A STELLAR AFFAIR (A Hollywood Bad Boy Romance) (3 page)

He was well aware of the strength of his fan base, too. The Stoners were a formidable force now. According to his publicist, his official Facebook fan page was hitting the twenty million mark. Same with his Twitter account. He was a businessman as well as an artist. To survive Hollywood, you got to sacrifice some of the art to make money. He wanted fortune that came with hard work and fame, so he knew how to crunch numbers. He was confident he could get this role based on those numbers, but his manager seemed to think otherwise.

“Set up another meeting with the big boys.”

“Wes, listen to me. I believe in you. I know you’re perfect as Super X. It’s just that…”

“It’s just that I’m not popular enough,” he finished for Tim.

“It’s not that. If it’s popularity alone then you’d get the part hands down.”

“Then what is it?”
 

“You need a repackaging of sorts.”

“Repackaging? I already have a strong, bankable image.”

“As a villain.”

He went to pour himself a glass of whiskey from the bar. “Okay…talk.”
 

“You need to transition from a villain to a good guy, but the public has to be conditioned. They have to believe, and the big boys need to be convinced more of your box-office appeal as a lead. You have to come out there and claim the role like it was tailor-made for you. ”

“I’ve been the lead in my other movies.”

“Indie movies.”

He threw Tim an affronted look.

“An Oscar appeals to the adults, Wes, but not the kids, teenagers and young adults who will comprise the majority of Super X’s demographic. We’re talking 12 to 27 years old bracket here. You have to appeal to the younger fan base.”

He was getting Tim’s drift, alright, and it stung to concede. “You mean Ava Ryder’s fan base,” he said grudgingly.

Tim shrugged. “Yeah. Her eighty million fan base to be exact.”

There’s your number.

Eighty million was staggering.

And humbling.

His Oscar meant jack in this moment of bitter truth.
 

Wes inhaled deeply. He couldn’t believe he’d need some shady publicity stunt to land a big role aside from his acting prowess backed by solid credentials. He’d been directed by the best of the best, dammit, but Tim had him and he knew it. The younger audience didn’t care for his golden statues and plaques. They wanted mass appeal of the Superman kind. The good guy. The crusader. The protector. He’d been playing the purveyor of evil and destruction for far too long he was already type-cast for it.

“Please, Wes,
 
just do this. Just this once. The big boys want this.”

“If I do this, can they guarantee me the role?”

“What they told me is if you can break the internet, then it’s yours.”

“Break the internet? I can just strut naked on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and ejaculate on Ava Ryder’s star. That will make us both the talk of the century.”

Tim shook his head. “I’m serious here, Wesley.”

He sighed. “Does she know already?”

“Yeah. In fact, it’s her idea.”

“What..?”
 

“It was Ava’s management company who actually proposed the idea to the big boys and they approved. You see, they do want you as Super X, Wes.”

“Whoa, wait, you lost me there. This insanity… is her idea?!”

Tim shrugged. “Hollywood’s a small world and Ava is a master strategist. You gotta give it to her, the girl knows how to market herself. She’s any producer’s dream talent. The cool thing here is Ava actually chose you for this job. Her next album is due for worldwide release in August. She has three months or so to pre-sell it.”

Wes was incensed. “She would go to these lengths to sell a fucking album?!”

Tim looked exasperated now. “Sometimes I don’t know if you’re just too self-entitled you think you can win anything in this business by your acting genius alone or you’re just a throwback of the idealistic 50’s, man. Every cutthroat management agency does this for their talents. Welcome to the land of the jaded and the shrewd motherfuckers. If you wanna remain on the A-list, embrace the game, Wes. Play it hard. Harder if you can.”
 

He was a practical man, yes, but this thing Tim was suggesting he’d be a part of went against his moral code. It was straight up deception. But then again, Hollywood was the land of deception. Of dreams. No. Illusions.

Play the game.

