HDU #2: Dirt (36 page)

Seeming to know
her plan, the paparazzo held her shoe out.
 
“Take it back, sweetheart, it’s yours,” he said, his voice
dripping with fake sweetness as he grabbed her hand to open her palm for the
shoe.
 
But his gesture was
deliberately rough and his eyes flew to the northwest corner of the block as he
yanked Amanda forward before slapping her shoe into her open palm.

Within seconds,
Amanda heard a wave of low murmurs.
 
Shit, no, no, no.
 
She didn’t have to turn around to know
what was happening.
 
Go back to the car
, she begged as she
watched the paparazzo lift his camera and happily snap his pictures over her
shoulder — at Liam.

Amanda saw his
hand before she saw the rest of him.
 
It wrapped around the front of the paparazzo’s camera lens and brought
it down, his free hand gently pushing Amanda back as he approached and towered
over the strange man.

“Put it away,”
he demanded as the stream of Waltman Global employees finally began slowing,
their eyes wide as they watched the scene.

“Liam, go
away
!” Amanda pleaded quietly though it
was already too late.
 
There were a
hundred people outside of the building and it was safe to say that at least
half were aware of the drama unfolding in the center of the square.
 
It was over for Liam’s contract with
Terrence.
 
All she could hope for
at this point was to keep Liam somehow calm despite knowing how long he had
been bottling his fury over her stalker.
 
Shit, shit, shit.

“I was just
returning something that belonged to her,” the paparazzo answered with a
satisfied smile for himself.

“I could put you
on your fucking back for that night alone you little shit,” Liam growled, his
voice mismatched with his composed expression.

“Then do it!”
the paparazzo insisted enthusiastically.

“
Liam
.”
 
Amanda grabbed his arm, successfully dragging him away by a
couple of inches.
 
“I don’t know
what Casey told you but I’m not in trouble here.
 
I can handle this idiot — he’s only here to provoke a
reaction from you and so far, you’re giving him everything he wants,” she said
under her breath, between her teeth.
 
His broad frame tense over her, Amanda dared to touch Liam’s chest for a
second, but only a second.
 
“Please
go,” she pleaded quietly, relieved by the hint of softening she saw in his
eye.
 
“Wendy’s good, she can still
come up with an explanation for this but she won’t be able to explain if you
stay a second longer.
 
Just
go
.”
 
She swallowed, biting the corner of her lip.
 
“We’ll talk later,” she offered as
incentive.

To her surprise,
Liam accepted the terms.
 
“Just get
in the building now.
 
Have Tom walk
you out later and stay with Ian or Harper tonight.”

Amanda
nodded.
 
“I will.
 
I’m going now.
 
You just go too.”

The paparazzo
immediately protested as they began walking their separate ways.
 
“Aw, come on, big guy! What can I say
to make you stay?” he asked obnoxiously.
 
“Pretty sure you owe me a little more than that considering I watch over
your girlfriend for you every night!”

Stopping in her
tracks, Amanda turned to see Liam stop.
 
No, no, keep walking, please just
keep walking
.
 
To her relief,
he listened.
 
But that only
inspired the paparazzo to continue.

“Watched her
every night while you were in Jordan,” he said.
 
Amanda paused.
 
Is that true?

Liam turned back
around.

Shit
.
 
“Liam,” Amanda warned, turning back herself, her heart
immediately slamming in her ribcage when she watched Liam grab the paparazzo by
the collar of his shirt.
 
“Stop!”

“I’ve got a
hundred people staring at me right now and nothing left to lose.
 
Tell me more about how you watched my
girlfriend,” Liam said, his lip curled.
 
Delighted, the paparazzo whipped off his green cap so he could better
sneer at Liam.

“I got paid to
keep track of her every move since March, buddy, so technically, I’ve been with
her a lot more than you have this year,” the man chuckled, even as Liam’s grip
on his ratty sweater got tighter.
 
