Kate

It had taken exactly one dinner with Cam and company to undo all the good that my massage had done the evening before. Or had it been two dinners? Either way, my head throbbed, this time from a self-inflicted hangover. I cursed myself as I struggled to replay the night in my head, most of the details now extremely fuzzy in the early morning light. What the fuck had I done last night? My stomach felt toxic, and all I could think of was downing a grease laden Sausage McMuffin from McDonald’s. There was really nothing better to cure a hangover in my experience. Alas, we were in Japan, and I had no clue where the nearest Golden Arches might be found.

I had managed to throw on a pair of jeans, some UGGs, and a floppy, somewhat unattractive, sweater as I counted down in agony the minutes before I actually had to make a move to head downstairs to start the day. What had I been thinking? The entire night had morphed into a blur of foie gras and black truffles and conversations that I couldn’t quite remember. I could kick myself. Such a rookie-move to get drunk with the talent. Evelyn would be thrilled.

As the clock struck 6:55 am, I sighed and mustered up enough strength to face the world. I grabbed my trusty Audrey Hepburn sunglasses and my giant folder of interview schedules and headed to the door of my room. The door was much heavier than I remembered, and the weight threw me off, forcing me to spill all of my papers on the ground—half in my room and half out. I cursed myself as I closed the door and grabbed the debris inside my room and then opened the door again to retrieve the papers that had flown outside, but not before noticing the feet that were casually parked in front of my door. I followed them up a pair of muscular legs clad in faded denim to a now familiar, buttery soft leather jacket, and finally to the eyes of a very amused Camden Atwood, who tried desperately to stifle a grin.

“You alright there, Prescott?” he asked with an irritatingly well-rested air as he cocked his head to look at me crawling around on the floor. I knew for certain that I looked like a crazy bag lady, but I really couldn’t care at this point. I just wanted to get through this God-awful day.

“I’m fine,” I grumbled as I rose to meet his gaze.

Cam smiled at me empathetically, holding out a white paper bag and a Styrofoam cup in my direction.

“What’s this?” I said as I rose to my feet.

“Nectar of the gods and something to sop up all that champagne.”

I breathed in the rich smell of freshly brewed coffee. It was the smooth kind that they seemed only to be capable of brewing at five-star hotels and restaurants. It was pure bliss. I opened the paper bag and peeked in, spying what looked like a yummy, cheesy delicious breakfast sandwich and gasped with joy.

“They didn’t exactly have a breakfast sandwich on the menu,” he said apologetically, “but I told them to make a less fussy eggs benedict with cheese, of course. Not sure how that all translated, but I tried.”

“I could literally kiss you right now!” I squealed with delight before taking a massive bite of the sandwich and letting my eyes roll back in my head at the gooey deliciousness. When I finally focused my eyes, I could see that Cam was shuffling a bit uncomfortably, his gaze pinned to the floor beneath him.

“Are you okay?” I asked with mild concern.

Cam stared at me uncertainly for a moment. “Yeah! I mean, if you’re okay?”

I couldn’t help but feel that I was missing something.

“I’m fine. Nothing a breakfast sandwich and coffee can’t fix,” I said, beaming up at him. “Thank you, by the way.”

Cam still seemed uncertain and continued to eye me as I sipped at the delicious hot coffee.

“We good here, Atwood?” I asked semi-impatiently, which seemed to snap Cam back from wherever his mind had drifted.

“Of course. We should go. You know how I hate to be late,” he said with a grin. I smiled back, and we boarded the elevator headed toward the lobby. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something seemed to have shifted between us. There was a new ease, but it felt gently tinged with a weird anticipation of some sort. I couldn’t explain it.

There, however, wasn’t a moment to linger on it as the elevator doors slid open to reveal a gaggle of people waiting for our arrival in the lobby. There were the usual suspects: Lizzy, Tony, Evander, and to my irritation, Amber and James—whom I had found really served no purpose other than to take up additional space in the car, and of course add little other than hot air to any room they entered.

