1. Lila
1
LILA
“ Y ou’re fucking kidding me right now.”
I blew a breath out, tightened my hands on the steering wheel, and very pointedly didn’t look at my best friend as she proceeded to tell the person on the phone exactly why they had to be kidding. That they couldn’t possibly know what they were talking about, and further, that they might actually be high as a kite.
The sad thing was, I didn’t think they were high as a kite. I also didn’t think they were wrong, and I was positive they knew exactly what they were talking about. Because “they” were my other best friend and our stand-in manager. And she pretty much always knew what she was talking about.
The problem was, Anna didn’t like what she was saying right now. And Anna’s answer to not liking something was to pretend that it was some sort of mistake. She’d been that way since we were kids, and getting into the music business—or at least trying to get into the music business—hadn’t changed that particular quirk.
I had a sudden memory of her lecturing our second-grade teacher about why, exactly, recess should be longer than half an hour long, and felt my lips twitch.
Then she slammed her phone back into her lap, and my smile died.
“Bad news?” I asked, reaching for a light tone.
“The same news it always is,” she muttered. “They like us. They love our look. They’re into the idea of two girls forming a band together and not needing anyone else. Think we’re so talented. But they just don’t see a market for singers like us out there in the wide world. And you know how it goes; if there’s no market?—”
“There’s no second audition,” I finished for her, my hands tightening on the steering wheel.
God, I was tired of this. Anna and I had been playing music since we were old enough to figure out that a piano was for more than just random banging, and we’d formed our first band, if you could call it that, when we were fourteen. We’d been refining our sound ever since, getting stronger every year and playing in every bar and on every street corner that would have us. We were the only band I knew of that featured a piano—well, a keyboard—and guitar, and we were fucking good.
No one we’d auditioned for seemed to agree with that assessment, though.
Or rather, they thought we were good. They just didn’t think we were marketable. Whatever that meant.
“Is it because we don’t have any guys in the band? Because we can add a guy. Maybe we could add drums. Or bass.”
Anna snorted. “I don’t think it’s the lack of a guy, Lila. It’s the lack of vision in the music industry itself. We need a better way in. We need to find a way to go right to the source.”
Now it was my turn to snort. “Like it would ever be that easy. No problem. Just wake up one day to a sign in the sky that reads ‘The Source Is This Way. Follow the Arrow, Girls.’”
Anna actually laughed at that, which was a real victory as the girl wasn’t known for laughing. “I mean if you have God on speed dial and can order a sign like that…”
“But would he actually come through?” I wondered. “Because the last time I ordered something from God he was a little bit cagey on the follow-up.”
I felt her amused glance. “When was the last time you ordered something from God? And if you have a direct line to him, why the hell have you been keeping it a secret?”
I shrugged. “I ordered a bike from him once. Took three years to get it, though, so I didn’t try again. I’m an immediate gratification sort of girl.”
“Maybe it’s time you try again. Because I’m running out of ideas.”
That was also unlike Anna, who had known exactly who she was and what she was doing for as long as I’d known her—which had been forever. We’d grown up in the same neighborhood in Nashville and had been best friends since we could walk. Before that, if you believed the stories our mothers told.
I didn’t know if I did.
I also didn’t know if I had any faith in some guy in the sky granting wishes.
But Anna and I had been trying to land a contract for years now, and she was right about running out of ideas. We’d auditioned for every agent and talent scout in the city—hundreds of people, at least—and had had zero luck.
If we wanted that contract, we were going to have to try something bigger than just auditioning.
Making a wish into the sky… didn’t seem like the worst thing. I mean, it wasn’t exactly going to hurt, right?
“Right, okay. Whoever’s up there and in control, I’m officially wishing for a sign that tells us exactly how to get to the source. Or a contract since that’s what we’re actually going for here.”
I bit my lip and paused, not knowing what to expect. What happened when you made a wish like that? Lightning? Thunder? Was the ground going to open up and swallow me for the sheer audacity of making fun of the process?
Instead, nothing happened.
“As I said,” I told her, casting a glance at my best friend. “Cagey with the follow-up.”
“Well, maybe it takes a second,” she replied, leaning forward and turning the radio on.
“Boy, kids, do I have news for you,” the DJ said immediately. “And you’re not going to want to miss this. In fact, I’m betting you’re going to wish you were able to rewind it and hear it again. That’s how big this is! And the announcement is exclusive to this show right here, because I’ve heard it right from the horse’s mouth. Or from Parker Pelton’s, which is the same thing. Not that she’s a horse, but you know what I mean. The point is, if you don’t know Parker, she’s the manager to country western’s darlings, Avery Dawson and Olivia Johns, plus Connor Wheating, if the rumors are true. And if you don’t know who they are, I don’t know what world you’ve been living in.”
“Not the real world,” Anna breathed. “Get to the point, buddy.”
“The point, then,” the jock—David Hamm, I remembered—went on. “The point is, Avery’s little label is the new home for Olivia and Connor, and it turns out they’re going on tour. Starting next week. They’re taking Global Authors and The Leathers with them, from Nashville to Missouri and back. But here’s the kicker. They’re inviting people to follow them the way fans followed them on their first tour. And there’s more. They’re looking for a new act for Avery’s label. And they’re doing auditions on the road.”
I didn’t even hear the rest of what he said. I was too busy jerking the wheel to the side and turning to stare at Anna, my mouth open and my mind screaming through the possibilities. Avery Dawson’s label. Olivia Johns and Connor Wheating. Global Writers. The Leathers.
An invitation to come on tour.
A guaranteed audition.
With a contract as the reward.
“Think we’d have a shot?” I whispered.
Anna, who was wearing the same expression I could feel on my own face, shrugged. “Maybe?”
“Think it’s worth trying?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
A grin stretched itself across my face, so broad that it hurt my cheeks. “Are you kidding? Olivia and Connor? On tour? With Global Writers? Rivers Shine, Anna.”
At that, she grinned back. “Rivers Shine. The hottest guy in the entire industry, and the rock star you’ve had a crush on since we were fourteen. But he can’t be the reason we go, Lila.”
I turned, grabbed the wheel, and stared at the road ahead, seeing, instead of the street back into our neighborhood, an audience stretching out in front of us. A huge stage. People singing our music and cheering for us.
A contract.
Sure, Rivers Shine was great. Insanely hot, all tattoos and brooding heartbreak. Eyes that went so deep I’d always wondered what sort of secrets they held. Whether he’d ever seen happiness at all. And a horrible reputation. The guy who slept with a different girl every freaking night.
According to the stories.
I’d always wanted to meet him. I’d always wondered if he was actually as bad—or as hot—as everyone said he was. And if I followed them on the road, I’d get to see him up close and personal. I might find out how bad he really was.
But I didn’t even care about that.
Because it was going to be way hotter to get in front of Olivia Johns and Connor Wheating and show them exactly what we could do.
“We’re going,” I said sharply. “And we’re going to win that contract.”
“And ogle Rivers Shine in the meantime?” Anna asked, still smirking.
I shrugged. “I mean, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. But he’s not the one we’re going for. Meeting Olivia and Connor…”
“If we can even get their attention.”
“If we can get their attention,” I agreed.
Because she was right. Following the tour would be one thing.
Landing an audition and nailing it… Standing up against all the other acts that might be following them, and making ourselves heard when people like Rivers Shine were standing right next to us? That was going to take luck. And luck hadn’t exactly been our friend lately.
But that was about to change. I could feel it.