Deep End: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (42 page)

“I suppose that might be better yeah,” said Colton. “Why are you asking? It sounds like you’re OK with the plan now?”

“The plan definitely isn’t my favorite,” I said. “I hate the idea of seeing you with another woman, even if it’s fake and all that. But I know you have to think about your career. It’s been hard seeing you recover from your injuries…I know that it hurts you a lot more than you let on…mostly for my benefit. And I just want to see the best for you.”

Colton smiled at me. It was a deep and radiant smile, one that seemed to penetrate me to my soul.

“And if you’re going to go ahead and do the plan,” I continued. “I want to be involved. I want to help as much as possible, as much as I don’t like it. And the way I can help is by giving you a real wedding. After all, I’m a professional. It’s what I’ve been doing for years, designing these weddings. Plus, I know all about celebrity weddings. I don’t like them myself that much personally…just my personal taste. But it’s been part of my job to study up on all the celebrity weddings. Sometimes, for instance, a client will want the same kind of wedding that someone else had…”

“Wow,” said Colon. “You’d really do that for me, baby? Set up the wedding and everything?”

I held my breath for a moment, not saying anything. I felt torn on the decision. I felt a lot of pain in doing it. But I also wanted to help Colton. I wanted only the best for him, and I was willing to make this personal sacrifice for him.

“Yes,” I said. “Of course, baby.”

“That’s great,” said Colton. “Let me call Cambridge right now and let him know.”

I waited and watched as Colton picked up his cell phone and call Cambridge.

“Sounds great,” I heard Colton saying into the line.

He hung up the phone, his face shining with excitement. Cambridge says he didn’t want to do it because of the expense…but he said that if there’s already a wedding planner involved, then it will be much, much better to have a wedding than to not have one.

“Great,” I said, trying to fake the same excitement that I saw Colton showing. Inside, though, I wear tearing up…it already felt painful. I didn’t want to think about the actual marriage ceremony…as the wedding planner, I would be obligated to be there. Hell, I might even have to give interviews to the press…I would have to watch Colton walk down the alley with this woman. “I’m excited for you,” I said. “I really am.” Of course, I was lying. Lying right through my teeth, and I felt bad about it…guilty. “But I have to ask, Colton. Who’s the lucky woman?”

“Some young country singer named Sheila Tucker. Supposedly she’s already very famous, and her agent was looking to set her up with another country singer…but a rodeo star is actually supposedly more exciting for the press…all the action and injuries and all that.”

“Hmm,” I said. “Sheila
Tucker,
never heard of her.”

“Me neither,” said Colton, shrugged his shoulders.

Colton was introduced to Sheila through his agent. They met for coffee at an out of the way place. This was just go get to know each other. The photo opportunities and press sightings would happen later. Once the wedding planning was almost complete, they could begin to be photographed together.

Colton hated to admit it, but he was stuck by Sheila’s beauty right from the start. She looked very familiar. He felt like he had met her, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

She was very young. Maybe 22 years old at the most. She had big breasts and a slim waist. She was a little ‘hotter,’ perhaps, than his Katy was. But he hated himself for thinking that…but he reconciled the feelings by telling himself that, after all, he was a man, and he had regular male desires. He couldn’t help himself admiring another woman, he thought to himself. It wasn’t like he was going to cheat on Katy. No, he would never do that. He knew himself too well. And he knew how much he cared for Katy. He couldn’t do anything like that, anything that would seriously hurt Katy.

Colton tried to remain calm and a little distant during the meeting. He needed to be polite though, and offered to pay for their coffees.

“Not necessary,” said Sheila, pulling out a hundred dollar bill. “No offense, Colton, but I make a lot more money than you do.”

“No offense taken,” said Colton.

“Anyway,” said Sheila, sitting down across the table from Colton. “I think this will be good for both our careers. At first, I was pretty hesitant about the idea.”

“Me too,” said Colton.

“But then I heard your name mentioned. That was what had done it for me, really. To be honest with you, I’ve bee a fan of yours for the longest time.”

