Love is the New Black Read online

  Mason’s phone buzzed. His heart leapt, thinking momentarily that it might be Piper, before he realised she didn’t even have his number. It was a text from Kara.

  Are you still up?

  He hoped she wasn’t in trouble. He called her. ‘Hey, Kara, you okay?’

  ‘Never better. Are you okay? You sound weird.’

  ‘I’ll be all right. Just another one of those days.’

  ‘How did your presentation thingy go? Sorry I didn’t come.’

  ‘Well, it was okay, until the end, when I screwed up.’

  ‘I’m sure you didn’t. And do you know what? I think it’s great, this idea that Aspire’s taking a new editorial direction.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Mason, noncommittally.

  ‘Look, I’m sorry to call you so late, but I need your help with something,’ Kara continued. ‘I’ve arranged a meeting tomorrow with Anita. I want to do it – to come out. Tell me you’ll come to the meeting and protect me from the wrath of Anita?’

  Mason couldn’t think straight. ‘Hang on. You’re coming out?’

  ‘Yes, I have to. Laurie and I have been talking about it.’

  ‘Okay. I’m flying to Perth tomorrow, but not till midday. If the meeting is in the morning, I’ll be there. You’re sure it’s what you want?’

  ‘Yep, it’s first thing in the morning. And yes, Mason, I’m sure it’s what I want. I feel really good about this. See you tomorrow.’

  Mason hung up and poured himself another generous slug of whisky. If Kara came out, it let him off the hook, and would free him up to be with Piper. But Piper is still my employee, and therefore off limits, he reminded himself

  His phone buzzed. Kara again.

  Thanks for helping me face Anita tomorrow! You’re my Prince Charming. Well, you would be, if I was straight!

  Mason threw back another drink, hoping this one would be strong enough to clear Piper out of his mind.

  But it wasn’t.

  Piper woke up with a deep, unquenchable thirst. She checked her phone. It was 4 a.m. She gulped from the water bottle on her dressing table as she tried to figure out what that terrible feeling she had was. Was it shame? What had she done?

  Piper’s hand shook as she replaced the bottle on her dresser. Her mind marched her where she didn’t want to go. I kissed Mason Wakefield.

  The thought of that kiss seemed to explode in her body – a memory that left her flushed with desire. Her stomach felt tense, knotted, like it had when he pressed her against the wall. Oh god.

  Piper breathed deeply and squeezed her eyes shut. The desire inside her gave way to a flood of guilt. She had betrayed Dylan. She had stepped over the line from harmless thought to damaging action.

  Piper pulled the covers over her head. It didn’t help. The guilt grew to a storm inside her. She had only been away from home for two weeks and she’d kissed someone else.

  Dylan didn’t deserve this; he was a loyal and loving boyfriend. And yet, even as she thought that, she could still feel Mason’s touch in that laneway, and the way he wanted her. Little moments drifted back to her and she tried to shake them out of her head.

  After they kissed, Mason had hailed a cab for her. ‘We’ll talk about this later,’ he’d said, his voice low and serious. She’d nodded and buried her head in his chest. When they finally broke away from each other, he’d kissed her again. Tenderly. It had felt like a promise.

  She’d floated home. There was no guilt. Not then. When she got in, Gaynor was already in bed. Piper had stripped down to her underwear, dived into bed and let sleep take her.

  She wished she could find that oblivion again, but it wasn’t going to happen. It was 5 a.m. now and Piper was wide awake, the guilt weighing down on her chest until she found it hard to breathe.

  She tiptoed over to the cupboard and pulled out her suitcase. Dylan’s song lyrics were still there, inside one of the zip pockets. She took them out and made herself read them. She punished herself with them. Over and over again.

  Piper’s Song.

  A song she didn’t deserve.

  Piper’s phone alarm sounded at 7 a.m., mocking her with the familiar electronic beat, as though it was any other morning and nothing had changed. She switched it off and it sounded again. This time, there was a text on the screen.

  I’m out of the office this morning and then I’m in Perth until next Sunday. Can I take you for a drink when I get back? We need to talk. Mason. PS Please.

  Piper’s heart did cartwheels. It flipped around in her chest and she hugged herself with nervous excitement.