Megan from the studio also approached with a small army of intimidating looking Japanese men dressed in dark suits. I could only guess that this was our security accompaniment for the day, who came alongside a large group of Japanese translators and handlers. In all, our “team” had swelled to a massive fourteen people. Cam and I exchanged a confused glance as we took in the insanity unfolding before us as our smiling, chatty hosts introduced themselves, first their real names, and then a more easily pronounced nickname. My handler was a petite giggly woman named Himari Nakamura, but she said I could call her Mary. Cam was being handled by Niko Tanaka, who preferred to go by Nikki. It was all rather amusing watching this mass of people fuss over us and usher us into a cavalcade of four SUVs in order for one man to do just two TV interviews. Overkill much? I thought to myself. I had been forewarned by Evelyn that this was generally the protocol in Asia and simply shrugged it off, not having the energy to do anything else. Cam made sure to keep Lizzy and me close though, so much so that when two of the security guards tried to cut us off from Cam, he quickly set them straight.

“Look, I know you gents are just trying to do your jobs, but these two go where I go. Are we clear?”

I stifled a grin as the translators relayed Cam’s message to the security detail, and they bowed slightly in acquiescence. Watching Cam go all alpha male for a moment was—well—kind of hot and a little bit sweet at the same time. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I thought about how nice it felt to be taken care of by this man, not to mention the fact that he hadn’t included Amber or James in his inner circle, and I noted just a hint of irritation from both of them in that regard. I didn’t hate that either. Lizzy, of course, had caught my stupid grin and nudged me. I quickly sobered up and headed toward our designated SUV, of which there were now three, packed to the brim with people. Totally insane.

---

I marveled at Tokyo as our SUV crawled through the overwhelmingly busy streets. I was incredibly taken aback by how clean everything was. Not a scrap of stray garbage or the sort of graffiti that sadly one became accustomed to in most modern cities. Instead, I took in the sharp lines of both the show-stopping skyscrapers as well as the abundance of beige-colored buildings that were built more for function than aesthetics. The sea of signs, however, made up for the comparatively bland color palate of the buildings: vibrantly colored signs with Japanese characters sprawled as far as the eye could see in some of the areas that we drove through, no doubt advertising everything from sukiyaki restaurants to pachinko arcades–none of which I could read, of course. As I gazed at the mishmash of Japanese businessmen and young people in crazy Harajuku streetwear that would make Gwen Stefani swoon, I immediately had a moment of disbelief taking in my surroundings. I couldn’t believe I was actually there having such a unique experience and seeing a culture so different from my own. I felt incredibly lucky in that moment and glanced at Cam, acknowledging in my mind that despite my ridiculously complicated relationship with the cocky bastard, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him. He caught my stare and gave me a wink before redirecting his attention to scrolling through emails on his cell phone. It was annoying how gorgeous he was.

Our first stop of the day was at a highly rated morning show called Zip! filmed at Nippon TV, which sat amongst a collection of elegant high-rise buildings, many connected by an elaborate system of above ground walkways that made the area look like something out of The Jetsons animated series. The building also had a giant steampunk-inspired clock on its side that I found difficult to look away from as it seemed so out of place.

Zip! was like the Today show on crack. The set was a vibrant array of pastel colors set against a bright white background, and all of the hosts were dressed colorfully in clothing that few in America could possibly pull off, but here seemed to make perfect sense. Cam dazzled the hosts in a cooking segment where he learned how to properly prepare a sushi roll. In turn, he taught the hosts how to make a proper grilled cheese sandwich, which he admitted was his favorite guilty pleasure from his adopted home in the States. The grilled cheese preparation went off without a hitch, but Lizzy and I got quite a laugh when Cam realized that he had added far too much wasabi to his sushi creation. He hadn’t fully appreciated how much stronger the wasabi in Japan could be than the blander paste often served in the UK and Stateside. Cam turned bright red, struggling to elegantly get through the segment without making a total ass of himself. Lizzy and I, however, could sense the pain beneath the surface as he suffered through the awkward moment with a smile plastered on his pretty face. When he finally made it back to the green room, Lizzy and I were nearly in hysterics laughing.

“It’s not fucking funny, you two! I’ve brought you both some to try. Come here, you,” Cam said, approaching me menacingly with a small plate of the lethal sushi roll threatening to force feed me, which I was most definitely not having.

Lizzy and I ran off to the cars to wait for Cam’s mics to be removed so we could move on to the next interview location. We had found that Amber and James had already been hanging out in the loading dock area by the cars, seemingly unamused by the proceedings at Zip!. James paced as he conducted “business,” speaking tersely into his cell phone, clearly fancying himself the next Mark Zuckerberg as he wheeled and dealed with someone on the other end who I could only assume was also a moronic douche. Amber sat on the seat of one of the SUVs with the door open and her legs dangling out as she filed her nails. She took in Lizzy and me laughing hysterically.

“What did I miss, girls?” she asked.

