The cookout Hailey was talking about was a huge event for a local charity that helped parents of children with Down syndrome. Several of the families were present and there were quite a few celebrities going. Jasper showed up to meet Hailey at the office so they could ride over together.

He found himself wondering if Hailey had taken Matthew home with her the night before. He’d allowed Carl to take care of him after their awkward exchange. It actually made him cringe inside to tell Hailey to go for it with Matthew, but he wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize Hailey’s job when it was so important to her. Watching her stand up for herself proved to him that she truly did value her job.

He walked into Big Deal and waited in the little waiting room. Like a true client. They didn’t have a receptionist so someone would have to come out and see him. Finally, Hailey walked out with her gaze glued to her phone, her forehead creased in worry.

“What’s wrong, Little Bird?” he asked standing and then mentally chastising himself. No more nick names for her. He was going to have to work on that. She looked up and he moved towards her wincing as his ribs protested his quick movements.

She rushed to him. “Are you okay? Did you take your pain medication every four hours?”

“Yeah, Carl gave it to me. No big deal.” That’s right Jasper, he told himself. Just be aloof and keep your distance. He stepped back so there was distance between them and stuffed his hand in his pocket.

“Okay, well let’s go, I’d like to get there a little early and see who is around. We need to figure out our game plan for talking to celebrities and getting some good photo ops. I know the paparazzi will be there and we’re going to be arriving separately.”

Jasper was taken by surprise, “Why would we arrive separately?”

“Because, rock stars don’t hang out with their PR person and we’ve got to keep some distance between us or the gossip mags will get the wrong idea. They always do.” Hailey smiled and walked out the door.

He didn’t have a choice but to follow and do exactly as she wanted. It was her show. He went out and got into the car with Carl who raised a brow but didn’t say anything. They were going to Honeycutt Theater, a nice outdoor venue downtown, which usually featured local bands and threw large charity events for everything under the sun. The place was packed with people and a band he didn’t recognize played on the stage. Hailey waved from the other side of a long line of chairs. The people watching the band didn’t see him, so for the moment he was clear. He started to make his way toward her and accidentally caught the eye of a girl at the back of the crowd.

“Oh my God! It’s Jasper Daly,” she screeched. The reaction was instantaneous. They were up and rushing him before he could move.

“Sign my boobs,” one girl said.

“Sign my stomach,” another yelled.

They were not giving any consideration to the fact that he was injured and bumping into him from all sides. His ribs started to burn and he started to panic. “Back off,” his voice was failing him. “Give me some room.”

Carl was there and he could hear him yelling. The staff of the Honeycutt Theater were there trying to help him, but his breathing was coming in more difficult gasps and he really needed the people to get away from him. They were screaming as Carl pushed them back one by one. The staff was frantic on their radios trying to call for security. He could see Hailey trying to push through to get to him, the look on her face was one of sheer panic. Somehow, he found his voice.

“Hailey, don’t get in here, you’ll get hurt.”

“Ladies, get the hell off of him, can’t you see the cast? He’s hurt!” She was yelling at the women and he saw her push one out of her way. After what seemed like ages, Jasper was running out of air, security arrived. Three men surrounded him on all sides and kept the girls away as they took him up and behind the stage. The girls were following, but they wouldn’t be able to get backstage. Jasper tried to breathe as the men helped him sit down on a couch and Carl brought him a bottle of water.

“I’m so sorry, Jasper,” Hailey was stammering beside him. “We should have come in through the back. Why didn’t I think of that being a problem?”

Jasper finally was able to breathe again and leaned back on the couch. “Listen, Hailey. I can take on multiple women, if you know what I mean, but being injured just took me off guard. Carl, grab the one who wanted her boobs signed and two others and send them in here.”

Carl kind of glared at him, but went to do what he wanted. He felt bad, as Hailey’s face fell, but this was a good way to get her to see him as just another rock star client she had to put up with and nothing else.

The girls came giggling into the room and Hailey exited. She turned around when she got to the door. “In an hour we have painting in the VIP section. Will you be there? I mean is that enough time?” she said, her cheeks reddening.

“Plenty, Miss Hailey, thank you.”

Hailey shut the door and Jasper tried to turn his attention to the women, the girl in front of him was the boob-signing girl and she had a sharpie in her hand.

“Let’s see what you got.” Jasper smiled and watched as she took off her shirt. The other girls giggled and flanked him on the couch. At least he could kill a little time and not think about Hailey for a bit.

***

Hailey rushed away from the green room where Jasper was entertaining the three girls. She looked around for cameras trying to make sure no one had snapped Carl escorting them back to where he was.

