110: Pull Back
Lorelei
“What do you mean there’s a restraining order against me?! I need to talk to Easton now,
Baker!” I glare at him as he blocks my entry to the house.
“I mean if you do not leave in three seconds, the authorities will be notified and you will spend
the night in a concrete room with metal bars blocking you from leaving.” He intones lazily.
“Mother sold the house and I’m being evicted! I was taken from here against my will. He
tricked me into signing this contract and I will be taking him to court over this.” I peer around
him. “Easton! Easton James Reed! I know you’re here!”
“RT alert! RT alert! Level 9 RT alert!” Becker’s annoying voice sings out.
“f**k off, Becker! No one thinks you’re funny.” I see him smirking at me.
“I thought it was hilarious. And I appreciated the warning. How high does the alert go?”
Jackson moves behind Baker glaring at me.
“Five…..” Becker drawls out.
“Leave Lorelei. You have no business here.” Easton finally steps up next to Jackson. “I got this
Baker.”
“I will remain here with my boys.” He states firmly.
“You drugged me and had me sign this!” I yell at him and slap the papers into his chest. He
stares down at them, not moving a finger to take them.
“Imagine that. Who could have come up with such a nefarious plan….no one that would do it for a two year contract demanding Easton be by your side, pay for everything and act like your
spouse.” Becker taps his chin frowning.
I glare at him. I really do hate him.
“Can the indignation Lorelei. You can take that and go f**k off.” Easton adds before slamming
the door in my face.
I shriek angrily and pound on the door until my phone begins to ring. My agent….fantastic.
“Lorelei! You need to get your ass to the airport now. The studio wants to meet with you.
tomorrow.” Birdie snaps at me.
“Did you book my flight?” I stalk toward my car wanting to scream and throw things. My life is
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111: Pull Back
falling apart. I had to move what I wanted from the house into storage yesterday. All because of my mother.
“Yes. It leaves in two hours.” She hangs up immediately. I slam the door and force myself to
breathe as I drive to the airport. Lucky for me most of my clothes are already packed. I repack
a few things and catch my flight. By the time I collapse in the hotel bed, Birdie hasn’t
answered me about what this meeting pertains to. I already warned her that my little family story I was going to use was shot to hell. She had merely made a displeased sound and then
hung up.
The hotel shuttle drops me off fifteen minutes early and I made my way inside the studio
offices. “Lorelei Winters here for an appointment.” I inform the receptionist.
She motions for me to follow another woman and I do down a long hallway into a conference
room. Birdie sweeps in first and I stare in shock as Marcelle, my main director, follows her with a very pregnant female. His girlfriend he left me for. The waitress he met one morning when he went to buy MY coffee. I should have known he would leave me. Long before he did, he’d already started pulling back. We haven’t worked together since he broke things off.
I stiffen up and compose myself with a blank expression. Keep it together, Lorelei. Show no weakness. Ignore how he pulls her chair out like a gentleman and worries over her every
comfort. Two of the studio executives enter and take their seats.
“Marcelle, I appreciate you traveling all this way to meet with us. Amelie, you’re looking
radiant. Baby boy is due soon, isn’t he?”
“Yes. Marcelle insisted I come with him in case anything goes wrong or I go into labor early. He doesn’t want to miss a moment of his life.” She smiles up at him and he lifts her hand to kiss it. It’s then I catch the huge ruby ring and band beneath it on her left hand. He wears a
band himself that I missed. He married her….
“Lorelei, you made it.” Ben says coolly. “Let’s get down to business. In light of the recent publicity regarding you and Wallace Jones and then your ….. issues with Easton Reed, we have made a decision regarding your film deal. Instead of the eight films we planned, we are pulling that back to four with restrictions.” He plays with a pen between his two hands.
“Res…restrictions?” I ask hesitantly.
“Yes. Word has made it out about your mother and her arrest along with her plans to kidnap a young lady dating your ex. That is going to hit the air tomorrow. We can’t suppress it any longer. And while any attention can be good attention, this is not what we want focused on especially for the film we had planned with you first. Marcelle has chosen an excellent
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111: Pull Back
replacement for the lead role while you are away.” Kellen answers beside him.
“Away? Where am I going?” I stare at all of them bewildered.
“You’ll be voluntarily checking into a treatment facility tomorrow for stress and an undisclosed
mental health issue. We’ll sell it as you saw what your mother had become and it sent you
into this depression and you needed a break. It will make you look more remorseful.” Ben adds
firmly.
Marcelle snorts while rolling his eyes.
I bristle. “Do you have a problem, Marcelle?”
He eyes me calculatingly. “You don’t feel remorse. I was expressing my disbelief. How
fortunate for you that the public doesn’t know you like we do. Or your batshit crazy mother.”
“Yet you professed to love me once upon a time. Does your little waitress baby mama know
about that?” I venomously toss the words at him.
