Free Hung by Holly Hart

launched back into his tirade. "Be that as it may, Clay, I frankly don't understand what this has to do with anything. Perhaps you could enlighten me?" he asked sarcastically.
    "My pleasure," I said. "That punk on the video tried to ruin Alicia's big night, and – I'm going to level with you, Fred – I saw red. I'm not proud of it, because I know it's the last thing Alicia would've wanted me to do, but I laid him out for it. She's barely spoken to me since," I said, injecting a pained tone into my voice.
    "I still don't see what this has to do with anything," Fred blustered. "I don't care what the reason was, I still can't have my stars fighting like rats in the gutter."
    That was promising, he called me one of his stars…
    "You're a smart man, Mr. Peters," I said, reverting to formality. "I'm sure you see how this could be played in the media. My fans would love nothing more than to see me portrayed as a strong protector. They'd go mad for it. And you've seen the amount of views our duet's already got. Imagine what would happen if we not only announced that Alicia and I are engaged to be married," I said, still holding Alicia's stunned gaze, "but that we're releasing a debut album together."
    "The Internet would go mad," Fred murmured thoughtfully. I'm not even sure he knew he'd said it out loud.
    I could picture him sitting there, stroking his chin behind a power desk with sycophantic executives sitting around him nodding. I just hoped he'd reach the correct decision – the one I wanted.
    What gave me hope was that I could hear the greed in his voice. I knew that for a man like Fred, cash was king, and right now, he saw me as one big dollar sign. If anything was going to save my career, that was it.
    But Fred was a smart cookie, and part of him must've been paranoid that I was trying to pull the wool over his eyes.
    "Is Alicia there with you?" he asked.
    "She is," I confirmed nervously, redoubling my efforts to beg Alicia to cooperate – a difficult task when I had to remain completely silent.
    "Alicia – is it true?" he asked, sounding as though he could barely believe it. "Are you seriously engaged to Clay Hunt ?"

11

Alicia
    I was caught like a rabbit in the headlights, facing the choice either to kill off my incredibly short-lived career on the one hand, or of lying to the man I guessed must be my new boss. Not a great start in the music industry.
    I looked over at Clay, who somehow, incredibly, looked pleased with himself, as though he believed that he'd neatly solved this crisis with his plan. I wanted to scream at him, but my jaw seemed wired shut. Couldn't he understand that this was crazy?
    "Alicia?" the powerful executive prompted. "You still there?"
    That was when I made a decision that would change my life forever.
    "I'm here," I said, my voice sounding weak and quavering even to my own ears. "Sorry…" I trailed off, unable to bring myself to commit to Clay’s plan. Listening to the lack of conviction in my voice, I couldn't believe that Fred Peters wouldn't see through me in a second.
    "Are you seriously engaged to Clay?" Fred asked in utter disbelief. "Are you telling me that you've managed to tie down the only man in this city who'd rather blow up his career by fucking anything with tits and fighting anything without than be a global goddamn music star? I don't believe it. The Clay I know, and believe me – I follow my assets pretty carefully – wouldn't settle down for anyone. Certainly not you." He spat the last bit, his voice dripping with condescension as though I were barely worth his time.
    It was the way he said you that got me. Before that, I'd been wavering – not sure whether I could commit to Clay's crazy plan. But maybe some of Clay's easy confidence, quick temper and lack of regard for consequences – any consequences – had already rubbed off on me. I never knew that I could be so rash. I'd always worked so hard to get where I wanted to go, and never taken a shortcut like this, but