My Life With The Movie Star (16 page)

“Please tell me this is a lie, Abby,” Melissa snapped.

“I have no idea what that reporter was talking about,” I said.

Melissa took her phone out and searched the web for the blog. It didn’t take her long to find it. I took the phone and looked at the blog in disbelief … sure enough; my name was on the front. The blog had two tabs: “My Life with the Movie Star” and “My Real Life.” It had love letters from Grayson to me, pictures from Fish Day, and even a section where you could bid on some of Grayson’s things, like toiletries, shirts, and even boxers.

U
nder the tab “My Real Life” is
pictures of me and John. It made us look like a couple. Most of the pictures were old, but one was recent. It had been taken the night I went out to dinner with Rachel, when he kissed me. She must be the one behind this, I realized, and somehow she had put John up to helping her pull it off. How could anyone do this to me?
Just then, Melissa’s phone rang.

“Yes, I have her here,” Melissa said. “Yes, I will go get her friend. Consider it done.” She ended the call and said to me, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

This is so bad, I thought to myself. Grayson is going to be so pissed – not to mention an enormous list of executives would be too.

Melissa was only gone a few moment when she came back with Lisa. She walked us out to a limo and made short order of getting us inside.

“We’re going back to Grayson’s house. You two will have one hour to pack your belongings before you get on the next flight back to Milwaukee. Grayson has asked that you not touch any more of his personal things,” Melissa barked.

I was too shocked to say anything. Lisa and I just did what we were told.

Melissa had security at Grayson’s house to watch us as we packed. I was beyond humiliated. I just wondered if I would get a chance to speak to Grayson and let him know that I had been set-up. After Lisa and I had changed and packed, Melissa shuffled us back into the limo, headed for the airport.

“Abby, Grayson wanted me to let you know that your relationship is over,” Melissa said bluntly.

“Don’t bother trying to call him. I already had his number changed. You will be hearing from his lawyer soon about the terms for taking down the website.”

There was nothing I could say; I just burst into tears.
At the airport, Lisa helped me out of the limo, and we made our way into the airport.

“Abby, what happened?” Lisa asked, looking as shocked as I felt.

“I have no idea,” I said. “I didn’t write that web page. I have no idea who did or how they got all that information.”

“I have a hunch about who might be behind this,” Lisa said. “When we get back, I’m going to confront her.”

“Does it even matter? She won. He will never speak to me again.” I started to cry again. I could feel the tears burning my eyes. I just had to try and hold myself together until I got home. I couldn’t believe that I would never see Grayson again or feel his kisses. I knew that I should never have dated him. This was a pain I would not get over easily.

The flight home seemed to take forever. Lisa tried to comfort me and tell me everything would work out.

I had hoped that he might have tried to call me while we were in the air. As soon as we landed, I checked my phone – there were no messages. I tried Grayson’s number, but just as Melissa had said, it had been disconnected.

Lisa and I made our way to baggage claim. We had to rent a taxi, because we had no ride home. Once I walked in the door I collapsed on my bed and just cried.

Chapter 19

I was relieved that I had the entire day on Sunday to pull myself together – to try to come to terms with what had just happened to me – before returning to work. I could not believe that my fairytale had come to such an abrupt ending, and through the hand of his personal assistant, not my prince charming. It was a moment like this that I wished my mom was still alive. I needed someone I could just run to, someone who would hold me as I fell apart in their arms. I had never felt so hurt or betrayed in my life.

I knew who had done this to me, but I still had no idea how Rachel had broken into my email accounts, or how she had found my personal pictures or managed to put some of his items up for sale on the website. She must have had help from someone else. I knew that Rachel was not tech savvy, but John was. Why would he work with her and try to ruin my life? He had dumped me … I was the jilted girlfriend in that story. I could understand why he would do this if I had left him for Grayson, but he had ended our relationship years ago.

I decided that I would call him first thing after I woke up from a much-needed nap. My body was at the point of exhaustion. I cried my eyes out and eventually fell asleep.

When I woke up, I couldn’t open my eyes. I had cried them shut. I made my way to the bathroom and started my shower. I figured the steam would help unglue my eyes. I was glad that I couldn’t see what I looked like in the mirror. I’m sure I would have frightened anyone who saw me.

I quickly jumped in the shower and let the warm water flow over my body. It felt comforting. I knew Lisa would be
coming over some point in the day to check on me, and
M
ake sure I was
okay
, so I tried to pull myself together for that.

I pulled on some old, comfy sweats and waited to hear fro
m her. I decided to try and veg
in front of the TV. Big mistake: E! was showing a replay of what had happened last night at the award ceremonies. I saw the same reporter showing Grayson the fraudulent website. For a split second, I could see the pain in his eyes. He also had to be hurting from this. I just wanted to go to him and comfort him, to let him know I had not done any of it, but all I could do was look down at my phone and try his number again. No luck.

I went to my computer and pounded out an email to him, but as soon as I hit the send button, an auto-reply came back: his email had also been disconnected. Grayson would slip back into the world without any way for me to contact him.

Lisa came over shortly after that and found me sitting in my office with tears flowing down my face.

“Abby, you’re going to be
okay
,” Lisa said hopefully. “Grayson loves you. He will see that this was all a setup.”

“I don’t think so Lisa. I think it’s over.” I could feel the tears in my eyes again. I choked back my sobs.