Frozen, Amanda stared, disgust scraping at the inside of her stomach.
 
Since
March
? Somehow, she had fancied herself savvy and observant for
spotting her little stalkerazzi in
June
.
 
But apparently, Casey had had someone
watching her since she’d been hired to
Leadoff
.
 
Clutching her stomach, Amanda recalled
every last day she’d spent in her Alphabet City studio, especially the ones on
which she’d acted freer, opened more blinds and windows because there was
seemingly no paparazzi outside.
 
Thanks to Casey, there had never actually been even a second of privacy.

All this to promote a TV show.
 

“Oh, and since
you say you’ve got nothing to lose, let me give you some real good material
here,” the man said, his face red but his expression calm, almost blithe as he
eyed Liam’s curling fist.
 
“Your
T-shirts
, you lucky dog.
 
The kind of thin ones made out of…
cotton I think? Well, that’s what she wears to bed every night.
 
And depending on the weather —
leggings or little boy shorts on the bottom,” he grinned, his grin lasting only
a second longer on his lips before Amanda watched it instinctively fall as
Liam’s fist barreled like a flying rock into his mouth.
 
Once, twice, then a third time in the
jaw before he let the paparazzo fall to the floor of the busy square.

Chapter 24

CHARGES
PRESSED AGAINST LIAM BRODY FOR ASSAULT, AMANDA NATHAN CALLS IT QUITS AT ZINC

The Pop Source

October 16
^th

A Soldier
actor Liam Brody will face charges after
getting involved in an altercation on Monday that left a paparazzo on the floor
and bleeding in front of the Waltman Global building.
 
According to witnesses, Brody showed up to intervene when
the paparazzo got too close to TV writer Amanda Nathan, with whom Brody shared
a relationship earlier in the year (the authenticity of the relationship has
since been argued).

Witnesses report that the scene was “bizarre,” citing the presence of
Nathan’s alleged friend, Casey Mulreed, right before the attack took place
while other reports allege that the entire altercation was sparked by an
argument about a shoe.

The assaulted paparazzo was later taken to the hospital where he was
treated with stitches for a laceration about the eye.
 
According to sources, he will be pressing charges against
Brody, whose flight from his London premiere of
A Soldier
had landed just twenty minutes prior to the
fight.
 
As if the story couldn’t
get stranger, Nathan, who had been on her way to Waltman Global to accept a
promotion, wound up reporting to the offices of ZINC — but to leave her
job with
Leadoff
as well as turn down
the opportunity to develop her own one-hour drama with the network.

Thanks to the incident, Brody has reportedly lost his starring role in
Terrence Rambis’s upcoming blockbuster
The Legends
as
Rambis announced on his Twitter page this morning that he has begun recasting
Brody’s role.

While Brody was spotted near his SoHo apartment this morning, Nathan’s
whereabouts since the altercation are unknown.
 
No involved parties have agreed to comment on the matter.

Since taking
Harper’s plane in, she had yet to be spotted — partially thanks to the
private flight and car ride into Merit at a little past midnight. Another part
because she was laying out on her bed before her computer, on various gossip
news websites to make sure her whereabouts were still a mystery to basically
everyone but her parents, Ian and Harper.

I could possibly get used to this again
,
Amanda told herself as she clicked blankly around on her laptop, leaning
against her headboard with her laptop resting on a makeshift desk constructed
of gathered blankets.
 
Curled beside
her was Princess, her cat who had only gotten fatter in the near year that
she’d been gone.

Less than a year
.
 
That was how long ago it was that this
had been her daily life — wearing flannel pajamas at four in the
afternoon rather than leather collar blazers by Thierry Marc, formatting
celebrity gossip posts on HDU instead of writing full episodes of television for
premium cable networks.
 
Being
alone in her room from morning till night instead of brunch and event-hopping
with Ian, Harper or Wendy.