“Cam ate a little too much wasabi during the segment. It was hysterical,” I relayed between giggles.

Amber laughed wryly. “Well, look at that. It seems like the thaw has finally begun between you two. The whole ‘will they, won’t they’ thing between you and Cam is super cute, really,” she said a bit sarcastically.

The amusement drained from my face as Lizzy took in my growing reticence.

“Amber, don’t be ridiculous. Kate and Cam are becoming friends, and I for one am incredibly glad of that.”

I smiled at Lizzy as she tried to smooth over the awkward situation

“Whatever you say,” Amber quipped cattily.

Just then Cam made his way jovially out of the building and down the ramp of the loading dock with Evander close behind, making a beeline for me.

“Aside from the wasabi, did I do alright?” he asked, an adorably hopeful tone in his voice.

I regarded him more seriously now though, remembering my place as his publicist, no longer interested in indulging the levity of a minute ago. “You should definitely try to give a nod to Hitchcock in the next interview. He’s fairly popular here. It will be good for the film to link it back to him.”

Cam’s smile faded as he regarded me. “Everything okay?” he said carefully.

“Yeah, just doing my job,” I said, my voice flat.

“Of course,” he said, the effervescence of his earlier mood slightly fading.

We all clambered back into our cars and headed to our next stop, a smaller, out-of-the-way TV studio for a newer talk show called Akari that was suddenly all the rage, boasting a young hip hostess, who was being touted as the new Oprah of Japan. The negotiations with the show had been very involved since it was a long-form interview that would last nearly an hour. Per Evelyn’s instructions, I was very clear about what topics were off limits and provided the show with personal photos from Cam’s childhood and behind the scenes footage from the set of Due North. The show planned to cover everything from Cam’s early days as a youth in the suburbs of London, to his breakthrough role in an arthouse film nearly a decade ago, to his rise to stardom and subsequent move to Hollywood. Between Lizzy, myself, and the studio, we had assembled Cam’s life story into a neat little package, but I actually looked forward to hearing Cam fill in some of the blanks and connect it into his own more personal narrative. I suddenly had a desire to know the Cam that hadn’t been strategically conjured up by Evelyn and myself.

With an interpreter at his side, the interview started off well. I watched on a nearby monitor with the English translation of anything in Japanese at the bottom of the screen. I looked on pleasantly as he talked about his parents and the loving home that he grew up in. He even talked a bit about the speech impediment that he had had in his adolescence, which was a true story, but I knew Evelyn had coached him on the importance of weaving adversity into his story as a way to humanize himself and rally his audience behind him. The whole interview was textbook PR 101. Equal parts rags to riches, charming self-deprecation, steadfastness against difficult odds, and the American dream rolled into one gorgeous eight-pack abbed package. He had talked with the host for nearly thirty minutes in this in-depth interview, all the while, perfectly reciting talking points for each topic that I had written for him.

Though the interview was lengthy, I was sadly certain that I didn’t know him any better than I had when we arrived. He didn’t give much away. Nothing was a surprise to me in the least, which from a professional standpoint was ideal, but I had to admit that I had a deep-seated desire to know Cam better–find out what really made him tick.

Akari, however, moved on to discuss his love interest in the film and marveled at their believable chemistry on screen, which was well within the realm of acceptable topics for discussion—that is, until Akari asked Cam a seemingly simple question.

“Camden, have you ever been in love yourself?”

It seemed like a fairly innocuous question…until I noticed the expression on Cam’s usually jovial face darken slightly.

“I have, yes,” he said slowly but wasn’t motivated to elaborate.

“There are rumors that you once had a broken engagement. Is that true?” Akari continued.

Fuck me. I looked over at Lizzy and Amber, who both seemed to pale instantly as we made eye contact, thus confirming this “rumor” for me immediately and making it clear that this was not a topic that Cam enjoyed discussing.

“You need to nip this in the bud like now!” Amber said sternly, surprising me with the seriousness on her face. Her cattiness from earlier had gone out the window, and for the first time, I could see how much she actually cared about him. Not in a girlfriend sort of way, per se, but as a close confidant, which only served to shine a spotlight on the seriousness of the situation.

A wave of panic washed over me. This was about to go off the rails and with the show being live, there was little I could do to stop it without making the whole situation much worse. Akari was shrewdly using this opportunity with Camden to put her fledgling show on the map. She was reporting on a story that would have international appeal if she got Cam to reveal even the tiniest kernel of his personal life, that to date had been kept tightly under wraps. The Daily Mail, at the very least, would be all over this and never let it die if I didn’t shut this down.

