Back To The Viper (9 page)

“Come here, quickly!” he urged him. After a few minutes, Wayne learned the reason why Brendon had been so impatient: The Devil’s Pouch, one of the bands Wayne produced, had had a significant rise in the sales of its albums. According to Brendon, they would sell double, if not three times, the tickets for their national tour. Soon, Wayne realized that Brendon was his business partner at Supersonic – the production company they had launched and ran now.

“The Devil’s Pouch is a goldmine! I suggest we offer them a contract for the next five years and promote them heavily. Don’t forget that the more successful they get, the more producers will want to work with them.”

Wayne nodded understandingly while trying to swallow his soy burger.

“Man, how can you even eat that disgusting thing?”

Brendon grinned.

Chapter 15

When Ashley woke up, she felt the soft touch of the luxury bed linen against her body. She stretched her arms happily, but suddenly started – she had to go to work at Starbucks at nine o’clock. She got up and glanced at her watch nervously – it showed half past eight. Ashley immediately put on her jeans, but suddenly was hit by the thought, “I no longer work at Starbucks!”

She laughed and sat back down on the bed. No more dead-end jobs! She looked around her bedroom. It was elegant and full of exquisite objects that had probably been ordered from a catalog. The previous evening, she had arrived at the house (she had a whole house!) late and hadn’t been able to take a good look at it. She put on her dressing gown and went to the lower floor. There was a large living room with a kitchen next to it. Suddenly she heard some growling and turned around – she was about to run away when she saw a Jack Russell Terrier rush at her, barking.

“Ah, is that you buddy?” She picked it up.

“Madam, your papers.” The maid was standing by the door dutifully and several daily newspapers were lying on the little table next to her. Ashley saw
The New York Times
and
Wall Street Journal
on the top.

“Thank you…” She cleared her throat and looked at the maid questioningly. “What was your name?” Ashley put the terrier back on the floor.

“Gomez, madam.”

“Thanks, Gomez.” Ashley took the paper on the top and was just about to sit down comfortably on the couch in the living room when she felt the maid staring at her.

“Yes?” she asked, confused.

“Madam, Mark Holman from L’Oreal will be here in less than ten minutes.”

“Aha…” Ashley held her breath and thought, “L’Oreal?” “Let him in,” she said offhandedly, trying to conceal the excitement in her voice.

“Madam won’t be happy if Mr. Holman sees her in her morning gown,” the maid inserted on leaving the room.

She was right, so Ashley changed quickly. After a while, she heard the doorbell, followed by the sound of a man’s footsteps.

“Ashley, sweetheart, how are you?” An average-height man walked into the living room energetically. “I have some good news – the sales of your
Like a Dream
line have surpassed two hundred percent for the past quarter; what can be better than this?”

She nodded. She had her own perfume line?

A long conversation followed – Mark told her about her company’s plans and then she signed a few contracts and arranged a meeting with the executive managers for the following week. While she was signing the multimillion-dollar contracts, she almost fainted. Only the day before she would have been happy if she’d made several thousand dollars by the end of the day. When her conversation with Mark Holman ended, she saw him to the front door. They separated with a friend’s kiss. Having remained alone on the veranda, she remembered something had been missing. Of course! Her little daughter, Briana. She wondered where she could be now. Ashley quickly went up the stairs and typed her mother’s number. Briana was most probably with her because there was no trace of a little child in the house.

“Ashley, how are you?” She recognized her mother’s voice. There had been a time when the two of them hadn’t got on very well, but ever since she had started helping her look after Briana, they had become close again.

“Well, how else but fine?” She realized it would take at least a few months until she got used to her changed life. “And how’s Briana doing? She’s with you, right?”

There was an awkward silence and at some point, Ashley wondered if the connection had been lost. Finally, she heard her mother’s quickened breathing and then her question:

“Ashley, who’s Briana?”

Her heart went into her mouth. She had the feeling she would faint any moment – what had happened to her daughter?

“What do you mean ‘who’s Briana?!’" she cried. "She’s my daughter, your granddaughter!”

“Ashley, are you all right?” Her mother’s voice grew anxious. “Have you taken any drugs or something? You don’t have a daughter.” She laughed. “That’s absurd! Hello? Ashley, are you there?”

Ashley dropped down on the couch in the living room, stunned by the conversation with her mother. No Briana? No daughter? Then what was the point of her present life? She shook her head. She had to look at the facts soberly – although she had loved the little girl immensely, sometimes caring for her had been unbearably hard. Besides, she had detested her job at Starbucks. On the other hand, Ashley now had her own boutique clothing and perfume company now and owned two houses, had a maid, and a Jack Russell Terrier. Deep in thought about all this, Ashley hadn’t realized that Gomez had come in again and was now staring at her intently.

“Yes?” she snapped. She had the feeling the maid was following her.

“Madam must have forgotten that she has to attend the opening of her friend’s restaurant?”

“Friend? What friend?”

“Elizabeth Curdis, of course. Is madam feeling all right? You forget about everything this morning.”

“Jesus! Liz?” Ashley exclaimed. Elizabeth, or Liz for short, had been her best friend from her school years, the one Craig had dated in high school. “She has her own restaurant?”

“Yes, madam. Don’t you remember you financed her?”

Ashley gasped. “And how much did I give her?”

Gomez raised her eyebrows questioningly.

“Madam doesn’t share such things with me.”

Chapter 16

Craig was aiming at the golf hole when his cell phone rang.

“Damn it!” he exclaimed. He should have left it at home or at least given it to the boy who was attending him.

“Hello,” he snapped, answering the phone. He heard Ashley’s voice on the other end.

“Craig, how are you?”

