So sorry that it's taken me so long you guys! I have been on vacation, in the middle of moving, and now my new apartment doesn't receive internet. However, I will do my best to update as often as possible! Please enjoy this next installment! ^_^
Chapter 11: Hot Child in the City
It had been a week since Serena had flown the coop, aka Los Angeles and Darien couldn't help but flash himself in front of the paparazzi. If he was going to grab her attention in any way, shape, or form, he had to make a statement which he had been doing all week. He first socked a paparazzo in the face for heckling him, then he walked out of a club hand in hand with some washed up Disney star who was all over the cameras like a bad cold. Next he started a shouting fight with Rei while he was on a balcony of a club and she was walking to her car across the street. He had been reckless to say the least and it still hadn't gotten him a phone call or text message. Not even a concerned e-mail! How heartless was she? Really?
Then again, he was being a little spoiled himself. Here, Darien was still in LA when he had all of the resources to fly out to NYC. What was a private plane flight across the country to get the girl of his dreams? Okay … maybe that was a bit over the top, but he couldn't get her out of his head. Every time he saw some one with super long, bright blonde hair (which wasn't that hard to find in LA) he went crazy and turned the girl around. He was always sadly and predictably disappointed. His friends thought he was going psycho and his co-stars we afraid to mention her name around him because then he would go off on a rant about how he should have punched his agent when he had the chance. And speaking Cooper … well the man was m.i.a. He had been bouncing all over LA in order to avoid Darien and his frightful fist. However, the time had come now to put his client in his place and vice versa.
The said client was surprisingly keeping himself cool in Cooper's office, sitting casually on the couch with his hands folded behind his head. It was a little too relaxed for the tension that was still brewing between the two of them. He knew that Darien knew he was Serena's father; it was all over his e-mail, voice mail, and text messaging. The two had yet to hash it out and get it all on the table. This was LA; people were just as fake as their breasts and tans.
"So… what was the point of this meeting?" Darien asked.
"I'm your agent," Cooper answered, "these are kind of necessary in order to get your career moving along the right track."
"Can we pause it for a moment?"
"You can't pause a train, Darien."
"I want to go to New York."
"Is it to chug-a-choo-choo after little Miss Serena Roddenberg?"
"You mean Serena Crane?" he corrected snidely. "Let's not tip-toe around this. She's your kid, right?"
"Jesus, you've got that brutally honest New York twang already," Cooper sighed as he shook his head. "Yes. I've been helping her mother out recently—"
"And knocking her up years ago, subsequently."
"Okay playboy, quit it with the witty report," he begged. "I made a mistake and I'm paying the repercussions of it twenty some odd years later."
"Do you even know how old she is? What her favorite color is? Who she looks up to?" Darien started to pester.
"She's twenty-two, her favorite color is pink, and she looks up to her mother," Cooper answered as he poured himself a partial glass full of dry bourbon. If the man was going to get the third degree at three in the afternoon, he had to have a drink … or two or three.
"Two out of three …"
"What'd I miss?" Cooper asked.
"Her favorite color is baby pink."
"Now we're just getting nit-picky and technical!"
"And she loves to eat anything greasy or crunchy … or with chocolate … or cream-filled…"
"I know something cream-filled you want her to—"
"She's your kid man! Don't make a sick sex joke!" Darien spat.
"I keep forgetting she's my blood…. It's weird," he shrugged. "But if I'm going to put on the fatherly trousers, then I have to ask this infamous question; what are your intentions and are they sinful?"
The dark haired hunk thought about it for a moment, chewed on his nail, and then answered, "I can't get her out of my head. I kept willing her to call me, e-mail me, tweet me or send me a Facebook comment … anything."
"Is that why you're blowing up your face all over town and across every single glossy tabloid known to man?"
"Yes."
"Thought so."
"I'm pissed at you, but I figured I'd unleash my anger out after I get Serena back here on the west coast to do the honors first," he suggested. "How do I go about this?"
"Don't knock her up and leave her alone for years on end. Her mother will ultimately send her to France or some other foreign country as punishment," Cooper grinned as he sipped his drink.
