Billionaire Bad Boy (15 page)

Zack didn't need it spelled out. "You want me to
do something with Annie?"

"Yeah. Something drastic."

"Are you sure this Dug-E kid won't sign with you
if she was being herself? Because I don't see anything wrong with the way she
is." Nothing wrong at all.

"Me either but this kid hates people who conform.
He needs excitement." Bob sighed. "Please, Zack, I'm begging you. Take
Annie out, make an impact.
Do
something."

Zack closed his eyes. He knew what he wanted to do but
he couldn't do it. Not with Annie. But he would have to see her again. For Bob.

"Sure." The newspaper sitting on the corner
of his desk warned of traffic delays due to an animal rights protest. It might
do the trick.

"Great idea," Bob said when he told him. "Come
pick her up later." He sounded happier already.

Zack on the other hand, wasn't so sure seeing Annie so
soon after the previous night was such a good idea. He'd planned on waiting
until they'd cooled down, met other people.

Except now that the decision had been taken away from
him, he felt okay. Bob needed him. He would see Annie for Bob's sake.

***

Creep. Pool scum Spawn of pool scum
.

Annie wished she'd actually said these things to
Zack's face, but she had to settle for email. Unfortunately she didn't know his
address so she deleted the message without sending it. At least she'd got it
off her chest.

Thankfully, her busy morning consisted of fending
calls and reading mail from clients and venue managers and she didn't think
about Zack more than fifty times. Maybe sixty, but definitely no more than
that.

Eventually she grew tired of inventing new insults
although son of a toe-sucking alien had been a good one. Besides, part of her
knew he was right.

Everything about the Zack and Annie picture was wrong.
She was almost a foot shorter than him for starters. But he was a billionaire
playboy and she was a goody-two-shoes turned crappy agent. So he'd pointed out.

When she'd finally admitted that to herself, she felt
strangely lighter. Although it had hurt at the time, Zack had been right—she
sucked at being a music agent. Not completely sucked—she was good at
organizing, good at setting up gigs, but she hated the schmoozing part. Pity
that was the most essential part of her job.

Her father had been an expert at it. He'd loved the LA
lifestyle. After her mother had died, when Annie was only seven, her father
turned everything up a notch. His parties got wilder, his drinking more
excessive, his attitude more devil-may-care. And the further he descended into
decadence, the further Annie went the other way. She'd had to. Someone had to
pour him into bed at four A.M. Someone had to clean up after the party goers
left. Someone had to make sure the bills got paid on time.

Despite hating his lifestyle, she'd loved him. Maybe
more than ever. He needed her, and it had felt nice to be needed. And he'd
certainly loved her. Showering her with gifts, taking her everywhere with him
all over the country, and showing her off to everyone. But she'd hated that
part. He'd never seen how much though, encouraging her to go out, have fun,
loosen up. She'd wanted to stay indoors and read a book but he'd wanted to take
her to the pool party thrown by his rock star client. He'd encouraged her to
drink at eighteen, but she'd never liked alcohol much. She'd wanted to go to
college and study journalism or maybe architecture, but he'd wanted her to
follow in his footsteps and be an agent. So much so, he'd made her promise on
his deathbed.

"Bob needs you," he'd said. "He can't
run the agency without a McCallum."

She'd believed him, believed she was doing Bob a favor
while fulfilling her father's dream.

But now, thanks to Zack's impertinent question, she
realized she wasn't happy. But Bob did need her, especially now, to get Dug-E. She
couldn't flake out on him.

When this was all over and Dug-E had signed on the
dotted line, maybe she'd look at a career change.

In the mean time, she'd have to get Dug-E without
Zack. He'd taught her the essentials—she could ride a motorbike, she had
the clothes, and she could flirt if she had to. If she really, really had to.

Sure, Zack could have helped her further, but if she
wanted to keep her dignity and her heart in tact, she had to do it without him.
Had
to. She couldn't stand being around him knowing he wasn't interested
in her beyond casual sex. She shouldn't have even allowed it to go that far. They
were totally wrong together. One look at his female friends told her that. So
why hadn't she told him so from the start?

Before he completely shattered her fragile heart, she
needed to forget about him.

"Hey, Annie," Bob shouted from his office
door. "Come here a minute." Typical Bob. No charm. But that was just
the way he was, and she liked him all the more for it. He was so different to
her father, and yet their partnership had worked so well. If only she'd been
more like her dad, she wouldn't need Zack now.

"Zack called me," he said gruffly, not
looking up from the chocolate doughnut between his fingers.

Sound casual, breath deeply.
"Yeah? What for?"

"He asked if you could take the afternoon off. I
said it was okay."

Probably she should tell Bob it was all over with
Zack, that she didn't need him anymore. "Why?"

He glanced up and she noticed the dark circles under
his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week. "He's got a bright
idea about taking you to a rally this afternoon."

"A rally? Like a car rally?"

"No, a protest rally. He wants to get you into
the newspapers, get some rumors started about you around town. He thinks Dug-E
might go for that kind of person."

She nodded and bit her lip. She should say something. She
should tell him she and Zack were over. But after one look at his tired eyes,
she suddenly dismissed those thoughts. Something was very, very wrong. "You
okay, Bob?"

He rubbed his thumb and finger into his eyes. "Yeah.
It's just been a tough few days."

"Anything wrong with Doris?"

"No, she's fine." He smiled weakly. "Don't
worry. Just get Dug-E to sign this contract and everything'll be okay."

