Chapter 29 My Heart Beats For Celene
Even when I had placed her on the opposite edge of the car seat, she still found a way to make her presence known.
I knew it was all a farce when she complained about needing a lift to the next location where we would be taking pictures.
I didn’t need a model with me AT ALL, but for some reason, my editorial team seemed to think so, since they would be recreating an office scene in a photoshoot and I apparently needed a secretary.
I scoffed. Even if I would need a secretary, it wouldn’t have been her I would have picked.
Her mini-cured fingers with long, extended claws did not look like they could hold and handle a gun correctly anyway. What would Celene think if she saw the lizard posing as my secretary even in pictures?
“Well, I must say it’s truly an honor to get to work with you. Honestly, it’s a major boost in my career, you know?”
It took everything in me not to turn and shove a thick piece of cloth into her overly painted red mouth. I didn’t even deign her with a response.
“…You know how some people want to work with the president, Chris Brown, even Santa Claus? Yeah, I’ve always wanted to work with you.”
Why was she still talking? Couldn’t she close her yab hole for a few fucking minutes?
She had always wanted to work with me? Up until a few days ago, she didn’t know who the fuck I was. Slimy liar.
“Mr. Ryder, did you hear me?” she asked again like I hadn’t heard her the first time.
“I didn’t. I guess I’m preoccupied,” I answered courteously. That was the best I could do at the time, but the blonde model could not read between the lines of my speech. How would she cope in a world like mine if she was so dense and dumb?
“I see. I am sure you must be thrilled with the change. Your name is literally the most searched on the internet right now, and you’re not even an artist.” She laughed loudly at her own joke before catching herself and beginning to arrange her hair like a cat would do.
“…Ladies must be swooning over you now, and that is if they weren’t doing so already.” I did not miss the point she was trying to make under all those words of flattery. I had to think about what to tell her.
If I said I was single, it would signal my availability on the market and make more women like the lizard model beside me go out of their way to bother me. But if I said I had a woman I loved back home, the world would go on an all-out search looking for her. Was Celene ready to be thrown into the war-pit like that?
I would be damned if I let this yappy lady and her fellow yappy ladies get their colored claws into my Celene.
I would cut off their dirty paws one by one. Why was I having to worry about things like this? I asked myself.
With great popularity came greater responsibility, I thought, and sighed.
“Mr. Ryder?” the model inquired again.
I tried and failed to hide the glare on my face as her chirpy, birdy voice kept interrupting my thoughts.
“I am sure they are, miss…?”
“Valerie. Valerie Maxwell. I can’t believe you forgot my name. But I don’t blame you though, you must have so many women whose names you don’t remember too. I’m not even mad…” she said, droning on and on. I only nodded in answer.
I could never forget Celene’s name. Celene Luther. Celene Adam Luther. Celene Luther Adam. Adam, Luther Celene. Cee. My kitten.
In whatever way, form, or arrangement, her name rang a bell in my head and heart. Like a never-ending lullaby.
Like a strong acoustic guitar. Like a metal gong. Like a fucking shrill ringtone first thing in the morning.
Her name commanded my attention.