Star Management Read online

  Star Management

  A Lesbian Romance Story

  By: Elle Crosby

  © Copyright 2016 - All rights reserved.

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  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  About the Author

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  Prologue

  Maddie Chamberlain’s life was so simple and mimicked what you would picture a family would be like in one of those down home television shows. She grew up in Oberlin, Ohio near the college and her youth was filled with art, culture, and a lot of family time. Maddie’s parents were artists and professors at Oberlin College and took their family very seriously. Maddie’s mom, whenever Maddie would get upset, would look her in the face, brush her bright red hair from her freckled cheeks and say:

  “In the Chamberlain household we are more than just family sweetheart, we are best friends. We all make mistakes but as best friends, we will talk about them and work through them.” She would then kiss Maddie on the cheek and smile that big beautiful smile that Maddie still has ingrained in her mind.

  Maddie can remember spending most of her time as a child outdoors, either taking in the rich artistic history of the town or climbing trees with her best friend, Ophelia. Maddie would get all dressed up the first Tuesday of every month and go to the local theatre down the street with her mother. She loved the show but never wanted to act; she always saw potential in all the small details instead of the picture as a whole. Maddie always did have a unique way of looking at things and that unique mindset carried her through the hard times in her later years as a teenager.

  Just two days before Maddie turned sixteen she was sitting in the living area of their Victorian-styled home reading a book and watching her six-year-old sister playing with dolls on the floor. Maddie’s sister, Sophie, was a surprise for the family, but they were all very excited to welcome her into the fold. Maddie was so in love with her little sister that she refused to let her parents get a babysitter and instead gave up her own free time to watch her. However, on that day, Maddie would look back and wish she hadn’t been sitting in that bright sunny room all alone with Sophie. Maddie hoped she would have been able to act like a child that particular day and find comfort in family. Unfortunately, with both of her grandparents passed away, and no aunts or uncles that she knew of, fate brought an interesting turn to Maddie’s life.

  There were three heavy knocks on the door, and Maddie glanced out the window to see the Sheriff’s car out front. She stood up and went to the door with an odd sickly feeling in her stomach. She reached for the doorknob, opened the door, and stared at Sheriff Winship standing in her doorway holding a simple scarf in his hands. The Sheriff had known the girls his whole life and the sadness on his face told Maddie the news before he could let it escape his lips. Their parents had been involved in a terrible accident, and neither of them would make it home alive.

  The next few weeks went by in a blur and all Maddie wanted to do was take Sophie, who stayed glued to Maddie’s hip, and run away somewhere where no one would give them looks of pity or whisper behind their backs. Without legal guardians, the city wanted to put them into foster care, but Maddie was able to make a deal with the Sheriff and the Judge. If the Sheriff checked in with them several times a day, the judge would let Maddie take care of Sophie and stay in their family home, a gift bestowed on Maddie in her parent’s will along with enough savings to see them through ten years if they wished.

  Maddie’s playful mindset disappeared along with the sparkle in her eyes that she shared with her mother. The rest of her high school career was studying, picking up Sophie, and trying to become an adult long before it was her turn. She did pretty well, only asking for help from the Sheriff and his wife on occasion and ended up graduating third in her high school class, an achievement that brought the whole town out to her graduation to celebrate. She received a full scholarship to Oberlin and was just happy not to have to uproot Sophie quite yet.

  Maddie’s college years flew by and before she knew it she was being videotaped by her pre-teen sister and photographed by the Sheriff’s family as she walked across the stage at Oberlin’s graduation ceremony. Her degree was in marketing management, and she had already captured an internship with a major management company in Southern California. It was a big move but after long talks with Sophie, she decided it was right for her to move forward and chase some of her dreams for once. Sophie had the choice to stay in Oberlin and go to high school there with the Sheriff’s family, or move to sunny California with her sister. At almost thirteen years old, and embracing her love of art, Sophie opted for a move to California, where Maddie was pretty sure she would fit in just perfectly.

  The company that hired Maddie, Starstruck Talent Management, was very excited to have someone of Maddie’s educational background on their team and made sure to accommodate her unusual living circumstances. They helped her find a cute beach bungalow in the nearby beach town, Imperial Beach and made sure she understood how to get around, what the schools were like, and what she would need to start out successfully in a town and a career that tended to swallow the meek whole. When Maddie and Sophie finally arrived they set their bags down on the tiled floor of their living room and let the warm ocean breeze blow through the open doors and windows. Sophie was super excited to live where she was and had already thrown her tennis shoes in the closet and put on some flip-flops, a bathing suit, and sunscreen and was heading across the street to the beach.