“Urgh, how else could I be? I don’t know myself.” His tone softened, and he left the golf club on the grass. “Monique and I are getting divorced, and she’s fighting for full custody of our three-year-old daughter. At the expense of that, I have all the time in the world, only I don’t know who to share it with.”

So her suspicion that he was also not happy with his new life was confirmed. Ashley had read a short article in
Wall Street Journal
about the rich angel investor Craig Bloomingdale getting divorced. She knew he loved his wife very much and wasn’t surprised when she found out he was devastated. Just a few weeks had passed since their comeback, and yet Ashley already hated her present. Back when she had done that crappy job, she had at least had Briana and had been a lot happier than she was now.

“Do you know, I’m also unhappy with my present life? I don’t have Briana, and everything else is just pointless without her. I feel empty and lonely, Craig,” she said woefully.

“Ashley, how come I still have a family although I’m getting divorced, and you’ve lost your daughter? Isn’t that strange?” He heard her sigh.

“Yes, Craig, you’re damn right. Harry explained to me that certain things are inevitable for some people. For others, though, some of the parts of their destiny are optional. It turned out that was exactly my case. However, yesterday Harry assured me that it was not a problem for us to go back to our past again during the showcase and fix our present.” She paused. “Are you in?”

“Am I in? There’s nothing in the world right now that I want more than that. We should discuss it with the boys, though.”

Ashley giggled from the other side of the line.

“I can’t believe that just a few weeks ago we were dissatisfied with our life.”

“Yes, I guess fate has a weird sense of humor,” Craig agreed with a sarcastic note in his voice.

“By the way, I already talked to Chad, and you’ll be surprised to know he’s having problems, too.”

“Speaking of Chad, isn’t he straight now? It’s amazing what a single time travel can lead to!”

They laughed, but soon after, Ashley became serious again.

“All right, we only need to talk to Wayne. I’ll do that, and I’ll call you when I’ve arranged everything.” Ashley ended the call and stared at the beautiful view from the veranda of her villa. There were tall palm trees in the front and in the distance the ocean was glistening with sunlight. Enterprising by nature, Ashley was used to leading the band and the boys. No wonder she had her own successful company now. She looked at the clear blue sky above – what would it be like if she could transfer this spirit of entrepreneurship and management into the real life she had had not so long before? She had never considered this possibility. After their band had broken up, Ashley had begun to wait tables at nightclubs and had never graduated from anywhere. But why would you need a diploma these days, anyway? The important thing was what you were able to do, not what degree you had. And she was definitely able to organize and lead. It was time she began to make use of those qualities.

Chapter 17

“Honey, how do I look in this dress?” Olivia turned her head to look at her back in the mirror.

Wayne was trying to keep his eyes on the exit of the store, wondering what else apart from a fire could activate the alarm.

They had been at Maxfield for more than two hours because his fiancée wasn’t able to decide which piece of clothing she wanted. He openly hated stores and shopping as a whole and thought it was a waste of time. If he liked a piece of clothing that matched his size, he bought it immediately.

“Wayne! What are you looking at? I need your opinion! Doesn’t this dress make my ass look bigger?”

He turned his eyes on her in boredom.

“Baby, you’ve been hesitant about this model for half an hour now; I don’t know what else you want me to say. Your ass looks normal…” He couldn’t finish because she burst out nervously:

“You mean my ass is big, then?”

“No, I… uhh…”

“All right, then, Mr. Playboy! If you will insult me, then you’ll get no sex for a week! First, you won’t help me choose an outfit for the 20
th
Century Fox party, and now you’re insulting me! Great job, keep it up and the next time we’ll have sex will be when hell freezes over!”

“Shopping is not for men,” Wayne muttered to himself. “Olivia needs a girlfriend or, even better – a gay friend. Where is Chad now?” He thought and remembered that he was supposed to meet his friends. They had agreed to meet at Ashley’s at 137 Sunset Boulevard. She had called him a few days before, suggesting that they see one another today when all of them were free. He looked at his watch and the little time that remained made him do something.

“Baby, I’m sorry, but I really need to go.” He didn’t wait for an answer, but rushed straight at the exit without even daring to look back. Olivia’s threatening cries could be heard from the fitting room. On leaving the store, he looked apologetically at the shop assistant – an elderly lady with a foreign accent.

“PMS, you know.”

He quickly went out of the store and jumped into his car, not even noticing the old Buick following him. It took him less than an hour to reach Ashley’s house, which was protected by a massive fence and an electronically controlled door. He rang and heard an expressionless voice say:

“What would you like?”

“It’s Wayne Bonner, a friend of…” He couldn’t finish because he immediately heard the sound of the opening door. He parked his car by Ashley’s and then saw her coming.

“Wayne! I’m so glad to see you.” She hugged him. His touch was reassuring, and for an instant, she could forget about her troubles. Her head remained on his shoulder for a few seconds and then she sighed:

“Let’s get inside. Craig came a while ago.”

“So for the first time in so many years I’m not the last to arrive,” Wayne said with a smile on his face.

“No, you aren’t. Chad hasn’t arrived yet; I hope that he’ll join us soon, too.” The two of them went up the small stairs by the front door and entered her house.

***

“No, you simply can’t come out right now! Not before your international tour!” Kevin barked. His eyes narrowed at Chad sternly.

“Why not? I want to be honest, and I want the fans to be aware of my sexual preferences,” Chad resisted.

“Don’t you understand? You can’t just publicly announce you’re gay unless you’ve been on the market for at least a decade with a superstar status. So many celebrities haven’t come out, no matter how persistent the rumors of their sexual orientation have been. They have waited until they’ve known for sure that their fans wouldn’t be disappointed by their confession.”