Page 1 of Indescribable Love

Chapter One

Some days it didn’t pay to get out of bed.

Or answer the phone.

Or talk to people.

This was definitely one of those days.

Juliette Bellucci stood stiffly and stared out at the New York City skyline while she awaited her fate.

Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic, but essentially, she was waiting to find out if she still had a job.

The silence in the outer office was deafening, but she refused to sit or get comfortable or even glance at her phone. Being wildly uncomfortable seemed completely fitting right now. The sun was almost painfully bright, reflecting off of the buildings, and the more she looked around at the scenery, the more she wished she were anywhere but here.

“Jules? Vanessa will see you now.”

Glancing over her shoulder, she gave a tight smile. “Thanks, Amy.” Tugging gently on her skirt, Juliette held her head high and made her way into her boss’s office.

“Good luck,” Amy whispered before shutting the door behind her.

“Have a seat,” Vanessa said curtly, without looking up. It was a power move. She was going to stay that way until Juliette was squirming in her chair, ready to explode with anxiety.

So she sat and willed herself not to squirm.

Vanessa Jenkins looked up sooner than she expected, her expression cool. “What am I going to do with you, Jules?” she asked, leaning back in her seat. “I mean…what were you thinking? Do you have any idea the number of people I’ve had to put on damage control because of this?”

“It wasn’t…”

“It was,” Vanessa firmly interrupted. “You are the publicist for a two-time Oscar-winning actress who is prone to posting inappropriate content on social media! You know what she does when her movies tank or someone breaks up with her!”

“Again, I didn’t…”

“It took you four hours before you got that crap pulled down! Four hours where the entire world got a good view of your client in all her drunk and naked glory! And the things she did with the Oscar were just vulgar!” She shuddered dramatically. “The movie studio is furious, she’s been fired from the movie she was going to start shooting next week, and we are the laughingstock of the PR world! Where the hell were you? How could you allow this to happen?”

Letting out a long breath, she met Vanessa’s gaze head on. “I was asleep, Van. She put that first picture up at 3:45 in the morning. As soon as I woke up, I got it all taken down. I’m entitled to sleep, aren’t I? Last I checked, no one else stays up 24/7.” She paused to collect her thoughts. “Now, I’m sorry that this all went down the way it did, but the fact remains that I did get all the pictures taken down and put out a statement almost immediately.”

“Too little, too late, Jules. The studio…”

“The studio’s completely within their rights!” she argued. “Roxie needs to be in therapy, not another movie, and that’s not my fault!”

For a moment, Vanessa simply stared at her before she sighed. “Jules, you and I have been friends since middle school. I brought you on when I joined Prestige because I knew you would be an amazing publicist. And for several years, you were. I don’t know what’s going on with you lately, but your last three clients all had very public…nightmares that could have been prevented. You’re not doing your job and you’re making me look bad.”

Here it comes…

“My grandfather started this agency and with my promotion last year—a promotion that has me as the head of the agency—I can’t keep covering for you. I value our friendship, but I value my position more.”

And as much as she wanted to roll her eyes, Juliette completely understood. If the tables were turned, she’d feel the same way. The only genuine issue was that this really wasn’t her fault. The person at fault was the diva actress and the BFF who actually took the pictures and videos that got posted—videos where said BFF was laughing and telling Roxie what she should do.

And encouraged her to do more!

“Van, you know I’ve been working on putting some distance between Roxie and Amber. We both know Amber’s a huge part of the problem here.”

Nodding, Vanessa straightened in her chair. “I’m aware of that. But this is just the last straw, Jules. It’s not just the Roxie thing. It was the Theo Channing DUI…”

“I put him in an Uber myself,” she stated. “He paid the driver to take him back to his car.”

“You should have driven him home yourself!”

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