“Even before all the recent publicity?” said
Colton,
skeptical that she was a real fan. He thought she was either just saying she was a fan to be polite, or perhaps she had seen him in some talk show. There weren’t that many young girls who were true and serious rode fanatics.

“No,” said Sheila, emphatically. “I grew up around rode. I mean
,
I’m a true country girl through and through. I’ve been watching rodeo since I was 8 years old. I’ve followed all your rodeos…I stream them on my laptop if I’m abroad for a concert, and can’t watch them on TV.”

“Wow,” said Colton. “I’m actually really impressed. I didn’t think I had any fans.”

“Well I was always a fan,” said Sheila. “So I thought: who better to have a fake marriage with, other than a rodeo start you’ve had a crush forever?”

“A crush, eh?” said Colton, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. He looked down at his beat up cowboy boots.

“Yeah, a crush,” said Sheila, batting her eyes seductively. She seemed to be sticking her chest out a little, arching her back, so that her taught and youthful breasts stuck out quite a bit, looking very attractive.

“I should let you know that I’m already in a relationship,” said Colton, uncomfortably.

Sheila let out a laugh. “Don’t worry, Colton. I’m not trying to steal you away or anything. This is just for the press.

“Right,” said Colton. “Just for the press.” But he wasn’t sure about Sheila’s intentions. But despite his misgivings, everything else sounded good about the arrangement. He and Sheila went over some documents that their agents had typed up. The agents had arranged a whole schedule for them…when and where they were supposed to be sighted. The paparazzi would be tipped off, and would be expecting them at each of these locations, locations that had been carefully hand picked for the maximum effect. And not to mention the wedding…the paparazzi would be there of course, along with the best of the tabloid reporters.

Colton walked away from the meeting feeling good…this would be good for his career. Sheila’s crush on him had made him a little nervous. It wouldn’t have made him nervous if he hadn’t been attracted to her body…and her nice smile, and she seemed like a legitimately interesting person. Colton supposed you had to be an interesting person to be a singer or an artist. But he figured he could just stuff those feelings deep down. If he was careful and keep their relationship professional, then nothing could come between Katy and him.

Colton got onto his trusty Triumph motorcycle and gunned the engine.

As he drove out of the parking lot, keeping the gears low, and letting the engine roar, he caught a glimpse of Sheila getting into a fancy sports car. She looked quite elegant, stepping one leg at a time into her car.

I was incredibly busy planning the wedding for Colton. Because my business was on hold, it had been a long time since I had planned a wedding. Even though I had been doing it for years, and it was quite natural to me, I had somehow forgotten how much work it was.

I set up a little office in my apartment. My actual office had been closed down. I had let the lease on it slide, and the place that had been my own for many years was no longer mine. I had driven by recently and it seemed like it had been turned into a dentist’s office or something like that.

But there wasn’t much time to think about the tragedy that was my former business, or my friendship with Sara. I knew that I would find another job, something else to do, something else to occupy my mind. Once Colton began getting more and more famous, he would have more and more commitments, and would be able to spend less and less time with me. As of now, Colton was my full time job. I didn’t have any need for other distractions or commitments.

Colton was off meeting his future fake bride. I felt a little anxiety at the thought of them alone, having coffee, and chatting. But I tired to push the feelings aside. After all, I had work that needed to be done.
Lots of work.

Fortunately, I still had all my old contacts from my business…caterers, wedding cake bakers, florists…everything. Most of them expressed a lot of regret when I told them I was closing the business…I told them there was a chance I might be opening back up again sometime soon. I hinted at problems with business partners, but was careful not to mention Sara’s name, or to say anything too specific. I knew that with a lawsuit hanging over my head, I had to be careful with
who
I told and what I told them. Anything I said could later be used in court against me…Sara was bound to bring in witnesses.

I was talking on the phone with one of my favorite florists, trying to get the arrangements just right for Colton’s upcoming wedding, when my phone started beeping at me. There was an incoming call.

