Page 14 of Hollywood Undercover
Chapter 6
ALEXANDRA noddedwhen Rick finished his plate and said he had to leave. Her plan had gone well, and now she could regroup when she returned toTucson.
“You’ve piled my plate with new work, Lex,” Rick said as he stood up. “I now have a ton of soon-to-be-disappointed promoters to contact, so they get early notice you won’t be coming any timesoon.”
She dragged him into another hug before he turned to go. “Thank you so much, Rick. You’re agodsend.”
“Yeah, yeah. Butter me up. Promise me… no more rush relationships. Deal? They’re bad for you. I have a hunch this little trip is about you running away from the Wilkes fallout. I don’t entirely approve, but I understand. I only want the best for you. Okay,doll?”
She took an extra moment to rest her head on his shoulder as he patted her back. “I’m so grateful for that. You won’t regret it. Ipromise.”
Rick pulled away reluctantly, and as he made his way to her front door, he said over his shoulder, “Give Max my best when you gethome.”
* * *
“Maybe I should call him,”Alexandra said toherself.
She stared at the pile of designer luggage in the corner of her walk-in closet. Her father would be happy to see her, but didn’t like surprises. Her private jet was prepped and ready to fly out to Tucson the next evening. Travel arrangements were in place. She had only been putting off contacting her dad just in case her plans fell through. Now that everything had been firmed up, she needed to let himknow.
She attended a full-day meeting with her team at the label. It was productive. Together, they finalized the upcoming album cover. Normally the process could stretch out for weeks, if not months. It was good to check it off the list. And there was still a lot to do. Single cover shots had to be set up. The song list was also incomplete, and there were a few more recording sessions to be done when she returned. Still, they were making progress. The music video for the title track was already in the works. A director had been hired, and the shooting dates wereset.
Alexandra also needed to figure out which direction she wanted to go when it came to her image. She was outgrowing her skater-chick-meets-Goth-revolution style, including the heavy eyeliner and canvas loafers. Even after all the mind-numbing, shoot-me-now brainstorming with a team of stylists she sat through for almost half the day, she had no idea how to reinventherself.
Finally home, she went to the kitchen for some water. There was a package with her name on it sitting on the counter. She wasn’t expecting anything, but packages arrived for her all the time. Usually Alexandra would get her personal assistant to handle things like this, but the woman quit three months ago. She had a baby and decided to stay home to be with the little one. Alexandra couldn’t blame her onebit.
When her PA left, Alexandra couldn’t find the time to replace her right away. The world didn’t fall apart, so she tried to make do without one. One down side of not having an assistant now was whenever she got packages like this—with sender information she didn’t recognize—they would go into a box in the garage. She picked it up to carry it outside, and noticed an envelope stuck to the bottom. The note inside was fromEvangeline.
Good thing Ichecked.
Evangeline’s note said, ‘Enjoy the little things you CAN control, Lexxi. And by the way, you’re welcome. Love,Eva.’
With her curiosity now piqued, Alexandra opened the boxand…
Oh hell. Eva sent me an erotic massage carepackage?
She laughed out loud and hurried to take the box up to her bedroom. Something like this had to be checked out in a more private space. She threw the box on her bed and sat beside it to open the hot pink mini-trunk inside. It opened like a large jewelry box. Inside were some things she recognized, and others that confused her. She never used this kind of stuff. There was a feather, a bottle of all-over body massage oil, a pink mask witheyeholes.
Ohshit.
There was a pair of handcuffs too, and a small vibrator. She caught sight of some weird alien-sex gadget too. She ended up having to look online to find out it was a waterproof, u-shape, two-person, vibrating bodymassager.
Waterproof.
What was Evathinking?
Alexandra sent her a text to tell her thanks, and at the end of the short message, she added rows and rows of question marks. Evangeline phoned back rightaway.
“You’re welcome, honey,” Eva said before sayinghi.
“Eva! Thanks for the gift, but what thehell?”
“Come on, Lex. You’re human. You have needs. And you have no man right now, remember? Try it. It’ll take the stress off…and it feels so good…You’ve got to try that we-massager. I came so hard with mine a few nights ago. My legs shook for a whole hourafterward.”
“Way too much information,” Alexandra said,giggling.
“Try it. You’ll be calling to tell me the same thing afterward. Anyhow, love. I have a string of promo interviews to prep for. Let’s chat on the weekend if you get sometime.”
“Take care, Eva. Willdo.”