  Maddie watched her little sister laughing at the birds that were circling her as she walked towards the water. She thought about her mother and father and how they would be so excited for Maddie. She always made decisions based on what she thought her
parent’s reaction would be, and up until that moment it always worked out perfectly for her.

  Maddie stretched and set her belongings on her bed and moved towards the kitchen. The sun was shining brightly through the windows, and she couldn’t help but smile. Tomorrow she would start at her new position as Managing Assistant in a large office in downtown San Diego. Maddie had dreamt about this job and this life ever since her parents had died and all she wanted to do was to get away from Oberlin, and it’s bad memories. As the rays of light streamed across the kitchen counter, hope and butterflies filled her stomach, and she couldn’t help but wonder what amazing things would come her way at dawn when she stepped foot into her new life.

  Chapter One

  Maddie’s alarm went off at five A.M., enough time for Maddie to make Sophie some breakfast but instead she let her sleep since it was summertime and school didn’t start for another month and a half. Maddie slowly and methodically picked out her first-day outfit, showered, and sat downstairs looking out at the giant parrot in the orange tree in their front yard. The neighbors called them the Tijuana parrots and said they were the natural alarm clocks of the neighborhood, but this one hadn’t made a sound. The house was warm, and Maddie had opened up the windows to let the breeze blow through. Apparently, homes in Southern California don’t have air conditioning. Maddie was almost glad there was no AC, the smell of the ocean and the sounds of the waves echoing through her tiny beach bungalow put her soul at ease and made her smile.

  Maddie’s first day would be only the second time she stepped foot in Starstruck’s office in downtown San Diego. The first time she was there was after they had hired her over a video conference with the CEO, who was vacationing at the time in the Maldives. She impressed them with her intelligence, drive, and upbeat personality so they had no choice to bring her to the team. After the CEO raised his coconut full of rum to her and yelled out a greeting that was slightly slurred from the six other coconuts he had drank during the interview, Maddie had a little bit calmer conversation with the President of the company, Mark. Mark wouldn’t be her direct boss, though; that would be Trevor, who was in charge of assignments for all newbies in the company. Luckily, Maddie was stationed with one of the top talents in the enterprise, Angel, who made sure to let Maddie know he was banking on her for his annual bonus.

  Maddie looked down from the window and realized it was time for her to catch the bus to the train station that would lead her into downtown SD. She stood up, carefully screwing the lid on her coffee mug, and tugging on her mini jacket that she had bought when she started researching business fashion on the west coast. Maddie was already self-conscious about being from Ohio and didn’t want to make herself stand out any more than she already did.

  The walk to the bus stop was only a couple of blocks, but Maddie was glad she had worn heels every day for the last three months because walking the concrete blocks were going to be hell on her ankles. Maddie boarded the bus and sat somewhere in the middle, a piece of advice her best friend had given her when she was lecturing Maddie on safety in the major cities. The bus ride was about thirty minutes and then another twenty minutes by train so Maddie threw in her earbuds and listened to music while she studied her notes on the talent that Angel managed.

  Maddie was a little nervous to meet some of these people, especially after finding out he was managing the one celebrity Maddie had crushed on since she was fifteen and in braces. Alexandra Brownstone was one of the hottest action/adventure movie stars on the planet. She had two Academy Awards under her belt and recently just put out a controversial interview about being a lesbian in today’s film industry. Maddie not only was completely infatuated but also found strength when she read her column because knowing even someone like Alexandra Brownstone struggled with coming out made Maddie not feel so bad about waiting until she was 17 to admit she was a lesbian. Beyond the designer glasses and the glass of champagne she was sipping in the pictures, this article made Alexandra seem not so unreachable to the average everyday person.

