Documentary (13 page)

“Take your pick, his dick or his temper, one of them will be the death of him.” Dylan took mild offense, especially given that Kai had admitted to not watching her films, but a wave of discomfort also swept through her before cinching painfully around her waist. A guilty flashback of the Lava Surf party pressed into her mind, but she hadn’t come here to get fired before the
official first day.

“Ma’am, I can assure you that my role here is a professional one, only.” Her assertive voice held steady, and her gaze never wavered from Nina’s face.

“Great and that’s what I expect.” But she didn’t look completely convinced.
“I
want you to make a good web series. It has to be so good that it saves Kai’s career because he isn’t willing to do it himself the way I want him to. He has lost two major endorsements since August, and another company is on the fence. The label is considering just paying what they would owe him for terminating the contract and walking away. Jeremy sells more units and he’s far less trouble. He got a huge advance with this deal, and I don’t know if Kai’s in the position to get another lucrative deal on a major label. And he deserves one because he’s really talented. Before, the drinking and the partying weren’t bad, really. Nothing like it was when he was in Evernight. It all fit into the mystique of the rock star lifestyle. People ate it up,” she said, showing far more tolerance for Kai’s behavior than Caroline had, but her voice suddenly turned icy and stiff. “But this
thing
with Jeremy. It needs to get buried under the movie, the web series and the tour. These
have
to be good. People need to see
Kai,
not
Kai’s antics.
The focus has to get back to the music, him as an artist, and not the sensationalism. You need to figure out what’s going on and what happened, so I can find a way to spin it into something less damaging. Someone who gets too close to him may not want to divulge what really happened because it’s just too bad, but the public often really likes redemption.”

Her rigid exterior softened as she took a sigh. “He won’t talk to me about Jeremy, but I know it certainly goes beyond competition and music royalties.
No one is buying that. Meleko says he doesn’t know what happened in the alley, and I’m surprised he wasn’t out there with him. He’s always looking out for Kai. And Kai and Jeremy were friends. Even after the Evernight fall out, they worked it out. They went to Thailand together earlier this year. They are different but they were friends.” She sounded desperate and frustrated.

From what Dylan had read, Jeremy wasn’t squeaky clean, but he stayed out of trouble. No excessive drinking stories or ones about
him getting into fights. Everyone in the industry generally spoke well of his modest and charitable nature. He ran a charity basketball league in Orlando and gave millions to saving arts programs in schools, and he often talked about those things alongside his music. The only blot on his reputation was his admission about trying cocaine in his teens in the early days of Evernight. After rehab, he spoke considerably about the lure of drugs and how to keep young entertainers, who often had a ton of money and no real guidance, clean.

“Your job is to control the story not create it for someone else to use
to their benefit. You cannot become involved with him personally,” Nina said. Dylan tried not to flinch. “He can be charming, but I need you clearheaded and focused because I’ll fire you if I even get the
hint
of impropriety. If Kai won’t work with someone else, I’ll find another way to get him out of this mess.”

“I understand,” Dylan choked out. The office felt like it had been set ablaze with the two of them inside, and that she was nailed to the floor.

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

“He can have his choice of girls, but you need to be off-limits. I saw another smart and talented young lady get wrapped up in him because she was so caught up in the heat of the situation, and she ended up throwing her entire career away.”

Dylan nodded. “I understand.”

“If you find out what really led to the fight with Jeremy, I’ll give you more than a reference. I’ll transfer the web series to you legally. We’ve agreed to license it to Lava for the coming several months as they promote their new flavors and their short films. You work hard and do everything I’ve asked, and I’ll send you a contract the very last day you’re here about ownership transfer. Irrevocable, unconditional transfer.”

Dylan gulped down several times to moisten her parched mouth. A professionally produced web series that she owned would be an essential addition to her film portfolio. She would be able to show it publicly and license it to others. She would be able to control the use of it.

“Really, you’d do that?” She leaned in closer.

“I knew you’d like that offer. Do your job, and get to the bottom of the fight and we have a deal.” Nina extended her hand, smiling more than she had since Dylan first walked into the office. “I’m really counting on you.”

Dylan took Nina’s hand and shook firmly. She told herself she had no more incentive to figure out things with Kai; it was quite the opposite, actually. But why didn’t it feel as amazing as it really seemed?

How to Deal - Chapter 8

She was still thinking about the meeting with Nina when Winslow, with Kate, drove her to SFO, but her thoughts faded when Winslow’s hand moved to the temperature dials to increase the heat blowing out of the vents. It was significantly cooler than it had been in days past. Dylan shivered and found comfort in the thought that this would be her last time wearing sweaters and scarves and jeans for a while—really just a week but it was enough. The temperature high would stay around the eighty-degree
mark on Maui.

“Right, Dyl?”

“What?” Dylan, confused, looked over her shoulder at Kate in the backseat. “What’s right?”

“I was telling Low that there’s no way you haven’t looked up who Erica is. I found her pretty easily.” Kate gave an enticing wave of her cell phone. Dylan twisted her whole body at the mention of Erica. No, she had not been avoiding finding out who she was. She just hadn’t had the time. Yeah, that’s what it was.

“What did you find out?” Dylan knew her voice didn’t come out nearly as casually as she wanted. She had rushed through the question, and she knew her friends knew.

Winslow giggled and flicked her eyes up at Kate to give her an arrogant smile. “Told you Dee was too afraid to find out on her own that she’d hooked up with someone’s boyfriend.”

