The Best Friend Scandal (Bad News Billionaires Book 2) Page 10

  “Hey,” he said as he walked over to me first. “What’s wrong?”

  I guess I must have looked more anxious than I thought. It was hard to hide the stress of so many things battering me at once—the worries over how my designs would be received, of how to walk down the runway without making a fool of myself like Kerynne suggested that I would, and about whether or not the choice to include me in the show would be one that Arlo would regret.

  “Nothing,” I said with a forced smile. “Everything is fine.”

  “You sure?” he asked again.

  I wish he would just stop asking. “Yeah,” I said as I nodded my head.

  Arlo gave me a look, which made me think he didn’t believe me, but since there wasn’t anything that he could do to press a different answer out of me, he moved on to talk to the rest of them. He gave them each a pep talk and checked each of them over.

  “All right,” he said with an excited grin. “Let’s start the show.”

  Arlo walked out onto the runway, using the entrance from the backstage. I heard him speak to the audience about the concept and inspiration for the show. Kerynne and Cai got ready in their positions to be the first two models to walk out. I double-checked their clothing, and once I saw that everything looked perfect on them, I took my own place in the line of models as I listened to Arlo’s voice. When he started talking about the designer who had created the line, I honed-in on every word. He was really talking me up, and if the important people in the audience loved my designs when they saw them, then between that and Arlo’s raving recommendation, I would be one of the most spoken about new designers of the year. What I wasn’t expecting was for him to call me up onto the stage with him right now. I had seen designers get called to the stage plenty of times, but it was usually at the end of the show. This was a bit out of the norm.

  “Well, go up there,” Cai said as he gave me a gentle shove on my back. “What are you waiting for? He called you.”

  I slowly moved toward the runway entrance as if I were moving in slow motion while all the models stared at me. Kerynne, of course, just glared at me. It was a surreal experience to walk out into the blinding light. At least it made it more difficult to see all the faces staring back at me. I walked up to stand next to Arlo as he reached his outstretched hand toward mine and then clasped his fingers around my palm.

  “This,” he said, “is the most extraordinary Hensley Ward, the designer of each and every stunning creation you will see tonight. She is also the lead designer in charge of my new retail line, which will be inspired by tonight’s fashions and will be hitting stores within the next month.”

  There was vigorous applause, and I wasn’t sure what to do except for a smile.

  “Everyone, enjoy the show,” Arlo said before turning and walking back down the runway with me. Right before we got to the exit of the stage, he stepped down to sit in the audience and let go of my hand.

  “You got this.” He winked with a smile.

  I gave him a weak and nervous smile in return and then continued backstage. I wished that he were coming with me. I wished that I weren’t such a rampant tangle of nerves.

  As soon as I stepped into the backstage area, Kerynne shoved me with her shoulder as I tried to walk past her.

  “Step aside, Hensley,” she snarled. “Let the beautiful people try to make this shit look good.”

  God, she was so obnoxious.

  I listened as Kerynne and Cai took to the stage in their first set of wardrobe changes. The sounds of delighted gasps and raucous applause echoed even behind the stage. The audience loved the designs. As the models went on and off the stage, I helped them change quickly between outfits before sending them back for another walk down the runway. Each design that walked out was greeted with applause and nothing short of the sound of a very impressed and astounded audience.

  As nervous as I was, I was emboldened by the crowd's reception, especially since I knew who was sitting in that crowd. I hadn’t been able to see too much when I had walked out onto the runway because of the blazing overhead lighting, but I was able to catch a few familiar faces in my peripheral vision. The most impactful designer, who carried some of the heaviest pull in the industry, were sitting right in the front row at the edge of the runway. Arlo would be sitting there, too. As I waited my turn to walk, I was an electrifying level of nervousness. But it wasn’t until it was almost my turn that my nerves started to make me feel sick when a last-minute surprise emerged.

  “Looks like you’ll be walking alone,” Kerynne said. “Sorry about that, but I think your partner walked a turn early.”

  “What?” I asked. I looked around and saw that she was right. The male model who was supposed to walk the runway with me had already returned from the stage and was already taking off his outfit.

  “How did that happen?” I asked. “Don’t you guys practice this? Doesn’t everyone know their line order?”

  “Oopsie,” Kerynne said as she smirked and shrugged.

  That wasn’t an accident, I could tell. Kerynne had done this on purpose to try to unnerve me. Well, fine; it didn’t matter. I could walk the runway alone as easily as I could walk it with someone else.

  “You know,” I said to her as I got close to her face and spoke in the most quietly threatening voice I could muster. “You must feel much more insecure about yourself then you let on. Because if someone as beautiful as you on the outside was that beautiful on the inside, then you wouldn’t feel the need to belittle other people. So I think you’re just threatened by me.”

  Kerynne’s face turned beet red, which made her look a rather sickly shade against her complexion.

  “I am not threatened by you,” she hissed. “But you should feel very, very threatened by me. I’ve been playing nice with you, but now the gloves are off.”

