We had several days of peace and quiet and one shopping trip at a local strip mall for clothes that we rarely wore before we had to go back home. The landline in the cabin started to ring and I looked at Laney with dread.

“I have to go. Apparently, the ads have started, and I have to go for publicity shots and interviews to help build the hype.” She was cradled in my arms. Her lips still tasted like the rum and cola she’d had with dinner.

“I hate this, Jake.” She’d taken so long to respond I almost thought she was asleep. She’d said she wasn’t much of a drinker earlier, but she’d learned to love rum mixed with cola.

“I’m guessing as much as I do. It has to be done though. Otherwise, they’ll hound me into the grave.” I stroked a finger down her cheek in an attempt to get her to open those beautiful eyes of hers.

“They’re going to try and force you to choose Arabella, aren’t they?” She turned her head away, her voice breathless in a way that made my chest ache.

“They can’t really make me do that, Laney. Besides, you know I’d never do that to you. There are some things I can’t tell you, some things I can’t reveal, but I can make you this promise. There’s no other woman I want in my life and there’s not a soul who can replace you.”

I knew I loved her, though I could only express that through actions until this whole farce was over. She had to know she was my choice. I hoped it was crystal clear by now.

“When do you have to leave?” she asked, her voice strong once again as she sat up in bed, unabashedly letting the sheet fall to reveal her luscious body.

“In the morning. I’ll take you home before I head to the airport. I want to leave with your scent on my skin.” It was too poetic, but it was the truth.

“Alright. Christmas Eve is only a week away. We can do this, Jake. A week, and then it’s over.” She gave me a brave smile, and I knew we would be alright.

That was one of the things I loved about Laney. “You’re always so strong, Laney. You keep my head on straight for me.”

She bent over to kiss me where I was propped against the pillows and cupped my cheek. “That’s because I have you to keep my head on straight, buddy.”

I pulled her over me and she laughed with glee. I couldn’t wait to come back to the pure happiness that only Laney had to offer me. Would it be the same after the show was over? I knew it would for me, but would it for her?

“You’ll have a heavy load once school starts back.” I broached the subject of her law degree. She’d told me about her plans and I admired how she wanted to be an advocate for children and the elderly.

“We can get through that too, Jake. I’ll be done soon, then I’ll have to dive into the real world, but we can do it. I’ll have you there to help make sure I do.”

“You will, after all the work you’ve put into it, you deserve a chance to see it happen.” She ran slim fingers through my hair and smiled.

“I’m so glad you feel that way. I’ve always wanted to make a difference in the world.” Laney’s smile wavered for a moment. “After what you said about your parents, about how they died, well, I want to be someone they would appreciate, you know? Someone they’d be proud to have with their son.”

“They’d be proud of you anyway, Laney. Only morons don’t fall at your feet.” I found my hands in her hair this time, silky copper strands that fascinated me.

I wasn’t avoiding the subject of my parents or deflecting. Laney just took away some of the pain and made it possible to think about them without the threat of depression sweeping over me. She knew about the fire, about how I’d almost died with them, and she’d made it possible to talk about because I felt so calm around her. She really was my miracle savior.

“Come on, I think there’s more macaroni salad in the fridge.” She was deflecting, I thought with a laugh, as she jumped out of bed.

“Fine, if macaroni salad is better than sex with me, let’s eat.” I pushed the covers away and stood up, a pair of sleep pants covering my nudity as we walked out to the kitchen.

“It’s not that macaroni salad is better than sex with you,” she said with a laugh over her shoulder, “but it’s necessary to keep up with you; you wear me out!” She paused long enough to give me a kiss and I knew it was moments like this that I would miss the most once I was gone.

I really didn’t know how I was going to get through the upcoming week of hell.

* * *

Lights went off in sparks and bursts. Reporters screamed out questions I couldn’t or didn’t want to answer. I tried not to hide my eyes from the flash of cameras as I walked out of yet another studio from an interview with yet another woman that would have been screaming sexism if I had dared to ask her the same questions she felt perfectly fine with asking me.