“Amelie and I have no secrets. A real adult relationship. You wouldn’t know what that is. I only
loved what you showed me. It became clear that wasn’t you over time. In love with an illusion. A ghost, a manipulative one. I will only work with you on those four films if you complete the treatment program. Otherwise, I walk and the studio will be canceling your contract
completely.”
I eye all of them with shock. “All because my mother committed a crime. I had NOTHING to do
with that.”
“All because your mother committed a heinous crime. Did you know she intended to have the girl physically harmed and then sold off? You have plenty to answer to on your own, Lorelei.
Don’t play the innocent card. You leave tomorrow for your stint at Melviers Treatment Center. You should be grateful the studio is paying for it. And for your sake along with your son’s, I suggest you accept all the help they offer you.” Kellen states, using the table to straighten his papers. He and Ben leave. Marcelle helps Amelie to her feet before leaving without a backward glance. Just like Easton….
Birdie pats my hand. “You got lucky. Marcelle wanted you completely blacklisted. You’re accepting this.”
Easton
“Daddy, can you take Luci, I mean Mommy on another date soon? Tomorrow maybe.”
I glance down at him curiously. We brought him to the rink to skate and practice playing
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hockey since it’s snowing outside. Luci went to spend the morning with Stormi and Sydney. “Why do you want me to take her on another date?”
+15 Pain
“Cause you have to ask her to marry you and I want a baby brother. Barrett says you need more dates.” The shout of laughter behind me doesn’t surprise me. My stomach jumps when I hear baby brother. I can picture Cole holding him as he asks.
Jackson skates next to us. “Not asking for much are you Coconut…” He grins.
Kingston moves in and I can sense Becker lying in wait for a kill shot already. “They don’t explain that having kids means you develop the ability to perfect your poker face.”
I crouch down to talk to him. “Remember, buddy, we are going to ask Luci to be part of our family. Very soon. But the baby brother needs to wait. Luci has to finish school and I want her to live with just us for a while before we make any big changes like that. She would need to get used to us being a family before it gets bigger. Ok?”
He nods hard, his Darth Vader helmet bouncing. “Ok Daddy. I wait.” He skates off to take aim at the pucks Jackson lined up for him.
“East, he just wants a baby brother. I mean nothing big, can’t you give the poor Coconut that?” Becker asks with a laugh.
“I was not prepared for that.” I admit to them.
“What if he gets a baby sister…. I can’t wait until you explain all that.” Kingston mutters with a grin.
“I’m willing to bet he’d love her to no end. Regardless, he’s not getting anything right now. At least not intentionally. It happens, it happens, but pregnancy messes with ADHD. And Luci has a lot going on.” I really want to avoid that kind of stress on her right now.
“What does it do?” Jackson asks curiously as we watch Cole.
“Actually, it makes it better. The extra estrogen in the system. But after they deliver, it goes downhill fast. They tend to really struggle. I don’t want her dealing with that while she’s in
school. Nor do I want her having morning sickness or hyperemesis or feeling exhausted while
she’s trying to focus on finishing her major. She’s got a packed schedule per Dean Rogers, but
she thinks she can handle it. Not to mention, the woman responsible for her parents‘ death is
getting out of prison in two months.”
“Someone’s been reading.” Kingston remarks. “Damn, that is a lot though.”
“I’ve learned more than I ever thought I would about it. We need to pull Coconut and Big Bear
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back if they are demanding siblings already.” I shake my head.
“Ring ready yet?” Jackson asks quietly as we skate towards Cole.
“Stone is here. They have to set it and it took him a while to figure out how to fix the sides with the extra stones I asked for. Now I just have to hope she wants to say yes after all the s**t
from Lorelei and Vivienne, and Maxton, and hell even Mom.” I frown as I list all of that off. “If
Cole starts telling her he wants a sibling, it might finally send her over the edge.”
“Our Luci Lou can handle her own.” Kingston says before he moves to be the goalie for Cole.
“I know she can. She’s tougher than anyone’s ever given her credit for. But joining us legally
looks like signing up for a flaming death roll at an out of control circus.”
“Are you going to let Cole go see Mother if he wants to?” Jackson gazes at me thoughtfully.
“Yes, if he wants that. She’ll be warned. Though I think after what Luci said to her, she’s changing. She texted Luci to ask if she could drop off a late Christmas gift for Cole….and more for us.” I gauge their reactions. I won’t hesitate to tell her to back away if one of them wants nothing to do with her. “Luci said Cole was fine, but she wanted me to ask all of you.”
They all consider it. Becker finally speaks. “You know, we might actually be a functional dysfunctional family one day thanks to Luci Lou. Would be nice to have Mom back instead of
Mother Imogen the Idiotic Ice Lady.”
Jackson nods slowly. “Yeah…though I think Dad is done.”
“Probably so. But he wants us to have a relationship with her if she’ll change. None of you have to though.”
“I
Ivory Row
And Lorelei is gone, not a padded cell but a mandatory mental visit. Just a baby brother. No big deal right? LOL oh sweet Coco.
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