Page 79 of Hollywood Undercover
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Later that morning,Alexandra left the guestroom again to run downstairs for a bottled water. On leaving the kitchen, she ran right into Sebastian’s chest, although this time he was wearing ashirt.
Bash grabbed her by the shoulders and steadied her. “Hey, there. Watch out… are youokay?”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, pulling away and scurrying toward thestaircase.
“Wait,” Bash called after her. “Did you find that information you needed? To get the repairsdone?”
“I’m still working on it,” she shoutedback.
“Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do tohelp.”
“Willdo.”
Alexandra didn’t find out anything about the repairs because she hadn’t quite started looking yet. She had spent most of the morning on the internet, fixated on just how much damage the contrived Lexxi Rock trip to the French Riviera had done. The media had a field day with it. She returned to her spot in front of her laptop when she got back to theguestroom.
Five minutes later, she stumbled across another batch of lurid headlines. There were more and more articles she refused to read in full because they were allhorrendous.
“This is unbelievable. ‘Lexxi Rock All About Fame, Not Fam’, and ‘Lexxi Rock Forgets her roots to Frolic with the French?’ Who comes up with thisshit?”
Irritated, she grabbed her phone to callRick.
It’s time I fix this before it gets anyworse.
Eventually, she needed to get back in Los Angeles. She didn’t want this hanging over herhead.
“Lexxi?” Rickanswered.
“Rick, hi! I’m glad I caught you. I wanted to let you know everything is comingtogether.”
“Is Maxokay?”
“Yes. Dad’s a lot better than we expected. He’s back to being his old self, thanks for asking. They’re keeping him at the hospital to be sure he doesn’trelapse.”
“That’s a relief, dear. Do you need me to make any special arrangements for him before youleave?”
“I’m taking care of those at themoment.”
“Good. Does this mean you’re heading back soon? Tomorrow would begreat.”
“Not quite, Rick, but I’ll definitely be home in time to finish the song list for the album. We’ll have more than enough time to make the planned releasedate.”
“That’s my girl! I knew you’d see the light! Los Angeles doesn’t have a thing to offer without Lexxi Rock, honey. When will you gethere?”
Her gregarious manager wouldn’t stop with the question of her exact date of return, and Alexandra had to laugh at his enthusiasm. She almost forgot how frustrated she was the last time they spoke. Almost, but notquite.
“I hope you realize how much you upset me during our last conversation, Rick Bernstein. You know I hate getting into it with you, but last time…you really made me feel like you couldn’t care less about what I have going on here in Tucson, like work was more important to you thanDad.”
“You know me, doll. I might ruffle your feathers, but I’m not in this to clip your wings. This is just how the business is. There are no stand-ins in the real business, hun. I can’t sweeten reality any more than to tell you it’s either you show up, or you don’t. You’re free to make whatever decisions you want to make. I’m just happy you’re almost ready to fly back to LA. So, when will you touchdown?”
Rick covered the phone and shouted muffled orders to someone in the background. Something that sounded like, “Get TMZ and Celebrity Buzz on theline.”
Alexandra rolled her eyes. There was no changing this guy. Her career was his passion at themoment.
She sighed. “I initially had my flight scheduled for the end of this week, but I may need moretime.”
“A week is allowable, but anythingelse—”