"Seriously! What do I do? How did you get Karen back in your grasp?"
"I didn't. She sort of just stumbled in … no thanks to you. You were the one who wanted Serena to be on the show with you. You were the one who wanted to get closer to the golden family. I was just the guy who pulled the strings along to help."
"Can you work your magic on the east coast? Call an ex-wife or two to get Serena to meet with me somewhere fabulous?"
"First off, never say the word 'fabulous'. That's reserved for the ladies luncheon at the penthouse terrace on the Upper East Side, go it?" he snapped suddenly. "I've heard that three-syllable word too much in my lifetime … I ran away to the west to never hear it again."
Darien chuckled as he watched his agent shutter at the thought of the word being used one more time.
"I promise to never utter it in your presence," he smiled. "So do you think you can get something arranged?"
"Why are you doing this again? Clearly it's not for my benefit…"
"Do you remember when you first fell in love? With one of your many wives?"
"I didn't fall in love with any of them," he announced as he sat down on the couch across from his client. "I fell in love with Karen during my second marriage and never fell out of it. I was constantly looking for that spark in every new marriage. I never found it until that curvaceous redhead came sashaying back into my life." He took a big sip of his drink and leaned forward, "You have to be ready for as much rejection as possible. I should know; I've dished it out plenty of times to her mother."
"I can take it."
"Can you?"
Darien held the older man's gaze defiantly and said, "Yes. I can."
"Fine … I'll hold you to it then. Get your ass on a plane. I'll make some calls. Check your phone the moment you get off the plane and you'll have a car waiting to take you to your destination," Cooper order.
Darien fled the offices of Goldman and Crane and left his titled agent to deal with his own problems at the moment. Sure enough, the man was calling up a woman; a very special woman. A half an hour later, after Darien had left, in sauntered Karen Roddenberg who was soon hoping to go by her maiden name, Hanover. She clacked loudly through the marble floored building in her designer shoes and knocked lightly against the opened door of her baby-daddy.
"What was so urgent that it couldn't wait a few hours?" she asked.
"I'm too eager with news to let you torture me," he smiled, closing the door and pulling her body toward his. He started to press his lips against her neck as he mumbled roughly, "I've missed this scent, this touch!"
"If this was the emergency, then you made me cancel my hair appointment for nothing," she sighed, wrenching out of his grip. Stepping back and smoothing out her deep purple dress, she asked him, "What do you want, Cooper?"
"Red, our baby girl will be coming back to the nest which means we have to be prepared to tell her the whole story," he declared.
"Serena is as far away as her missing passport will allow her to be; she won't get any closer to me," she sighed.
"I've taken care of it."
"In the span of a week?" she asked with an arched eyebrow. Karen sat down removed her white fitted leather gloves, "I'm intrigued. Continue and make me a martini while you're at it."
He did as he was told and quickly made up two cocktails for them. He handed her one of them and sipped on his quickly before continuing on with his proposition.
"I've sent Darien to the east coast to bring Serena back," Cooper smiled broadly.
This statement made Karen nearly spit up her beverage, but like the lady she had been raised to be, she kept it down. She placed the martini glass down on the designated coaster and was about to get up to leave when he reached out and grabbed her.
"You've asked that mongrel to get my baby back? I don't know what you were thinking…"
"He's in love with the girl! He can surely sweep her off her feet!"
"I don't want him to. I'd rather have her hate me than be in love with him!" she snapped.
"What is it about those two that irks you so?" Cooper asked.
"He reminds me of you. Suave, smooth, handsome, famous, and a heartbreaker."
He didn't respond right away, but kept sipping on his drink. He was shocked that because Darien was like himself, Karen was completely opposed to the whole situation. Cooper had always thought that it was because of her husband, James. However, that didn't seem to be the case and it made him upset on the inside. Karen could tell he wasn't happy about her answer and she stood up to move over to the opposing couch and sit down beside him. She placed a slender hand on his knee and tilted her head with concern.
"Please don't be like this," she whispered. "I'm sorry. I just don't want her to go through what I had to."
