Breaking Stars - J. Sterling Page 0,91
was embarrassing,” I admitted.
“I know, honey. But he’s a man. And they tend to make a lot of mistakes,” she said with a light laugh that only irritated me.
“I don’t want to talk about Tatum right now. I need to focus on fixing my career and everything I’ve worked so hard to build professionally. Then I’ll deal with my heart.”
Mom nodded. “Fair enough. So in that regard, I don’t think you should tell Jayson or Corryn about the letter,” she warned, and I agreed.
“Honestly, I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Good. I’m not sure how I feel about those two anymore.” She frowned, her concern causing wrinkles to form around her eyes and mouth.
“Well, if they know I’m planning on posting this, they’ll try to book me on every entertainment show and website to talk about it. Anything to garner extra attention,” I said, unable to hide my sarcasm.
No way would I let that happen; I wanted to keep Tatum and his town to myself. There were things I was willing to share, but Tatum wasn’t one of them.
“And I’m not sure they’re the best people to have in my corner.” With a sigh, I added, “I honestly don’t know if they ever were.”
Mom gave me a sad look. “I’m so sorry, honey. I feel like I should have taken better care of you, watched out for you more. When your career took off, you had to grow up so fast.” She wrapped one arm around me and squeezed.
Hugging her back, I said, “Mom, you didn’t do anything wrong. I believe that my team should grow with me and want the best for me, but I’m just now realizing that they don’t. We were both duped when it came to Jayson. He’s good at his job. You didn’t know he was like this any more than I did.”
“When’d you get so smart, huh?” she asked with a smile.
I grinned back at her. “Probably at birth. I come from good stock, after all.”
My phone vibrated, and I glanced down to see Madison Myers flashing on my caller ID.
Scrunching my face in apology, I said, “I need to take this. It’s Madison Myers. She’s an agent.” I pushed up from my bed and closed the door after Mom slipped out. “Hello?”
“Paige, it’s Madison Myers,” she breathed out, her voice instantly soothing me.
“Hey, Madison, how are you?”
She laughed. “I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”
I shuddered. “Oh. The tabloids, you mean? It’s not true.” My shoulders slumped forward as I realized that everyone who ever knew me in this town probably believed what was being reported about me.
“Oh, please. I know it’s not true,” she said, her confidence in me breaking me out of my funk.
“You do?”
“Of course I do. I don’t believe any of that crap, especially not about you. What a joke. I was just calling to make sure that you were okay and to see if you needed anything.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. Why? Paige, are you all right? Jayson and your people are handling this for you, aren’t they? I mean, I know Jayson’s a complete dickwad, but he wouldn’t hang you out to dry like this.”
I remembered when Madison used to work for Jayson as his assistant. That was before she told him off and walked out of the job. She eventually landed her own agent role at the Warren Taylor Agency with the help of her super-hot singer boyfriend, Walker Rhodes.
“Paige? Hello?”
“Sorry, I’m here. No. No, he’s not helping. Madison, do you think I could come see you?” I glanced around my bedroom for my shoes and purse.
“Of course. You want to come to the office, or do you want me to come over? Or would you rather we meet somewhere?”
“I’ll come to you. I’m at my parents’ house, so it might take me a few minutes to get there.”
“Okay. You coming now?”
“If that’s all right.”
“Of course it’s all right. I’ll see you soon.”
I pressed the End button and pushed my feet into a pair of sandals, slipped my sunglasses onto my head, and headed out of my bedroom. My mom sat in the kitchen drinking what was most likely tea from a steaming mug.
“Leaving already?”
“I’m going to go see Madison and talk to her about everything that’s going on.” I leaned down and gave my mom a quick squeeze.
“You trust her?”
I nodded. “I do, actually. A lot.”
“That’s good. Call me after. I want to hear all about it.”
“I will. Thanks, Mom. I love you,” I said with a smile as I