Jasper was acting different, falling back into the way he’d been when she first met him. It was hard to understand men sometimes. She hoped he’d be done with whatever he was doing in time for the activities she had planned. Her cheeks burned as she thought of him getting naked with the three girls. Carl stood guard outside the door. She assumed that no unsuspecting paparazzi or fan with a cell phone would get a peek of him in the middle of an orgy, so she went to the VIP section to scope it out.

Outside one of the tents, she saw Autumn West. It was a bit surreal since she’d loved her on the show she’d been on. She starred on one of those wholesome teenage witch shows that aired on the kid’s channel, so you knew it was for pre-teens. She was wearing one of the shirts from Honeycutt Theater and a pair of cute cut off shorts. It was the wholesome looking Autumn that Hailey had always imagined when she thought about representing her. In the beginning this was the type of girl she wanted to do PR for. Now that Autumn was eighteen it was refreshing to see that she still maintained her wholesome image. Not many of the girls from the same channel had stayed wholesome at all, including her co-star Lily Daniels, who was also at the event. The two ran to each other and embraced.

Hailey took that moment to go to the bathroom, realizing she’d been holding it all day. Once she was in the stall, she heard two people enter laughing.

“Did you bring it?”

“Yes ma’am, powder your nose Miss Autumn and get ready to paint.”

Hailey was trying to be quiet, she hoped they weren’t talking about drugs, but it seemed fairly obvious.

“Here, hold the mirror while I snort it.” Autumn said. This was followed by a long inhale and then a cough.

“My turn,” Lily said and the same sound followed. “We should do a little more.”

“Okay. So I heard Jasper Daly was going to be here. I’m totally planning to get with him.” Autumn said.

Hailey continued to sit. Now she’d waited so long to come out, she’d have to wait until they left the bathroom to come out or they’d think she was eavesdropping. Which she was, but not on purpose.

“Autumn, he’s perfect to shed this wholesome bullshit. He’s wild and unpredictable. I saw him when I came in, he took three skanks into the green room. One looked simply ready to go, if you know what I mean.”

“I’ll make him forget those skanks.” Autumn said. “I’ll make him forget everything.” The two giggled and exited the bathroom.

Hailey sat in shock. Her wholesome teen role model wasn’t pure at all. It was a bummer, and now she was after Jasper who was trying to clean up his image. Well he wasn’t really showing that right now, but if she was trying to dirty her reputation, she would be a terrible match for him. Somehow, she had to warn him. Finally, when she thought she’d waited long enough, she exited the bathroom.

***

Luckily for Jasper, only one of the girls actually wanted to screw him. He didn’t have to entertain the other two for very long and sent them on their way. The one with her boobs now proudly displaying his name and a skull he drew was now wrapped around him on the couch. She was hot enough, and he was into her.

He stood up to slide her shorts down her legs when someone knocked on the door. Surely, Hailey wouldn’t have come back to catch him in the act.

“Oh, man, sorry! I didn’t know this room was taken.” It was Brandon Lois, the lead singer of Death Song and one of Jasper’s favorite bands. He stood there shirtless with his mouth open. “I was just looking for somewhere to do a little extra curricular, if you know what I mean.”

“Shit, Brandon Lois, you can come in. Honey, cover your tits.”

Jasper waited until she had her shirt on and then let him in. Brandon walked in and smiled at the girl who immediately recognized him and started to squeal.

“So, Jasper Daly, how is it that you’re in here snogging while you could be out there painting and creating wonderful crafts for the children?” Brandon asked in a sarcastic tone. He made a jack off motion with his hand.

Jasper was so excited he knew who he was that he didn’t answer for a minute. “Oh well, I planned on going out there after the snogging, but meeting you is way more exciting. No offense love,” Jasper said to the big-breasted girl who was now hanging all over Brandon.

“None taken.” She giggled and watched intently as Brandon rolled a joint and lit it.

He passed it to her when he was done. Jasper checked his watch. He only had ten minutes before he had to meet up with Hailey, but there were so many things he wanted to ask Brandon.

“Listen, man, can we jam sometime? I would love to just pick your brain about music and life.” Jasper felt like a rambling fan girl, but he was too excited to stop himself.

“Yeah, man, here’s my agent. Have your people give him a call and we’ll set something up.” Brandon inhaled a long drag on his joint.

“Cool, I got to go.” Jasper backed out of the room totally star struck.

“Are we going to get it on later?” the girl asked. “I thought you were going to screw me, Jasper Daly.”

“Yeah, find me later,” Jasper said, but the way she was looking at Brandon he had a feeling she’d get her kicks that way.