"No, no. I understand," he argued. "I hurt you deeply. But you do realize that Darien isn't me? He hasn't even been married yet."
"Oh come on! In today's society having a long-term relationship is equal to marriage. Most marriages in Hollywood end before my fresh farmer's market flowers die," she snickered.
He merely nodded and smiled weakly, "Right…"
Karen sighed loudly in frustration and stood up to her feet. As she smoothed out her skirt, she said, "I can't nurse your emotions right now. I have a daughter to worry about, a divorce to go through, and a crumbling company to build back up."
This snapped Cooper out of his depressed daze, "Crumbling? What do you mean?"
"You of all people should know that my husband is trying to get as much from this divorce as humanly possible. The company is completely in his name so he's trying to take away as much as he can … including clients, assistants, and contacts around the world."
"What does he think he's going to do with them? The man can't make a film without you around!" Cooper exclaimed as he leapt up to his feet and spilled his drink onto the couch, floor, coffee table, his own pants and a little bit on Karen's shoes.
"I know, but he wants to make me as miserable as possible like I have explained to you before," she said, shifting her weight to her other foot. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and meet with a divorce attorney…and get my shoes cleaned."
Cooper placed his now empty glass down on the wet coffee table and slipped his arms around her curvy waist. She pursed her lips and lazily plopped her own arms on his shoulders. He kissed her nose and then pressed his forehead against hers.
"Call me later? I'm sorry for being so entangled in my feelings, but I can't help but take it personally when you tell me that you don't want Serena with Darien because he reminds you of me. It's a bit heartbreaking."
"It's brutally honest," she corrected him. "Los Angeles has softened you."
"I love you Red … I want to marry you."
She kissed him before saying to him seriously, "I love you too. It's a dangerous, dangerous move, but I can't help it."
"What if Serena can't help but love Darien?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," she answered.
"We?"
"Well I won't be dealing with her by myself. You have to learn how to be a parent sooner or later," she smirked as she pulled away from him and started to collect her things. "I'll talk to you later Coop."
With that, she left the office with his eyes glued to her twisting and turning rear end. He didn't know how their relationship had turned into this, but it felt good to have her back in his life. He had fallen so deeply in love with her unexpectedly back in the eighties that now all he wanted to do was make up for lost time.
And speaking of lost time: Darien thought the long airplane ride across the states was going to make it so that he couldn't wine and dine the famous blonde girl. But he did what his agent asked him to do and checked his phone. Sure enough there was an itinerary and agenda for him to follow. How the hell Cooper had gotten all of this, he didn't know, but he wasn't about to question it. He strolled across the airport, making it to the baggage claim. He retrieved his luggage and then walked outside to find not only the usual paparazzi waiting for him, but there was a man waiting at a town car for him with his name scrawled across a large piece of thick white paper.
"Well no wonder the vultures knew where to find me," he grumbled as he pushed his way toward the car.
The chauffer helped him load in his baggage and once he was buckled up inside the car, they drove off to a hotel that Cooper had fixed up for him. He pulled his phone out and called the son-of-a-bitch with a grin across his face.
"How's the three hour time difference? Ready for a drink yet?" Cooper asked on the other line.
"Always," he laughed. "So where am I staying?"
"Waldorf Astoria," he answered. "You have suite in the floor right below Serena. I suggest you just head off to bed and when you wake up, you can start the day off just right."
"I'm not going to immediately pursue her?"
"No. Let the news of your arrival reach her. Trust me; it's New York, she'll find out."
Serena had arrived in the city ready for a fresh start away from all of the terrible flashing bulbs, awful questions thrown at her, and the memory of her shattered life. She was the flame though and the paparazzi were the pesky moths. Mina had been a wonderful hostess for the first few days until Serena had insisted that she stay in a hotel room herself. The two had hung out as much as Mina's busy schedule of working at a photography studio would allow her to. She worked closely with famous fashion photographers who had their images plastered over countless covers of Condé Nast and even America's Next Top Model.
