Untouchable ~ A Jared Leto/MARS Fanfiction

Chapter Sixteen

Little do I know that the decisions I've made today are going to cause a shitstorm when I return to the house. While succeeding in my effort to be economical—relatively, as I'm still aghast at how much money I've just spent—this causes Jared to lose his temper on me for the first time.

Well, it isn't just me and my miserly ways. That's just the icing on the cake. Or, maybe the sprinkles on top of the icing.

Two unfamiliar cars are parked at the house when we pull in. Unfamiliar to me, anyway. One is a nondescript black sedan, with a uniformed driver sitting inside it. The other is a white Lexus. But they're apparently familiar to Jimmy, who curses under his breath at the sight of them.

Who's here?" I ask.

"That's Suzanne's car," he answers, pointing to the Lexus. He doesn't supply a last name or give her billing, as if I'm supposed to know who Suzanne is. "Not quite sure who's the limo. I can venture a guess or two, but if it was someone I really need to worry about, Mr. Leto would've called." He stops the Pathfinder beside the front entrance. "Need any help bringing stuff in?"

"I think we've got it." I get out, clutching the bag with the almond milk as Jimmy pops open the back hatch. Shelby and I load up both hands and arms with her clothing bags and we go inside the house.

Nobody is in the main front room, kitchen, or dining room. It's eerily quiet, in fact. "Where's Jared?" Shelby asks. "I want to show him all my stuff."

"He's probably with his company," I answer, setting down Shelby's bags on the dining room table and bringing the milk to the kitchen. Sliding it into the fridge, I continue, "Leave everything down here and out of the way for a little while. I'm sure he'll be out from wherever he is soon."

Shelby nods. "Okay. I'm gonna go to the tower. Call me when he's done, cuz I wanna be here when he sees the cool stuff I got." She scampers off down the hallway leading to the tower.

Left with nothing much else to do, I go to my room and pick up a novel based on Greek mythology that I borrowed from Jared. I decide to sit outside, leaving the glass door open to let the mild fall breeze into the room. I open the book where I left off and begin to read. Moments later, I'm pulled back to the here and now as I hear Jared speaking to someone. Low, but intense, and with a strained edge to his voice.

"This is nothing short of demeaning. I fail to see where I'd benefit in any way from an arrangement of this kind. What I don't fail to see is that it's a disaster waiting to happen. It already was a disaster. Besides—" there's a rhythmic thump and shuffle as Jared goes by my open bedroom door, and the footsteps of two other people, one of them wearing heels, it sounds like, also pass by— "even if it wasn't the most ridiculous idea that I wouldn't take part in even if I was a hundred percent, I'm sitting out the awards season this year. I've got weeks to go on this cast. You've got time to find someone else."

"But she wants you, Jared. Needs you," the woman who I presume is Suzanne says. "You know how the game works. You've played it enough times before, and you're perfectly aware that any woman who dates Jared Leto can count on an astronomical profile boost. She needs that buzz as she goes into filming Destination, and as the director, it'll serve to benefit you as well. Can't you understand the situation here?"

A harsh laugh devoid of humor. "She needs me? She should've thought of that before she made the mistake of lying to me and screwing me over. No. The answer is no. I'm not doing it. As far as the film goes, I don't give a shit right now if a single scene of Destination is shot or not."

Though they've moved down the hall toward the front entrance, I clearly hear a male with a gruff, heavily Russian-accented voice boom, "My boy, money isn't the only means I have to persuade you that resuming a public relationship with my daughter is in your best interests as well as hers."