Sweet Little Lies (25 page)

“Whassa matter? Ya don’t love me anymore?” He wobbled on his feet, clutching at the air and then at the back of a woman’s chair. The woman spun around and glared at him.

Why did I ever think I could change him?Jane wondered. Her friends had been right about him. It pained her to admit this, and at the same time, she felt so free. Like she no longer had to continue her lonely, dysfunctional dance with him. Lovewas crazy. But it was supposed to be mostly good-crazy, not bad-crazy.

Jane was finished with her conversation with Jesse—for good. She fake-smiled at him and walked away. She heard him yell out her name, followed by a loud crash and the sound of something breaking.

“Please get someone to clean that up,” she called out to a passing waitress, without even looking back.

“Jane! Pssst, Miss Jane!”

Oh, God, what now?Jane glanced around and saw Diego waving to her from behind a nearby palm tree.

Was he…hiding? “Hey, D!” Jane went up to him and gave him a big hug. It was nice to see a friendly face, especially after her encounter with Jesse. “How’s it going? Did you just get here? Why are you hiding?”

“I’m hiding ’cause—Ohmigod, love your Loubs! Are they new?”

“Yeah, thanks. So what’s going on?”

D pulled Jane behind the palm tree. “I can’t let her see me,” he whispered.

“Who?”

D pointed at Jane’s mike pack, gesturing that they should speak in low volumes so as not to get picked up. Jane nodded to indicate that she understood. She leaned in closer and started to rub her thumb back and forth across the top of the mike. It was a trick she and Madison had figured out recently. That way, all the mike would pick up was a loud fuzzy sound.

“Who are you hiding from?” Jane whispered.

“The person who gave those pictures of you to Veronica,” D whispered back.

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Jane gaped at him. “What are you talking about?” she stammered.

D reached into the pocket of his leopard-print smoking jacket and extracted several pieces of paper, folded in quarters. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. I found these emails on Veronica’s computer, like, an hour ago. I started digging around when I saw her in Veronica’s office today.”

“Her?” Jane took the printouts from him—reluctantly, because she wasn’t sure she even wanted to read them. She had convinced herself a long time ago that the pictures had been taken by some anonymous tabloid photographer. She couldn’t imagine—then or now—that anyone she knew might have been involved.

“I know it’s hard, honey,” D said softly. “But don’t you wanna know the truth?”

No!Jane thought.

On the other hand, maybe it was time she stopped brushing things under the rug. She had faced the truth about Jesse. She should face the truth about this, too.

She took a deep breath, then unfolded the printouts one by one. And began reading.

TO: VERONICA BLISS

FROM: MADISON PARKER

SUBJECT: WTF???

You promised me that if I got you pictures of Jane, you would publish an article about me. You call the tiny mentions of the grooming habits of “Jane Roberts’s friend and confidante” an article about me????

WE HAD A DEAL.

Madison?Jane clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. There was no way. This had to be a joke. D was making this up.Someone was making this up. Madison was one of her best friends, and she would never do something like this to Jane. In fact, Madison was the one who had gotten her through the whole ordeal, after the story broke.

D squeezed her hand. “I know. You can’t believe it, right? I couldn’t either, at first. Keep reading.”

She did.

TO: MADISON PARKER

FROM: VERONICA BLISS

SUBJECT: RE: WTF???

That was your article. If you want another one, you need to get me more info ASAP. What is Jane up to? Is she dating anyone new?

TO: VERONICA BLISS

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FROM: MADISON PARKER

SUBJECT: RE: RE: WTF???

Nothing new on Jane at the moment. She’s back at work and she’s not seeing anyone as far as I know.

TO: MADISON PARKER

FROM: VERONICA BLISS

SUBJECT: RE: RE: RE: WTF???

FYI, “Nothing new,” “back at work,” and “not seeing anyone” isn’t news. You can’t get something for nothing.

There was another email, too, dated back in December, in which Madison had emailed her Cabo address to Veronica, adding, “Your guy should be able to find us on the beach, or else on the balcony of our condo.” Jane’s thoughts flashed to the photographer who had ambushed them on her last day. Sothat was how he had tracked them down. It all made sense now.