That morning, Serena and Mina decided to share breakfast together at a nice coffee shop around the corner. This was one of the few days that Mina had off due to her job; it was fashion week. The two of them received exclusive front row tickets. She wasn't like other girls, being all excited and overly jumpy at the sight of a label. Instead she was more interested in people watching those who were examining the clothes. Mina had a knack for design and what to wear to certain events where as Serena just wanted to relax and sit in jeans and a t-shirt. As they glanced through the menu of the restaurant, Serena couldn't help but feel as though she was being watched. She sat up straighter in her seat, placed her laminated menu down and looked around the small area for a familiar face. She found it.
"Darien," she whispered.
Across the room, through the glass doors leading out to the balcony, he was sitting drinking a cup of coffee and having a smoke with his classic sunglasses shoved on his face. She should have just stayed at the table with Mina, but she felt some sort of force pulling her toward him. So she got up and stormed out to him on the balcony. He was "reading" a newspaper and supposedly didn't notice her presence. What bullshit.
"What are you doing here?" she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.
He folded his newspaper onto his lap and tapped his ash tipped cigarette into the available ashtray. Darien removed his sunglasses from his face and squinted up at her, studying her disposition so he could determine how to go about this situation.
"Two people can't be in the same city at once? Especially a place like Manhattan?" he asked.
"No. Not us. We're two people who really shouldn't be around each other. I need to get away from my life," she answered.
"Why are you running away from your problems?"
"I'm not running away … I'm taking a break."
"Yes you are running away. You're pulling the exact stunt your mother did."
"You don't know anything about my mother."
"Jesus on a stick Serena! Will you stop closing off! What is it going to take to get you to understand that not everyone is out to destroy you?"
"You don't get it. Everything I thought I once knew, my whole family, has been a sham. I've been living in a dream world for the past twenty-two years."
"The past is what has made you who you are today. You can't change it so why bother fretting over it?" he asked.
"Have your parents ever lied to you about this big of an issue?" she retorted.
He took a drag of his cigarette and then answered with smoke flowing out of his nostrils, "Yes. When I was younger and I first started out in this business, making real money, they told me that they were taking some of my paycheck to put in a trust fund for me. Turns out they were gambling it away at casinos, on investments in bogus stocks, and even taking it to the race tracks. By the time I turned eighteen and was on a stable enough road to control my money, I cut my parents out of my life as much as I possibly could. They have a good life, a nice house, and great living in Palm Springs where I hope they will stay for the rest of their lives."
Serena listened to his speech quietly and bit onto her knuckle. She hadn't expected him to burst out with the huge chunk of information about himself. He had been such a mystery and closed off until she was finally out of his grasp.
When she didn't say anything in return, he took a final drag of cigarette and stabbed it out. Darien sat up straight, downed his coffee, and closed his bottom button of his charcoal grey coat. She noticed and immediately reached for his hand.
"Would you like to come and have breakfast with me and my friend Mina?" she asked suddenly.
He grinned a little bit to himself; obviously opening up to her worked somehow.
"I've already had my breakfast," he smiled.
"Coffee?"
"With a cigarette," he added.
"Come on," she ordered, tugging him up from the table.
She led the way back to the table where Mina had already order them both fruit bowls. She looked a little irritated, but she immediately lit up the moment she caught sight of Darien.
"Mr. Shields!" she beamed, holding her hand out to him.
He kissed the top of it and said with a confused expression, "Hi there. I feel as though I should know you."
"That's just Mina's personality," Serena grinned.
He sat down and asked for a warm apple turnover for breakfast from the passing waiter as they continued on with the conversation.
"So what are you doing here Darien?" Mina asked as she stabbed into her cantaloupe.
"Can't a guy take a trip to the east coast without being questioned?" he replied.
"Not you," Serena murmured behind her strawberry filled mouth.
He sighed and said, "If you must know … I'm here to check out the runway shows."
"I don't believe you for a second!" Serena laughed, throwing her head back.
"What shows do you want to see?" Mina asked, her face glowing just as much as Serena's, but she knew how to keep herself reserved.
