Page 40 of Beneath the Fame

“I’m sorry—did that offend you?”

“Offend? No. Is the shit weird? Absolutely,” I answered, flopping into a seat on the ultra-soft couch I’d requested for my trailer. “You act like you didn’t get paid good money for just being in the room.”

“Damn, sorry,” she huffed. “I was just messing with you. Was it a rough day on set or something?”

“No, it was a great day on set, which makes it even more annoying that you’re starting up bullshit. I had a missed call from you, what did you want?” I asked, pivoting before we ended up arguing, which I hated was even a thing with someone who workedfor me, supposedly.

But we had a contract.

TheoneI’d started to regret signing.

“Van, seriously—I was just fucking with you,” Annie said, trying to smooth it over as if she was reading my mind.

“What did you want?” I asked again.

She pushed out a heavy sigh, eyes on the road. “O-kay. Well, I wanted to ask about this thing with you and Alec Everett, but I don’t know?—”

“I don’t have anything about Alec Everetttotalk to you about,” I quickly interjected, knowing how vital it was to nip that particular conversation in the bud. “It’s not a conversation for management.”

“Anything affecting your career is a conversation for management,” she said—kinda snapped, actually, which made me raise an eyebrow. “Van—you’re going to have to give your fans something to work with here.”

I frowned. “Huh? I’ve been posting on social media basically every day, the show is airing new episodes every week, I’ve been on interviews, I?—”

“Haven’t given the world new music, not even a teaser, in over a year,” she said, shaking her head. “All the other stuff is cool, but the music is what has been getting people on their feet for the last five years. You can’t leave them hanging.”

“Themusic?” I rolled my eyes. “Let’s be real—themusicthe mainstream media cares about is only the stuff where I’m talking about my pussy. Which, fine, I like to talk about it, so whatever. But let’s not act like I’m…shit, the last Airbender, gone missing when the world needed me most. I’m here, I’m visible.” I sat up to grab a bottled water from the nearby table. “And I just featured on two different songs with Kyir, not even six months ago.”

“Six months is a long time in this industry. Youknowthat.”

I closed my eyes.

Ididknow that, and there wasn’t much I could say to combat her very relevant point.

“What are you suggesting, Annie?” I asked, once I realized she was just going to let the awkward silence hang there until I broke it. “Since you’re telling me a freaking hit show isn’t enough. You have anything new for me?”

“Monica Stewart reached out, from that nail polish brand you always tag—against my advice.”

My face lit up. “Oh, Vivid Vixen? What did she want?”

“She’s offering a collab—the numbers are attractive. Kind of a hybrid endorsement thing—you can take the option of just appearing in promo for your favorite existing colors, or she wants you to actually come into the lab and create colors for a line, which I know is right up your alley.”

“Hell yes.” I nodded. “Send over the numbers.”

“Okay. But you know this doesn’t actually solve our problem?”

“Whatproblem?” I huffed. “I’m still not understanding what you want from me—my mind hasn’t been on music, so there is none.”

“Yeah—your mind hasclearlybeen on Alec’s big ass—which your fans will accept, and understand. You give them the scoop on the relationship, and they won’t even be thinking about music. They’ll be thinking if it was them, they’d be spending too much time on that dick to get in the studio too.”

“Absolutelynot,” I said, while the words were barely out of her mouth. “I’m not trying to have them in my business like that.”

Annie chuckled. “Van…sweetie, the whole world has watched you go viral busting it wide open for Bronx Boy—they’ve seen all your cracks and crevices. Is this really any different?”

“Girl,fuck you,” I snapped, ready to hang up—but not before I made her understand. “You’re supposed to be on my side, and you say some shit like that to me? Seriously?”

“Iamon your side,” she countered. “Which is why I’m not sugar-coating this. I’m giving you the real deal. And the real deal is that it’s ridiculous to claim to want privacy after something like that.”

“I didn’t put the damn sex tape out,” I practically yelled. “It’s not like Iwantedthe world to see it. You know what—as a matter of fact, I’m calling my lawyers in the morning. You talked me down from legal action last time it went around, but this time, somebody is gonna have to pay me.”

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