The next day, I felt pretty good. I knew I had a meeting with Tia about the pictures, and I hoped that went well. I also wanted to have a talk with her about working with Jeremy, and if she had other photographer options, because if I kept working with him, I might punch him some day. I'd do my best not to lose my cool, but if he kept on and on, then I'd probably smack him.

Paulina looked up at me with a giant grin when I walked into the office, then came over and hugged me. "I wasn't sure you were coming back! I'm so sorry, I should have stayed back there for the shoot!"

"Nah, its okay. I figured a few things out yesterday, so I think we'll be good going forward," I assured her. "But, if his body turns up some day, it wasn't me!"

She snorted, then covered her mouth as she giggled. "There would be a long list of suspects, not just you. A lot of girls have given up on modelling because of him and his antics."

"Not me. I might make him give up photography though. Is Tia in? I'm supposed to go over the photos with her today."

"Yeah, she's in her office. I'll walk you back there. Leila and Amy are doing a shoot, so Jeremy will likely be distracted, but I don't want you two to get into it."

"Don't sweat it. I am over him, so his opinion doesn't matter anymore," I stated. "If Tia is okay with me, and I can take some good pictures, then he is irrelevant."

Her smile grew even wider. "That will drive him crazy if you just ignore him!"

"Yep. But most of the shots from yesterday, I was doing that anyway, I was just watching Izzy and her directions instead. It probably would have been fine if I hadn't reacted to his bullshit and kept my cool instead."

"And you think you can keep it in now?" she asked with her head cocked to the side a little. I had a feeling I wasn't the first to try to ignore him before. But I was trying to learn and grow, and I was going to fucking beat him.

"I do. He just caught me by surprise. I'm still figuring myself out, but I'm done with men like him telling me what I should or shouldn't do. I'll do my best to not snap back too much, but I sure as hell won't let him bring me down."

"I might have to invest in some ear plugs, I have a feeling that things are going to get noisy back there when it is your turn to shoot!" She snickered a bit then nodded her head at the hallway to the beach room. "Good luck back there!"

With a confident stride, I made my way to the beach room where I waved at Amy, who couldn't wave back since she was modeling. I saw Leila with her and was determined to meet her today since I hadn't when I saw her last. Izzy must have caught me out of the corner of her eye, and then gave me a shy wave that I returned. She was a sweet girl. Lord knows she must have her mother's DNA, cuz her dad is a dick.

Speaking of the dick, he didn't look my way, and I continued to ignore him as I made my way to Tia's office, knocking politely when I reached the closed door.

"Come in!" I heard her call out, and I opened the door before poking my head in. She waved me in while still on the phone. "I know what I told you Jon, but I want those suits here within the next ten days. All of them, even the optional ones, so we can see how they all look!"

She nodded at whatever the man said before she smiled at me and motioned at the chairs in front of her desk, and I sat in the left one while she rolled her eyes at whoever Jon was. "I don't care what he said! He isn't the owner and has no say in any production related decisions. If he says anything like that again, you tell him to talk to me about it, because I'm the only one giving any orders! Is that understood? Good! Now if you excuse me, I have a meeting. Call me tomorrow with an update."

She thumbed off the phone, and then leaned back in her chair while closing her eyes. "Fuck! The nerve of some people! Ugh, anyway. Good morning. I heard you had an eventful shoot yesterday after I left."

I gave her a quick smile and a nod. "Yeah, I apologize. I'm not used to being called a beached whale. I shouldn't have snapped though."

"He said that?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, he did. But I had been expecting something, since I had been ignoring him. I'd prefer to work with Izzy, he's never going to get the best from me if he treats me like that." I had no idea if that was possible, but I could hope.

"I wish it were that easy. She's his daughter, and a minor. I pay him and he pays her. I can't hire her till she's legal. And if I tried that, he could always take her and move. I'm betting he's not paying her a lot, so she can't afford to stay on her own. As it is, most of the pictures we use come from her, but he controls her." Tia was running her hands through her hair in frustration. "It isn't like I can offer her a place to stay too. He'd call the cops on me for kidnapping or some shit."

I nodded along with her explanation, realizing he would probably do just that. That was the kind of control he wanted. God forbid he just worked with people, he had to dominate them. Or was that just with women? "Well, I guess in the meantime, can I request either you or Paulina in the room when we do shoots if possible? I can control myself, I think, but I don't know that I can trust him to do the same."

She nodded with a happy smile. "I'll do my best, but we're not always free."

"Then that is the best I can ask for!"

"Well then. Since we have that settled, do you want to go over the photos from yesterday?" she asked.

I sat up in excitement since I'd never done anything like this, and I couldn't wait to see how they came out. "Absolutely!"

She took out a folder and moved around her desk to the chair next to me and opened it to reveal a stack of 8x10 photos. "We obviously have them all digital, but these are yours for posterity. If you'd like any changes, like black and white versions for instance, just ask Izzy, she does all the editing. No photoshop though, mostly just lighting adjustments and cropping. We like our girls to look real." She handed the folder to me, a picture that was obviously taken by Izzy on the top. I looked pretty damned good if I do say so myself. "Go on through them and look at them as though you were looking at a catalog or a magazine and let me know what you think."

I nodded absently and slowly began to go through them. The first thing I could tell was that I looked happy. The suit fit me well, my curves were all being shown off and the pink was a perfect color with my almond colored skin. Overall, the first few pictures I thought came out awesome. "I like these so far. I'd buy that suit!"

"It's already yours, I left it in your room. You deserved it." I looked at her in shock before she reached over and patted my arm. "Don't look so surprised. I treat all the girls here like my daughters. I want you to be happy, and that suit was perfect for you."

"Thank you so much!" I gushed, not expecting that for a gift.

"You're welcome. Now, keep going."

The next few pictures were all of me spinning a little, and I remembered Izzy twirling her fingers and getting me to give her different angles. I noticed a few things about that view. First, Izzy could take amazing pictures, and she framed my ass perfectly. Second, the knife scar from Max was very visible from this angle, a pale while line about eight inches long against my skin. I liked it. It made me look tough. It was a battle wound, and I'd made it. Yes, with help, but still.

"Are you okay with the scar?" I asked. Just because I liked it, didn't mean she did.

"Are you kidding? I love it," she admitted. "For what we have coming up the next time we shoot you, it will be perfect. You're not here to be a typical model, you're here to be you. You have a scar, and you shouldn't be afraid to show it."

I smiled at her, happy to hear her tell me that. I wasn't ashamed of it, but I was half expecting them to photoshop it out. Instead, several of the shots made it stand out, mostly because of the lower angle that Izzy had been shooting from. I loved it!

"You made it look unique. Hell, you made me look unique," I whispered aloud while I kept flipping through the pictures. "Does this mean I can keep being a model?"

She scoffed. "Of course, it does! That was never in doubt. We just need to get you and Jeremy on the same page to make this work."

"That might be difficult, but I'll do my best," I assured her. I didn't care about him though. I could tell that Izzy had taken all the best pictures but one. There was a single picture in the file that I knew Jeremy had taken. It was right after he'd called me a beached whale, and there was a wicked snarl on my face while my body was in mid step towards him. I looked like I wanted to kill him. At that exact moment, I probably did.

I'd have to frame that one.