Chapter 7

Chapter7

We were all ecstatic with how the festival had turned out in Denmark, but Copenhagenpassed quickly and we moved on to the next city. The trip from Denmark to Sweden wasn’t quite as peaceful of a trip as the trip to Denmark from Berlin. Instead of spending the travel time catching up on our sleep, as Sienna had done the last leg of the trip, we all piled into one bus and celebrated our success by pulling an all-nighter and singing until we could barely keep our eyes open.

By the time we arrived in Sweden, we were all ready to crash.Luckily, we had almost twenty-four hours before our next show and were checking into a hotel with real beds for a few nights while the busses went in for service. Of course, since the tour was sponsored by Heston, we were being put up at a beautiful Heston property.

***

Sienna and I were excited to spend a day watching live American TV, and had big plans to order room service and stay in our pajamas until it was time to head to the venue. Unlike the other Heston properties that I had visited, the Sweden property was quaint and understated, a contrast to the modern ultra-luxurious skyscrapers that typically represented the Heston brand.

I wasn’t surprisedwhen the staff was overly attentive to me when we walked in. Jack seemed to always make it his business that Sienna and I were treated like royalty and received the best accommodations whenever he had any control. I smiled to myself as the staff fussed over me, I didn’t really care about having a suite but I knew it was Jack’s own way of taking care of me and I adored him for it.

After the hotel manager let us into our suite and gave us the grand tour, he turned tome before leaving and reached into his pocket, offering me a small black box.

The older gentleman smiled as he extended his hand holding the box.“Ms. St. Claire, Mr. Cole requested I give you this.”

I took the box from the man’s handand smiled curiously. As seemed to be the norm in any of the Heston properties, the manager refused to accept a tip and encouraged Sienna and I to help ourselves to anything the hotel had to offer before showing himself out.

“So now the penthouse suite comes with jewelry, huh?” Sienna came up from behind me and took the box out of my hand. “And here I thought I was the princess.”

I attempted to take the box out of her hand but Sienna just giggled and ran to the other side of the couch, out of my reach. “I’ll give you twenty bucks for whatever is inside!”

I stopped in the middleof my chase. “Twenty bucks, Sienna, really? Did you see the insignia on the box?”

Sienna looked down at the box in her hand curiously and gaped when she noticed the small script: “K.” Kleinmans. Kleinman’s was a well-known NYC boutique jeweler that regularly loaned out jewelry to celebrities walking the red carpet. We both knew the name from hearing celebrities announce who they were wearing at award shows, not from being able to afford to shop at the store.

“Okay, fiftybucks, but that’s my final offer, Syd,” Sienna yelled, and giggled as I surprised her by jumping over the couch and grabbing the box out of her hand. I slumped into the couch and Sienna quickly followed, peering anxiously over my shoulder as I opened the velvet box.

“It’s beautiful, Syd,” Sienna’s voice was sincere and caring when she spoke. I was speechless as I looked down at the beautiful sparkling star pendant. It was a simple white gold, very thin chain, holding a delicate diamond star set with pave diamonds. The star had one of its points longer than the rest, somehow giving the look an edge that screamedrock star. It sparkled against the dark black velvet box as if it were shining high up in the sky.

Remembering the words Jackhad said to me before he left, my heart swelled a little more for the crazy, controlling, sweet, thoughtful, sexy as all hell man that really was mine.

***

Sienna and I both slept for almost ten hours straight after we finally settled in. I called Jack before I crashed, and caught him before he went into his meeting. I could tell he was happy with my reaction to the necklace, even though he tried to act like it was no big deal. I adored that he put so much effort into trying to please me.

It was late afternoon before we ordered room service. We were both beyond hungry. I was a little embarrassed at how much food we had ordered when room service had to bring in two carts just to fit it all. Sienna and I packed in more calories than we typically ate in a week, then we took our spots on opposite ends of the couch, each wrapped in our own blanket, staring mindlessly at the blaring TV.

I was almost asleep, having been induced into a lazy afternoon food coma, when Sienna turned up the television. “Syd?”

I looked up from my daze and saw Jack’s handsome face on television. The man truly still took my breath away. He wasstanding alone while photographers snapped pictures of him stopped on the red carpet. He looked insanely handsome wearing a tuxedo and giving the camera that sexy half-crooked smile that made me melt the first time I met him. Thenshewalked over to him and my heart stopped.

