Chapter Seventeen

“Do you have everything?” Rosa asks as she pulls my suitcase into the hallway. Vivian is standing by the elevator impatiently. I think she is ready to be back in LA more than me. “Selena?”

“Yes. I have everything…Mom.” I smile at her. She hates when I call her that, but at times she is like my road mother. Always making sure I am well taken care of. This is why I will always see her and Vivian as more than my bodyguards.

“Can we move just a little bit faster? We have a plan to catch.” Vivian pushes the elevator button.

“It’s not going to come any faster if you keep pressing it. Why are you in such a rush?” Rosa looks at her suspiciously.

“No reason, I’m just ready to leave.” She rushes out and goes back to pushing the button.

A man’s sleepy yawn has us turning our heads. I get a real good look at the guy’s face, and it’s Nathan. He looks at us and turns for the staircase. Wait a minute…I look back at Vivian, then to the guy. I am pretty sure that was her room he just came from. The elevator doors open and Vivian snaps at us to get a move on.

“Don’t say a word.” Vivian sighs.

I burst into a fit of laughter. She screwed Nathan last night. “You are the reason I didn’t get a good night’s sleep. You were moaning and screaming like a banshee last night.” Rosa announces and Vivian’s face goes completely red.

“I said not to say anything,” she mumbles.

I finally got my laughter in check to ask, “How did that happen? Nathan, really?” The elevator door opens and the conversation is cut short for now.

Outside the hotel are paps—and a lot, too. Rosa and Vivian have to get hotel security to help escort me out the building. I stop along the way to sign autographs and even take some selfies with my fans. This is one of my joys of being famous. I love to meet my fans and interact with them.

Rosa and Vivian linger a bit before urging me to get into the vehicle.

“You have a plane to catch,” Vivian whispers in my ear.

She is annoying but totally right. I have to meet up with Karina tonight about new job offers and TV appearances. I’ve become one of the most talked about actresses and my followers on social media have skyrocketed.

“So, care to explain how you and Nathan met up last night?” I lean forward in my seat, tapping her shoulder.

“No.”

“Oh, come on, we are all like sisters in this car. Spill it!” I demand, pinching her.

“No,” she repeats, and I pinch her arm again. “Come on, Selena, cut it out before I come back there and punch you,” she says playfully. “I am not talking about last night’s events with either of you.”

“You suck!” I stick my tongue out at her and sit back.

“Since you are so into my sex life…how did everything go with you and Mr. Bartender? I saw him hanging around your room more than need be,” Vivian says, opening her big mouth, and the car comes to a stop on the side of the road.

Rosa looks back at me.

“Oh, come on, Rosa…I didn’t have sex with him if that’s what you are thinking. He didn’t even set foot in my hotel room.” I look over at Vivian, itching to pinch her until her arm goes numb.

“That is beside the point. No men until after you get your feelings for the footballer in check.” She points her finger at me before turning back around, putting the car in drive.

“Rosa, you shouldn’t be mad at me. For the past two days, Joey and I have only talked briefly in the hallway, or I would go to the bar and talk to him. It has all been friendly.” I stretch the truth just a tad. He hasn’t been in my room, but our conversations are more than friendly. However, she doesn’t need to know all of that, after all, she works for me.

“Sure.” Rosa looks at me through the rearview mirror. “I mean it—no men. You need time to clear your head.”

“Ok, I hear you.” I put my earbuds in my ears.

***

“Karina, can I speak to you…in private?” I ask her, eyeing the vile creature in her office.

“Whatever you want to say can be said in front of Jordan. He is after all your personal assistant.” She looks at him and smiles.

“I rather not because he isn’t my personal assistant anymore. Did you not receive my email three days ago?” I screw my face up.

“I did, and I think you just need to give him another chance. You mustn’t be so sensitive to when people are joking with you. I know you are thick-skinned.”

“Karina, no disrespect, but are you out of your fucking mind? Should I give him one more chance to sexually assault me? Should he rape me now or later for you to see? I don’t want him as my assistant!” I snap.

“Selena!” She stands up from her desk. “That is just ridiculous; he would never do such a thing to you.”

“And how can you be so sure of it? Hmm? Are you going to be around us twenty-four seven? No, you aren’t. He creeps me out, and I don’t need him as an assistant, or anyone else for that matter. I can fend for myself.”

I look over a Jordan and he has the nerve to smirk and wink at me. The vase flies across the room before I can stop myself.

“You sick bastard!” I spit out. Vivian and Rosa run in the room looking for the threat. Rosa sees the look on my face and escorts me out the room. “I need to go home.” I don’t know I’m shaking until I reach for the doorknob.

“I’ve got it, love,” Rosa says.

Karina has always been good at making judgment calls for others, but she obviously can’t see that Jordan is a fucking perv. I’m not surprised that she is screwing him. They did say he used to leave her condo at times.

We make it to my house in no time, and I go straight to my liquor cabinet. I don’t even reach for the glass. I open the Hennessey and drink it straight from the bottle. I am waiting for Karina’s phone to tell me I am fired from being her client, and I don’t care, surprisingly. She was turning more into a dictator than an agent.

“Asshole!” I gulp down some more. “I wish she would fire me.”

“Now why would you want something like that? I can’t help you pay these bills.” I look to the kitchen doorway and a smile tugs at my lips. “What have I told you about locking the front door? The craziest people are the ones that live in gated communities.”

“Anna? What are you doing here?” I make my way towards her.

“A frigid little bitch named Rosa called and said you are reaching rock bottom screwing waiters and bartenders.”

“Today?” I ask.

“No silly, she called me two days ago. So, I booked a flight. I am here for a week, and then I go back to New York, and you should definitely come with me. My gallery showing is that weekend too.” She hugs me then heads straight for the Henny bottle. “No chaser? What’s going on?”

“That assistant from hell you hired. Jordan. Karina is screwing him; that’s why she won’t get rid of him.”

“What did he do?” She is now in full mama bear protecting her cub mode.

“He tried to hit on me, and he is creepy as fuck. So, I threw a vase at him in Karina’s office.” I tell her taking the bottle of Henny out her hand. “Now I am drinking my life away, because I know once Karina fires me I am going to be done for.”

“Not if I have a say about it.” She takes the bottle from me and pulls her cell phone out.

“Who are you calling?” I ask, already knowing the answer. She holds up the hand with the bottle. Mouthing for me to give her a second.

“Hey, Karina.” She raises an eyebrow at me. Oh great, my career is now in the hands of Anna. I better start packing my things now.