29. Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lila
Lila’s New Bodyguard . . . Would You Bang Him?
By Perez Adder
We all know of Lila Wilde’s usual bodyguard, Juno. She’s buff, tough, and doesn’t let anyone mess with her woman. When our favorite pop star is roaming the streets, Juno is in tow.
But this time, there was a new bodyguard with her.
Now, it’s not unusual for Lila to require backup. We’ve seen other security join Juno in the quest to keep the multiple Grammy winner safe. But this one is HOT.
Can we expect a little bodyguard romance? Do you see him with Juno or Lila?
3856 Comments
Temptaction: Neither. He’s MINE
LilaandBlazefan56: Def not Lila. She belongs with Blaze.
Hissgorl: Boo. They’re done. He cheated on her.
LilaandBlazefa56: He did NOT! It’s all PR to get hype up.
I shut the door, closed every blind I could, and triple-checked that no one was on my street corner. I’d been avoiding taking off the wig for a while, but it was quickly becoming too much.
“Do paparazzi even get past the security here?” Barry asked.
“Yes. And there are drones these days, so that doesn’t help.”
“Jesus, all for a photo of you?”
“Yep,” I muttered. “Okay, I think I’m good.”
I took off the wig and cap. I felt free like I could breathe for a second.
“Wow,” he replied. “That’s wild.”
“Wait until I get the makeup off.”
“Aren’t there photos of you makeup-less?” he asked. “You still didn’t look like Rose then.”
“It was by design. I used non-lengthening mascara and darkened my lips just slightly.”
“Smart.”
“Thanks,” I replied. “This is always the best and most terrifying part of my day.”
I went to the bathroom to remove the rest of my makeup. Once I was done, Barry picked up the remaining litter on the floor.
“So, that song . . .?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s coming out at midnight. It won’t be on the physical record because I got to it so late. What did you think?”
“When did you write it?”
“On the plane. I hated how we left it, but I know you needed time.”
“I did, and I saw my family, actually. It was kind of nice.”
“What did you do? And don’t try to get out of it now. I want to hear about your family.”
“I wasn’t going to try to hide. I’ve learned my lesson.” He leaned against the counter in the kitchen. “I hung out with Tom and Max.”
“With Tom? I thought you were closer to Ruth.”
“I thought so too,” he said. “But he became a different person once he met his son. It was good for him.”
“I need to meet him again when everything isn’t terrible. I only really got to say a few words.”
“A few words used to be all he would say.” Barry shrugged. “Things are different now. And I don’t think I mind it.”
“Good. When we met, you hated your family.”
“They grew. Finally. Just like you did by leaving Blaze. Did he really make all of this mess?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes. I’ve already changed the locks. It’s too bad Goodbye, Hello is done or else I’d write another song dissing him over this.”
“We never did finish listening to it.”
I thought back to the night we’d only gotten through one song. I couldn’t bring it in me to regret what we’d done instead.
“We have time now. Do you want to finish it?”
“More than anything.”
We continued through the last bits of cleaning and then I made popcorn to snack on while we listened to the album. As we sat on the living room couch, I pulled up the version Malia had sent me, hooked it to my speakers with Bluetooth, and pressed play.
Last time, he’d loved the first song and I could only hope he would also love the rest.
Barry
It felt odd to listen to a Lila Wilde album with a different version of the same woman in the room with me. Usually, I listened to them the moment they came out, alone in my apartment.
But this time, her eyes were trained on me and I wished I could have kept a straight face, but the songs were so incredible that I couldn’t.
I usually hid this kind of giddiness from people. When I was a kid, it was a nuisance, and when I was an adult, everyone looked up to me as their boss. But I couldn’t hide the joy I felt about listening to Goodbye, Hello before everyone else, and the fact that some of the songs were about me. I knew what some of them would be, and while I loved hearing parts my own style—I loved hearing what she did on her own more. It was a window into her thoughts, something I’d been curious about since day one.
Lila was very clear about how she felt. She was excited about being away from Blaze and hoped that she could be with someone else who was nothing like the people in her past. One line stuck out, and it hit like a freight train.
I hope that he can see all of me,
The sides that I’ve hid,
And like it all.
They were the final words of one of the songs and I wondered if she’d put it there on purpose. My eyes went to hers, and I found her still watching me.
“You wanted to tell me, didn’t you?”
“I’m not a very good liar. I just thought it would never happen.”
“And here we are, listening to you serenade me in your new album. Subtlety isn’t your strong suit, is it?”
“I’ve written about a lot of my life, even if it was in code. Besides, it couldn’t get much worse than the fuck you I wrote to Blaze.”
“Is that really the only song about him?”
“He didn’t deserve any more of my time. He had me convinced that I wasn’t a good songwriter unless I was writing about him . I decided I was done with that. I decided I would prove him wrong.”
“And you did that and more.”
“Thank you for coming,” she said. “Especially after how we left things. I think I needed you here. You remind me that I don’t have to care about what everyone else thinks.”
And she was the reminder that I wasn’t alone anymore, that I didn’t want to be.
Now that I saw the whole picture, I could see how Rose and Lila were melded. She did surface-level things to hide who she was, like shrugging and making sure her face looked different, but she couldn’t hide her sparkling personality—at least not from me.
“So,” she started, nervously twirling her hands through her fingers. “Should I get you a hotel room?”
“Doesn’t this place have a hundred bedrooms?”
“Five,” she said. “And you can stay here, of course. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to. If you need space, just say the word.”
I’d had my entire life to be alone and it wasn’t all that interesting anymore. “I’ll stay here, but maybe not in whatever wing you put your guests.”
“The second floor,” she said.
“A whole world away.”
“If you wanted to . . .?” Her eyes darted down the hallway where the master suite was. “You could just stay in my room.”
“I was hoping you’d offer that because that is the exact place I want to be.”
“Really?” she asked. “Even after everything?”
“I think writing an apology and singing it on TV was enough.”
“It doesn’t feel like enough. I could shower you with gifts, but I have a feeling that isn’t your cup of tea.”
“Not really, no.”
“Then what do you want?”
“You. Just you.”
Her cheeks turned red and I loved how I could see that when she was Rose.
“Let’s go to sleep,” I said. “I’ll need to head out tomorrow, but I’ll be back.”
Her face fell at the mention of me going home, and I wished I could stay with her forever, whether it be in the mansion or in my apartment in Nashville.
She led me to her room, a huge space in its own regard with a massive bed. We could have stayed on opposite ends of it as we fell asleep and never touched. But she moved to the middle and I joined her.
“I don’t know if I deserve you,” she said as the lights went out. Her head was on my shoulder and my arm held her tight to me.
“I do, and I’ll do my best to prove it to you.”