She nodded and closed the door behind her. She got as
far as the empty secretarial desk outside Bob's office. She flopped into the
swivel chair and nearly swiveled right off it.

She tried to steady herself and her nerves but without
much success. So much for not seeing Zack again. Bob and the agency needed
Dug-E to stay afloat, that much was clear. Tears stung her eyes and the beige
office suddenly went blurry. Oh, hell. Bob had been her father's best friend as
well as business partner. He'd given her this job out of pity and a sense of duty
to the man who'd helped him start the agency over forty years ago. And now
he
needed
her
to stop his business from going under.

The weight of it all pressed down on her shoulders,
and suddenly her problem with Zack seemed miniscule. As much as she wanted him,
as much as it hurt knowing Zack was only interested in her for sex, she had
more important things to worry about. Bob needed her and she needed Zack. She
couldn't be a rebel without him. End of story. She had to shove aside any
feelings she had for him and get on with business. She could definitely do
that. She had to. For Bob. And her father.

***

Despite her determination to forget about the night
before, when Zack picked her up that afternoon and handed her flowers, Annie's
emotions were still warring. She wanted to kiss him but the urge to throw the
flowers back in his face was equally overwhelming. She settled for a demure
"Thanks" and put them in a vase on her desk before heading out with
him.

They said nothing until they were in the Ferrari and even
then, conversation was agonizingly polite.

"I take it you're still angry with me," he
finally said.

"Yes. No. Okay, yes, annoyed I guess. But I'll
get over it. It's no big deal."

No big deal
, she repeated to convince herself.

He sighed. "Right. Good. You had me worried for a
while—I thought I might be getting those flowers shoved up my nose back
there."

She laughed despite herself. "Now why would I do
that? And how did you know lilies are my favorite?"

"Bob told me."

Traitor
. "So explain to me why we're going to a protest rally," she
said, returning to their mutually safe topic of turning her into a rebel.

"Street cred. It'll get you into the papers,
people will talk—especially after I mention it at Louisa's party—and
you'll become an instant celebrity around town. Dug-E will hear about it and
he'll think you're cool."

"Sounds ingenious but how will you get me in the
papers in the first place?"

"Leave it to me."

She didn't like the way he said that. It had an
ominous ring to it. "You're not going to make me do anything illegal are
you?"

He laughed. "Not unless you want to. I know a
couple of photographers and journalists who'll be there. I'll slip them a few
dollars to take a photo of you in the crowd and to spell your name correctly. No
sweat."

"But Dug-E's from out of town—do you really
think he'll hear about me on the grapevine?"

"Just to be sure, we'll slide the newspaper under
his hotel door and I'll get a few people to mention your name in his presence. Easy."

Yeah, easy. So why was she so nervous? Probably it had
something to do with spending the entire afternoon with Mr. Cool.

Zack found a parking space close enough to City Hall
that it was probably illegal. The rally had begun without them and a mass of
people stood chanting and waving placards at the building.

At the office she'd changed into jeans and a T-shirt
bearing the slogan
Animals have rights
too
. Zack wore his usual black jeans and T-shirt, no slogan.

"They only had one T-shirt I suppose?" she
said as he hustled her past a line of police keeping the chanting crowd under
control.

"It's not my image."

"But it's mine?"

"Who knows what your image is, Babe."

Not the same as yours, that's for sure
.

They moved into the thick of the crowd and quickly
picked up the chant. Someone handed her a banner and she waved it with gusto
over her head, managing to bump Zack in the face with it a few times. Accidentally
of course.

After nearly half an hour, she'd gotten
into the rhythm of the protest. It was a good cause and she was an animal lover
after all. Maybe she should go to other protests—

"Oh hell!" Zack cursed. She glanced up at
him, but he was looking behind them. "My car's being towed!"

Good. Served him right for driving such an arrogant
car. And for sleeping with her. And for leaving right after.

"Wait here until I get this sorted out." He
raced away and was quickly swallowed by the crowd.

But fifteen minutes went by and he hadn't returned. The
protesters were getting edgy. The mayor hadn't appeared on the steps of City
Hall as promised and they wanted his blood.

The leaders up the front started to storm the
building, and like sheep, everyone followed, sweeping Annie along with them. The
momentum forced people at the back to surge forward but for some reason the
front of the pulsing crowd had already stopped. From her vantage point of five
feet two inches Annie could see absolutely nothing. And with the crowd pressing
in around her, she couldn't go anywhere.

Then chaos erupted as police on horses and on foot cut
swathes through the protesters ordering them to get back. Everyone more or less
did as they were told and tried to back away but the people behind hadn't heard
the order and continued to push forward. What ensued was something akin to an
accordion and Annie got stuck in the middle.

Later, she couldn't remember if she shrieked, but she
did remember being nearly trampled by feet and hooves. Flinging her arms up to
protect herself she accidentally hit someone leaning over her. Next thing she
knew she was hauled to her feet by the front of her T-shirt and dragged off. When
she finally dared to open her eyes, she saw it was a cop, and he wasn't amused.

He cuffed her, read her the rights she knew by heart
from TV shows and practically threw her in the back of a police van.

Great. Thanks to Zack, she was going to get a police
record. She'd kill him when she got her hands on him.

CHAPTER 13

"Good going," said a long-haired kid dressed
in the same T-shirt as Annie. "We showed 'em."

Annie had a hard time working out what she'd showed
and to whom, but she accepted his congratulations with relief. At least she
wasn't in the back of a van with real criminals.