  She knew this wasn’t the right reaction. It was traitorous. And wrong. She should be so filled with remorse that there was no room for any other emotion.

  Her hand hovered over the screen. It would be better to reply quickly, telling him she had a boyfriend as though her response was immediate and unequivocal. As it should be.

  But her mind drifted back to his words last night.

  That hasn’t mattered to me, he’d said. Until now. And then, later, God, I want you, Piper.

  Piper gulped. Her hesitation was horrible. She was horrible. There was a knock on Piper’s door. It swung open and Gaynor stood there with a coffee in her hand.

  ‘You had a late one. You got home long after me, and I wasn’t home until twelve,’ Gaynor said, leaning in the doorway. ‘Good night?’

  ‘Fine,’ Piper said quickly. ‘Just … just a launch thingy.’

  ‘Well, I’m not sure you could say just about an Aspire party,’ Gaynor said. ‘Something must have happened. It always does.’

  Piper shrugged, like whatever might have happened was no big deal. But Gaynor’s eyebrows were arched.

  ‘What about you, Gaynes?’ she countered. ‘What did you get up to?’

  ‘Ah, your deflection techniques are still superior,’ Gaynor said with a little smirk. ‘I’m trying to work on mine. So I’ll just say, I had another lovely night.’

  ‘Really?’ Piper asked. Come to think of it, Gaynor had been out quite a lot lately. ‘So, was it … with somebody?’

  ‘I’m choosing to go dark horse too. No comment,’ Gaynor said breezily. ‘Shall I put on a crumpet for you?’

  ‘Neigh,’ Piper answered, forcing out the joke.

  Gaynor’s laugh as she closed the door was gorgeous: tinkling and true. The laugh of someone who didn’t have a dark secret.

  Piper had some work to do to restore her sanity. And it had to begin right now. She picked up her phone and tapped out a message.

  What happened last night was a mistake. I should have told you that I have a boyfriend. So sorry. Piper.

  Her throat was tight and raw as she pressed send.

  Mason’s head was bursting with way too many thoughts. A meeting with Anita Barnes at 8.30 a.m. was the last place he wanted to be.

  ‘Do you see all those girls out there, all those wannabes?’ Anita was demanding.

  Mason moved his chair closer to Kara’s. Anita Barnes was the most formidable woman Mason had ever come across. Scary, in fact. Next to Anita was Bruce, who was known in the modelling world as Brutal Bruce. He was Anita’s right-hand man.

  ‘Yes, I see them,’ Kara said meekly. The glass door to Anita’s office offered the perfect view of about twenty young girls standing at various angles in a queue in the foyer, all of them hoping to be signed to Anita’s agency.

  ‘What do you think, Bruce?’ Anita urged. ‘What’s your take on them?’

  Bruce stood up and began pointing, his finger moving down the row of aspiring models. ‘Too short. Torso too long. Nose too big. Boobs too saggy. A possible. Can see the moustache from here. Legs too dimply. Arse too big. Hair tatty. Too trashy …’

  Anita held up her hand and Bruce stopped speaking.

  ‘They all want what you have, Kara. They all dream of being you. Of being where I’ve got you.’

  Kara threw her hands up and then clapped them together. When she was nervous, she gestured a lot. And Anita Barnes on the warpa
th would make anyone nervous. ‘I know,’ Kara said. ‘And I thank you for that. Truly, Anita. But I also need to be true to myself, and to my partner. It’s just … well … it’s eating away at me. I used to be okay with pretending I wasn’t gay. But that was before I met Laurie.’ Kara clenched her fists. ‘Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place,’ she said.

  ‘Oh for fuck’s sake,’ Anita snarled. ‘Does your soul know that your fan base is seventy per cent male? And that ten per cent of them are homophobic?’ She shook her head. ‘Of course, some of them might think it’s hot. They might like to fantasise about some girl-on-girl action. But none of them are going to be turned on by you making a political statement about being a dyke. We’ve discussed this before, Kara. You lose even five per cent of your fan base, and you’ve lost the top position. Do you get that?’

  ‘I get it,’ Kara replied, her voice emotional but insistent. ‘And I’m willing to risk it. This whole thing … me pretending to be what I’m not …’ she looked searchingly at Mason. ‘It’s been hard on everyone. Laurie doesn’t want to do it anymore, and neither do I. I can’t keep asking her to keep our relationship a secret. She’s over it. She told me she wanted to break up with me at the Cristobel Club that night, Anita. She said she was over all the lies. I lost it. Absolutely lost it.’