“Look, time is a huge factor here. If you won’t take it, Ava will easily find a replacement. You’re her first choice but not the only choice. Take this job and you’ll be closer to Super X by fifty percent. Make the Ryders believe in this love affair and you’ll be flying high with those supersonic wings early next year. Guaranteed 15 million per picture from then on, too, plus the option to be a co-producer. You with me, Wes?”

Numbers. Huge numbers.

He turned around to look out into the vast city below. His modern villa in Hollywood Hills was sitting next to the old house that used to be Marlon Brando’s, his ultimate idol in the business. The man who said no to an Oscar to stand by his principles.

Seven years ago, Wes came to Hollywood bursting with ideals, but now he was about to sell his principles for a role. But if he clinched this role, he’d have the bargaining power for his succeeding movies and a shot at longevity in this dog-eat-dog business. He knew he can be a great Super X, the fallen angel turned savior and protector of mankind. He’d take Super X to a whole new level acting-wise, and maybe snag another, but this time as a Best Actor. Not bad for a goal.

 
Yes, he badly wanted this role and he would get it, even if he had to pretend to be the new main squeeze of that machiavellian Pop Empress, Ava Ryder.
 

“Alright. Set up a meeting with her.”

“How dare that bitch
play the victim here? She’s been doing all the talking in that odious reality TV show of hers, capitalizing on an ancient issue at my expense!” Ava seethed as she paced the vast expanse of her living room in her mansion in Beverly Hills.

“I already talked to the lawyers. We can definitely sue her ass for defamation. We have witnesses to testify she’s been inventing stories to make you look like you’ve been trying to destroy her and Tyrone,” Reena, her manager, informed her.

The mention of her good-for-nothing ex made Ava’s temper escalate, but she inhaled deeply, not letting it get the better of her. Clear head was always key in any tight situation. She’d never let herself be ruled by emotions even at her worst and lowest. Since she won America’s Next Idol almost a decade ago at age 16, she shaped her career like a military general, thanks to her lawyer Dad and professor Mom.

“Every problem has a solution. How you deal with it will make the difference. Use your reason, never your emotion.” Wise words from her father she’d heeded like a covenant all these years and she never went astray.

She wasn’t about to lose it now.

Regroup. Strategize. Fight back without engaging the enemy directly.

Yes. She will turn this disaster to her advantage and win the battle in the end, she swore. She’d had enough of this love-triangle drama with Tyrone and Skylar. It had been years since she broke up with Tyrone, for god’s sake!

Skylar and Tyrone had been the bane of her life since the bastard cheated on her with Skylar almost four years ago. It was the talk of the rags for ages for its sordid real life plot that would rival a day-time soap. The rags were beyond cruel.

Ava Ryder, America’s sweetheart dumped by her band mate, best friend and first love, Tyrone Glass for Skylar Brandt, Ava’s own bestfriend and bandmate, too!

Dumped. How she hated that word that was repeatedly used by the rags to refer to her, as if it was the only reason she would be on the headlines. They’d ignored her numerous accomplishments after that painful breakup.

It was a bitter taste in her mouth that wouldn’t leave because Skylar had made it her mission over the years to make her look like Regina George at every turn, that mean bitch in the movie Mean Girls.
 
She had no interest to participate in her ex-bestfriend’s publicity games which were nothing but desperate ploys to lift her sagging career as a reality TV star.
 

Ava had always minded her own business. She had her own career to take care of. After her break-up with Tyrone, she became a tireless working machine. Her name swiftly become a multi-million dollar brand in the music and fashion industry and Skylar and her petty antics were like annoying gnats trying to ruin her mojo and concentration. She wanted Skylar to stop pestering and dragging her into this endless drama with Tyrone. She didn’t give a shit with what was happening in their marriage. She’d heard rumors that Skylar was even pregnant with Tyrone’s baby now so what was her freaking problem still?!