It was starting to wear me down and I’d only been at it for three days. I hated the probing questions, hated the lights and the show’s demands even more. Most of all I hated not sleeping next to Laney. I gave an aloof but sexy gaze to the cameras; I’d studied and practiced the “gaze” Carol had insisted I perfect, until I could do it in my sleep. It hadn’t distracted me from the fact that I missed Laney’s laugh, the way she’d come up behind me and wrap her arms around my waist and hold me tightly, skin to skin.

I finally moved out of the lights and into a car soon after the black car drove up to the curb to take me back to my hotel. At least it was a decent hotel. I’d seen David once, as I was being shuffled to another interview, but I hadn’t spoken with him yet. Trent, on the other hand, was nowhere in sight.

My head pounded out a rhythm in time with the tires on the car by the time the driver pulled to a stop in front of the hotel. I got out, staggered to the elevator, and went up to my room to hide in darkness and quiet. I’d pulled the curtains on day one and hadn’t opened them since.

I’d order room service after a shower, I decided. I headed into the black tiled shower and turned it on, the blast of near boiling water soothing away the tension that had given me the headache. I stood there for long moments, letting my head clear, letting the memory of that woman’s insipid questions float away.

I could do this, I repeated as a mantra, Laney was the reward.

I scrubbed off and got out, the room full of steam but I didn’t care. I wrapped a large bath towel around my waist, wrapped my head in another, and put on the robe provided by the hotel. This quiet time could be just as stressful as the interviews and the camera flashes. This was when I missed Laney the most. When there wasn’t a soul around to distract me.

I turned on the television and picked up the hotel’s menu. I found a program that would hold my attention for a little while and ordered some dinner from the menu. I wanted to email Laney, but I suspected the show might be monitoring my communications. A little paranoid of me, but I didn’t want to jeopardize anything so I kept quiet.

I watched the program, my brain finally going quiet, and was asleep before I knew it.

I dreamed of Laney, of that first time, of the way her greedy little pussy sucked me deeper into her body, and how her hips slithered over me, when something tried to intrude into my sleepy version of heaven. I turned on my side and lost myself once more in the way Laney made me feel. I was between her thighs in moments, tasting her languorously, savoring every drop of her heady scent.

I could hear myself moan as her thighs clamped around my head. I loved when she did that, I knew she’d lost all control at that point and was ready to blow. Laney exploding was one of the most powerful things I’d ever witnessed, it could literally bring me to my knees in adoration.

I could hear her sighs as her stomach started to ripple and the harsh cry that signaled she was coming hard and waited for the rest of her body to shake. She completely let go when she came, she didn’t hold anything back, and I glanced up her body to watch her breasts shake, and the way her head rolled back in total surrender. It was erotic, beautiful, and totally Laney.

I was waiting for that moment when burying my dick in her would set her off again, that last signal from her that would tell me the moment was right when reality intruded once more. This time, the noise didn’t stop until I called out.

“Go the fuck away!” It was probably Carol again. Or... shit, room service!

I sprang out of the bed, my hair dry but standing up around my head, and ran for the door. I pulled it open, one hand on the door, one on my robe, to find Arabella standing there with her patented smirk on her face. She threw herself into my arms, her artificially inflated lips sealed to mine, and all I could do was stumble as I tried to get her off me. Camera flashes blinded me and, befuddled, I closed the door to make it stop, Arabella still clawed into me like a cat in heat.

I pushed her away as soon as the door was closed and glared at her. “What the hell, Arabella? Did you set that up?”

That’s when it dawned on me that those camera flashes meant pictures. Those pictures meant papers. Papers and headline stories on news shows and websites. “What have you done?”

“Those boys are with me. Unless you hear me out, and do as I say, those pictures are going to hit every news agency in America. We’ll see what your little vixen thinks about them when she sees me in your hotel, shall we? And oh, just in case, I’ll make sure you end up penniless, too.” She gave me a sweet smile that dripped venom. She really was little more than a snake.