Jenna was decked out in one of her usual over the top outfits. Her full breasts were barely contained in herhot pink dress that cut down to just below her navel. The sides of her dress were cut out and the bottom slit exposed the top of her thigh as she posed herself for maximum leg exposure next to Jack, smiling wildly. Jack put his hand on her back and together they preened for the flashing cameras. Jack’s smiling face turned hard as he waited for the cameras to finish. I could tell from the way his jaw clenched that he was not enjoying himself, although Jenna’s smile told a completely opposite story.

The newscaster spoke over the footage as theticker along the bottom of the screen announced that the pictures were from the previous year’s AVN Awards. Apparently this year’s nominees had been announced and Cole Productions had grabbed a record number of nominations.

Sienna and I starred speechless at the television as the segment gave a little history on the AVN Awards. “The American Adult Video Awards are the Oscars ofthe adult film industry, with nearly 100 categories, some of which are analogous to the general film industry awards. Others are specific to the erotic film industry. This year Cole Productions, led by the always handsome Jack Cole, snagged a record number of nominations. Jack and his longtime partner, Jenna Favor, remain elusive to the media, but rumor has it there may be some new bling on Jenna’s finger at the awards this year, ladies.”

I stared at the TV, my mouth still hanging open at the story even as the news moved on to the next segment. Sienna spoke first. “Syd, they make up things to get ratings. You know there is nothing going on with Jack and that creature.”

It took me a minute to respond. I knew in my heart that nothing was going on with Jackand Jenna, but seeing them on TV and watching him put his hand on her back with a sense of familiarity still made me feel sick.

“I know, Sienna. But it still makes me ill hearing even a fake story about Jack and another woman. Especiallythatwoman. I didn’t like her the first minute I met her and seeing her gloating face enjoying standing next to Jack makes my stomach turn.”

I jumped at the sound of my phone ringingand vibrating on the glass table in front of me.

“Don’t ignore himagain, Syd,” Sienna warned.

Itook a deep breath and grabbed for my phone, expecting to see Jack’s handsome face on the screen, but the face that appeared startled me. My mother.

“No way.” I tossed the phone back on the table as if it was fire and I had just burned my hand.

“Syd,” Sienna warned.

“It’s not Jack. It’s my mother.”

“You think the timing of her call is a coincidence, or she just saw what we saw?”

“I don’t really want to find out right now.” I stood and looked over to the cheesecake we had ordered earlier with dinner but had been too stuffed to eat. “Dessert?”

“Always.”

***

A few hours later I was sure my momhad seen the news segment. She called four times in a short span of time, which was very unlike her. I checked her message after the second call to make sure I wasn’t avoiding an emergency and she mentioned she had seen Jack on TV and wanted to check in with me.

My mother and I were close and I knew that she would be concerned, butwhen she wanted information she had her ways of getting it from me. I wasn’t ready to share that part of Jack’s life with her, although I was sure that whatever sordid image she had already conjured up in her mind was probably far worse than the truth of the situation.

I still hadn’t spoken to Jack about the news segment, and at first I thought that maybe he was giving me some space to let the segment sink in. But Jack wasn’t really that type of man. If he had a problem or a concern, he went right to the core of it. He didn’t believe in space or mulling things over. It just wasn’t who he was.

I thought back to the first time we had seen each other in Hawaii. We met in a bar while he was there with his friends for a bachelor party. I had been vacationing with Sienna on what was supposed to have been my honeymoon. We’d both felt the instant chemistry that sparked between us. But I had been coming off of a broken engagement and wasn’t really looking to meet anyone. Jack had decided we should have an island affair and there was really no stopping him once he made up his mind. He hadn’t pushed me or anything, but he was clear with what he wanted and didn’t give me an opportunity to overanalyze my decision. Instead, he’d stayed right in front of me, standing so close with his incredible green eyes burning into me that my body couldn’t help but react. He was demanding and possessive, but in a confident, sexy kind of way that few men could pull off.

The more I thought about Jack, the more I realized that he must not have heard about the news story yet. I knew hehad a board meeting that morning, but I wasn’t sure how long those type of things normally lasted.

I was just drying off after a shower when I heard my phone ring from the bedroom. The flashing picture of Jack made me smile, even though I was a little apprehensive to discuss what I had seen on TV.Down deep, I knew I was acting childish. But when it came to Jack, my emotions were difficult to control.

“Hey.”

“Hey, beautiful.” His sexy voice made me smile, even from thousands of miles away.

“How was your day?”

“As expected.” Jack sighed and quickly changed the subject. “How was your pajama and room service day?”

“It was… interesting.” I struggled for the right word to describe my day.

