“Mr. Eversea, your statement says you punched someone two months ago, and yet you have a bandaged hand. We will need a release from that individual in Savannah stating he waives the right to press future charges. But Ms. Lane’s statement says that during a disagreement eight days ago, you expressed rage and punched a wall so hard that you, obviously, required medical attention.” He looks meaningfully at my hand. “This doesn’t sound like Ms. Lane can be assured you pose no physical threat to her, and frankly, this is worrisome for your future dealings with Peak Entertainment in general.”
My shoulders are so tense, I’m in danger of going into a spasm. “Well, Andrew …” I face the window again and address the group behind me whose reflection is super-imposed on the grey city haze. “In the ten minutes preceding the point where I punched my wall in my house, I’d been informed that Ms. Lane, with guidance from my ex-agent, had fabricated a pregnancy. I’d just spent two months believing I was going to be a father.”
“I appreciate the surprise of that, Mr. Eversea, if it was indeed the case, but Ms. Lane claims it was not a fabrication and that she lost the baby.”
“I know what she’s claiming. We all do. You all have both our statements written out in front of you. And you’re clearly of the impression that she’s telling the truth and I’m lying. And frankly? I don’t give a shit. What I would like to know is what you’d like me to do to get past this point. How do we get to a point where I don’t have to interact with Ms. Lane in any further capacity, personally or professionally? Ever.” I hear a shocked gasp from Audrey’s direction but refuse to look at her.
“Well, obviously, we have a duty to protect the brand we have created with the Warriors of Erath franchise. As per your contract and our normal procedure, the relationships created as part of the brand should continue at least six months beyond the last project. As it stands, the brand took a rather large hit with the actions of Ms. Lane. In order to overcome that, we either need you all to continue being seen together—”
“No.” It’s out my mouth before I notice.
“Unacceptable,” Sheila says at the same time.
“Let me finish,” Reasonable Andrew says calmly. “The alternative is, since that seems likely to cause more harm than good at this point,” he looks pointedly at Audrey and then at me. God, I feel like I’m eleven. “We let the relationship end naturally, but to protect the public perception of both parties, neither can be seen to have a relationship for a period of time.”
For a moment, I regret not having my agent, a legal representative, in the room with me. But Sheila has danced enough of these proms to steer me right. I see her thinking hard.
“No. That still leaves everyone remembering what I did. That’s not fair!” Audrey pouts.
“Well, the fact remains, Ms. Lane, you did violate the contract first.” Reasonable Andrew is not such a bad guy after all. He obviously doesn’t believe Audrey’s claim that my relationship with “the girl in the picture” drove Audrey to do the same.
I fold my arms and look over at Audrey in detail for the first time since she walked in. I honestly feel like the last three years have been a dream. A different Audrey. This Audrey’s a stranger.
Dropping her eyes from me, nervously, she confers quietly with her agent and her publicist by means of some scribbled notes back and forth. Then she vehemently shakes her head. “I’m scared of him!” she bursts out, and her agent almost rolls his eyes before he catches himself.
Now I really do feel like smiling. I don’t, of course. There’s nothing funny about what’s going on here.
“Okay,” says Andrew. “I understand if you have a legitimate safety concern, we can address that issue in a moment. But first, the contract between you two is easily amended. As of today your relationship, as encouraged and endorsed by Peak Entertainment, is done. We had an earlier meeting to address some of our available options. Moving forward, as long as you both are under the time line from the original contract, we can amend the relationship portion, and Peak will adopt the position that we have no position on whether you are romantically involved or not.”
A small drop of tension slowly seeps from my shoulders.
Audrey looks spitting mad.
Andrew looks to Duane, who nods. “So given that we’d like to protect both of your reputations, and by extension the brand of the Warriors of Erath franchise, Ms. Lane will not make any accusations of infidelity toward Mr. Eversea. And in return, Mr. Eversea will not enter into any other relationship for the remainder of the contract term.”
Shit.
My mind is churning. No relationships for the rest of the contract. That’s at least four or five months.
Fuck.
Unreasonable Andrew looks at both of us, in turn, for a reaction to his proclamation that neither of us can date. At all.
I can see Audrey is bristling, but she’s also quietly smug at winning that round.