With my limited knowledge, when a woman lost her virginity in a toe-curling experience with a drop-dead gorgeous rock god, she tended to tell someone. Her best friend usually. Maybe her mom. But I couldn’t tell anyone. Even if I’d had someone I considered a close enough friend in whom I could confide something like this, I still wouldn’t do it. Not while I was working with Reb.

Which meant I had no one to help me sort through all of the thoughts crowding my mind.

“Paige, can you come here?” Sybil called from her office.

I hurried inside but didn’t bother taking a seat. No matter how polite her question, she wasn’t asking me to have a conversation. She wanted to tell me to do something.

“I can’t get ahold of Chester Lhaw. His check bounced, and Mr. Dwight wants you to go talk to him about it.”

I frowned. “Re…” I cleared my throat, blinking rapidly to clear my confusion. “Mr. Union’s check bounced?” That didn’t sound right. “Shouldn’t I talk to him directly? I haven’t really had much contact with Mr. Lhaw, but I don’t think he handles Mr. Union’s money.”

Actually, I knew he didn’t. Something here wasn’t adding up.

Sybil gave me a sharp look. “Just do as you’re told and get back here with a new check.”

I was tempted to point out that I doubted upper management had specifically requested I personally go get a check. As far as I was aware, Mr. Dwight didn’t even know my name. But, then, I’d been suspicious for a while that Sybil had been pawning off some of her work on me. I didn’t mind, not when I knew I could count on satisfied clients to be honest about who’d actually done the work.

“Of course.”

I took a taxi to Chester’s office and thanked the driver when he expressed concern over dropping me off there. I had to admit, I was more than a little surprised to learn that Reb’s manager had an office in that part of town. I would’ve expected something much bigger and definitely in a better neighborhood. Then again, I’d already learned that Reb wasn’t really like anything I’d expected. For all I knew, his manager had an office at that location so that he could find talent others might overlook.

The minute I stepped inside, however, I began to rethink my theory. I wrinkled my nose and hoped I wouldn’t end up with a contact high. The entire place reeked of marijuana, alcohol, and body odor. What I knew of Reb didn’t mesh with where I found myself. The place wasn’t dirty, but it wasn’t exactly clean either. Plastic plants sat at random intervals, even their leaves managing to look wilted. The desk was cluttered, the computer ancient.

“Hello?” I coughed, then tried again when no one answered, “Hello? Mr. Lhaw?”

“Back here.”

A gravelly voice drifted out of the half-open door I could see from where I stood, but I couldn’t see anything else, including the owner of the voice. I didn’t particularly like the idea of going back there on my own, and everything I’d ever been told about how to be smart as a woman in the city alone told me this was a bad idea. Still, I doubted Sybil would accept an excuse for not doing what I’d been told to do.

I took out my phone, tapped out a quick message to Reb, letting him know I was at his agent’s office, and then held my thumb over send as I walked through the door and into a smoke-clouded room.

It took me nearly half a minute for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, I wished they hadn’t.

Reb was there. Sprawled on a couch that looked like its better days had been some time in the mid-seventies, his eyes bleary and unfocused, his face slack. His shirt was half-off, one sleeve still around his wrist. He didn’t even seem to see me, but that could have been because he was clearly high on whatever he’d been snorting or shooting…or it could have been due to the half-naked woman squirming on his lap.

Half-naked was being generous. Her shirt hung over the back of the couch, and if she’d been wearing a bra, it was nowhere currently to be seen. Her breasts were small, her nipples pierced, and I could make out a tattoo, though not what it said. She had on a pair of hot-pink stilettos to match her hair and a leather mini-skirt that was pushed up high enough on her hips that I could see a hot pink thong.

I recognized her too. Mitzi Adler. Reb’s so-called ex-girlfriend. The one he’d told me he’d caught in bed with two other men. The one who’d sent him into a downward spiral so bad that he’d needed me to fix it.

She tossed her hair back over her shoulder, only now seeming to realize that she had an audience. She winked at me and went back to grinding on Reb. She started kissing his neck, her hand moving down between them…

I looked away. I couldn’t watch anymore, but I refused to leave before I did what I’d come here to do. I wouldn’t cry or even acknowledge that I felt anything at all about what was going on. I was a professional, even though my heart was pounding so hard in my chest I almost couldn’t breathe.

“Who’re you?” With his greasy hair and beady eyes, Chester looked like the stereotypical sleazy manager portrayed in movies and on TV.

I took a deep breath and pretended not to notice that his hand was in his pants and got right to the point. I didn’t want to be there any longer than absolutely necessary. Emotions roiled inside of me…anger and disappointment, and something else. A deep, deep sadness that threatened to spill from my eyes and down my cheeks.

“I’m Paige Ryce, and I work for the PR firm you hired on behalf of Mr. Union. Sybil Feldt sent me regarding your payment.” I ignored his greedy gaze running all over my body and wondered if I’d be able to run home for a shower before going back to work. “We need you to write another check as it seems this last one bounced. Some sort of misunderstanding, we’re sure, but we do need that payment again.”

Chester stared at me for a few seconds, his hand moving in a motion that left no doubt about what he was doing. I was just thankful he hadn’t whipped his cock out. Yet.

“I don’t have my checkbook here,” he said finally. “You want to come back to my place, and I’ll get it for you?”

“No, that’s all right.” How I managed not to gag, I didn’t know. “We’ll have a courier stop by first thing tomorrow to pick it up.”

Sybil had told me to get the check, but there was no way in hell I’d be going back to this asshole’s place for it. That was where I drew the line. If Sybil pushed it, I’d threaten to go to Mr. Dwight about all of her work I’d been doing.

“Want some blow?”

My nails bit into my palms. “Pardon me?”

Chester leered at me. “I got some great stuff. Loosen you right up. You can join us.”

I turned on my heel and walked away, taking the time only to toss a few words over my shoulder. “First thing tomorrow, Mr. Lhaw, we’re going to want that check.”

And then I was outside in the crisp September air, trying to remember that I couldn’t cry here. This was all my fault. Not what Reb was doing. That was his own stupid mistake. No, what was my fault was the pain in my heart. I’d known better than to get involved with him. He was a client and a musician. Two things I’d sworn I’d stay away from.

And that meant I wasn’t going to cry over him. I didn’t deserve that luxury. Instead, I’d do what I should have been doing all along and work my ass off.

No more repeating my mother’s mistakes.