He shrugged as he took his phone out and looked through the agenda that Cooper's assistant had sent him. Sliding through the lists, he finally came to the ones that were starred and the ones that not only he could go to, but also ones that Serena was bound to go to.
"My stylist told me to go to Versace and Dolce and Gabbana, those were the two main shows," he announced to them.
"You're kidding," Serena breathed, rolling her eyes.
"We're going to those shows too," Mina informed him. "First we're going to Diane von Furstenberg. Would you like to join?"
"Please! The last time he time he took me to a fashion show, he flashed his money in my face and bought me a dress," Serena scoffed.
"All the more reason to bring him along," her friend smiled.
"Let him buy you something then," she sneered.
The three of them finished their food quickly and then promptly made it out to the busy street where Mina skillfully called for a taxi. They all climbed in, drove down to Bryant Park and were photographed on their way inside. It hadn't occurred to Darien that Mina had just suddenly invited him on a whim and that there might not be a seat for him. Upon entering the tent, she worked her magic and made it so someone moved to the second row instead. They sat down afterward the name was moved from the seat and they started to look around at other people filing in. A photographer came over and took a picture of the playboy sandwhiched in between the two blondes. He could see the headlines now comparing him to a young Hugh Hefner.
The show started with bumping music that could make anyone's foot tap uncontrollably to the beat. The bright clothing with tiger and leopard print stomped down the runway with colorful lights flashing at the top of the catwalk. Darien leaned back in his chair, sighing to himself and folding his hands across his lap. He could see Anna Wintour across the aisle in the front row leaning forward and studying the clothing as it fluttered in front of her sunglasses covered eyes. He was about to snort out a bit of laughter when he felt a slap on his shoulder. He looked over at Serena who was pointing at the current model fiercely walking down the runway; it was Lenora.
"Holy crap…" he whispered.
"Did you know she would be here?" Serena asked.
"No. No I didn't. I knew that she was a model now … but I didn't know the extent of her career," he answered.
When the show was done and over, the three of them casually made their way to the backstage area in order to get their names on certain pieces and so that Darien could seek out his ex-girlfriend. This whole time he assumed she was just going to be doing some silly beauty shots or something of the sort, but then here she was at a high fashion runway show. He found the said girl standing by her clothing rack with photographers and entertainment reporters surrounding her; obviously they hadn't realized she would be here either. Darien walked up to her cautiously, not sure if he should hug her or if she was still angry about the way they ended things. With the cameramen in their faces, they had to push a smile onto their lips and hold one another like they were old friends. When the buzzards had finally flown off to some other celebrity that was spotted back there, Darien and Lenora could relax.
"Hi," he greeted with a breathy tone and a shaky hand running through his hair.
"Hey stranger," she grinned.
"You look good."
"It's the make-up," she laughed. "These artists are amazing, really."
"So you've been discovered I see."
"Sort of."
"What does that mean?"
She coyly batted her lashes at him and dragged him away from all of the ruckus going on. The two of them ended up loitering around the untouched buffet table while other people who were backstage were offering to buy some of the pieces that had come straight off the runway. Serena was among one of them, eyeing a purse for herself while chatting up the model who had walked down the catwalk with it. Lenora noticed Darien's watchful eye over the blonde bombshell.
"You wanna know how I got this job?" she asked, grabbing his attention again.
"Yeah…"
"Your agent got it for me," she said curtly.
He shook his head and looked back at her with a quizzical look etched over his face, "What?"
"Cooper said I was too much of a distraction for you. In reality it was always Serena—"
"He asked you to move out of the United States in order to get what he wanted?" he asked baffled by the situation unfolding.
"He paid for the plane ticket and first months rent which you can see has paid for itself in full and then some with this huge modeling boom I've been getting," she smiled devilishly.
Darien put his sunglasses back onto his face and immediately made his way toward the nearest exit so he could call his so-called friend.
"How's the big apple?" Cooper asked on the other line. "Are you exhausted of all the pretentious assholes?"
"No, I'm just tired of one," he replied. "I ran into Lenora."
"Oh?"
"She was a model in the Diane von Furstenberg show."
