20. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Lila
Blaze Matthews SHOCKS in New Tell-All about Lila
By Perez Adder
The music world was rocked when Lila Wilde surprise-dropped her newest single, “Goodbye, Good Riddance,” about her long-time muse, Blaze Matthews. The lyrics are devastating, accusing him of falling for someone and lying to her for years about it. She accuses him of cheating on her in her own house.
Many eyes have been watching for her rare public appearances, or at the very least, an interview about the shocking song, but she’s stayed busy on her new album, which should come out any day now . . .
But today, we finally heard from someone involved. A representative for Blaze reached out to clarify a few things.
“Obviously, this isn’t the full story. Blaze was faithful in his dedication to her from day one, but Lila began to grow complacent and found comfort in other places. He supported her when she went to Nashville to work on her new album and even encouraged it. This single is like a betrayal of the worst kind. She’s probably there now, focused on her new, shiny muse while Blaze has been trying to get over her.”
There you have it. Lila has been in NASHVILLE of all places, the country music capital of the world. Is she about to go country? I don’t think it would suit her . . .
3564 Comments
Potstirrer: Not surprised. Women always cheat.
JuliusSneezer: But like . . . did she cheat? God, there’s so much drama. This next album is gonna be LIT.
RealLilaFan247: There is no way. Blaze is such a liar!
HairyPoppins: I need new pics of her. Where is she?
I ’d figured out that Malia was not the kind of agent to call me. Unlike the barrage that I was used to from Mia, she handled things silently. So when I saw her name flash across Lila’s phone, my heart skipped a beat, and rightfully so.
“Lila, are you in Nashville right now?”
“I am,” I said. “Why?”
“Blaze’s team released a statement and they mentioned where you might be.”
My heart stopped. “He didn’t.”
“He, unfortunately, did. He also mentioned some other things, but that’s the only important thing. I wouldn’t recommend reading it. You might want to lie low. I’ve heard that paps are coming out of the woodwork to find you.”
“Damn it,” I muttered.
“I’m sorry. We’ll handle it and make him look like the idiot he is. Tell Juno she can call someone from our bodyguard services if she needs backup.”
“Should I come back to LA? I know I have a lot of work to do.”
“Right now, you should just disappear for a bit, and that’s almost impossible to do here.”
“But I have work to be done.”
“We can shift it to be virtual. Find a place to relax while I deal with this.”
“Do I need to do anything else?”
“No, I’ve got it. You focus on your work.”
I was still adjusting to the way Malia handled things. Mia would have thrown me to the wolves or told me to bask in the attention.
“I will,” I said slowly. “Thank you, Malia. Seriously, thank you.”
“It’s no problem. Get some rest.” She said her goodbyes and then hung up.
“I just heard,” Juno said, walking into the room. “He’s an asshole.”
I looked at her and sighed. “Lila needs to disappear. So, I guess this makes my decision for me.”
“Do you think so?”
I slowly nodded, ignoring the way every part of my being hated this. “Yes. I should cut off this thing with Barry now.”
“Let’s invite him over,” Juno suggested. “The last thing you need to do is leave and be swarmed. Then we switch to Rose.”
“Yeah,” I said, though I felt a dread I couldn’t place. “Let’s get this over with.”
I texted Barry and then rushed to get ready. I tried to avoid all my thoughts about this decision. Fifteen minutes after the texts, he arrived just as I was finishing putting on my mascara.
“He told people where you were?” Barry asked the moment Juno opened the door.
“Technically, Mia did.” Juno shook her head and gestured to where I was on the couch, biting my lip.
My throat went dry the second I saw him. Juno looked between us, asking a silent question.
“Can you give us some privacy?” I asked.
“Of course. I’ll be outside in case anyone shows up.”
“Paparazzi are coming, aren’t they?” Barry asked.
“Yes, a lot. With the album nearly done and this news, they’re dying to get the first photos of me. I can’t be seen.”
“Or you can tell them to fuck right off like they deserve.”
I let out a long sigh. “That doesn’t make them stop. They all just want photos. It’s easier to give them that and keep walking.”
“Okay,” he said. “Does Juno need help with that? I could—?”
I closed my eyes. Of course he’d want to help. Of course he wouldn’t be scared off.
“Barry, you can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because this life is like a . . .?” I remembered the words Mom called it many years ago. “This is like a tornado. It will rip apart every aspect of your life if you’re seen with me.”
“I don’t care.”
My heart pounded in my chest. He didn’t care ? When life was like this, it was miserable being Lila. It would have ruined my life if I hadn’t done this the way I had. I thought of Mom’s panic attacks from when she saw me getting stormed by the media. I thought of everything I’d done to separate Rose from Lila and how it could ruin everything with Barry.
Besides, he said he didn’t care now , but he would in five months when it never let up.
Yet, I was so tempted to say fuck it all and agree with him. It would have been so easy to.
“I can’t ask you for that,” I said slowly. “I just can’t.”
“But I can offer it. I’d love to be with you, Lila. As you .”
The words hurt so much that I looked away. I wanted it too. More than he knew.
But I wasn’t just Lila, and he could have so much more from me if I were someone else.
“And I can’t take you up on that,” I said.
“So, what, we stay in the shadows forever?”
“No. This , us, can’t be anything. I’m . . . this was fun, but with everything, it’s too much.”
He blinked, but then his lips pressed together. I wouldn’t blame him if he yelled at me for cutting him off like I was. I never imagined I would be doing this, but I couldn’t risk him, and I couldn’t risk Mom.