“Well, it was fun while it lasted,” Lisa said.

“How am I ever going to date a normal guy again?” I asked. “It took me four years to get over John, and that didn’t hurt half as much as this,” I wailed.

“Abby, it’s his loss really. He should have come out and spoken to you last night. Instead, he did the cowardly thing and let his people take care of the problem for him,” Lisa said. “I’m very disappointed with how he reacted.”

“Who do you think could have done this?” I asked.

“I think Rachel did it,” she replied. “But I think she had help.”

“Do you think John would help her?”

“John? Why?”

“
Well, remember when I met her for a drink, and he showed up and kissed me?”

“W
hat about it?”

“One of the pictures on the site was from that night. Someone in the restaurant took it when Rachel went to the restroom.” I rubbed my eyes.

“Why would they be in on this together?” Lisa said, thinking out loud. “I know Rachel was very jealous of you dating Grayson … perhaps she convinced John to help her?”

“I never would have thought John could do something like this to me,” I said.

“Maybe he wants you back?”

“That’s a long shot. What if he is hooking up with Rachel? I’m sure he would do anything to get in her pants.”

Lisa stopped and thought for a moment. “That would make some sense. John is in IT. He dated you for so long he would most likely know your email passwords, or he could easily guess them anyway. He would also know how to build a website, and set everything up to make it look like you had done it.”

“I guess I have to call him and ask him about it,” I said.

“Good luck with that. You know he will deny it.”

“I wish I could find a media outlet to tell my side of the story,” I said wishfully.

“Maybe Oprah will have you on,” Lisa teased.

“Thanks, Lis
a
I know that I can always count on you.”

“Listen, I need to get going, but get some rest. Don’t go to work tomorrow if you don’t feel like it. I’m sure Melanie has already seen what happened on TV.”

“Thanks for reminding me that others can see what happened,” I said.

Lisa left, and I was alone with my thoughts again. It made sense that John and Rachel must be the ones who had done this. He could have used details he knew about me to access my email, and Facebook accounts …, but it was still bugging me how they had gotten some of Grayson’s items to sell.

Chapter 20

The next morning, I woke up and got ready for work. I decided I would put my best foot forward and try to have a normal day.
That thought lasted until I opened my front door to let Thor outside. I found myself surrounded by people screaming my name and the flashing cameras. Argh, the paparazzi had found me. I would have to thank Rachel and John for putting my actual address on the website. It had made me an extremely easy target.

I
grabbed Thor and slammed the door shut. What am I going to do now? I thought.
I quickly packed a bag. I would make a road trip to our Indy office and work there until this mess blew over. I picked up my cell and dialed Melanie.
She answered on the first ring.

“Abby, how are you?” she asked, very concerned.

“Not so good. I’m thinking about working from Indy for a couple days,” I said.

“Don’t come here,” Melan
ie said, panicked. “There a
dozen paparazzi at the office waiting for you to show up.”

“Damn it!” I exclaimed. “I have them at my house too.”

“I do have a bit of good news for you,” Melanie said. “After the news about this broke out on Saturday, I had our IT guys trace the IP address on the website before it was shut down. They were able to find out who it’s registered to.”

“OH, Melanie! Thank you! You are my guardian angel,” I exclaimed. “Who was it?”

“Some girl named Rachel – that was the name on the credit card that bought the site. I have emailed all the documents to you and am over
nighting the originals. You need to find a lawyer in Milwaukee and have her charged with identity theft.”

“I will. Thank you!”

“Take the rest of the week off until this thing settles down. We don’t need any bad press for the company,” Melanie advised.

“Thanks for everything!” I quickly hung up the phone and started searching online for lawyers. I found one that worked in the same office building as me and called him. He agreed to meet me downtown for coffee so he could take a look at the documents Melanie had sent. Now I just had to suck it up and make it out of my garage.

I managed to escape and, on my drive, quickly discovered that I was all over the morning radio talk shows. I wondered if Rachel had thought this would cause so much trouble. I hoped that all she had wanted was for Grayson to dump me – not for me to have my name slandered through the press in this way.

I met the lawyer, who agreed that I could press charges for identity theft and slander. He made all the arrangements with the Port Police Department to arrest Rachel. The bad news for me was there would be a trial, and I would most likely have to testify against her unless she agreed to a deal. I felt satisfied that she wouldn’t get away with this, but Lisa was still her friend; this would also hurt her on some level.

All I could do was hope that Lisa would forgive me. My biggest concern was clearing my name – not out of any hope that Grayson would see this and come running back to me, but because I needed my name to be cleared for my job. I couldn’t lose my job due to the bad press and inconvenience my employment could cost the company.

A few days passed, and I still had the awful paparazzi following my every move. I tried to stay at home as much as possible, but I still had occasion to leave the house now and then to buy food and other necessary supplies. Lisa had
tried to come over, but quickly gave up. She wasn’t mad that I had Rachel arrested, but she didn’t want her name dragged through the mud any more than I did.

As a result, I had plenty of time on my hands to think back about my short relationship with Grayson. I had truly loved him. I started reading tabloids and entertainment websites to try and find out what he was doing. The most information I could find just talked about him being on the
Texas High
2 set. A few websites linked him with Holly again. I was glad to see that Grayson had no comment and didn’t bash me in the press like the other cast members had. Holly had been quoted as saying she had warned him not to trust me and that she was glad to help him pick up the pieces of his life.