"You sound like you have a point to make."
"I do. You ordered her to move here?" Darien asked.
"That's a harsh usage of words," Cooper argued.
"Oh that's right! You paid her!" he roared.
"Don't get all emotional…"
"You're fired."
"Darien—"
"Seriously. You're fired."
He hung up the phone before Cooper could make a snide, witty comment or remark. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to find Serena in a new pair of sunglasses courtesy of the designer herself.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah … or at least I will be," he answered. "You wanna get out of here? Maybe go some place quiet? Like an empty movie theater!"
"Why? So you can have your way with me? I wouldn't be caught dead in a darkly lit room alone with you," she scoffed.
"I'd beg to differ," Darien smirked.
"Come on, let's go find Mina and finish our rounds of fashion shows."
"Nah. You go ahead. I'm going back to the hotel."
"Where are you staying?"
"Waldorf Astoria just a floor below you," he answered.
She shook her head in sheer, laughable disbelief, "Just when I think you're not a sly dog…"
"I'm a puppy that needs training," he corrected.
The two of them smiled warmly at one another as Mina strolled up with a bunch of tiny pieces of paper, receipts for dresses and swimsuits, as well as Polaroid pictures in her hand. She looked between the couple and gave a knowing grin toward Serena who noticed, but ignored it.
As they walked down the wheelchair ramp, Serena said over her shoulder, "Come pick me up tonight at seven and we'll go have dinner together. It's time I trained you."
He smiled and nodded as he took out a cigarette. Things were working out alright. Maybe it was the Manhattan air, the New England way of life, or just the fact that Serena was free from all of her family drama, but she was beginning to get closer to him. Darien couldn't have been happier.
Meanwhile, on the west side of the continent…
Karen was busy typing away on her computer trying to salvage what sort of connections she had left after the destructive path her future ex-husband had paved. People were either messaging her back with declines or not at all. There were a few, a very good few, celebrities, producers, and writers who said they wanted to continue working with her.
While sighing and typing and sighing and typing, she heard a knock at the door of her hotel room. She stood up and strolled over with a stressed out expression written all over her face. When she opened up the door, she was surprised and happy to see Cooper, however he looked just as stressed out as she did.
"What's up?" she asked.
"We're going to New York," he announced as he breezed in past her without even an invitation.
"W-what?" she exclaimed.
"Pack your bags! Let's go!" he hollered.
"I don't understand, Cooper. What is going on?"
"I don't want to live in a Peyton Place movie themed life," he breathed as she walked up to him. He clutched her shoulders and continued on with his explanation, "I have supposedly been fired by Darien."
"Excuse me? What did you do now?"
"I sent his girlfriend off to London to pursue her modeling career and he found out," he answered. "I don't think we can sit around any longer and let him run the show."
"So now that you don't control your client anymore, you've lost your confidence in him?" she said with an arched eyebrow.
"Pretty much."
Karen passed him a small smile. She knew that he hated losing control over anything and everything, but she had a way of calming him down. She took hold of his hand placed him down on the couch alongside her. Rubbing the bottom of his palm, she looked at him directly in the eyes.
"I love you dearly, but we can't just fly out to the east and crash in on Serena's life. As much as I would like to do that, you know it won't work. She's old enough to do what she wants. She'll come back to me. She'll come back to us."
Cooper exhaled loudly and laid out across the couch and then rested his head on her lap. Looking up at her, he said, "Why do you always know the right things to say?"
"Because I know our daughter best," she answered. "Don't worry; you'll catch up."
She leaned over and kissed him on the lips gently before patting his chest and pushing up into a sitting position.
"Now come on. Get going. I have to finish scrounging up some clientele," she ordered.
"Okay. Love you Red," he whispered, kissing her temple.
He left her hotel room only to book a room himself … in Manhattan that is.
Serena was just about to finish up placing a third layer of lip gloss when there was a knock at her door.
"Finally!" she whispered.
She took one last look at herself before bounding off toward the entrance. Not even bothering to look through the peephole, she asked in a joking manner, "Who is it?"
"Room service."