I rushed over to the head producer of the show, who I knew could communicate with Akari during the interview through his headset.

“You cut this off right now!” I barked. “This not up for discussion.”

The producer waved me off, concentrating on the moment happening on the set. I watched as Cam eyed me uncomfortably, seemingly looking for the life vest that I knew he desperately needed, but after a brief pause, he simply turned to Akari calmly and gave her that million-dollar grin before continuing.

“You make it sound far more interesting than it was, I’m afraid. We all do stupid things as kids when we think we’re in love. It’s really not even worth mentioning, Akari,” he said, brushing off the entire line of questioning smoothly.

The producer sighed, clearly disappointed that he hadn’t gotten the earth-shattering admission that he was hoping for, and that was when I put myself directly in his face.

“If you continue this line of questioning any further, I’m pulling him, and you can forget about booking any of my other clients. Hollywood is a small town. Word travels fast about shitty b-list media outlets that are focused on trolling for gossip.”

He finally acknowledged me and said something in Japanese into his headset, clearly directing Akari to move on and wrap up.

The rest of the interview proceeded benignly but as soon as the show cut to its final commercial break, and the audience applause began, Cam sprang from his seat and ripped off his mic pack with an air of controlled anger. He didn’t take his eyes off me as he exited to the backstage area where I stood frozen to the spot, not certain of what an enraged Camden Atwood might do. I braced for impact, but was surprised when he walked right past me and headed toward the exit where our cars were parked, not waiting for even a moment for the rest of his entourage to follow. Lizzy just eyed me with worry as she joined the silent mass exodus.

Out on the curb in front of the studio, the sidewalk was filled with fans awaiting Cam’s autograph. Being the ultimate professional, Cam ran a hand through his hair and plastered on a fake smile as he joined the crowd of onlookers holding out posters, magazines, and T-shirts for Cam to sign in a frenzy. I was grateful for the temporary distraction, but as it turned out, that reprieve would be short-lived.

“Lizzy, can you and Tony ride in one of the follow cars?” he said calmly with a very fake smile on his lips. “I’d like to have a word with our Kate.”

“Cam, I…” Lizzy stammered.

“Thanks so much, Lizzy,” he said calmly with a sickeningly sweet smile on his lips, not wanting to give away a moment of his aggravation to his fans.

Lizzy gave me a sympathetic half smile and a squeeze to my hand, as she led Tony, whom I could see was ready to protest but thought better of it when he caught a look from Cam and proceeded to climb into one of the other cars.

Not interested in prolonging the inevitable, I began shooing the crowd away, claiming that Cam was late for his next interview as I led him into the car and shut the door. The silence was deafening as Cam sat motionless beside me in the car.

“Look, I know you’re about to scream at me, and you are totally justified in doing so. I shouldn’t have let you get blindsided like that. This show was a risk, and Evelyn probably would have never agreed to let you even do it. This is totally, one hundred percent on me. I fucked up, and I’m so, so sorry. If there is any way that we could skip over the part where you ream me out royally today, I would really appreciate it.”

I hadn’t even noticed that my eyes were squeezed shut as the words had rushed out of me like water from a broken dam. When I opened my eyes again, the car was silent. I turned to Cam cautiously and watched as he just stared at me and then looked away, staring aimlessly down the street.

“The score is fucking settled, then, Prescott,” he said flatly, still clearly fuming but tempering himself.

It suddenly struck me how hard the interview had hit him. With celebrities, it was sometimes easy to forget that they were human too. He looked haunted, and the expression on his face broke my heart just a little. I touched his hand gently and forced him to make eye contact with me.

“No, it fucking isn’t,” I said, tossing my stupid folder of tour schedules in the backseat.

A wave of anger contorted his features as he glared at me. “Are you seriously going to argue with me on this? I am fucking livid right now, and you have the audacity to…”

“What I mean is that I owe you one now, Cam.”

Cam slowly deflated in surprise as he regarded me. “Oh, really!” Clearly amused now, he gave me just a hint of a grin. “And just how do you plan on making good on that, may I ask?”

We had made so much progress the previous day. I was now determined not to let this interview set us back yet again.

“Oh, I think I have just the thing for you,” I said with what I can only imagine was a decidedly playful grin.

Cam’s brow furrowed, but he couldn’t help but smile a little in curiosity. I had him, hook, line, and sinker.