Page 1 of Under New Management

Chapter One

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Monica

Being an attractive woman in the entertainment industry is in and of itself a problem. Sure everyone is nice to you but that's just because they want to sleep with you. I'm barely legal. There is no way I am sleeping with anyone. Not in the industry anyway. When I find a nice guy who wants to settle down with me then he can take me as many times a day as I can stand. I just don't want him to be in the entertainment industry.

But try to tell that to my management team. They think to get anywhere in the business you need to fuck. One of the only reasons I am still with them other than the contract I signed is the fact that they haven't made me do anything I don't want to do. Not really. I mean, saying that I'm with someone isn't the same thing as actually having to be with the person. So I'll let everyone keep believing I'm going out with the latest trendy guy and keep my legs closed and my cherry right where it is supposed to stay until I find that nice guy.

I didn't realize doing that would hurt anyone until I walked into the bathroom and found Cora Peirce puking her guts up at a music awards show. Poor Cora, she's pregnant with Mason Pierce's baby He’s the lead singer for Pierced Hearts and he is not just protective of her, he would literally kill for her if she asked him. But she never would. Cora is the sweetest, nicest person I know. She's the first real friend that I've made.

Seeing how hurt and upset she got over the whole rumor about me and Mason being together I had to put a stop to it. Fuck my management team I will handle them somehow. I roll over in bed and think about ways to try to break away from Heinz Management. I'm sure the contract I'm locked into is ironclad. Last night everything was happening around me so fast and I was trying to dodge Margaux and her minions so I didn't have to put up with any more stories of me spread eagle under one of the hosting tables with the latest heartthrob.

I love acting. I love everything about it. I love being someone else and putting on new faces and personalities. I love that I don't have to be me, a small-town girl from podunk nowhere. I even love the awards shows, the dressing up, the hair, the make-up -what's not to love. What I don't like is the business side of acting.

I've only been in three movies and five commercials and already I'm starting to wonder if it's time to quit. I don't want to be known as the girl who sleeps with everything in Hollywood and still be a thirty-year-old virgin because no one wants to touch my diseased old ass. Not that thirty is old mind you but in my line of work if you haven't made it by thirty you're chances get slimmer and slimmer with every year.

Listen to me talk about diseases. I chuckle out loud because I know where that came from. One of the better parts of the evening, besides Cora, was getting to meet and hang out with Mr. Vincent Payne. Now his management team at Payne Entertainment is the cream of the crop where agents are concerned. I roll back over on my back and spend some time thinking about how handsome he is in real life.

I've seen him at award shows sometimes, standing just off to the side so the camera can't focus in on him. God knows if it did no one would look at his clients. The man is hot; he could easily be a movie star on his own. Short blonde hair, huge broad shoulders and stunning eyes in a tanned body all make a girl want to climb him like a stripper pole.

I got to hang out with him all night. I blush at the memory of him kissing the back of my hand and calling me sugar tits. Margaux saw us talking and made a beeline towards me. I was so afraid she was going to take me away from him that I barely looked at the hot up and coming actor by her side. Until she introduced him as my date.

I took one look at his creeper eyes running down my body and shrink in on myself. I don't care how low the gown is cut, no woman wants to be looked at like they are about to be sexually assaulted with an audience watching. I try to remember his name, Sven or Stephan or maybe Tom. Hell, I don't remember because I'd never met the guy until Margaux brought him over.

I give a tight smile and scoot a little closer to Vin unconsciously.

"Monica I really need you over here to give a statement toThe Starso we can make sure you and Whitaker are set up and people see that you've moved on from Mason since he doesn't seem to want to play the fame game." I was way off on his name, wow.

God, I hate when she rants about the 'Fame Game'.

"Margaux, I don't want to date Whitaker." I gasp and turn to the creep. I don't want to hurt his feelings even if the guy does give off the slimeball vibe. "Not that you're not a lovely person once you get to know you I just...want to focus on my career."

"Well that's too bad, Monica. You're contract states that you will defer to my judgment when it comes to your social life. Not that you have a real one." She tilts her head back and laughs like she said the funniest thing.

I hope to God Mr. Payne isn't still around. Nothing like having your agent point out what a big social loser you are to make someone want to get to know you better. Not that anyone gets to really know anyone in this town. My shoulders slump with resignation and I'm centering myself so that I can put on the fake smile and try to pretend to at least like this sleazebag, who will not stop staring at my tits.

"About her contract, Margaux," great, he's still listening; "she's firing you and hiring new management as of..." he looks at his watch like he's really checking the time, "right now. So you see that contract is null and void."

Margaux's eyes narrow and she looks like a snake getting ready to strike. "She can't fire me. I'll have her blacklisted from every studio in this town. She'll never work again."

Oh my God, there goes my career in a flaming pile of silk and lace.

"Payne Entertainment is willing to buy out her contract - for a reasonable price of course." The laughing, jovial eyes are gone from a moment ago and are replaced with his own version of snake. The really sexy viper kind.

"Why would I let you buy Monica Stacey's contract? She's got the potential to be huge."

"If you'll excuse us..." he grabs Margaux by the upper arm as he passes in front of me. "Don't touch her or I'll end you."

He aims it at Winfrey or Watson or whatever his name is again. It's weird that he says it but at the same time it definitely makes me realize my panties, what there is of the string I have to wear under this dress, are wet.

I can tell he thinks he's gone far enough away so that I can't hear them but I have really good hearing. So when he threatens to have Margaux blacklisted if she even thinks of touching my career again I slap on a neutral face and turn to Walter, Warren, whatever, who is still eyeing my tits.

"So are we going to fuck tonight or what?" my mouth pops open and the neutral look I was trying for is gone. Eww.

"No, not ever." What the hell did Margaux tell him I would do? "I..."

"She's taken so move your limp-dicked, herpes-ridden ass on to the next girl Margaux tries to sell to you."

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