“What do you want, Arabella?”

“I want you. I want you to choose me for the show, I want you to marry me, and sign a prenuptial agreement, and then I want you to give me babies, just to make sure you’re tied to me for the rest of your life.” Her words came out like they should be the most delightful thing I could ever hear, but instead, they made me want to vomit. On her.

I stared at her, wondering if she was greedy or insane. Or both perhaps?

“You know I’m just a computer nerd, right? I design things that you’d never be able to comprehend. I spend hours and days doing it. I’m really not that interesting.” Not to a woman like her that would want to use me as her arm candy and personal bank account. Carol must have told her I was the rich one. “I’m the poor one, you know.”

It was a gamble, to see what she’d give away.

“Oh, come off it, Mallory. You’re one of the richest men in the world. I want in. Or I make sure the show takes it all away.”

“Alright,” I said simply, going to the door and opening it. “Have a nice life.”

“Pardon me?” She stood there blinking like her batteries were malfunctioning and her eyelids were on overdrive.

“I said, get out.” I waved my hand at the floor to show her the way.

“But, you’re not really going to give up billions for that little nobody, are you?”

“I will and am. It means nothing to me now. You people have shown me exactly how much it’s worth. Laney showed me what really matters in this world.”

“So, you don’t really want to help kids in some dustbowl of a country get an education?” Her eyes narrowed at me and I have to admit, that thought did sting a bit.

“I made that money once, I can make it again if I have to.” The thought put the steel back in my backbone.

“Fine. But you haven’t heard the end of this! Believe me, Carol is going to be pissed!”

“Not as pissed as you, I imagine.” I looked at the woman, wondering how she could really be seen as beautiful when everything about her was fake.

She’d taken what had once been a beautiful canvas, and nipped, cut, and stitched herself into a parody of what beauty really was. It screamed insecurity to me, and lack of faith in herself. She had to be perfect, and that meant she had to be perfect for someone else, not herself, and that’s who she should always do her best for. Herself first, then maybe, somebody else.

Watching her go actually made me sad. Laney had felt she needed to deny herself to be perfect, she had to get the best grades, had to excel in her work, and had to prove she was worthy of life because that’s the atmosphere she grew up in. Her parents had always been supportive, from what she said, but she knew what society expected of a girl whose mother was a leading cardiologist; absolute perfection.

Then there was Arabella. She’d had it all given to her on a platter, but it was never enough. She felt as though she was never good enough, judging by her appearance. She had to fit society’s standard of beauty to find a man to support her, but if she’d put half of her energy into educating herself that she put into ‘correcting her faults’, she could have been supporting herself by now.

I would make more money, I decided, just to help young girls get the educations they deserved so they never had to feel like Laney or Arabella had. I know, sympathy for the devil in Arabella’s case, but she was merely a product of her society. She could not be blamed for that. Even if she was a bitch.

“Hey, it’s Jackson. Let me speak to my attorney, please.” Damage control was high on my agenda right now. My attorney was a savvy kind of guy, and he already had a team ready for just this instance.

Publicity was our weapon right now, and my guy was going to tear these producers and the show to smithereens if they so much as peeped out a sound that sounded like sue. I was done playing. I was going to meet my contractual obligation, then this shit was done. No more hiding, no more worries.

I’d spent a lot of time talking with the man while I was stuck in this hotel and we’d formulated our defense against Carol and her cronies. They could try to take my money, but they would not win. They would never see a dime from me. I’d destroy them with their own weapon first. I clicked on the file I’d received earlier that morning, full of images that could destroy every one of those producers, directors, and whatever else might crawl out to try and sue me. It was going to blow right up in their face if they tried.

I called room service again, promising to be awake to answer the door this time, and settled back to wait for my food. This little snit with Arabella had made me hungry and I was going to enjoy every bite of it. I wasn’t playing with any of them anymore. Laney and my grandmother were too important to jeopardize over people that would waste my money on diet pills and hair extensions. Not when I had plans for building schools and raising a family of my own with a children’s advocate by my side.