  ‘Kara was devastated, Anita,’ Mason joined in. ‘I was really afraid for her. Laurie’s good for Kara. She tries to keep her sober, and she really wants the best for Kara. But the secrecy is killing them both, Anita. You’ve got to see that!’

  Anita Barnes seemed to raise her eyebrows. Or maybe not – it was hard to tell, due to the botox.

  ‘Laurie was so upset about the whole situation,’ Kara continued. ‘Then, to rub salt in her wounds, the tabloids get a picture of me crying and decide to make it about Mason being an arsehole and breaking up with me. Laurie and I got back together on the proviso that I would come out. It’s not fair to Laurie. And it’s definitely not fair to Mason.’

  Her voice was wobbly, but she was obviously not going to cave. Mason felt proud of her. Laurie was the best thing that had happened to Kara in aeons. She was right to fight for the relationship.

  Anita gave a huge, dramatic sigh. ‘All right. Bruce, what’s the best damage control? If we have to do this, let’s do it with a bang, not a whimper.’

  Bruce tapped his chin with his index finger – he was wearing yellow nail polish. ‘We’ll sell the story as a two-page spread to the highest bidder. Complete with photos of you and yours lounging around the eclectic and exotic shared home. You live together?’

  ‘No,’ Kara admitted. ‘Not all the time, anyway. Laurie doesn’t want to move in until –’

  ‘Well, you live together now,’ Bruce interrupted. ‘You’re inseparable. And Kara, I hope your girlfriend isn’t butch.’

  Mason felt Kara stiffen beside him. Having won the battle, though, she wasn’t going to take the bait on this.

  ‘Laurie is beautiful,’ she said simply.

  ‘She’d better be,’ Anita snapped. ‘We will get that happening within the next fortnight. Until then, you two,’ she pointed at Mason and Kara, ‘are still the golden couple. Got it?’

  Kara saved her whooping until they were well clear of Anita’s office.

  ‘I’m going to get to be with Laurie. Openly and honestly!’ She looked at Mason, flushed with excitement. ‘So, now it’s time for you to get back into the game, Mase,’ she said. ‘You must be interested in someone.’

  Mason turned away from Kara’s stare. ‘Not really.’

  ‘Mason, you can’t even look at me. There is someone, isn’t there?’ She put her hands on his face and made him look at her.

  Mason shook his head, which was hard to do, given her grip. There was nothing to tell. Nothing. ‘Kaz,’ he said. ‘When I have time for a girlfriend, I’ll let you know and you can choose one for me. Preferably one who isn’t a lesbian.’

  ‘Oh, you’re a dick,’ Kara said.

  ‘Bully,’ Mason said, rubbing his arm. But he was glad that Kara’s love life, at least, had just become a whole lot simpler. ‘I don’t have time for a girlfriend. Not a real one, anyway.’

  Wearing another Kara Kingston design didn’t help Piper feel any better at work that morning. It felt like espresso martini sweat was seeping through every pore of her body. She kept her sunglasses on as she walked through the foyer, avoiding eye contact with the receptionists and grabbed a copy of the current issue of Aspire on the way.

  At least there was no-one in the office yet. Piper put her stupid fake bag under her desk and took out her phone to read Mason’s reply again.

  Thank you for making that clear. I won’t bother you again.

  Mason.

  It was so final.

  Piper’s hand trembled as she erased the message. What an idiot she’d been to get herself into this situation. It was going to be a real treat, having to see Mason around at work from now on and knowing that she had loved being kissed by him.

  She opened up the Aspire and flicked through it distractedly.

  The photos from the Bojangles shoot were all there. They’d worked out beautifully. Even in the state she was in, Piper was pleased to see that Georgie had a whole page in the bikini shoot, with Kara on the other side of the spread. The two models really complemented each other; Georgie was voluptuous in her red gingham bikini, looking out to the horizon, while Kara, angular in her silver costume, lounged at the shoreline. Georgie would be stoked.

