“Then you came into my life and together all of us are creating something really special. Mentally and emotionally, I’m better than I’ve been in years. And that’s because you brought us together,” Michael continued.
“Do you really feel that way?” I questioned.
“Tinsley you may not know all the details of my family life but it’s not great,” Ryan remarked. “The short of it is, I never felt wanted. I was a mistake and despite their attempts to try and love me in the ways they knew how. I never felt worthy of their love.
“My parents try now, but a small part of me will always be that little boy that didn’t feel wanted. Despite what my parents do to try and correct the past it still has haunted me. Until you.
“Tinsley, you make me feel deserving of care and affection. It’s what I felt with you back in college and it’s what I feel now,” Ryan said. “And not only that but the bond I’m building with these guys are incredible too. It feels like for the first time in my life I’ve got people that have my back.”
“We might not be able to share our relationship with the world, not just because of its unconventional nature but because of our careers and the way the studio wants to spin our personal lives, but it doesn’t mean it’s not special to each of us,” Kai chimed in with a confident smile.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Thiago remarked. “Now take a look. I have restored your neck to its normal state and given you a nice natural look with which to take on the day.”
I turned to look in the mirror again, this time brimming with the confidence about myself and our relationship that the guys had instilled in me with their pep talk. Thiago had done a remarkable job.
Not only was the hickey gone but he had done the rest of my makeup too. It was natural but elegant. He had used the makeup brushes to highlight his favorite features about me and it was like a love letter written across my face. I saw myself then the way he and the rest of the guys saw me and I was over the moon.
I needed to get out of my own head and stay out of my way of living life with these guys. They were big boys and if they didn’t want to be in a relationship like this with me, well that was up to them to tell me. And they would, they were all so open and honest. They were a breath of fresh air.
“Thank you,” I said. “Now that you’ve fawned all over me, let’s get you to those interviews so that the press can fawn all over you.” They grumbled, but retreated to their various rooms to finish up their day of interviews.
—
Lee was a no show again. I had predicted he would be and had already arranged alternative interview dates for him with my calls yesterday. But because of his actions, I wondered if I needed to speak to HR about what was happening.
First though, I would need to talk to Lee. I wanted to give him a chance to talk to me about whatever was happening first. If he chose not to take the olive branch I was extending, that was on him, at least I would have tried.
The phone rang and I felt nervous anticipation flutter in my stomach. This was one of my least favorite parts of my job. Working PR was not only about spinning bad into good, sometimes it was about confronting a client’s issues they tried to hide.
“What,” came a gruff voice as Lee finally picked up.
“Good morning, Lee,” I said sweetly. “I am giving you a call to check in. Today was day two of the press junket that you missed yesterday. Is everything ok on your end.”
“I told my assistant who I know told you. I’m sick,” he said gruffly.
“I did receive your assistant’s message, but we have a problem.”
“What is it?” he challenged me.
“I know that you spent the evening at the Chateau Marmont. There is footage of you Lee. They practically had to carry you out to your car,” I returned.
“Like I said, I’m sick.”
“The footage that they have of you doesn’t show someone that is sick. It shows someone that was heavily intoxicated and close to making a fool of themselves and the studio.” I said sternly.
“How dare you?” he screamed at me. “I could have you fired for saying such things.”
“Lee, you know as well as I do that the studio hired me for this very purpose. They are concerned about your irrational behaviors as of late. They have retained my services to take care of the PR for the cast but specifically to keep an eye on you.”
“Lee, I’m concerned you might have some problems with your drinking. I am reaching out to see if I can intercede to get you help getting this under control before it becomes a worse problem.”
“You better watch yourself missy,” Lee threatened. “I’m more valuable than you have bothered to realize. Which means I’m also more powerful.” And with that, he hung up.
Damn, that went worse than I thought. I wondered if giving him some time to reconsider before going to HR would be best. I had managed to squash the story about the Chateau Marmont. The pap that had the footage had been happy to take a payoff instead of releasing it because the quality wasn’t quite good enough to make a real story of. But we wouldn’t get that lucky again.
I made up my mind to wait. I sent the footage to him with a note that asked him to let me help him if he needed it. I felt that perhaps the embarrassment of my call along with seeing the footage for himself could help turn things around for him.
I didn’t want to start something I couldn’t finish, and I certainly didn’t want to further sully Lee’s reputation. If I got HR involved, it would be out of my control, and this felt like something I needed to try and control for as long as possible.