There were other, more recent emails about her and Jesse—and Braden, too. And there was one dated just four days ago, in which Madison informed Veronica that she couldn’t get her the details she needed, after all. The details about what? But it didn’t matter.

Jane had read enough.

38

BFFC

Madison pressed the button for the penthouse as she stepped into the elevator and wearily slipped off her Manolo stilettos. She was in a bad mood, mostly because it was Valentine’s Day and she was going home alone. The problem, of course, was wives. Derek had taken his to Palm Springs for the weekend.

And Jared Walsh’s had turned up at the Tropicana just seconds after Madison had talked him into slipping away for a nightcap. Talk about missed opportunities—a photo of Madison and him sneaking out of the Tropicana’s back entrance would have done wonders for her career. Then again, people weren’t always fond of “the other woman.” There were better ways to get publicity.

Madison told herself that she had a dozen other numbers she could call tonight, if all she wanted was a warm body. But it wasn’t. For the first time in a long time, she wanted something more. Not a Derek or a Jared Walsh, but a guy who might have sent her roses for Valentine’s Day and taken her out to dinner at Koi and told her how crazy he was about her.

God, what was happening to her? Something was definitely wrong. Just days ago, she had blown it with Veronica and failed to give her the dirt she wanted on Jane and Jesse’s breakup. And now she was fantasizing about…what, giving up on her extremely lucrative love life, so she could have a real boyfriend like other girls? Romance was overrated.

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Madison was not like other girls. She used to be, before the surgeries and before Hollywood—but no longer. She had worked hard to get where she was, and she couldn’t stop now. She had to shake this funk she was in before she made more costly mistakes, like letting Veronica down. And all for what? So she could protect Jane? Jane was her BFFN, or more accurately, her BFFC (best friend for cameras)—not her real BFF. Madison didn’t have real BFFs any more than she had real BFs. She knew that the only person she could truly count on was herself. She had had enough disappointment in her life to know that other people always let you down.

The elevator stopped. The doors opened, and Jane walked in—with her blue rolling suitcase in one hand, her goldfish bowl in the other, and the dog at her heels, his leash dragging on the ground.

“Ohmigod! Where are you going so late?” Madison said, surprised. Tucker sniffed at her dangling Manolos.

“I’m calling the movers first thing tomorrow,” Jane informed her in an ice-cold voice. “They’ll get the rest of my stuff, and my furniture, too.”

“Movers?What are you talking about?”

Jane pressed 1. “I saw the emails, Madison.”

“Emails? What emails?”

“The emails between you and Veronica Bliss. About the pictures and everything else.”

It took every ounce of willpower for Madison to maintain her composure at that moment. Inside, she wanted to scream and lose it and kill someone. How the hell had Jane gotten hold of those emails?Damn it. God damn it! On the outside, however, she managed to tilt her head and smile a little, as if she were befuddled and maybe even a tiny bit amused.

“Veronica Bliss? You mean that really bitchy woman who works forLife and Style ?”

Jane rolled her eyes. “Please. I have copies right here.”

“Jane, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Copies ofwhat ?”

Jane reached into her bag and pulled out a wrinkled wad of papers. She thrust them at Madison, her face rigid with anger.

Madison scanned the papers quickly. Her heart skipped a beat.

Jane reallydid have the emails.

Someone had sold Madison out.

“This is soooo weird,” Madison said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Ya know what, someone stole my BlackBerry, like, right before Christmas. I think whoever it was sent out a bunch of emails under my name. I got complaints from some of my other friends about this, too. People are sick.”

“Madison, please.”

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“I’m serious! I told Trevor about it, ’cause he got us the BlackBerrys, remember? He said he was looking into it, and—”

“Let me know how much I owe you for rent and utilities.”

The elevator stopped at the first floor, and the doors opened. Jane got out, somehow managing to juggle the suitcase and the goldfish and the dog.

“Jane!” Madison called out.“Jane!”

The doors closed, leaving Madison alone. She stood there, trying to breathe, trying to figure out how her perfect plan had spun so horribly out of control.

