Rina got into the street, navigating the traffic to the last place she wanted to be Scottsdale Entertainment. She hadn’t been there since she started working for Joel Osteen, after returning countless times to ask that her blacklisting be looked into. She was seated at their conference table when Kayla’s eyes swirled with feigned tears, asking that the board give her something to do other than leaving her penniless.
And they had dared suggest she was a guest at a podcast that spoke about the lies that she had been accosted it, they’d wanted her to paint a picture that they were true, so people paid even more attention to them.
The more thought of it repulsed her, and half way to her destination, she almost made the decision to turn around. But she needed to see George. He had been in meetings all day and couldn’t come around to see her anywhere else. He had pleaded with her to meet at the coffee shop just outside Scottsdale Entertainment but Rina didn’t want it to look like she was avoiding the building when she had done absolutely nothing wrong.
So she told George they could meet at the cafeteria on the first floor of the building, intent on ignoring the snide remarks that were sure to come her way. With her sunglasses on, she alighted her car and walked inside, past the glass doors into the huge lobby. It felt like there was a seizure of chatters the moment she stepped in like a wave announcing her presence had loomed over the whole lobby. Guests haltered in their steps and looked back at her, the venom in their eyes without needing to say anything, young actors who had recently been signed shot her looks over their shoulders, torn between making it on time for their meetings or signing, and waiting to see the drama that would unfold in the lobby.
But Rina had decidedly had enough drama to last her the week. Maintaining her regal gait, she sashayed through the whispers, heading for the restaurant on that floor. She hadn’t met anyone she knew yet, or at least, used to know while she worked under Scottsdale Entertainment, and that in itself was a good thing.
The white beams of the restaurant’s architecture welcomed Rina in. At first, because of her dark shades, people didn’t pay her a lot of attention, concentrating on their meals and the people they ate with. But Rina noticed the double takes some people made. They narrowed their eyes when their appraisal reached her hair. The last time she’d been through those doors, her hair had been red. But even though the wine was a huge difference, they knew she loved changing her looks. Still, Rina wasn’t going through the stress of hiding her identity in there. She was angry at them and didn’t care what they thought.
Waving a waiter over, she pulled her glasses. It seemed to be the signal everyone was waiting for. Retrieving her phone from her purse, she leaned into the seat and sent George a quick message, letting him know of her arrival. He had told her countless times that coming in there wasn’t a great idea, but Rina was done caring about what the people in Scottsdale Entertainment wanted of her.
The waiter, a young man that seemed to have had a battle with acne, and lost, in his younger years, walked over, more from curiosity than the need to do his job. He had the small note pad in one hand, and stared at Rina blatantly. When she looked up at him, he coughed noisily and looked away, scared to look directly into her eyes.
“Welcome, ma’am,” he muttered with forced excitement in his tone. “What would you like to have?”
“Ice tea,” she said, staring back at her phone. She barely heard his feet scurry away as her phone started vibrating in her hands. She swallowed and picked up the call, placing the phone against her ears.
“Hey.” Zayn’s baritone filled Rina with so much warmth that an unintentional smile spread wide on her face. She caught herself and tried to push it away. “How are you faring today? Susan told me you went to work. How did it go?”
Rina was grateful that Zayn didn’t give her the same speech as everyone else, that she needed to take some time off away from the eyes of the public. She relaxed easily under the sound of his voice, but suddenly halted, realizing he had asked ‘how did it go’ instead of ‘how is it going’.
“You know I left the fashion house, don’t you?” Rina was gradually getting used to the extent of Zayn’s powers. She had always known that the great Zayn Graham was the most powerful man in the country, but it was a whole different ball game having to experience it firsthand. He seemed to be well versed with the slightest change that occurred with her, and Rina was clueless about how he got his information. But at the same time, she also knew not to ask him that question anymore.
“You are at Scottsdale Entertainment to meet George,” he said as a matter of fact. Rina waited for it for him to tell her that it wasn’t ideal for her to be in the same space with the people who had tossed her onto the streets after being with them for so long. There was also the possibility of running into Kayla, but it was the last thing Rina was concerned about.
But to her surprise, Zayn muttered, “Just be safe, okay? Keep your eyes wide open and don’t let anything get to you. I have to be at another meeting right now but I just needed to talk to you. Later.”
The line clicked dead just as George strolled into the restaurant and plopped onto the seat in front of her. The waiter came through too with a glass of iced tea, and George asked for the same thing. When the waiter was out of hearing, he folded his hands across his chest and said, “If you hadn’t chosen such a daring outfit before coming in here, I might have gone on and on about how Scottsdale Entertainment might come for me if they found out I was working for you again.”