  Whether Maddie was nervous or ready, it didn’t matter since the first meeting she would be sitting in on was the meeting with Alexandra because apparently she was having some meltdown about all the paparazzi and hate mail she was receiving after that article appeared. Before that five o’clock meeting, though, Maddie had to sit through at least three hours of HR videos on retirement packages and the dangers of sexual harassment in the workplace before she could even be briefed by Angel. Maddie sighed at the thought of sitting in a room with some old box television and watching b-list actors pretend they cared about the company. At least she would only have to suffer through it once, and by the time it was done it would be lunch time. Maddie had lunch scheduled at the harbor with Angel who was going to run through her schedule for the next week.

  Maddie switched to the train without much thought and watched the sides of graffitied buildings pass quickly by out of the window. At least the train wasn’t full like the time she visited New York City with her Aunt; Maddie was convinced she had contracted some weird disease from being pressed between a large sweaty man and a homeless woman who smelled kind of like her Aunt’s attempt at asparagus soup on the subway. Of course, Maddie was young, and this was before her parents had passed away. Maddie didn’t have a care in the world back then, and her Aunt had taken her to NYC while her mom was in the hospital giving birth to Sophie.

  Maddie thought about her parents for a moment and wondered what they would've said to her before she trekked off to a big city hours away from home. Her parents crossed her mind daily but she usually just shook them out of her mind and moved on, trying not to focus on things she couldn’t change. As Maddie’s eyes adjusted to the sun that had reached midway up from the horizon and reflected into her face from the large glass buildings of the city, she realized her stop was just ahead, and nerves began to flutter in her stomach. This was it, the first day of the rest of her life, she could not wait.

  Maddie briskly walked the two blocks to the building that housed Starstruck Management and looked up at the shimmering glass panelled architectural wonder as she stood in front of it. It seemed to go on forever, and she knew that Starstruck occupied the 24th and 25th floors, being low enough not to feel the sway but high enough to skip right over the parking garage across the street and have a fantastic view of the harbor and ocean. Maddie had a dream of having an office like Angel’s one day where she could work and enjoy the view at the same time. Well, at least until she was out of training she got to have a small desk in the corner of his office, which meant she got to see the ocean every single day, not that she couldn’t just walk across the street from her beach house now and see it anytime.

  She walked in across the shining marble floors and showed her pass to the security guard who smiled kindly. She took the elevator to Angel’s level, which of course was the 25th, and the doors opened to the very chic Starstruck lobby that was entirely decorated in black and white, including the blonde receptionist who was smiling at Maddie from the front desk. Maddie introduced herself, and the receptionist walked her to the back where every room was an executive office, and there was not a drop of color in the whole place except for the name plates on each door. Everything in the room was glistening white, and each name tag was a bright teal like the houses on the coast of Greece.

  Angel’s office was situated right in the middle of the left side, and the receptionist opened the door to let Maddie put her things on her new desk. Angel wasn’t there, and Maddie was eventually escorted to the conference room where she started watching the dreaded videos. She started out motivated, taking notes, and wanting desperately to invest in her future, but by the third hour Maddie was just trying to keep her eyes open. At the close of the last video, Maddie let out a sigh and reached her arms ups up in the air for a stretch. The door swung open behind her, and Angel walked through the door like a model on a catwalk. He stood with his hands on his hips studying Maddie’s outfit until finally nodding and snapping his finge
rs at her as he exited the room.

  Maddie scrambled to grab her things and followed him into his office where she watched him put his giant movie star sunglasses on, point at her purse, and then parade back out towards the elevators. Maddie assumed they were going to lunch so she jogged to keep up, her ankle occasionally buckling under the pressure. She continued the chase out of the elevator and all the way to the black town car parked out front waiting to whisk them away to lunch. Maddie smiled politely at the driver as she scooted in next to Angel and placed her clutch on her lap and swished her red curls out of her face.

  “So,” Angel said as he fixed his eyeliner in the mirror. “Now that you are done watching those hideous videos we can get to work. I swear. I told HR if they would let me remake the videos no one would fall asleep.”

  Maddie smiled and stifled a giggle. Angel was the most flamboyant, gay, black man she had ever met, which wasn’t saying much since she came from the smallest town in Ohio. The people in her hometown were pretty conservative and the boys who came out as gay didn’t stick around too long because of the bullying and harassment. Maddie was excited to be in a city where you could literally be anyone you wanted and the louder you were, the more people flocked to you. Of course, Angel’s success allowed him room to break some of the corporate codes, like wearing leather pants and a sequined sleeveless top to work with a matching silver streak in his perfectly manicured haircut.