  Piper flipped the page. The Aztecs were there, but the pictures of them were much smaller. Immediately, the word karma came to mind. She batted it away. Who was she to think about karma? If there truly was such a thing, it wouldn’t be any good for her. She’d cheated on her boyfriend and fucked things up profoundly. Again.

  Oh well, she thought, at least things can’t get much worse.

  Piper flipped the pages to the feature article. This was part of the new direction: Piper read Wendy’s three-page feature on plastic surgery. This was definitely not a snippet or a grab – it was incisive, interesting and obviously well researched. It was almost disappointing to get to the end. Especially as she then had to return to her own thoughts.

  Piper decided she’d just take a quick look at the horoscopes tucked away near the end of the mag, and then she would try to start her day. But then her eye caught on an article titled ‘Sheer Sense.’

  Just a few pages from the back cover, there it was – surrounded by some of the photos Piper had sourced. Jennifer Lawrence took prime position in the centre, in a perfect sheer dress. The text was in a box in the upper right-hand corner. Piper’s text. As far as Piper could tell, not a word had been changed. Except for two words in bold font at the very end: Vivian Jacobson.

  Piper wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting there, staring at the article in disbelief, when Lucy came in.

  ‘Piper. What’s wrong? You look like shit.’

  Piper pointed at the article. ‘I wrote this, Lucy,’ she said, suddenly snapping out of it. ‘Vivian stole it.’

  She turned to her computer, searching frantically for evidence. The article was gone. There was no trace of it in any of her files. Or in her recycle bin. Slowly, it dawned on her. That’s why her computer had been moved the night after she wrote the article. It wasn’t the cleaners at all; Vivian must have come in during the night.

  She looked at Lucy, tears pricking her eyes. ‘You probably don’t believe me,’ she said softly.

  Lucy sighed. She put a finger to her lips in a shh gesture. Then she closed the office door, shutting out the growing noise from the hallway. When she came back, she swivelled her chair so it was close to Piper’s.

  ‘I believe you,’ she whispered. ‘I believe you because I know what she’s like. I haven’t told a soul about this, because I don’t have any evidence either. But stuff keeps going missing. After each shoot, I check things off and sign for them. Then I put them in the fashion cupboard. When I’m ready to send them
back to the designers, half the time there’s something missing.’ She paused thoughtfully. ‘Vivian is the only other person who has a key to the fashion cupboard, but it looks bad for me, doesn’t it? I got an email from Rose the other day, letting me know she’s concerned that items have gone missing from other shoots. Basically, if anything else goes missing, I’m cactus.’

  ‘That is so fucked up,’ Piper said. ‘I’m probably not going to be able to prove what she’s done with my article. But you can. You’ve got to get a camera in the fashion cupboard and then –’

  There was a muffled sound coming from the fashion cupboard. Both girls crept towards it, and they opened the sliding doors. Bronwyn was sitting just inside the door, sobbing into a tissue.

  ‘Jesus, what happened, Bron?’ Lucy asked.

  Bronwyn choked back a sob. ‘I showed Vivian my designs,’ she said in a low wail. A terrible feeling settled inside Piper’s stomach. Bronwyn wiped her eyes. ‘She said –,’ Bronwyn started, and then had to pause to collect herself. ‘She said, Just because no-one’s ever going to understand your designs, it doesn’t make you an artist. Then she called my dresses try-hard sacks.’ Piper and Lucy exchanged disgusted looks. ‘After all this time, she still doesn’t know my name,’ Bronwyn continued. ‘And now this.’

  Piper and Lucy waited until Bronwyn calmed down, then they led her back into the office, the three of them pulling their chairs close together for support.

  ‘Wow, you girls look positively conspiratorial,’ said Vivian, striding into the office.

  Piper gasped as she saw the new Aspire tucked under Vivian’s sharp elbow, folded open to the ‘Sheer Sense’ article.

  Vivian continued as though oblivious. ‘I guess it’s lucky for you, Piper, that there’s no time for gossip in the fashion department.’ Her phone rang.

  ‘Hi Rose,’ she answered, giving the girls a wink. ‘Yes, of course I can.’ Rose said something at the other end, and Vivian did a little fake laugh. ‘Oh, I couldn’t really handle it all single-handedly. But thanks.’ As she hung up the phone, she clicked her fingers at Bronwyn. ‘You. Down to the art department,’ she barked.