“He doesn’t have a girlfriend,” Dylan said, getting defensive but remaining unsure. She slumped down in her seat and redirected her gaze out the window. Of course the theory was bothering her. Kai had punched a wall in sometime after going to meet with
Erica
. It was possible that they were “in between” a break up and a rekindling of their relationship. Or that cosmic fuckery thing Kate was talking about.
Then he shouldn’t have kissed me like that before he left.
Dylan gulped down. None of the internal discussion was doing anything other than tightening her throat.

“Well, dish!” Winslow urged with sudden impatience at Kate. Dylan started to protest, but her interest in the topic won out. She angled herself toward the center of the car again.

Kate kicked the back of Winslow’s seat. “Here’s a really good article from a really prominent music industry magazine,
Razorwire
, from earlier this year.
Nina Sanchez, of Kai White, LLP, confirmed today that publicist Erica Evigan would no longer be representing the singer. Sanchez stated that it was Evigan’s decision, and that it came about voluntarily. The departure seems abrupt considering that just last fall Evigan attended the Saint Louis Preserve The Arts awards gala with White, where she talked enthusiastically to the media about White’s solo debut effort which was released this past spring. ‘This isn’t some regurgitation of music from his old group; this is blues, it’s rock, it’s soul. This is the album you’ll play at your wedding, on your road trips, during those romantic dinners, and the songs that get stuck in your head, because he’s gunning for every sadness and happiness you’ve felt. Someday it’s going to be a classic.’ She also spoke to us about her recent engagement to music manager, Bryson Ellis. ‘Can you imagine? Music at work. Music at home. Might be a lot for some. Lucky I love it so much!’”

Dylan tried not to react physically in the presence of her friends, but she was even more confused now. Erica was engaged
earlier in the year, which meant that she should’ve been married now or still engaged. Had they called it off? It had been in the early morning hours when Leko interrupted them in L.A., so why was she calling Kai? If she was in trouble, why hadn’t she phoned this Bryson Ellis? Did she need protection from the guy? Was it something she couldn’t talk to him about? Was he out of town? Was he deceased? Were she and Kai having an affair? Was she the one Nina was referring to, the woman who had thrown her career away over a guy? Dylan sighed and ran her fingers down the length of her forehead. Her head was spinning, and she was fixating on too many things she would never get answers to.

“‘While Erica’s decision saddens me, she is a close friend of mine
, and I wish her nothing but the best in her future professional endeavors,’ White said in a statement posted on his website. Industry sources, however, are hinting that the singer was blindsided by Evigan’s resignation and that the company is negotiating behind the scenes to keep her with them.

“
Evigan, a former model known mostly from the popular clothing campaign for trendy online retailer LimaFive, famously moved through the modeling world, booking major campaigns, as her own agent while completing an associate degree in public relations at West Los Angeles College. She also ran a popular lifestyle blog before joining Kai White’s eponymous company last summer.”

Kate put the phone in her lap and lightly scratched the top of Dylan’s head.
“So, they’re just old friends.
”
She said it like she planned to make all the effort required to protect Dylan’s feelings. She passed her the phone and Dylan gasped at the picture of Erica that accompanied the article, in which she was sandwiched in between Jeremy and Kai. Of course, she was beautiful. Erica had waves of long auburn hair and dark eyes, and she photographed to perfection. Modeling absolutely made sense. She passed the phone back to Kate silently as jealousy pulsed through her.

“Yeah, see?” W
inslow squeezed Dylan’s forearm, and the look on her face indicated that it was part apology for her earlier statement, and part reassurance, too. “You did nothing. His friend was in trouble and he went to help her out. I’m sure that’s all it was.” Winslow sounded unsure though.

             
Both her friends gave her expectant glances; they wanted to know what she thought. Dylan expelled an insincere breath of relief that was meant to appease them, and remained silent the rest of the way to the airport. She had seen the look on Kai’s face and heard his voice on the phone. There was more going on here. She knew her friends well enough to know they suspected it too. They were just doing their duty.

She got teary-eyed when they pulled up to the curb at SFO, and they hugged until the airport police ordered Winslow to move her car. She blew them one last kiss before scampering to the curbside check-in with her belongings. After she trudged through the security line, she passed an ad for Hawaiian Airlines, inviting passengers to experience paradise this winter. She frowned and looked awa
y. She doubted it. Her trip was apparently about to be hell instead.

Leko was waiting in a black Cadillac Escalade at the curb right outside baggage claim, with a rap song blaring like a homing beacon, when she walked out of Kahului airport. He rounded the car and lifted her into a tight hug that immediately made her feel comfortable and less anxious about being away from everyone she knew. Leko planted a warm kiss on her cheek.

“Hi!” The absence of Kai
mollified her excitement. She had held a little hope that he would be there too, but he wasn’t.

“Oh shit! My girl, Dylan, is finally here!” Leko announced with infectious enthusiasm to the passing travelers. “It’s so good to see you, baby girl.” He hugged her again before he started tossing her bags in the back. Leko raised his eyebrows at the three rolling suitcases, two totes and one duffel
bag.

             
“I’m a stereotype, I know,” Dylan said with a sheepish laugh when she climbed into the passenger seat. It was a balmy afternoon in Kahului, and she rejoiced over her decision to change into denim shorts and a pink tank top in the airport lavatory.

As they coasted along curvy two-lane roads, Dylan absorbed as much scenery as she could, taking in the low-rise commercial buildings, the lush green mountains, and the hazy volcanoes in the distance, which seemed to kiss the tufts of bulbous clouds
above. Grassy highlands rose on the left, and jagged cliff sides, slightly more sparse of grass, dipped down to the gray–blue ocean on the right, beyond the guardrail. The landscape shifted quickly as they drove farther inland, and they plunged into a valley of rocky cliff edges, and passed dusty hills before the land flattened into farms and fields with green so bright they looked like they would glow at night.