“Tell me about interesting.”

“I’d rather hear about your day.” I had no idea why I was stalling.

“You’re stalling, babe. Is everything all right?” Since the first day I’d met Jack, it had always thrown me off balance how he seemed to have the ability to read my mind. For the most part, I had chalked it up to my body language, but apparently he could do it even through the phone, thousands of miles away.

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Know what I’m doing when I’m three thousand miles away.”

“I told you, babe, you’re important to me, so I pay attention. But you’re still stalling, so why don’t you tell me what you don’t want to tell me.”

Yep, I was right, the man would never have given me time to think before calling if he knew something had bothered me. “I saw you on TV today.”

“Okay.”

I flirted my response.“You looked really handsome.”

Jack chuckled. “Get to the interesting part, babe.”

“It was a story on one of thepseudo-news shows, the ones that do the news, but all the news revolves around celebrities.”

“I know the type.” I could tell from his tone that he was growing impatient with my story.

“They announced the nominees for the AVN Awards. The footage must have been from last year’s award ceremony, because you and your date were on the red carpet all dressed up.”

Jack blew out a rush of air. “My date? You mean Jenna?”

“Yes,her.” God, just hearing Jack say her name made my claws come out.

“So you’re upset because you saw us on TV together?” Jack’s question was seeking confirmation, not questioning the validity of my reaction.

“No, although I did feel a little queasy when the reporter mentioned a rumor that Jenna might have some extra bling on her finger this year from you.”

“I’m sorry, babe. Jenna’s publicist has kept rumors of our relationship circulating for years. I never cared because it helped sales and I really didn’t give a shit what anyone thought. I’ll make sure Jenna and her publicist stop playing games.”

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that. My mom has been calling all day and I haven’t figured out what I am going to say to her yet.”

“Why do you have to figure out something to say to her?”

“Because I’m assuming she saw the story today as well and I am not sure what to tell her.”

Jack spoke solemnly.“Tell her the truth.”

“That my boyfriend is a pornographer and had sex with more women than I can count?”

Jack was quiet for a minute. “Is that how you think of me, Syd?” His voice was low and sounded pained.

I tensed at thesadness of his tone. I hadn’t meant to come across as hurtful, but I was being honest. I had no idea what to tell my family and friends now that the dark side of Jack’s life had come to light.

“Maybe that didn’t come out right. It’s just that my family won’t get it. They don’t really know you and I don’t want their opinion to be based on some stereotype they took from a movie about Bob Guccione.”

“I care what you think, Syd, and I didn’t think you judged me as a person based upon the type of businesses I run.”

“I don’t, and I don’t want others to judge you either.”

We talked for a little while longer, but the damage had been done and there was a tension between us even when we moved on to other topics. When we hung up I wondered how my heart could be filled with such love for a man and yet I was able to hurt him so easily.

***

The best part of my friendship with Sienna was that she told me the truth, even when I didn’t always want to hear it. The night after my conversation with Jack I was still moping around, even after our show. I told Sienna about my talk with Jack and tried hard to repeat exactly what had been said.

“So you basically told him you were embarrassed of him,” Sienna said matter-of-factly, as she popped a handful of peanuts from the bar into her mouth.

“No!I didn’t say that. I told him my parents wouldn’t understand and I didn’t want them to think badly of him.” My tone was definitely defensive.

“Syd, why didn’t you want your parents, or anyone for that matter, to find out about Jack’s production business?”

“Because I didn’t want them to judge him.” I held my head up high, my response indignant.

“What did Jack do that they would judge himfor?”

“He didn’t do anything. People will judge him just because of his business. People are judged based on who and what they affiliate with, like it or not.”

“And since you are with Jack, people will judge you based on how they perceive him?”

My shoulders slumped a little.“I guess so.”

“So you are concerned about you, notonly about Jack. You basically told him that you were embarrassed of him, Syd.”

I hated that Sienna was right. I wanted so badly to tell her that I didn’t care if people judged me because of Jack’s business. But the truth was, I did. I never stopped to think about it, but I did care what people thought. Deep down I knew it was shallow, but I had to be honest with myself. If our roles were reversed and I realized that Jack was embarrassed about a part of me, even the tiniest most insignificant part of me, I would be hurt more than I wanted to think about.

My head fell back as I growled. “Ughhh.” I wanted to kick myself for being such a selfish, immature girl. “What am I going to do, Sienna?”

Sienna smiled a devilish full smile and wiggled her eyebrows. “I have a plan.”

Of course she did. That was why she was my best friend since third grade.