“Sorry,” I said. “But can I call you back? I’m getting another call. I think it’s from one of the bakers.”

“No problem,” said Mrs. Bucklebottom, before hanging up.

“Hello?” I said, pressing the call button that allowed the new call to come through. I didn’t even look at the caller ID. I was getting so many calls it was hard to keep track of them all, and I was now in the habit of just answering the phone no matter what.

“Katy?” said a familiar voice on the other end of the line.

“Yeah?” I said. “I’m sorry, but who is it? You sound really familiar, but it’s been a long day and my brain’s not working well right now.”

“Katy, it’s Sara.”

My heard began to beat faster. I felt my face grow red and hot. Anger was bubbling up inside of me. Not just anger,
but
rage. Pure rage. I almost slammed the phone close. I wanted to hang up on her.

“Sara!” I practically yelled into the phone. “How dare you call me…after what you did to me. And I called you. I called you plenty of times. You never even sent me a text message, let alone return my calls.”

“I know, Katy. I know. Trust me, I know,” said Sara.

I felt myself growing too angry for my own good. Like most of my problems, I had been trying to push the problem with Sara far to the back of my mind. I had done the same thing with my Father’s death…I had barely thought about him or my Mother since meeting Colton. For better or for worse, that was my way of dealing with things…probably for worse, I realize now. Because once the problem finally confronted me, all that rage that I had bottled up started to release itself on its own accord. “I’m going to hang up now,” I said, sternly, with anger in my voice. It was the best I could do in that situation. I knew that if I stayed on the phone longer, I was bound to yell and scream, and at least I had the foresight to realize that that level of anger was going to hurt me as much as it hurt Sara.

“Sara. Wait,” said Sara, in a muffled voice. Her voice sounded strange and far away.

“Are you crying?” I said.

“Yes,” said Sara, clearly choking back tears.

“What’s going on, Sara?” I said. Despite my anger, I remembered our friendship. I felt our friendship deep in my bones. I felt bad for her. Why was she crying?

“Look, Katy,” said Sara. It sounded like she was crying even harder than before. “I know I’ve been terrible to you. I know I’ve been an awful friend. It’s just…I’ve been in a terrible relationship.”

“You were dating?” I said. My curiosity was getting the best of me. I
was no longer having
to fight my desire to hang up the phone. Now I wanted to know what was going on. After all, it had been so uncharacteristic of my sweet best friend to turn around and sue me like that…maybe there was something more going on that I needed to know about.

“Yeah,” said Sara. “I didn’t want to tell you about it, Katy. I guess I knew that things weren’t going well. I knew something was wrong with him right from the start. But I was so lonely. I just wanted to be with someone, no matter what.”

“You never even told me you were dating,” I said, merely repeating what Sara was telling me. But I couldn’t help it. It was just so astounding. At this point, most of my anger was dissipating. I still had a little knot of it somewhere down in my stomach, though. I was hanging onto this little last piece of anger.

“I know,” said Sara. “I know, Katy. And I’m sorry. If I had told you, this whole thing would have never happened. You would have told me that he was a manipulative jerk and I would have dumped him. But that’s exactly what I didn’t tell you. I was so lonely that I wanted to stay with him no matter. And he…he convinced me to sue you. He said I wasn’t being treated fairly.”

“We were making the same amount of money!” I said, nearly screaming into the cell phone.

“I know, Katy. I know. Just listen to me for a moment.” Sara had stopped crying as much as she had been, and now here voice was a little bit more intelligible. “But he got inside my head. I knew you were my best friend…but...he was threatening me. He was telling me that I didn’t sue you it was an act against him. He said we needed the money….”

“Wait what happened?” I said in a quiet voice. “Why are you call me now to tell me all this. What changed your mind? I suppose you have changed your mind, since you are calling me?”

“Yes,” said Sara, hastily. “Of course, Katy. Of course I’ve changed my mind. I called my lawyer this morning. I told him to drop the whole suit. I owe him a whole bunch of money in legal fees...I don’t care though. That’s now important now.”