Managed 1: A Rock Star Romance Read online

  Managed 1

  Book 1 in the Managed Series

  Copyright 207

  All Rights Reserved

  http://clarissacarlyle.com

  Copyright 2017 by Clarissa Carlyle (http://clarissacarlyle.com). All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the author.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons either living or dead, as well as any events or locations is entirely coincidental.

  In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, any means of reproduction, either electronic or physical, of any part of this book, without written permission is unlawful piracy and deemed a theft of the author's intellectual property. You may use the material from this book for review purposes only. Any other use requires written permission from the author or publisher.

  Cover Design by http://www.StunningBookCovers.com

  The Managed series is a spin-off from the popular Entertainment with Jem series. Not required to follow this story, but highly suggested you read that series first. If you missed it, you can find the links to each book in that series here.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Author Info

  Prologue

  Smoke curled around the edges of Jasper’s vision making it hard to see. Speakers vibrated behind him causing his chest to jump each time a low note was hit. His own voice carried out over the screaming, smooth as glass, just how it should. His bass guitarist came over to play a few chords and sing with him at the mic as he hit the chorus. The screaming grew louder. Panties sling-shotted from the audience pelted him more than once. At this point, it was all programmed. He simply went through the set like a well-trained robot. Some of the songs he sang for the crowd felt forced to him, too mainstream. He still sang them, and he still put on a hell of a show.

  “You've been a fantastic crowd, I want to shag all of you,” he shouted, one girl in the front was fanning herself at his sexy Australian accent that had gotten him laid so many times. Before he'd have ended with, “We're Jasper and the Weeds,” but now there was no need. Everyone knew who they were. He stood with his band in the center of the stage taking bows and blowing kisses. One big-breasted groupie in the front smiled at him and pulled the top of her shirt down. He knew she'd be in his bed that night. Maybe the one beside her too would be there with his band mates.

  One last kiss to the crowd and the band ran offstage. The cries for an encore were deafening, but that had been their set. He didn't come back out once he'd finished. He didn't have to, and he wasn't going to. Leaning against the wall catching his breath, as he listened to the cacophony of his fans, he thought back to their start. He missed those days. Playing music that gripped his soul in a small coffee house or rowdy pub.

  “They loved you, Jasper baby,” Hugh his intense manager clapped him on the back as he came offstage. “They absolutely loved Fall into Me.”

  Jasper grimaced but Hugh didn't notice. Fall into Me was a song that was written for him, catchy and everything he hated about modern music. The crowd loved singing along to it. It really just repeated the same thing over and over again.

  “I went ahead and got that gal from the front row for ya, mate. It will be good for ya,” Dustin, his Scottish bass player and best friend since college, said. “You’ve been in a funk since that Jemma chick turned ya down.”

  He ignored what Dustin was saying. The infernal tune of Fall into Me invading his head and threatening to drive him absolutely insane.

  “Holy shit, Jasper, you know what Hugh just told me?” Dustin came running up and slapped him hard on the back.

  “I couldn’t begin to guess.”

  “Tara Jackson is here, and she wants to get backstage!”

  “Who?” The name sounded familiar, but Jasper heard many names every day.

  “The hot socialite from that Wild and Town series. She’s an heiress to a diamond empire and pretty much everywhere right now. I’d give me left nut to bone her,” Dustin said, working himself up and bouncing from foot to foot. “How do you not know who that is?”

  “Famous people bore and annoy me,” Jasper said, as they rounded the corner to the green room. He threw himself down onto the couch and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler next to him.

  The girl he assumed was Tara Jackson walked in and she was incredibly hot. Her dress barely covered anything, but it didn’t make her look cheap. She looked like she’d been born in it.

  He knew the type. She wasn’t as famous as he was so she could easily be a star fucker. Just once he’d like to meet a girl who didn’t know who he was, or care. The fact was he couldn’t change being horny; that always won out over what a girl’s motives might be. He decided it would be a good idea to get to know her a little better, so he patted the couch beside him and she smirked as she slid onto his lap. There was no turning back for him now; he was hooked.

  Chapter One

  Hailey ran into her bosses’ office after the 911 text he’d sent out and felt completely disheveled. She wished she’d at least brushed her hair, especially when her gaze caught Mathew Simms’ smirking at her from the corner of Bill’s office.

  “Bill, this needs to be a real emergency, I was taking a nap.”

  Today was supposed to be her day off and her plans of staying home all day were crushed. Hailey had just worked two weeks straight and rushing into the office was the last thing on her list. Hell, it wasn't on her list at all. Hailey reminded herself that it was going to pay off, and she hoped that pay-off would come soon. Her grandma instilled hard work into Hailey growing up, telling her if she pushed herself, good things would come to her. Now she needed the reward.

  Matthew was the first person she’d met when she started working at Big Deal and he still made her heart flutter.

  Driven, handsome, funny, and a whole head taller than she was, Mathew checked off every box she had for a man. Big Deal was Bill’s PR firm. He’d built it from the ground up starting with just one client.

  She came out of her head to focus on her boss.

