Tell Tale Kiss

Chapter Nine

"Jackson, we have a problem."

Jackson looked at his producer in the mirror and shooed the girl away, who was putting the finishing touches on his makeup. Denny Vera stood aside so she could leave Jackson's trailer.

"What do you mean, trouble?"

"I mean, the way you left things in New York is coming back to bite you in the butt."

"What? With Evie? She calls me every day. She's practically begging me to take her back."

"You so sure?"

"Yeah, why?"

Denny threw a copy of the World Star at Jackson.

Jackson read Sasha Miller's article. "Are you kidding me?"

"You know I have someone on the inside that has been trying to spin this differently, but if you look at the fund this Decker has going for her. She now has over $20,000. They aren't buying our version of the truth. They are buying his, literally."

"Pfff. That doesn't mean anything, so Evie gets some money. It still won't be enough to fund her restaurant. She'll never leave me."

There was a knock on the trailer door. "Go away!" Jackson yelled, but the door opened anyway. His personal assistant stuck his head in. "Jackson, I'm sorry to interrupt but there is a POD delivered to your residence and they want to know if they should accept it."

"POD delivery? What's in it?"

His assistant shifted from one foot to the other. "Um, it looks like all your stuff from New York."

"What?"

"That's just what I've been told. It was sent by Evie."

"Not going to leave you, huh?" Denny said with a knowing smirk.

"Accept it and get out of my face," Jackson told his assistant.

"Yes, sir," the man said, rolling his eyes and giving Jackson the finger the moment the door was closed.

"I'm going to crush this Decker guy," Jackson told his producer.

"Not your best move, Jackson. You can't smooth this out with Evie by steamrollering over it. You need to finesse this one."

"Finesse? I'm going to straighten this out right now." Jackson picked up his phone and dialed Evelyn's number. It went straight to voice mail. Jackson looked at the phone like he was surprised it dared to defy him and hung up.

He started playing back his messages. At first, Evelyn sounded concerned, like she wanted to fix things between them and Jackson smiled as he played them for his producer. Then he hit the play button on his last message.

"Hi Jackson, it's obvious you don't want to talk to me and I can honestly say I don't want to talk to you either. In fact, I will be quite happy to never talk to you again. So, in case this message is unclear, let me make it simple for you. It's over, Jackson. You and I are finished. Don't call. Don't text. I'll send your things to your place out in LA. Have a nice life, Jackson."

Jackson stared at the phone in disbelief.

"You need to get her back," Denny told him shaking Jackson out of his shocked daze.

"I don't need her," Jackson tossed his phone onto the couch.

"Jackson, she is gaining money for her restaurant. Social Media is backing Evie 100%. There are meme's popping up everywhere showing you, popping that guy in the face with the hashtags heartless, brutal, harsh, or worse. You don't put a stop to this now and by the end of this week you'll be the most hated guy in the U.S. and beyond."