And of course,
devoting hours to spreading hateful rumors about Liam Brody rather than being
the other half of those rumors with him.

It truly felt
like ages ago considering Amanda could hardly remember anymore the times when
she and Liam were allowed to walk around hand-in-hand without repercussions to
worry about.
 
Maybe that’s for the better.
 
Forget you ever met him and start from the beginning again in Merit.
 
It sounded insane but the thought made
sense in her head considering what had happened three days ago in front of the Waltman
Global building.
 
It had taken her
that much time to get past her shock from the incident — the shock of
realizing she had never been alone in New York thanks to Casey’s hired stalker.
 
And the shock of seeing that hired
stalker’s blood pooling in front of Waltman Global, thanks to Liam and the fist
that he wound up having stitched after his trip to the police station.

Like so many
moments since the start of her year, it had felt like a movie.
 
But unlike the rest of those moments,
it reminded Amanda of all the things she hated about “the industry.”

The industry
that she had decided to leave.
 
After all that had happened, she was fairly certain she preferred to be
in the darkness of her bedroom in Merit, Missouri than in New York, around the
sheer madness of whatever elements Casey Mulreed called upon in her life.

Besides, she
needed to be far away from Liam.
 
Being apart wasn’t enough, apparently. As long as she was in New York
and as long as Casey Mulreed still had leverage and some sort of career to
support, he wouldn’t be safe let alone peaceful.

So Amanda had to
just get used to it — to the idea of living in Merit again.
 
Without a job or any mental capacity to
apply for something new anytime soon, it was the safest place for her to
go.
 
Besides, as much as she hated
her memories of Merit, she
had
always
found true comfort in the combination of her bed and her laptop.

And, of course,
Ian.
 
Through her new email
address, she emailed him, too exhausted to speak on the phone.
 
Even her parents had yet to hear the
full story of what happened — all she had offered them was an explanation
of how she had gotten to their door, which went something like, “Private plane
and a car.
 
Ian’s girlfriend has a
lot of money.”

Ian
(Ian Marsh)

I’ve been talking to Quinn still.
 
We’ve been trying to figure out how to
prove this whole thing.
 
I feel
like it would help if she spoke to Jake but she won’t talk to him until she
knows we have something to take Casey down with.
 
She doesn’t want to risk him mentioning anything to Casey
and Casey lifting a finger to get her kicked out of her film program at school
or something.
 
I don’t even know
dude.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

I don’t know either.
 
I’m losing steam.
 
Don’t know if I care anymore.

Ian
 
(Ian Marsh)

I’m making you care. I’m not letting Casey
get away with anything.

Amanda stared at
her laptop screen, unsure of how to even respond to Ian’s determination.
 
He had always been frustratingly
unflappable when excited.
 
Or
rather, just unflappable.
 
The frustrating
part depended on her mood and currently, it was in no place to listen to
scheming.

She was beyond
through with scheming.
 
It was a
major requirement of surviving the industry and she no longer wanted anything
to do with the industry.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

It’s impossible, Ian.
 
We tried.

Ian
 
(Ian Marsh)

There’s got to be something out there
though.
 
There’s no way Casey Mulreed
is THAT fucking untouchable.
 
It’s
just probably some little detail she forgot about somewhere down the line.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

Like what though?

Ian
 
(Ian Marsh)

Something small and subtle.
 
It’s not going to be anything obvious
that takes a diabolical maniac like that down.
 
Honestly don’t know how people ever believed the video I
made of her.
 
She’s too smart to
let a secret video happen let alone take her down

Amanda stared at
the message, feeling a tinge of a strange memory.
 
Or thought.
 
Something that made her heart suddenly flutter but she wasn’t sure
what.
 
She reread Ian’s message, trying
to figure out which key word had caused her to feel the hints of a light bulb
above her head.

Small and subtle? Diabolical maniac? Secret
video?
Amanda’s eyes scanned the words back and forth.