  “It’s an emergency, I need you each to pick a cup.”

  Hailey stared at the paper cups on Bill’s desk. They were all lined up in a row and each had a letter on the top of them.

  “What do the letters mean?” She moved forward to look at them closer; they spelled B-E-E-E-R-R.

  “No, that’s from a game we played earlier. It’s what’s under the cups. I need you each to choose one, okay? It’s important,” said Bill.

  Hailey wondered how long ago the beer game had been played and if he wasn’t still feeling the results of it. Why else would her boss call her in on her day off? She let her hand hang over the cups for a minute, curious what kind of game he was playing. Finally, she picked one of the E’s and a small orange marble rolled out.

  “You won!” Bill jumped up.

  Matthew rolled his eyes. She just shrugged at him as Bill hopped around his desk toward her.

  “What did I win?” Hailey asked, scared of the answer.

  “The job. Jasper Daly needs someone to help him with this.” Bill shoved his phone in her face where she was confronted with a pair of breasts.

  The name Jasper Daly registered; he was someone famous, but these tits were not familiar. She stared at Bill wit
h her mouth open.

  “Is he turning into a woman?” Hailey questioned, still staring at the ginormous breasts popping off the screen.

  “No, but that would be a fun one. Scroll down, Hailey, scroll,” he yelled.

  She scrolled through the Instragram account—Jasper’s—passing pictures of him with his band. Sexy text message screenshots, boobs, and a picture of her riding the rock star naked followed. Shaking her head, she was trying not to read the dirtier ones, but there were a lot. “I don’t understand.”

  “Jasper’s current girlfriend, or bed mate, whatever she is Tara Jackson figured out his password and posted these pictures. He has younger fans and while he seems to be one of the bad boys of rock-and-roll, his label is freaking out. It’s up to you to turn his reputation around and bury the bad publicity Tara has given him. If you do well, I will start handing you some more of our priority clients.”

  Hailey blinked at her boss. “Sir?”

  “Surprised?”

  Her gaze shifted to Mathew whose mouth hung open. Bill usually gave him the high-profile clients.

  “Sorry, Mathew, but it’s time to give Hailey a chance.”

  “No worries,” Matthew stood from the chair and walked over to Hailey pulling her into a hug.

  His cologne smelled amazing, and she inhaled deeply as he held her to his chest. A zing of adrenaline shooting through her body. It was the most contact they’d ever had, and she had to make herself pull back when he did.

  “What was that for?” The blush on her cheeks was apparent as she pushed her hair behind her ears. Hailey's interaction with men was limited due to her strict upbringing. Although she wouldn't have changed living with her grandma for the world. The small attention Matthew paid her was something she didn't know how to react casually to.

  “Congratulations. You got your first big deal at Big Deal,” he said, smiling. “Let’s go out to dinner tonight to celebrate.”

  Hailey couldn’t believe it. Matt was asking her out. Well sort of, it was a work related dinner, but it’d be just the two of them. Play it cool, she thought. She started to answer when Bill interrupted.

  “No can do, you are meeting Jasper tonight at Calamity’s. It’s something he wants to get started on right away, some of his sponsors are pulling out and he wants to staunch it before he loses more. So you need to show him you’re the perfect girl for the job. I suggest you go home and change and then keep it discreet that you’re going to meet up with him. The reservation is under William Jasper to avoid suspicion.

  “William Jasper, really?” Hailey laughed a little harder than she normally would. That was a silly name, and Matthew’s closeness was making her nervous.

  “I was rushed.” He protested and pulled a beer out of the mini-fridge beneath his desk. “Get out of here, you two, I’m celebrating in my own way.”

  Matthew walked out with her and turned to her when they were outside. “If you need anything at all, let me know. I remember my first big client. It’s scary. Hopefully Jasper will be nice to you. I’ll call you to set up dinner tomorrow.” He smiled and walked away toward his car, leaving her fighting the urge to jump up and down. Matthew wanted to go out to dinner with her. Today was shaping up to be amazing.

  While mentally preparing for her meeting with Jasper, she tried not to picture him being ridden by a reality star with a selfie fetish. Her face flushed red as Tara's boobs mentally flashed in her head.

  How could he not notice she was taking pictures? He probably knew and didn’t think she’d post them on his social media. In a way she felt sorry for him, but then again someone who’d let Tara Jackson crawl into his bed couldn’t be the classiest guy. Being in the PR business she did know that name well, and the girl’s crazy antics were all over gossip magazines. She was vulgar, foul mouthed, and bad news.

  Pulling out her iPhone, she asked Siri to show her articles about Jasper. There were stories of him getting thrown out of venues for being drunk and getting into a fight with a cameraman. These weren’t as bad as the nudity on his Instagram so she could see why his label was freaking out. His antics were within the normal range of rock star from what Hailey read. He’d seemed to have always kept his bad boy publicity stunts to just under offensive so his fans were still into him and he still got to be a bad boy on the surface. She painted a picture in her mind of Jasper as she continued reading articles. He seemed to enjoy popping up at local coffee shops and playing acoustic performances. Also, there were rumors some of his proceeds went to various charities. When asked, Jasper skirted the issue, never denying or confirming it. It seemed Jasper wasn’t the bad boy he wanted everyone to think he was. Now she had to see if she was right. It would make her first big client a lot easier to deal with.

