Devon Hall sat in his apartment office rubbing his temples. As if managing McKenzie Brooks, rising superstar, wasn't hard enough, he now had to deal with the paparazzi taking advantage of her new friendship with Tom Felton. All the tabloids were reading "McKenzie and Tom: Double Cheating Scandal?" or "Is McKenzie Already Done With Her Marriage?" or "McKenzie Wants A Different Baby Daddy". Devon had half a mind to make McKenzie ask Tom to move out, but he knew that she needed someone there since her jackass husband left her pregnant and alone.
"Mr. Hall, your coffee," Devon's assistant and boyfriend, Jamie, smiled as he strut into the room with two Starbucks coffees.
Devon smiled and took his cup, just holding it in his hands while staring at his computer screen that held a recent article about the newest companionship in Hollywood. A big picture was inserted into the left hand corner with caption "McKenzie Brooks, 22, looks cosy as she shows Harry Potter hottie, Tom Felton, 22, around her home of New York City." Devon hated to admit that they did look cosy together, a beaming Tom in the process of draping his arm around McKenzie's shoulders while she smiled sheepishly and had a hint of blush on her cheeks. He liked to think that his client just had a case of windburn from the early September chill.
"Drama?" Jamie inquired.
"You could say that... I've asked McKenzie about everything and she insists they are just friends."
"Yeah, with benefits," Jamie laughed. "That's like us a few months back."
"Just in it for the sex..." Devon muttered before setting down his cup and spinning his chair around to face Jamie. "What do you think about him? Do you think he's trustworthy?"
"Anyone that attractive has to be at least a little trustworthy. Ow, ow! McKenzie sure knows how to pick them, doesn't she?"
"She didn't pick Tom. She picked Jeff. That's what my problem is here." Devon turned back to his desk, rested his elbows on it, and placed his face in the palms of his hands. "I don't know what to do anymore, J."
"Hey now," Jamie soothed, setting his coffee down and moving behind Devon to massage his shoulders. "Don't get so worked up over nothing. I've met McKenzie once or twice and she seems like a smart girl. She wouldn't mess things up, especially since she's knocked up with what's sure to be a beautiful baby. Like, can you just see it now, Dev? The little blue-eyed thing all smiles and just being adorable and what-not?"
"Stop fangirling, J. I thought I told you that you can't do that with my clients?"
"I can't help it with McKenzie. I just want to be like her, you know? But anyway, I don't think you need to worry about Tom either. I've seen a few interviews and he's like a sweetie pie."
"I'm still doing research. So far, I see no criminal records so that's a good thing. He's already better than Jeff."
"What has Jeff done?"
"I found that he had been arrested a few times for getting in bar fights. Seems like he started them, too, after getting really mad at the guys. He just threw a punch and the rest is history."
"Does McKenzie know this?"
"I'm assuming. I wouldn't tell her anyway since I don't feel like it's my right to be in her personal life. Obviously she tells me stuff, but I don't bother her anymore than that."
"You're such a good manager," Jamie gushed.
Devon shrugged. "I just want my little girl to be safe. She's like a daughter to me at this point and after what happened with Rob, I don't want her to be all stressed again."
"A daughter who's only ten years younger than you... Did she totally freak when Rob cheated."
"She knew about it the whole time, but she would have periodic anxiety attacks when she didn't know where he was or something reminded her of the cheating. It's all mental and I can't really do anything for it other than monitor her."
"Has she seen a doctor or a psychiatrist or anything?"
"No, she refuses because all eyes are on her now and she doesn't want people to think she's crazy."
"Oh, she isn't crazy, but she seems to date some crazies."
Devon smiled with only his lips and turned back to the computer screen. He hadn't been in the managerial business very long - McKenzie was his first client - but he knew that what was going on wasn't good for him, McKenzie, or Tom. Honestly, Devon was surprised that Tom's management hadn't contacted him yet to ask if he knew what was going on. Sam Franklin, McKenzie's publicist, had already been in contact and offered to clear anything that looked bad for either party. Devon had half the mind to call her right now and try to get these recent pictures off the internet.
Just then, his phone buzzed and Jamie check what it was. Text from McKenzie.
"Speak of the devil," Jamie said. He typed in Devon's passcode and read the message before Devon could. Jamie's eyes popped open and Devon instantly became more worried.
"What the fuck did she say?"
"'Hey Dev! Forgot to tell you that I decided to go to the Breaking Dawn premiere. I know, surprising right? But Jeff still won't be back from China so I got Tom to go with me. Smiley face,'" recited Jamie.
"She got him to go with her? They are gonna be dates?" Devon felt like he wanted to throw his low fat white chocolate mocha across the room at his glass office door.
"Seems that way..."
"This girl has no idea what she is getting herself into! Does she think that she's not a big deal in China and that Jeff won't see this? Because I can tell you right now she is a big deal in China. Those Asians fucking love her!" Devon was raging now.
Jamie didn't really know what to do now. He knew that when Devon got too stressed it was best to stay quiet. But his stress was understandable. The tabloids were already so interested with McKenzie that any little thing she did that wasn't considered normal or considerate would be pointed out. Having another man stay with you while your husband had business in Asia and you were with child seemed like both those qualifications to Jamie.
Devon snatched his phone from his boyfriend's hand and searched his contacts for Sam's number. She could fix this. If she couldn't, no one could. One of them had to talk some sense into McKenzie and make her revoke her invite to Tom. The Breaking Dawn premiere was the biggest movie premiere of the year and the number of cameras there would make for plenty of sketchy photographs to show up around the world. Pop stars and Harry Potter just had to be a worldwide love, didn't they?
It took three tries to get a hold of Sam who had been in a meeting with a new client, some up-and-coming singer named Carly Rea Jepsen. Calls from Devon always worried her because young and hot starlets could be very troublesome especially when they were as rambunctious as McKenzie Brooks.
"So she is bringing a man other than her husband as her date?"
"You had to know that this would happen, Sam. You're, like, a genius with predictions."
"I knew it would happen from the moment they met, actually. Not the whole date to a movie premiere thing, but I knew they would raise some rumors."
"Are you gonna do anything about it?"
"I'll see what I can do..."