But Tyrone and Skylar didn’t use to torment her like this. They used to give her immense joy. They were the loves of her life. They shared a long history. Skylar was her best girl friend and Tyrone was her male best friend. They all grew up together in a small town in Tennessee. They had big dreams in their small bodies and together, they strived to make those dreams come true in one of the most inspiring Hollywood success stories of the decade. But success had its price. She just didn’t know it would cause her her most precious friendships.

Her
 
new album
 
was launching in three months. Skylar and Tyrone were the least of her concerns but they just won’t leave her alone. This last shit they’d generated to assassinate her character was too much. People were calling her names all over the internet. It wasn’t her fault that Tyrone wanted to get back with her last month. It was him who came to her, begging her on his knees to take him back. She turned him down of course, but the bastard probably hired a paparazza to take pictures of them while he attempted to kiss her and boom, there she was all over the rags, kissing him. When interviewed about the pictures, Tyrone implied that she was trying to seduce him back into her life!
 

Instead of engaging in another round of interviews to defend herself, she devised a countermeasure— have a new boyfriend, someone big in the industry that would effectively divert the public’s attention from the scandal. Except she didn’t want a real one. Boyfriends were deterrents to her higher ambitions. Plus she had yet to find a man who won’t feel insecure the moment they were seen in public and the fans started screaming her name louder than his. God forbid if he saw the contents of her bank accounts. Now, she had no use for freeloaders and opportunists either, but she usually found great talents from the latter species. It was better to pay them to be with her than take them into her life on a more personal level. That way, there would be no expectations and drama, just an exchange of benefits.

Reena’s
We Will Rock You
ringtone disrupted her troubled musing.
 

“Oh my god, it’s Tim!” Reena exclaimed excitedly and took the call, turning her phone’s speaker on.
 

“Reena, Wes wants a meeting with Ava,” said a man’s voice. “Set it up.”

“Really, Tim?! Did he agree?”

“Kind of. Yeah.”

“Great! I’ll talk to Ava. I’ll call you right back!”

Reena jumped from the sofa, screaming like a fan girl. “We got him! We got him, Av!”

Ava scrunched her face at her manager. Reena had been a Wesley Stoner fan since she can remember. Well, who can blame her?
 
Wesley Stoner was tall and good-looking in this rugged, badass way, complete with longish shaggy hair, tattoos and a sexy goatee. Don’t get Reena started on his 6-feet-3 frame packed with enough ripped muscles to sell tons of protein shakes. He also possessed the sexiest Texan accent, which he can easily switch to a British twang—boggles the mind how he does this— depending on the character he was playing. He’d been starring in a superhero franchise as the most evil anti-hero the movie world had ever known, but he also had a reputation for taking in serious roles in indie films which had gotten him some prestigious awards. His mating habit seemed to be as badass as his choice of roles. The dude’s dating repertoire was interracial and international and well-covered by the paps.

Wes Stoner, by all accounts, was a bona fide bad boy. He was not only smolderingly handsome but a compelling character on and off the screen and Hollywood loved his brand of badassery. Yeah, he was really perfect for her Heartbreaker. Wes Stoner was going to help sell her album and make it No.1 for an entire year.

She’d seen the most good-looking men in this business, had contracted them to
 
appear in her videos. Wesley Stoner was just one of those men her fans would fantasize about while listening to her songs. Her next album was full of angst and Stoner had better deliver the pain in the end. She had no doubt he would, with a best-actor flourish.
 

“Ava, did you hear what I said?” Reena was still freaking out, Stone-high more likely.
 

Wes Stoner had this effect. Great for her next project but Reena’s giddy fan-girling was getting on her nerves. However, she just knew the Ryders would go gaga over him, too. She could imagine him riding a Harley in the video of her new album’s carrier single, his bad boy menace having sex with the cam. That would turn all her female fans into a screaming mass of exploding ovaries in front of their TVs as her voice wailed melancholic lyrics in the background. She’d break records with this one, she could taste it.