’ve never laid a hand on you—and I’ve had plenty of opportunities. How many times have we been alone in the back of a limousine, coming or leaving an event, or meeting after hours right here in this office?”
Not many. And certainly never for very long. Ian, his business manager, was usually with them, or Serge, who worked for her and helped with the bigger accounts. Sometimes one of Simon’s bodyguards came along. But she wasn’t going to quibble over such a small detail. Especially when he added, “Not that I wouldn’t like to wring your neck this very second.”
“You wouldn’t want to make matters any worse.” She edged away when he took a few steps to the left, always keeping the same distance between them. She doubted he’d really hurt her. He’d never been known to strike a woman. But he’d been unraveling pretty fast since the breakdown of his marriage. She wasn’t taking any chances.
“Matters can’t get any worse,” he ranted. “I’ve been accused of a lot of things, but never rape! Don’t you realize what this is going to do to me? My ex-wife’s lawyers have already called. They’re going to use this to delay my next custody hearing. It could slow the process for months, make it impossible for me to get my little boy back....” When his voice broke, his muscles bunched as if he’d rather slug the wall than show her his softer side, the side that actually cared about something. “If that happens, if I lose him, I’ll make you sorry you were ever born.”
Gail couldn’t help cringing again. He meant it. “I apologize. Sincerely. Please, calm down and—”
The door swung open and Ian Callister charged in. Face mottled with emotion, blond hair standing on end as if he’d just rolled out of bed, he was obviously in a hurry. But he didn’t seem to be looking for her. At least, not yet. He had eyes only for his frazzled client. “Simon, let me handle this. You don’t need to be here, okay? This is dangerous. You touch one hair on her head and it’ll just exacerbate the problem. Why don’t you go home and try to get some sleep? I’ll call as soon as I have this resolved. We’ll work it out. I swear.”
“Like you worked out taking away her clients?” Simon asked. “Why do you think she did this?”
“I wasn’t trying to get revenge,” Gail said. But the men weren’t listening.
“She was too full of herself,” Ian replied. “I was just giving little miss prim and proper a much-deserved wake-up call.”
Full of herself? Was that how she came off? Gail opened her mouth to offer some sort of defense; she wasn’t the one who’d acted badly when she’d represented him. But Simon was already responding.
“What the hell am I even doing here?” He threw up his hands. “What’s done is done. There’s nothing we can do to take it back. As far as I’m concerned, you can both go to hell. Good luck saving your business,” he said to her. “Because I won’t lift a finger to help you, and you’d better be prepared to defend yourself against a slander suit. And you.” He pointed at Ian. “You’re fired.”
With that, he left, but not before slamming every door he encountered.