“So how was she?” Hailey startled him walking up behind him.

“Adequate, so what are we doing now?” Jasper kept it vague, like he told himself he would.

“Basically you’re going to paint some pictures with the other celebrities. They’ll be auctioned off to raise money for the cause.”

Hailey was forcing a smile at him. Good, he thought, she’s mad. Keeping her mad would keep her from falling for him if that was something that was going to happen. He still wasn’t sure with her, but he knew he had to keep it cool.

There were easels set up with paint and a huge spread of food. Jasper went to the food as he’d worked up an appetite. He loaded up on tiny sandwiches and pita crisps with salsa before choosing an easel. It wasn’t clear to him if there was a theme, or if he was just supposed to start painting. He looked around to see what everyone else was doing.

Lily Daniels was in front of him wearing hardly anything. She turned and looked over her shoulder winking at him. Lily was a child star turned wild child and she was probably someone he should stay away from, but she was incredibly hot.

“Hi,” a soft voice called him away from staring at Lily’s ass and he turned to see a pretty girl with long brunette braids and a Honeycutt T-shirt on. She was completely covered, which was the opposite of Lily and the chicks he’d been with in the green room. It was attractive.

“Hi, what are you going to paint?” Jasper asked.

“I don’t know, something easy. I’m terrible at painting. You’re Jasper, right?”

“I am, and you are?” Jasper thought she looked familiar, but it was hard to pinpoint where he knew her from.

“Autumn West.” She smiled and reached out her hand.

“Holy shit, are you kidding? Tindall Academy was my favorite show when I was younger. I never missed it. What are you doing these days?”

“Really.” she smiled and looked down at her feet. “I’ve been doing some small things. You know made for television specials. Haven’t gotten that project I’m just really passionate about yet.”

“I’m just star struck right now, I met Brandon Lois earlier,” Jasper said, trying to decide what color to paint with first.

“Well I’m no Brandon Lois,” Autumn said with a laugh.

They went about painting their masterpieces and Jasper tried to get into it. He hadn’t had a girl like Autumn show any interest in him in a long time, except maybe Hailey. It was nice to stand beside her and paint. A cameraman came up and took a picture of them together holding paintbrushes.

He glanced over at Hailey a couple of times. She was watching them intently. Jasper’s painting became a house in the middle of a field and it was actually pretty good. He drew a creepy tree beside the house watching over it.

“Is this something psychological?” Autumn asked looking his painting over. “Is the tree representative of you, or the house?”

“Neither, I’m the sky.” Jasper laughed. “Are you the giant smiley face, the flower, or that cat?”

“It’s a fox!” Autumn laughed and swatted at him.

“Well, you are foxy.” Jasper winked at her.

“Lame, buddy,” Autumn said, and put the finishing touches on her fox.

Hailey walked up and smiled at the two of them. “Jasper, we have a meet and greet set up for you and then there is a bike race you can watch.”

“Oh, I’m in the bike race!” Autumn squealed and jumped up and down.

Jasper thought it was nice that she had such enthusiasm for life and a simple bike race. He thought he caught Hailey rolling her eyes.

“I’ll see you there then,” Jasper said, and followed Hailey to where a table was set up for him. He was surprised to see his other band members were there, and Dustin was already talking to Lily Daniels as she was bending over the table exposing her cleavage.

“Here we are,” Hailey said smiling.

“What’s going on?” Jasper asked, gesturing to the other band members.

“It’s good for you guys to do this together and meet your fans. All of you should get more involved with charities.” Hailey smiled.

“She called and we came running. Your PR lady is very convincing,” Liam said and gave him a wink.

Hailey signaled Carl, and he let in the people who’d been waiting behind a rope someone had set up to meet the band. Their headshots, pens, and swag were all set up for them so all they had to do was smile and sign.

This was a lot easier for Jasper. The crowds didn’t bother him when there was some form of control. He caught Autumn and Lily looking over at them and giggling to one another. He felt pretty confident they were talking about him. Maybe he’d talk to Hailey about setting up a date. She would be good for his image and good for him.

“What do you think about Autumn West?” Jasper said, when they had a minute between fans.

Dustin looked over at her. “She’s not as fine as Lily, but she’s pretty. I bet she’s secretly a sex freak. Those child star types are you know?”

Jasper looked over at her, watching her giggle with Lily. He wasn’t sure that was true.

The rest of the afternoon went by as fan after fan came up for autographs. They were all super excited, and it was hard not to let their enthusiasm rub off on him. Hailey came up at around four o’clock to tell him to get ready for the bike race.