  I ignored her completely. She didn’t scare me. It felt good to stand up to her, and now I would go wear one of my own beautiful designs on the runway of my own debut show. Nothing could take away the feeling of fulfillment that gave me; nothing.

  I stepped into the runway entrance, just behind the winged partition as I waited for the other model to return and my turn to walk. I was ready for this.

  But, as soon as I stepped into the opening and got my first tiny glimpse of the awaiting audience, I felt something cold and hard and smooth run across my back. For a second, before I started to walk, it didn’t even register with me what it was. But by the time I realized what had happened, it was too late.

  15

  Chapter Fourteen (Arlo)

  I was thrilled for the show to begin. Everything seemed to be in place and running smoothly. Everyone was amped-up on an excited energy, and even though Hensley had seemed a bit stressed behind the stage, she had assured me that everything was okay. Her face lit up when I introduced her onstage as the designer, and I felt as if that gave her the giant lift of confidence she needed in order to really nail the show. I sat in the front row of the audience right alongside the VIP guests and select members of the press. This was the moment I’d been waiting for. Not only was I thrilled to welcome the success of this line in front of the public’s eye, but I was ecstatic to see Hensley’s creative innovations in full effect. The set design, lighting, makeup and hair, wardrobe designs all came together for this moment and, hopefully, an epic show.

  As the music started to play, and the models began walking the runway, I was blown away; so was everyone else. I gauged the crowd's reaction around me, and I could tell by the sounds of astonishment they were making and the looks on their faces that hung above their open jaws; they mesmerized, too. I’d been to more runway shows than I could count, and I had never, ever seen a reaction like this, at least not from the caliber of designers who sat inside this crowd. Every single piece was breathtaking, and I was absolutely certain that this show would not only launch my new line into one of the highest profit margins my company had ever seen, but it would also launch Hensley’s career as a designer.

  Wh
en I spotted Hensley getting ready to step out onto the runway, the blood coursed through my veins in a way that made my heart pound so furiously that I could feel it in my chest. I couldn’t wait to see her walk this runway in one of her own creations. She stepped onto the stage, and my heartbeat I excitement. She hesitated for a moment, just a split second that barely caught my attention, and I wasn’t sure why. When she took a step forward to walk, the worst imaginable thing happened. As soon as her step completed and her foot touched the ground in front of her, I watched, and all of the audience watched, too. Her beautiful dress, one that she had worked so hard on designing and creating, fell immediately to the ground at her feet. Hensley froze, not able to take a step either forward or backward without tripping over the pile of dress in front of her that wrapped around her feet on the floor. In front of the entire audience of press and professionals who knew her name and knew she was the designer for the show, she stood there, completely naked aside from a tiny and very thin, nude-colored thong.

  For a second, I was too shocked to react. How in the world could something like this have happened? But I didn’t have time for that shock. I stood from my chair and jumped onto the stage and ran to Hensley. I pulled my jacket off and wrapped it around her as she stepped over the mound of dress fabric at her feet and let me walk her back behind the partition to the stage. For Hensley’s sake and all of our sakes, I needed to go back out and save the runway show. But the silver glint of a pair of scissors dangling in Kerynne’s hands didn’t miss my eyes as I turned to walk back out onto the stage after having safely delivered Hensley away from the eyes of the audience.

  When I walked back out onto the runway, the crowd was mostly silent and aghast. There were a few whispers and several looks of pity that I imagined were for Hensley. I took a quick scan of the audience's faces to remind myself which exact press members were there since I would need to get with each of them separately following the show and ensure that they would delete and not publish any snapshots they might have gotten of Hensley without clothes on. There was only one other model slated to walk after Hensley, and enough of the show had already been gotten through to give everyone there a clear view of the new line. There was no reason I couldn’t stop the show now and still have it hailed as a success.

  “What would a runway show be without at least one fashion mishap, right?” I said to the audience with a fake tone of lightness and jest in my voice. “At least our lovely designer Hensley Ward has now demonstrated the ease that her designs are so naturally breathtaking that they can steal the show no matter what.”

  The audience laughed, which was just what I had been hoping for. I spoke for a few moments about the new retail roll-out and tried to play up that there would be a big surprise during the launch of the new line in stores. I wasn’t quite sure what the surprise would even be yet, but I needed to get the attention off the fact that there would be no runway show finale and that instead, there would be a delicious surprise upcoming. After a few ending remarks and an outpouring of thanks to the renowned designers and the press in attendance, I closed the show.

  All in all, it was a smashing success. Everyone in the audience was wowed and impressed, and there was already a huge buzz about the mysterious surprise in the upcoming launch. I stepped down from the stage for a few moments to shake hands and give a few personal thanks to some of the industry's heavyweights. Then I hurried backstage to find Hensley and make sure that she was all right. I knew she wouldn’t be; how could she be okay after something that she had been so excited about turning into one of the most embarrassing moments of her life?

  As soon as I walked behind the stage, I saw Kerynne standing there, still in the beautiful sheer dress that she had worn at the show's opening since the finale with her final outfit had been canceled. She no longer had the pair of scissors in her hand, but she didn’t need to; I knew what she had done.

