Aries Rising Read Free Page A

gloss muted and natural. With that hair, she had to be a Leo, I thought. She wanted to be on stage, and right now, with Jaffa beaming at her, she was.
    “Hey, Stacy.” He turned to me. “This is Logan.”
    “Welcome.” She put out her hand with the understated-but-perfect nails that matched her lips.
    “It’s so good to meet you in person,” I said.
    “You, too. Sorry I’m late. I just got back from an appointment with Arianna Woods and her people. She’s going to be our first cover model for CRUSH , but of course you know that.”
    “Arianna Woods?” No, I hadn’t known that, and, apparently, neither had Jaffa.
    “Isn’t she having some issues?” he asked.
    “Just a little negative press. She’s okay now, better than okay, and she will be a great cover for our debut issue. Don’t you think so, Logan?”
    “I’m sure she will,” I said.
    “I mean, you’re our target demographic. Wouldn’t you want to read a magazine with Arianna on the cover?”

    I tried really hard. “I wouldn’t not want to read it.” Lousy, lousy Aquarius liar.
    “Well, then. Is there someone you’d rather see on the cover? Someone who’d make you pick it up or subscribe to it?”
    I was starting to feel sweaty and anxious. I knew she wanted me to say no, but I couldn’t. “Girls like guys. So, I don’t know. Maybe Josh Mellick. He and Cory Scott have done pretty well even after Arianna left their group. And Josh was on the cover of People a few months ago.”
    “Magazines like ours have girls on the covers,” she said. “We’ll have guys inside, of course. Maybe even Josh or Cory. I really do think Arianna’s perfect, in spite of her ... alleged problems.”
    “If anyone can make it work,” Jaffa said, “I am certain you can. Now, I need to get back to my hotel.”
    “I was hoping we could all have lunch.” I could tell that Stacy was disappointed to be stuck with me.
    He shook his head in that unaware, onto-his-next-mission Aquarius way. “I’m on deadline, same as you.”
    I was reminded that this was the Henry Jaffa and that I was beyond lucky to even know him, not to mention have him on my side.
    “Thanks so much for making this happen,” I told him, “and for taking the time to meet me here.”
    “You two will work well together,” he said. “My instincts regarding these matters are seldom wrong.”
    Stacy smiled at him, and I could see that even though she was a magazine editor now, she was just as in awe as I was.
Jaffa-ites. That’s what the writers he mentored called themselves. I hoped to be one of them someday.
    “Henry says you’re a hard worker,” she told me. “The intern we tried before you was all about the glamour. I don’t have to explain to you about unrealistic expectations.”
    “No, you don’t. I’ll do any job you want me to.” I realized that Jaffa was staring at me. “I’m also ... I mean, I am kind of into astrology. I’m just putting it out there in case you ever have a need for something like that.”
    Although she looked as friendly as ever, I could feel the air freeze between us.
    “Henry told me about what happened in Monterey this summer. It’s a little difficult to believe that astrology had much to do with it.”
    “If you were there,” Jaffa said, “you wouldn’t question.”
    He was trying to help me. So I couldn’t just stand there, too terrified to speak.
    “It was a forty-year-old mystery that no one had been able to solve until then,” I told her in a voice that sounded far more confident than I felt. “It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t studied the astrological charts of the people involved.”
    “That may or may not be, but I think these magazine astrology columns are clichés. And, yes, we are looking for one, but I’m going to have to find a real astrologer or at least a reasonable astrology service. As much as I like your sincere approach, Logan, you’re still only a high school student.”
    “The same as your readers. Why