"RJ! Honey, come here. I want you to meet someone!" Brooke called as her son strolled past her door. He sighed, adjusted his cerulean bangs with his fingertips, and spun on his heel. When he entered her office, he saw a tall hot guy sitting in the chair in front of his mother's desk. The man was typing away on his tablet.
"I'm RJ," he said, not really interested in who the guy was but even less interested in getting by his mother.
"Thad Pasado," the man offered, looking up and holding out his hand. "It's spelled with an 'H', but it's silent."
"Gotcha." RJ didn't shake his hand, so Thad let it drop. "And just who are you, Thad-with-a-silent-H?"
"He's my new personal assistant, RJ. We've gotten so busy the last three months that I need someone to schedule my meetings and field phone calls." Brooke smiled and told Thad to put his tablet down. "Thad, this is RJ Logan. He's my son and our head designer."
"My apologies. I was in the middle of drafting a press release about Ivy Forrester. Dreadful news about that one."
"Yeah, we can only hope she's dead for real. I mean, who knew she was capable of all of that?" RJ blew his breath upward so that his bangs danced on his forehead. "But why are you writing a press release? We have a PR department for that."
"Thad's history is in PR, RJ. He worked in the PR department for Newman Enterprises for years."
"I was just a peon writing releases and having the head of the department take credit," Thad added as he turned back to his tablet.
"And you left that job to be my mom's personal assistant why?"
"When Newman went public, Thad was laid off," Brooke explained. Then she looked at her assistant. "It's okay to tell him that, right?"
"Oh yeah. It's fine." Thad turned back to his tablet and shrugged. "Any time there's an IPO, restructuring happens. I'd made enough money to be comfortable for a few years, but I moved to LA thinking I could be an actor. Except I'm apparently not very good at it. And I tried working at some of the PR firms out here, but those people... No offence, but Los Angeles makes Victor Newman look less like an angry tyrant and more like a crabby old man."
"I beg to differ," RJ said as he recalled his confrontations with the old man. "Whatever. I have work to do. Was there anything else?"
"Yes. RJ, could you tell Amber that we are NOT having a stripper pole installed in the break room just because Jake in accounting says he has angry talents?" Broke sighed.
"Angry talents? I think you mean mad skillz, Mom. And Jake isn't from accounting, he is accounting. As in the whole department. And he wants to know when we're hiring someone to handle the international numbers because he can barely keep up with domestic."
"As soon as he's done with the press release, Thad is setting up interviews with promising applicants. We really need an HR department."
"And that's why you're CEO. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go tell Jake that I need a preview before we invest in a pole."
"RJ, that's not funny!" Brooke called out as her son skipped out of her office. "WE ARE NOT GETTING A STRIPPER POLE!"
B&B
Seeing his son Wyatt suffer through physical therapy was hard, but seeing the woman who ran him down get off with community service was maddening. Bill Spencer wanted to see her destroyed. Taylor Hayes had made a habit of ruining everything for everybody, and she needed to be stopped. And Ridge Forrester needed to be punished for standing by her side throughout the whole trial.
"You say your name is Eden?"
"Eden Baldwin. Yes, Sir," the woman answered with a nod. "I was so surprised to have you call me personally. I mean, I'm just a journalism student and you're..."
"Tired of hearing you give extended answers when a simple 'yes' or ' no' would suffice," Bill said, cutting her off. "My son Liam is friends with RJ Logan. I heard from him that RJ had a friend who wanted to be a journalist. I'm willing to give you a shot, let you shadow me and do some intern work. But I need you to do some things on the side for me. They're things you might not agree with, but will eventually realize are for the best."
Eden tilted her head and looked at Bill oddly. "Mr. Spencer, what are you talking about?"
"Miss Baldwin, you are friends with RJ Logan, yes? And you dated his boyfriend Noah?"
When the woman's eyes grew hard, Bill grinned. "Noah was mine. RJ knew that. What exactly are you asking me to do, Mr. Spencer?"
"Eden? Yes, Eden, RJ's father Ridge is involved with my niece Caroline. Engaged, even. I don't approve of that. Neither does RJ or anyone else, but for some reason those two think they love each other. I can't have that. And that's where you come in."
"What are you talking about? I never met RJ's father."
"No, but you know RJ's boyfriend. You know him intimately. And I want you to seduce him back into your bed." Bill began to lay out the rest of his plan. He told Eden exactly what she would say and do and how it would ruin his niece's relationship with his nemesis.
"Mr. Spencer, this is very convoluted. Why not just hire me to seduce Ridge himself? And what makes you think I would go along with this? That I won't just out you to everyone involved the moment I walk out that door?"
"Because I know you aren't Eden Baldwin. Victor Newman isn't only person who knows Dr. Fascinella." Bill grinned and leaned back into his chair, laughing at the woman's shock. "I know Victor was going to have you seduce Noah anyway. I may not know where the real Eden Baldwin is, but I also don't care. This is all going to go down in the way that benefits me the most."
"Victor Newman isn't someone you want to cross, and neither am I," the woman warned.
"In my entire life, only two people ever scared me. One was my father, Bill Spencer Sr. He's dead."
"And the other?"
Bill leaned forward, fists on his desk. "Let's just say that it's neither you nor Victor Newman."
B&B
"Is anybody home?" Liam asked while knocking on the door to RJ and Noah's flat. "I come bearing vegan pizza with locally sourced ingredients and fair trade chocolate!"
"If you'd just left it at pizza and chocolate, I might have opened the door, but all those other words have convinced me to leave it locked," Noah answered.
"You invited me over!"
The door opened and Noah rolled his eyes. "And I thought you would be bringing real food, like a real person."