And he’d still have me. He trusted Rose, after all.
“So, it’s over.”
“Barry, I’m—?”
“Don’t apologize. Let’s end it like adults.”
“O-okay.”
“But be honest. Was it me?”
I shook my head. “No. It wasn’t.”
“My family?”
“No,” I insisted. “This just wasn’t going to work. I can’t ask this of you. Of anyone.”
“Fine. I’ll respect what you want.” He turned away but paused. “But for the record, I would have stood by you through everything, tornado or not.”
The words broke my heart. “I don’t think you know what you’re offering.”
“I’ve seen tornados, Lila, and I’ve survived them. But at least with this one, there would have been you at the end of it. Like sunshine after a storm.”
Barry
Barry: I want you both to know I just got dumped by Lila Wilde. Go ahead and fucking laugh.
I had texted Tom and Ruth in a rush of emotion after I left Lila’s place. A part of me hoped one of them would laugh; that way, we could start a fight, and maybe I’d feel a little better. I didn’t know why I had texted them in the first place. It might have been the fact that they’d signed an NDA so I could talk about her with them.
It also could have been the conversation we’d had at brunch just hours ago. We’d laughed , of all things, talking about anything but work. They’d even been nice when I had to bail early, telling me that they hoped everything went well.
Instead, there was no answer, which was almost worse. I got back to my apartment, feeling my fists clench. Maybe I needed to work out or maybe I needed to throw something. All I knew was that everything fucking hurt .
Then, there was a knock at my door.
Shit. I had forgotten that my siblings tended to show up instead of texting back. I thought that maybe if I ignored them, they would go away.
But I also had forgotten that you simply couldn’t ignore Ruth Murray .
“Barry!” Ruth’s voice was loud. “You’re gonna answer and we’re gonna talk about this.”
I threw open the door. Tom rubbed his forehead, looking sheepish.
“Good. We’re coming in.” Ruth breezed past me and I turned to glare, but I caught her simple outfit of a casual PATH T-shirt and jeans. Tom had on shorts and a T-shirt.
“Sorry,” Tom said. “She does this because she cares.”
“You changed clothes?”
“I was out for a run with Max.”
“You should spend time with your kid. Not me.”
“He gave up within five minutes. And then told me to come. So here we are.”
“Oh, great,” Ruth said. “You have tea.”
“Don’t,” I hissed. “Lila gave that to me.”
“Okay, cranky. You get water. Where the fuck are your cups?”
I desperately wanted to be angry that she was riffling through my cabinets, but I couldn’t find it in me.
She gave me a full glass of water and sat on the couch. “What happened?”
“If you feel up to talking about it, that is,” Tom added.
I looked in between them, wondering why they seemed to care so much, wondering why they made the drive through traffic in downtown Nashville, again , because I’d called. I was the odd man out and they’d always cared more about their own goals.
Until now.
“You can talk to us,” Ruth added at my silence, sounding much kinder than she had moments ago. “And we won’t laugh.”
“And we’ve signed NDAs about Lila,” Tom said. “So you literally can talk to us.”
“Are you two trying to logic me into talking about it?”
“Would it work?”
“Nothing is going to work. I’m fine .”
“Can you say that without the muscle in your forehead twitching?” Ruth asked.
I glared at her, but it had no heat in it. Because, despite everything, I did want to talk to someone.
“Her ex leaked her location,” I said. “I offered to help and she said no.”
“What kind of help?”
“The kind where I was there. For everything.”
“Oh,” Ruth said. “Did she say why she said no?”
“She did, but I have a feeling how I acted when I found out about the dad thing contributed. I didn’t mean for her to leave.”
“She wasn’t mad,” Ruth said. “She did agree to come check on you.”
“She did?” I asked. “I never saw her until recently.”
“She’s got to have a lot going on. Maybe she was waiting for a break to come and see you.”
“Or she was truly mad,” I said. “I’m not good at emotions around people. It’s why I choose to stay alone.”
“Emotions are messy,” Tom said. “But it’s important to have them, or else you’d do what I did for years and drink them away.”
My conviction faltered. “I did try to shield her from any other drama after that. Do you think that was the wrong move?”
“If you’re offering to be there for everything, then it’s a two-way street,” Ruth said. “So, kind of.”
“Then the damage is done. She said she couldn’t be a tornado in my life.”
“It would be hard,” Ruth said.
“I told her that I’ve seen tornados before. She’d easily be the best one.”
The room fell silent. None of us had talked about the tornado since it happened.
“But they’re still scary,” Ruth said slowly.
“I wasn’t like you two. I was fine.”
“You were left to process it alone,” Tom reminded. “That wasn’t right.”
“You both were scared too.”
“I mean, it wasn’t right of our parents to do that.”
“Only one of them is related to me.” I was unable to look them in the eyes.
“Dad thought you were his and he still sucked as a dad. I know you handled that storm—all of it—better than Ruth and I did. You’ve always been ahead of us when it comes to things like this. But you’ve got one thing wrong. You’re not alone.”
My heart pounded at seeing my normally tight-assed brother be so open.
“The kid and sobriety did you good, huh?”
“We’ve all finally caught up,” Ruth said. “And Tom’s right. Maybe it didn’t work out with Lila, and it sucks that it didn’t, but you have us to talk to about it. And you have your bar and your friends. Lean on us.”
Any other day and I would have said no. But on this day, when my heart had been stomped on, I couldn’t hold back anymore.
And so I told them everything .