  “How could you have done something so vile?” I asked her with no shortage of anger in my voice.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked. Kerynne was a horrible liar.

  Even Cai, who was standing next to her, was rolling his eyes at her attempt to deny having cut the back of Hensley’s dress the very moment that she stepped onto the stage.

  “Take off that dress,” I growled at her.

  “I like it,” she said as she ran her hips down the side of her waist. “I thought maybe I could keep this piece as a souvenir. I bet Hensley would sell it to me for the right price.”

  I reached out and grabbed the plunging bodice of the dress in order to root Kerynne in place while I glared straight into her eyes. “The dress doesn’t belong to Hensley,” I growled. “It belongs to me, and it’s not for sale. Now take it off.”

  Cai bristled beside her, but he would be a fool to try to pick a fight with me right now, and he knew it.

  “Fine,” she spat back. “It’s not that great anyway. I was just kidding.”

  I turned to walk away and find Hensley, but I quickly turned back around to Kerynne again. “If there is so much as a single thread cut or torn on the dress you are wearing when you take it off, then I will be taking the entire value amount of the dress out of your pay. Considering it is my piece of handcrafted art, I will set the worth of it. And I’m fairly confident that it is worth more than your entire salary. You might want to be extra careful removing it.”

  “You can’t withhold my pay,” Kerynne said angrily.

  “I sure as hell can if you damage my designs. Try reading the contract for a change, Kerynne; it’s all in there. I may not be able to prove that you cut the other dress, which we all know you did, but I am standing here right now looking at this dress, which is in perfect condition. If the condition is changed in the slightest when you hand it back to me, you can kiss your pay goodbye.”

  “Just take off the dress and turn it in,” Cai said as he tried to reason with her and de-escalate the situation. “He’s right; it is in the contract.”

  Kerynne huffed and stomped off toward a changing area to remove the dress. I flagged down one of my set-up staff and told them to collect the garment from Kerynne as soon as she came out.

  “Look it over thoroughly,” I instructed my staff member. “If there is anything, anything at all, wrong with the dress, then I want you to text me immediately.”

  He nodded and stood there to wait for Kerynne to finish changing while I went in search of Hensley. Surely, she couldn’t have gone far.

  “Hey, have you seen Hensley?” I asked a cluster of models who we're packing up and getting ready to leave.

  “Yeah,” one of the girls said. “She’s over there.” She pointed toward the hallway that led toward the locker rooms.

  “We tried to talk to her, Arlo. Most of us don’t agree with what Kerynne did. It was uncalled for, and it ruined the ending of the show that we all worked hard for,” she said. “But Hensley just said that she wanted to be left alone.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate that,” I replied. “Did any of you see Kerynne actually cut the dress?”

  She looked at me with reservation. “You know we can’t say,” she answered.

  Of course, I knew that. Those models stuck together no matter what. It was how they survived the jobs they got without outbidding each other constantly. If one of them went against the group, they were basically cut out, and their career would be an uphill battle alongside the others. I was disappointed in the way they operated, not because I didn’t appreciate the loyalty they shared, but because at some point, I would have hoped morals and some semblance of conscience would have kicked in. But even if any of the rest of them had seen Kerynne cut Hensley’s dress, none of them would admit to it. At least most of the models felt bad for Hensley and agreed that Kerynne went too far. That, in and of itself, was a rarity.

  There was a bench that rested up against the outside wall of the locker rooms, and as I got closer, I saw Hensley sitting on it. She had changed back into her street clothes but was still holding my jacket w
added up in her balled fists. She looked like she had been crying.

  “Hey,” I said as I sat down next to her and rubbed my hand on her back.

  “I’m sorry,” Hensley said as she started to cry again.

  “Sorry about what?” I asked. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You were right,” she cried. Her tears fell against my jacket in her lap. “I never should have been a model in the show. It was stupid and irresponsible for me to have convinced you to let me do it. If I hadn’t, then none of this would have happened, and the show wouldn’t have been ruined.”

  “Hensley,” I said as I lifted my jacket from her lap and used it to wipe the tears on her cheeks. “The show wasn’t ruined; it was a huge success.”

  “Really?” she asked as she looked up at me and sniffled.

  “Yes, really. The designers loved your designs, and everyone, including the press, is highly anticipating the line’s release.”

  “I bet the press is going to have a field day with the photos they got of me,” she said.

  “Not at all,” I said as I took my phone out of my pocket and sent a quick text off to my secretary to get her to handle the press about the whole thing. I would deal with them personally later, but at least she could shut them down for me in the immediate timeframe. “The press isn’t going to be releasing any photos until tomorrow, and none of the photos will be of what happened. The only photos they will release of you will be the ones from the beginning of the show when I introduced you as the designer.”

  “How can you be sure?” she asked.

  “Trust me, none of them want to piss me off. They know that if they rub me the wrong way, they’ll miss every new press release Luscious has, including the one right around the corner. They won’t chance it. You don’t have anything to worry about.”