"Don't knock it until you've tried it." Liam slipped past Noah, two pizza boxes in one hand and a bag of chocolate bars in the other. "Did you like that almond milk I left here the last time?"
"No. I went out and bought a gallon of real milk. As in from a cow. I still haven't adjusted to how expensive everything is out here. Or how many people have personal shoppers or get their groceries delivered. Back in Genoa City, we're a lot more low key about being rich."
"That's Wisconsin, mi amigo. This is Los Angeles. Soon enough, you'll be accustomed to everything. It took me awhile to adapt."
"I've talked to Hope, Liam. You went from a geeky computer repair dude to eating bread made out of rice."
"That stuff is delicious." Liam argued as he held up a finger. "You would know that if you actually tried it."
"I used that loaf you brought over last week to finally fix that hole my mom left in the wall. For some reason, RJ wanted to keep it as a shrine."
"Fine, no chocolate for you." Liam turned up his nose and set the pizzas on the dining table. "RJ's not home yet?"
"He's still at work. Which is why you're here! Because it is apparently next to impossible to make friends in this city. I have you, and I have Amber. And since Amber is always working with RJ, you get stuck keeping me from turning into that crazy shut-in airplane guy from the 50s."
"Howard Hughes?" Liam sat his burlap sacks on the table and pulled out a chocolate bar. "Want some?"
"Is it real chocolate or some of that carob stuff? Because that was gross." Noah looked at the offering suspiciously.
"It's 73% cacao. It's as close to pure chocolate as you can get without any of the horrible child labour!"
"But that's what makes it taste so good," Noah said as he snatched the bar from Liam and peeled back the wrapper. He sniffed the chocolate while Liam chuckled.
"If you don't trust me, you can ask me to stop bringing you food."
"I never asked you to start," Noah pointed out as he snapped off a corner of the chocolate bar and tossed it into his mouth. He chewed on it instead of letting it melt, but Liam had the self-control to not say anything about it. "Okay, fine, this passes. But don't expect me to eat that stuff that is most definitely not pizza."
"More for me then." Liam walked over to the cupboard above the stove, pulled out a plate, and walked back to the table to get a couple slices of his pizza. It was bell pepper with green olives and fried tofu and Noah really was missing out. "So, what are we doing tonight to keep you from going out and experiencing the world?"
"Scooby-Doo is on Netflix. And I do go out into the world. It's just really, really hard to get a record deal when you're a solo guitarist with no vocals."
"Digital era, man. Make your own music, release it on the internet, and get famous." Liam sat on the sofa and waited for his friend to join him. "It's not like the modern music industry isn't a decade away from collapsing."
"And print is dying but you're still working for a publishing company." Noah opened the fridge to see what was available to eat. "I miss working at my dad's bar. I never thought I would say that, but when you're living in your boyfriend's loft and off his income and you spend all day mailing CDs to record labels and emailing follow up questions... I need something to do with my time because oh my god I'm bored."
"I could get you a column in one of music magazines. Are you any good at writing?"
"You've heard my lyrics."
Liam laughed. "So that's a no. Fine. But you're doing the music thing again. RJ told me awhile back that you'd stopped."
"When my friend Devon tried starting his own label, I was there with him. But now he's doing god knows what and I'm fucking useless."
Setting his plate down on the coffee table, Liam stood up and shook his head. "Dude, if you need something to do, I can seriously get you something at Spencer. Even if it's just to kill time. I mean, Spencer Publications does own Axe magazine. You can be an unpaid intern during the day and make connections that'll help you get that record deal you don't need."
"Why unpaid?" Noah asked, shutting the fridge. His hands empty.
"Because my dad may have made me CEO, but hell will freeze over before he lets me pay the interns." Liam sat back down and turned on the TV. "Now get your food and let's watch those meddling kids and their dog."
B&B
"How is everything?" Brooke asked as she laid her head on Liam's chest and played with his sword necklace. She half-hated herself for loving how safe she felt in his arms. What had started as a drunken one night stand, a random mistake, became a deliberate affair.
It felt weird to call it an affair. Neither one of them was married. Ivy had left Liam months ago for another man and Brooke hadn't had anyone serious since well before that.
"It's okay." Liam kissed the top of Brooke's head. "Noah's still lonely. He has nobody out here except RJ and Amber. I hung out there again today because Noah's a nice enough guy and I like RJ, but I don't have anything in common with either one of them."
"Well, you and Noah have one thing in common," Brooke bragged as she brushed her hair from her face and wiggled her eyebrows. "Let's hope he never realizes that."
"To quote your son, 'stop bringing up that you banged Noah! It's gross'."
"I love you," Brooke laughed as she reached up and played with Liam's hair.
"I know," he said, smiling into her hair. "I love you, too. It's why I put up with you being a brat. Like that stuff just now about Noah."
"Aren't you the man who keeps telling my son that you're gonna wreck his happy home with Noah?" Brooke smirked as her fingers traced a line from Liam's temple to his chin.
"No, RJ keeps telling me that I'm gonna do that. Then he pouts when I remind him that I'm straight."
Brooke sat up in the bed, looking down at Liam in the moonlight. "Maybe next time, instead of that, you should just tell him that you're mine."
She leaned down and kissed her man. It was a kiss goodbye.
"Can't you stay at least one night?"
"I would love to, but what if someone stopped by?"
"Right. Nobody can know."
"At least not yet," Brooke assured Liam. She put on her bra, then leaned into another kiss. "Someday. I won't make you wait forever."
"You're worth forever."
There was nothing Brooke could say to that. She didn't believe it, so she just finished getting dressed and left.