How was she gonna fix this?

39

COSMIC SHIFT

Scarlett heard her phone ringing in her purse as she pulled into the parking garage. She frowned in irritation; it was probably Dana, wanting God knew what. The woman was impossible. Earlier tonight, at the Crazy Girl Valentine’s Day party, she kept texting Scarlett, asking her to go say hello to Jane. Why did she even bother? Why would Scarlett want to embarrass herself by going up to Jane with everyone watching, when Scarlett knew perfectly well that Jane didn’t want to talk to her?

Dana had also bugged Scarlett about Gaby, since she had (correctly) picked up that Scarlett was giving Gaby the cold shoulder. The truth was, Scarlett had concluded that Gaby had to be the one who had sold out her and Liam toGossip . It was the only explanation. The question was, why? Madison was a ruthlessly conniving bitch. But Gaby was…Gaby. What could have been her motive? Scarlett had to admit that the realization kind of hurt—actually,really hurt—since she had grown to think of Gaby as a friend.

Fortunately, Scarlett had brought Chelsea from school; her trainer, Deb; and a couple of Deb’s friends to the party. At least she’d had some people to hang out with. They’d even agreed to sign releases and wear mikes, although they’d complained (good-naturedly) about them.

Scarlett wondered how much more of this show she could take. Trevor hadn’t spoken to her yet about her contract for the second season. Maybe he was planning to fire her, after all, either because of Liam, or because of her general inability to “play well with others.” That was just who she was. And if Trevor and Dana and the rest of them couldn’t deal with it…well, that was their problem. Scarlett had done nothing to hide who she really was when she met them. Maybe getting fired would be a blessing in disguise.

Her cell continued to ring. Why wasn’t the call going to voice mail? Annoyed, Scarlett glanced at the screen.

It was Liam.

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Scarlett quickly pressed Talk. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Hey!”

They hadn’t spoken in over a week, since the day theGossip story broke. Liam hadn’t called or texted, and she had decided to give him some space. After a few days, though, that space had seemed more like a void. Not knowing how to deal with it, she had thrown herself into her schoolwork, spending most of her nights at the library. She had written a fascinating twenty-page paper on Petrarchan sonnets (only ten pages were required), researched the entire history of the British monarchy, and learned how to conjugate compound tenses in French.

She had also finished rereadingWuthering Heights , which had unfortunately made her think of Liam even more. In the novel, the heroine, Catherine, and the decidedly unconventional Heathcliff were passionately in love, but Catherine was afraid of that passion and had ended up with a more conventional guy instead.

It was like Scarlett’s worst nightmare.

“Is this a bad time?” Liam asked her.

“Not at all. Just got home from the Valentine’s Day party at the Roosevelt.”

“Oh, yeah, the party-by-the-pool scene. How was it?”

“The usual. Actually, better than the usual. Jane did a great job. Uh, and Gaby, too.” Scarlett hadn’t told Liam yet about her suspicion that Gaby was the source.

“Sorry I missed it.”

“You would’ve liked it. So what’s up?” Scarlett got out of the car and started walking toward the elevators. She wondered why he was calling her now, after such a long silence.

“Yeah, so I’m in bed with the flu or something.”

“Oh! Sorry to hear that.” His voicedid sound a little raspy.

“No, it’s okay. I was only telling you that to explain.”

“Explain what?”

“Explain why I haven’t come by to talk to you in person.”

“Talk to me…about what?”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.” Liam hesitated. “About us.”

Oh.

“I know that our relationship is complicated,” he went on.

“Yeah, kinda.”

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“I’m a pretty private person. And despite the fact that you are on a reality show, I think you are, too.

But we don’t have any privacy anymore.”

“I’m sorry about that. And I’m sorry about your job.” Scarlett figured apologies were futile at this point—she was totally about to get dumped. But shewas sorry and she wanted him to believe that.

“Me too. But you know what? I don’t care. I don’t care how complicated this is. I don’t care if we have to deal with photographers. I don’t care if our pictures are in all the magazines. I really like you and I want to be with you. Like, all the time.”