  A taxi pulled up while she was reading a new story about the hot sex parties Tara Jackson had taken Jasper to and she climbed in, unable to tear her eyes away. Who wrote such crap? When she got to the bar, there was a large crowd outside lined up and lots of barely clothed young women anxiously waiting. She felt completely out of place among them all and here she was meeting a very famous and hot young singer. Look at what her life had become, she thought with a smile. Her grandma would have tried to put jackets on all of them.

  It was time to pretend she had confidence. Pushing her shoulders back, she paid the cab driver and strolled up to the bouncer despite all the yelling and cussing from the line behind her. “I’m here to see William Jasper.” Bill had given her the alias he used to avoid photographers.

  “Really, you are?” The bouncer looked at her, taking in the black slacks and large plain white polo shirt she wore, and raised an eyebrow. As long as she’d lived in New York she’d never been to Calamity’s. It was ritzier than her salary allowed and it was easier for her friends to meet up with her at the dive bars near her apartment.

  She really wished she hadn’t thrown on the first thing she saw when she had gotten the call from Bill. The outfit screamed waitress in a low class restaurant or golf caddy girl.

  “Yes, I am,” she said and smiled confidently. All she had to do was get in and then it would be easy from there. Of course, it wouldn’t if he was a drunk asshole, but she needed to deal with one problem at a time. So she shushed the negative voice in her head.

  “Okay if you say so.” He moved out of the way to let her in. “Tell the hostess.”

  “Hi, I’m here to see William Jasper.”

  The busty hostess was about to pop out of her pink Calamity’s polo. Had Hailey’s looked like hers she might not have had such a hard time convincing the bouncer that she was truly there to see Jasper. She tore her eyes away from the cleavage and focused on the skeptical look the woman now wore.

  “You’re here to see him, really?”

  “Yes, why does everyone keep saying that?” Hailey asked.

  “Follow me,” the hostess said, still smirking in a way that made Hailey want to slap her.

  She followed her past all the patrons sitting on stools and in the booths that lined the sides of the bar. They were headed to a separate section. When they passed through a curtain of red, they were in a private area where he sat waiting for her.

  He wasn’t wearing the guy-liner she’d seen in all his photos, yet his brown eyes still were intense as he stood and looked her over. He was taller than she thought he would be, and all the confidence she’d built up in her head went out the window. She really needed to learn how to be around men.

  She would have to fake it. The hostess was leering at him. When she looked back at her, she stood there running her tongue over her lips. It was so obvious Hailey almost felt uncomfortable; plus he was staring at Hailey and she hadn’t said anything yet. It was time to drum up some more of that fake confidence and start acting as if she was capable of managing him.

  As she started to move forward the hostess happened to stick a leg in her path and she stumbled forward into the booth.

  “How clumsy of me.” Despite the burning in her cheeks she ignored her embarrassm
ent and moved forward to shake his hand. Jasper’s account was what mattered now, and she had a feeling there would be other people like the hostess who thought he could keep better company.

  It didn't matter to her. She was just handed Jasper's account and needed to do a fantastic job. A hostess was the least of her worries. Don't let her see how much her meanness gets to you, she thought sucking in a calming breath.

  ***

  Jasper stared at the drink on the table. He’d not taken a sip of it yet even as it taunted him, promising to numb his feelings. He couldn’t believe the situation he’d found himself in. He had trusted Tara, and she’d used him in the worst way. Now he was going to lose his sponsors, and his label would watch his every move. The little freedom he had was being ripped from him. To make it worse, now he’d need to have all his social media managed by some chick from a PR firm. He couldn’t imagine why she would want to be exposed to the world like that; it didn’t make sense to him. He didn’t like the world to see him in his private space, much less his private parts. Now they were all over the internet.

  His social media was where he could share things that inspired him and show a bit of the true Jasper. Connecting to his fans oddly reminded him of the good times when he would get off the stage at some dive bar and drink with his loyal fans. Now it had been cheapened by some crazy whore who only cared about her own fame. He should have seen through her, but she was so hot.

  The back room at Calamity’s wasn’t his choice. It was pretentious, and it felt like the label was rubbing in their hold over him, by making him go to a place they knew he would hate. He really preferred the dive bars with character, a place he would be incognito and didn't have to be stuck in the back behind some dirty curtain.

  He wondered what type of stuck-up woman was going to be in charge of his online presence. That finally got him to take a sip of his drink, his usual whiskey and coke, as he needed to take the edge off to get through this meeting. His blood pressure went up when he thought about Tara and what she’d done to him. Damn pretty women! He could channel that anger into his creativity later, he had to make it through the initial meeting with the manager and he’d be good. The hostess had kept coming back to see if he needed anything and now she’d come back in the room. He prepared what to say to blow her off, not in the mood for evil women. Not after what Tara did to him. When he saw she’d brought someone with her, he held his tongue.