16. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Lila
M y heart was pounding, but not with fear. Watching Barry stand up for me in front of Mia was doing unfair things to my body. He’d used his connection to his family for me .
“Thank you,” I said. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I think I did. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer, was she?”
I bit my lip. I’d never seen her like that, but I’d also never pissed her off before. I’d heard from other artists that she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted, but seeing it for myself was entirely different.
“You beat her at her own game. You said that was your sister’s move?”
A smile crossed his face. “Yes.”
“When did she use that?”
“I think we have bigger problems than my family,” he said, shaking his head.
I deflated. I wanted to know more about this man who dominated my mind. He would give a little, but he wasn’t entirely opening up to me.
But all in all, he wasn’t wrong. I did have bigger problems, such as figuring out how to separate myself from Mia as soon as possible.
I let out a long sigh. “I need to contact my lawyer and see if I can get out of this contract.”
“Do you need help with it? I wasn’t kidding when I said I had connections.”
“No, I’ll be okay. I have someone I can ask first.”
He nodded. “When do you need to leave?”
As much as I wanted to say never, I was worried about how Mia seemed so certain that she couldn’t be fired. I’d signed my working contract with her when we were all grieving Rick’s death, so maybe I’d overlooked some things.
Mia wouldn’t delay anything. She was probably heading to a lawyer right at this very moment.
I didn’t have time to waste.
“I should probably go now. God, but I don’t want to. How could this get any worse?” My phone buzzed and I saw Juno saying that paparazzi had begun showing up in Nashville looking for Mia’s car. “Oh, that’s how. The paparazzi found me. I need to go before they find the bar.”
“I don’t care if people know you’re here. Me and my security team—?”
“I wouldn’t put this on anyone. Thank you for everything you did tonight, Barry. I’ll see you once all the buzz dies down.”
Barry
The bar closed at its usual time of four a.m., and I foolishly thought I was free from questions when Audrey and Liam seemed more focused on straightening up rather than talking to me.
But the minute the floor was mopped and everything was clean, Audrey found me.
“What was that?” she asked. “Why was Lila Wilde’s agent here yelling at you?”
Liam raised his eyebrows. “Was that who it was? I knew it was something big when you went to get Barry.”
“Uh, yeah,” Audrey said. “She said she wanted her star back. She had to be talking about Lila, right?”
“She works with other artists,” I muttered.
“Was it another one, then?”
I didn’t know how to answer.
“Is that who you’re working with?” Audrey asked.
“I can’t say.”
“That’s not a no.”
“Guys, I really can’t say. I signed an NDA.”
Audrey’s eyebrows shot up.
“So, we can safely assume that Audrey’s right,” Liam responded. “But you just can’t confirm that.”
He was exactly right.
“Holy shit!” Audrey exclaimed. “You’re, like, her biggest fan.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“You cover her songs all the time. Trust me, it’s obvious.”
“How did this even happen?” Liam asked, shaking his head. “ The Lila Wilde was here and we didn’t even know?”
I didn’t answer, no matter how much I wanted to.
“God, I’m dying to know the details.”
“You can’t tell anyone. Both of you know that, right?”
“Of course.” Liam rolled his eyes. “We kept that one big rock star who did a secret show here on the down-low. We aren’t gonna tell a soul.”
“But I am buying that new album,” Audrey said. “I can’t believe you worked on it.”
“I didn’t,” I lied.
“Yeah, yeah. NDA and all of that.” Audrey waved her hand. “When does it come out?”
“A single was dropped a few hours ago.”
“What?” Audrey pulled out her phone. “Why is it called ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’?”
“Let me see that,” Liam said. “Holy shit, it is.”
“Is this about Blaze? Is that why Mia was so mad?”
I shrugged.
“I’ve got to listen to this.” She pushed play on the song I was hoping to listen to in the comfort of my apartment where I could fully get lost in her music.
But the second her song played, I knew I wouldn’t stop it.
I was dying to hear what she’d written about him, after all.
Harsh electric guitar was the first thing I heard, then her voice—but this wasn’t the commercial sound of in-love Lila Wilde, rather a fast-paced, lyrical middle finger.
What was even more interesting was that she didn’t pull any punches. She called him out for cheating on her, saying it was in her own home with someone she thought was a friend. It was like it was her mission to make everyone hate Blaze.
And it was going to work.
“Holy shit,” Audrey muttered. “Has she ever released anything like this?”
“No,” I said. “Never.”
“The guitar, that was you , wasn’t it?” Liam asked.
“How do you know it was me?”
“One, it’s a lower pitch, and two, you play like that, even if it’s on your acoustic.”
“I may have contributed a little .”
I just didn’t know Lila would use it in the end. She never ceased to surprise me.
And I doubted she ever would. I knew I needed to go listen to this a hundred times until I had every note memorized.
This new version of Lila was more addictive than I could ever imagine.
And I could only hope I got to spend more time with her now that the album was done and she was finally free of Blaze.