“Oh, please. I know it’s not true,” she said, her confidence in me breaking me out of my funk.

“You do?”

“Of course I do. I don’t believe any of that crap, especially not about you. What a joke. I was just calling to make sure that you were okay and to see if you needed anything.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. Why? Paige, are you all right? Jayson and your people are handling this for you, aren’t they? I mean, I know Jayson’s a complete dickwad, but he wouldn’t hang you out to dry like this.”

I remembered when Madison used to work for Jayson as his assistant. That was before she told him off and walked out of the job. She eventually landed her own agent role at the Warren Taylor Agency with the help of her super-hot singer boyfriend, Walker Rhodes.

“Paige? Hello?”

“Sorry, I’m here. No. No, he’s not helping. Madison, do you think I could come see you?” I glanced around my bedroom for my shoes and purse.

“Of course. You want to come to the office, or do you want me to come over? Or would you rather we meet somewhere?”

“I’ll come to you. I’m at my parents’ house, so it might take me a few minutes to get there.”

“Okay. You coming now?”

“If that’s all right.”

“Of course it’s all right. I’ll see you soon.”

I pressed the End button and pushed my feet into a pair of sandals, slipped my sunglasses onto my head, and headed out of my bedroom. My mom sat in the kitchen drinking what was most likely tea from a steaming mug.

“Leaving already?”

“I’m going to go see Madison and talk to her about everything that’s going on.” I leaned down and gave my mom a quick squeeze.

“You trust her?”

I nodded. “I do, actually. A lot.”

“That’s good. Call me after. I want to hear all about it.”

“I will. Thanks, Mom. I love you,” I said with a smile as I walked toward the front door.

“Love you too.”

The paparazzi that had camped outside followed me again all the way to the Warren Taylor offices, but stopped short of entering the underground parking. This wasn’t front-page news, but my visiting an agency that didn’t currently represent me would make headlines. I speculated about the news reaching Jayson before I ever talked to him.

The elevator doors opened, and I walked through a set of glass doors and into the spacious lobby area.

“Miss Lockwood.” A young receptionist greeted me by name as I entered. “Miss Myers is expecting you. If you’ll follow me.” She unplugged her headset from her phone and led me around a white column where the offices opened up.

As I walked down the long hallway, I experienced a nostalgia from a time I wasn’t a part of. Old black-and-white head shots of celebrities from days past lined the walls, evoking eras that felt more like eons ago than decades. I couldn’t believe how many stars had been associated with this company, and pride filled me at my merely being in their presence, even if it was only in photographs. As we walked, I scanned the walls that seemed to be divided by era, the photographs eventually transitioning from black and white to color as they became more recent.

Waving a hand toward an open door, she smiled. “Right in there,” she said before walking away.

I stepped through the doorway into an outer office, where an assistant looked up from her computer screen. “Hi, Miss Lockwood—”

“Please. Call me Paige.”

She smiled and nodded before peeking through the open doorway behind her into what I assumed was Madison’s office. “Paige Lockwood is here to see you, Miss Myers.”

“Ooh, send her in.” Madison’s voice rose in pitch, and I laughed softly to myself.

I turned to her assistant and thanked her before entering the office. The door closed behind me, and I glanced back before turning around to see Madison walking toward me. She engulfed me in a friendly hug, and I almost broke down right then and there at her genuine and unexpected affection.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said. “And I love your hair. It looks great!” She smiled as she reached out to touch a shoulder-length strand.

“Thanks. It’s good to see you too. Nice office.” I looked past her desk and through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the busy street below. The paint was white but with the faintest hint of blue that had a calming effect.

“Isn’t it ridiculous in here? I feel so out of place half the time with my one whopping client and all.” She waved a hand toward the space on her wall dedicated to Walker Rhodes. Walker wasn’t only the hottest singing-sensation-turned-actor in the United States; he was also her boyfriend.

“I bet he loves all the one-on-one attention.” I smiled at his framed head shot on her wall.

“Oh yes, he’s quite a handful, that one. I’ll probably ditch him soon,” she lied with a playful grin.

“I would,” I teased her. “You know how those celebrities can be. And forget even trying to date them.”

We both laughed before Madison’s expression grew serious. “Paige, what’s going on? Why are there all these false reports about where you’ve been, and why is no one putting a stop to them? I find it hard to believe that you were in rehab, had an abortion, or tried to kill yourself.”

“Well, at least one person knows the truth.”

She sucked in a quick breath. “Look, usually I might suggest you ride this out, wait until a bigger story comes along and takes the spotlight off of you. But for now I don’t see that happening, and as long as you continue to ignore it and not say anything about it, you’re only fueling the fire.”

“What am I supposed to say? That I left town and drove until my car got a flat, and I fell in love with some guy and didn’t want to come back?”

Madison fell back into her chair. “Is that what happened?”

“Pretty much.”

“Sounds like a book I read recently,” she said with a smile.

“Sounds like a cliché. My God, my life is such a cliché.” I rolled my eyes at the ceiling, thinking about how often I’d thought that about myself lately.

“That’s how clichés get made. Because they’re true,” she said sagely.

My mind made up, I plopped down into her guest chair and announced, “Madison, I want to hire you to represent me.”

She instantly sat up and pushed her shoulders back. “Really?”

“Yes. I’m going to fire Jayson, but only if you say you’ll take me on.”

“I have to check with my bosses, but I bet they’ll be thrilled. Are you sure you want me? I’m still really new and learning a lot.”

“Madison, I trust you. And I firmly believe that you’ll have my career and what’s best for me at heart. Walker said you’re good when it comes to things like that.”

Her cheeks flushed as I mentioned her boyfriend talking about her. “He said that? When did you talk to him?”

“I called him on the drive over here to ask how things were here for you, and if you loved what you were doing. He said you were the best thing to ever happen to his career, and that he’d still feel that way even if he wasn’t in love with you.”

She fanned herself as if all this information was far too much. “He’s lying. He definitely thinks I’m more amazing because I give him sex.”

“Probably,” I said with a smirk. “But I still want you to be my agent, and you don’t have to give me sex like you do him.” We both broke out into laughter at that, and when the giggles died, I gave her a serious look and said, “If you say no, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Pushing away from her desk, she rose to her feet. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

I smiled and checked my e-mails and text messages while I waited for her to return. It had been almost a week since I left Tatum, and still no word from him. I had half expected an apology, or at least some sort of communication from him. How could he be perfectly fine without me when I had to work hard to hold it together without him?

Madison walked back into the office with a giant smile and an older gray-haired gentleman in tow. “Paige, this is my boss, Gerald Taylor. Mr. Taylor, this is Paige Lockwood.”