"What the hell!"
Elliott stared at the trending posts on social media and his jaw tightened.
Of all the things they could call him, gold digger and male escort? This is what Clara was aiming for? He wanted to curse out loud.
Clicking the tags, he scrolled through the articles and pictures and felt a flicker of relief.
Someone had only managed to snap a side profile of him entering the bachelorette party- there was no shot of him leaving. At least not yet.
He frowned then. It should have been there. Clara was thorough. It was what made her the best agent.
And since they wanted him in a sex scandal, they'd even made it a point to bring the trends to the top so soon, so that he wouldn't have a chance to recover, then Clara should have made more preparations.
Keeping his head down, he realized that this absence of his photos in that state had probably been taken care of by Vanessa Grant.
He exhaled slowly and just as he'd arrived at the conclusion, her voice cut the silence, "There are more pictures from inside and when you came out, clothes torn and all. They're trying to share them, but for now, I've blocked them."
Elliott knew he should be thankful. But instead he felt blackmailed. And helpless.
Raising his head, he snapped at her, "What do you want?"
But instead of answering him, she questioned, "Aren't you going to call your assistant to come and take you back?"
He frowned. "Aren't you threatening me with leaking the pictures if I don't agree to your ridiculous offer."
She pouted. Actually pouted... with her lips all puckered up.
He blinked, thrown off guard.
He'd never seen anyone do it outside of movies or photoshoots.
Then she stood and circled the table to come toward him. His eyes narrowed as she stopped beside him.
"I'm being nice, and you call it threatening?" she murmured as she placed her hand lightly on his shoulder.
He stiffened at the contact and then froze even more as her finger traced along the edge of his open collar."What I am doing is courting you. It's called wooing, Elliott. To marry me."
He shut his eyes briefly, as her finger paused on his Adam's apple. "I already told you. I can't marry under my contract with Starlink."
"And I already told you-I'll handle the contract. All you have to do is say Yes." Her fingertip tapped his cheek like a promise.
She leaned close then and her breath brushed against his ear. "I have an idea to help you…"
Before he could reply, she took his wrist and pressed his hand flat against the table.
Then, with a faint smile as he stared at her questioningly, she set a single fake rose near his fingers, and then placed her own hand delicately on the other side of the stem.
Their hands were separated by nothing but the stem, it looked as if they were reaching for each other.
Click. She snapped a picture and slid it to him.
"What do you want to do?"
Vanessa smiled and leaned back close to him and whispered her plan. Elliott stilled.
It was actually a good plan. And one, if it worked, might turn out to be in his favour, while utterly putting Starlink in a mess.
WIthout a word, he logged into his own social media account and shared the picture with the caption," Reaching for her."
Even as he stared down at the picture, he had to agree that Vanessa Grant had beautiful hands and it looked perfect. The moment the picture was posted, his account saw a blast of comments and visitors.
Ignoring the comments, Elliott logged out of the account, stood up and said flatly, "I'll take my leave now."
Vanessa, who had been watching him with a blank expression, tilted her head and smiled. "What's the rush? At least change out of that torn shirt first."
She held out a fresh shirt—almost identical to the one he had on. Elliott narrowed his eyes. She had thought of everything. And, she could have handed him the shirt much earlier, but instead, she'd let him sit there in tattered clothes for this long!
Taking the shirt, he glanced around the room, only to realize he didn't even know where the washroom was. His gaze returned to her.
She met it head-on, slowly giving him a deliberate once-over. The meaning was clear- she expected him to change right there in front of her. And would not help him with directions. If he wanted to find the washroom, he would have to open all those doors and check for himself
His eyes narrowed further. Did she think he would hesitate? He was an actor and long used to nudity.
Without a word, he shrugged off the jacket she had earlier "lent" him and tossed it aside. Then he tugged his tattered shirt free from his pants and pulled it off.
He watched her eyes following his movements as she gazed at his chest and shoulders.
Scoffing, Elliott balled the ruined shirt in his hand and flicked it straight at her face, covering her eyes. In the same motion, he slipped on the clean shirt and buttoned it up quickly.
He watched as she struggled for a few moments and then, almost grinned at her irritated face when she realized that she'd lost her chance to ogle some more...
However, his amusement was shortlived when she held his shirt close to her nose and said," Dam*... you smell good..."
Cursing, he walked out of the room, straight towards the private elevator which would take him to the 'secret' exit she had mentioned.