Suddenly, she
sat up straight, her eyes wide as she stared forward.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

Quinn used to perform the monologues she
wrote into Legacy.

Ian
 
(Ian Marsh)

Okay? I know.
 
She did them for Casey over video chat which gives us
nothing because it’s not like she saved any of those video chats.
 
Or took videos of herself performing
them.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

But I think Jake did.

Recalling when
Jake had first told her about him, Amanda’s mind conjured up the image of
Jake’s phone when he had first showed her the picture of Quinn.
 
He had accidentally played a video of
her slating for the camera, the way actors did right before an audition.

Ian
 
(Ian Marsh)

He took a video of her doing a monologue
from her script? I doubt it’s anything that’s the same as the script that was
aired as the pilot though.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

Quinn said that Casey changed about three
lines from the original script.
 
She obviously can’t write worth a damn considering how bad the rest of
the season got.

Ian
 
(Ian Marsh)

It doesn’t make sense though.
 
Jake would’ve watched that video of
Quinn a million times if it’s one of the only ones he has left of her and he
would’ve recognized that monologue the second he watched
Legacy
on TV.

Unfortunately,
it was a beyond valid point.
 
Her
posture slumping, Amanda closed her eyes in defeat, letting go of a long sigh.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

Never mind then.

Ian
 
(Ian Marsh)

Unless.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

Speak.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

IAN.

Ian
 
(Ian Marsh)

Sorry, was thinking… did Jake even watch
Legacy
? I know he’s obsessed with his sister and
thinks she’s perfect but maybe that was reason for him to not watch it or stop
watching it? That pilot was pretty explicit and it’d probably be disturbing for
him as a little brother to think that it was totally autobiographical.

Amanda sat back
up again.
 
She recalled how Jake
had insisted that Casey had once thought partying to be “disgusting” because of
how often she’d seen her own father drunk to the point of bathroom
accidents.
 
“
I hate partying.
 
I don’t
even like watching other people party.
 
It makes me uncomfortable and for awhile, Casey was like that too.”
 
Her pulse suddenly beating loudly in
her ears, Amanda’s fingers flew about the keyboard.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

We need to ask him if he watched
Legacy
.

Ian
 
(Ian Marsh)

I fucking agree.
 
Too bad we can’t do shit about getting a hold of him.
 
I’ve been trying for weeks.

Amanda actually
laughed, in disbelief of how her next idea had slipped her mind for so long.

Me
(Amanda Nathan)

Do me a favor — ask Quinn right now
for Jake’s childhood address.
 

~

Columbia was
about a forty-five minute drive from Merit.
 
Normally, at least.
 
Thanks to Amanda’s speeding, it was closer to a half hour.

She hardly felt
guilty about it until making a bit of a sharp, squealing turn onto Jake’s
small, charming street that reminded her of the houses on Verbena Road in North
Carolina — just a few large ones on a tiny little block.
 
Luckily for her heart, her mind didn’t
linger on those thoughts for much longer because there was entirely too much on
her mind.

It was mostly
revenge, for sure, but she couldn’t help feeling the anticipation of delivering
good news to Jake about Quinn — so long as his answer to her question turned
out
 
as she and Ian had
suspected.
 
And she had a feeling
it would.
 
And when it did, she
could confirm with Jake that he wasn’t ‘weird’ as he constantly suspected, that
Quinn’s reasons for leaving him in the dust had, like seemingly everything,
only to do with Casey.

Parking her car
at the end of the cul de sac, Amanda climbed out, her auburn waves flying
behind her as she ran up the driveway and up the front steps of the brick house
that had seen the childhoods of both Jake and Casey.

She had hardly
rung the doorbell before the door opened.
 
Catching her breath, Amanda stared at Jake in his Mizzou T-shirt and
jeans, his blue eyes wide as he stared back.

“Hi.
 
I have something to ask you and a lot
to tell you.
 
Can I come in?”