"What the …?"
She opened up the door to find that the person at in front of her was Cooper.
"What are you doing here?"
He walked right in and slammed the door behind himself, "I'm taking you back. Let's go." He paused for a moment and took a look at her before asking, "Good god girl! You look like you're ready to go disco the night away with Twiggy and Andy Warhol in that get up!"
"I'm sorry, did you say that you were here to take me away?" she asked, trying to get back on topic.
"Yes."
"Did my mother send you here?"
"No. She completely forbid it actually," he replied as he looked around the hotel room. "The only way I could get in here is by telling them I was your agent and needed a room right next to you. It worked."
"So if she doesn't want me back, why are you here?" she asked him.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Cooper finally made eye contact with her, "Did you have sex with Darien?"
"N-no! Why would you ask me that?" she screamed.
"That's how trouble starts," he explained.
"Are you speaking of me or my mother?" Serena quipped.
"Eh … both. Your mom got into trouble for years on end and I'd rather you not do the same," he said. "Sex in this city is all bad."
"You sound like a pastor on Sunday morning."
"Touché my dear. But seriously, I got into my first marriage because I wanted to have sex, got out of it because we didn't have sex and then destroyed my second because I had too much sex with your mother."
"Ew, t.m.i." Serena crossed her arms over her sequined dressed chest and tilted her head, "So what did you do with Darien? He should have been here a half an hour ago."
"That kid is always late. I know him too well," he said. "So before he gets off his lazy ass and makes it here, will you come with me back to LA?"
"What's in it for me?"
"Your mother's love?"
"Try again; I'll always have that."
"Okay, you want my honest answer? Darien has been trying his hardest to get connected to you and your family in any way," he said. "He wants to try to get up in the ranks any way he possibly can."
"You think I haven't figured that out?"
"Nothing will get you back to the west, will it?"
"Nope."
What Serena didn't know was that Darien was a little bit earlier than expected and had heard most of the conversation outside. He was starting to walk down the hallway for the elevator, when he heard the door open up. He was met up at the slow moving contraption by Cooper.
"Shouldn't you be back in there? Meeting up with your dream date?" he asked.
"Shouldn't you be dragging your daughter back to la-la-land?" he retorted.
Noticing Darien's tone of voice, he followed him into the elevator. Cooper pressed the floor level button. As they traveled downward, Cooper kept stealing glances at him, but the celeb-brat wouldn't make a move; not even a blink of an eye.
"Listen Darien—"
He was suddenly placed up against the wall by Darien's strong hand. His fingers wrapped gently around his neck and tightened bit by bit as he spoke menacingly to his ex-agent.
"I'm going out to a club opening on the upper east side," he said to him. "I will not bring Serena, I will not return her texts, her calls, or anything of that sort. Tomorrow, you will take her back to California and keep this reputation I seemed to have built."
"W-what? *Cough* What is wrong … with … you?" Cooper choked out.
He let go of his throat and sighed, "She thinks I'm a just a run of the mill celebrity."
"Well if you continue on like this, then yes she will think you're just some stupid star," he said, rubbing his neck slightly. "Listen, her mother is scared of you being around her because you're like me. Why don't we prove her wrong by not pulling my stunts."
"Your stunts?" he asked.
"I've left Karen countless times. Don't do the same thing to Serena. Please."
The elevator arrived at the ground floor and Cooper stepped out of it.
Alone.
He turned around and looked back at Darien pressing a button and waving goodbye. When the doors shut completely, the silver-haired fox pulled out his vibrating phone and answered it.
"If you're going to yell at me, I can stop you right in your tracks Karen. I'm coming back. Darien is nothing like me. He won't desert her… Uh-huh …. Ooh, I get punished when I get back? I can't wait…"
He left the hotel in order to get back onto his private jet and fly back to the arms of his beloved. It was strange how he had become Darien's mentor and Karen was Serena's natural mentor by default. He would leave his child in this city only to come back to her original state soon enough.
Please review! ^_^ I didn't have time to read over it as thoroughly as I usually do, so forgive any grammar mistakes. lol
