Chapter 3
Three
JADE
Present
My knuckles rap against the heavy hotel door as my phone goes off numerous times with alerts. Each chirp ratcheting up my nervous system. Darren, Blue Sunday’s manager, runs a hand through his hair and then bangs his fist hard against the same door.
“Xander open the fucking door,” I say louder than I should.
The door swings open right before Darren can knock again. My ex-stepbrother stands there with wild bedhead and navy sweatpants slung low on his hips. “What?” He rubs the heel of his palm over his eye. “It’s seven in the damn morning.”
I shoulder past him into the room. “Yeah, and in about ten minutes a story about you getting a woman pregnant last year is going live.”
“Did you know?” Darren asks.
I walk over to the refrigerator and pull out an energy drink to wake him up. Why he can’t drink coffee like a normal adult, I’ll never understand. I ignore the sparks that fly between our fingers when I hand him the can.
“Thank you,” he says. “And no, I don’t know anything about getting someone pregnant.”
“She claims it was in October while you guys were filming a music video in Atlanta.”
“I can’t remember, but I never fuck without a condom. It’s probably not mine.”
He does fuck without condoms. Don’t ask me how I know.
“But I’ll pay for a paternity test just in case,” he adds.
“She wants you present for it,” I tell him.
“We’re on tour, so no,” he says with a scowl. “What’s her name?”
“Would you even remember?” I ask.
“Probably not, but it’s worth a shot,” he snaps back at me.
“Ashley Matthews,” Darren tells him. “She’s twenty-two, a dental hygienist and influencer.”
I hand him my phone with her picture. She’s cute as hell with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. The still I took from one of her videos is a body check of her in a workout set before she starts a ‘what I eat in a day’ vlog. Can’t even tell she just had a baby.
He looks at it for a minute and then shakes his head. “I don’t remember her.” He hands the phone back to me and takes a swig of his drink. “Are we releasing a statement?”
“Depends on if any of the major outlets pick it up.” I lean against the desk. “We’ve had a really good run on the tour so far without any bad press. Stone’s doing amazing. Hazel is bringing tons of new fans to the band. We really need to keep this quiet.”
“Should I call her? Talk to her personally?”
“Yes,” Darren snaps his finger and points down at Xander. “Butter her up. Be nice, be flirty, but not sexual. Make her think she’s going to get what she wants so she stays quiet while we wait for test results.”
“How old is the kid?” Xander asks.
“Three months.”
“A little guy, then.”
I suppress the desire to be sarcastic. Obviously, anyone with a functioning brain could figure out from the timeline that the baby would barely be out of the newborn stage. “A little girl, actually,” I correct.
“What’s her name?” he looks up at me.
“Blakeleigh.”
He winces and then finishes off his drink. I watch, annoyed, as he crushes the can and tosses it directly into the recycling bin. “Well, I trust you two to handle it in the way you see fit. But I honestly don’t think it could be mine.”
My phone rings again, and when I look down, I see the name of a reporter I have a good working relationship with. “I need to take this. You behave yourself,” I point in his direction as I walk out of the room.
“This is Jade,” I say as I answer the phone.
“You can’t keep those boys out of trouble, can you?” Amusement laces his tone.
“Sure can’t, Drew. What can I help you with?”
“Do you have a statement about the breaking news?”
“On the record?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“No comment.”
“How about off the record?”
“No comment,” I answer with a smile. “We’ll let you know when we’re ready to speak about the allegations.”
“Ahh, tease,” he chuckles. “Is there anything else? An update about Stone and the author, maybe?”
“The New York Times bestselling author’s name is Hazel Archer.” If there’s one thing that’s irritated me about the coverage of this tour, it’s seeing her and her incredible work minimized by men in the entertainment industry. “And no, I’m not speaking about them either.”
“Promise I’ll be your first call when you do have something?”
“Absolutely,” I pause for dramatic effect. “Not.”
He laughs again. “I’d crawl for you, Jade.”
“And I’d step right over you. Goodbye, Drew.”
I walk down the hall to my room. I’m mostly ready for the day, but I still need to finish up my makeup.
I was just finishing my eyeliner when I got the first tip about the upcoming story.
The only reason I keep the banter light with these reporters is so they feed me news before going public with it.
Otherwise, I find most of them insufferable to interact with.
There are only a handful of music journalists that I truly like and respect. The gossip hounds can all get fucked.
The door is just about to close when a hand slides through and stops it. Xander pushes it open and steps into my hotel room, closing the door quietly behind him. I ignore him as I walk into the bathroom and start the finishing touches of my look for the day.
“I’m serious, it can’t be mine.” He leans against the doorjamb, his dark blonde hair still askew from bed.
“Okay.”
“You don’t believe me.”
I swipe mascara over my lashes. “Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
I suppress the urge to roll my eyes. “Why?”
“You know why, Jade.”
“I really don’t. You’re a grown man who can do whatever and whomever he wants. I’m just here to keep the public’s perception positive.”
“I don’t care what the public’s perception is.”
“Thanks for clearing that up,” I say dryly. “Will you please move?” He’s blocking the bathroom door.
“No. We’ve been on this tour for months now. Don’t you think it’s time we hashed everything out?”
I make the mistake of looking up into his eyes, their warm, amber depths imploring me to let him back in. But I can’t. I won’t survive him a second time. Xander Jacobs is my own personal wildfire, and every time he leaves nothing but scorched earth in his wake. I can’t rebuild myself again.
Thankfully a knock at the door interrupts us. I walk over and open it, finding Hazel on the other side. She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and looks up at Xander.
“Sorry, am I interrupting something?” She steps back. “I can come back; I just wanted to run some ideas about content by you.”
“No, not at all. Xander was just leaving.” I give him a pointed look.
“Hey, Haze.” He steps past me and wraps an arm around her, giving her a brotherly squeeze.
“Morning,” she says back. “Stone was looking for you. Something about the new album and chord progression. I’m not entirely sure, he was mumbling in musical genius.”
“Alright.” He nods and closes the door behind him.
“Is everything okay?” she asks with raised eyebrows.
“Hopefully.” I smooth my skirt down. “A woman in Atlanta is claiming to have had Xander’s baby.”
“Really?” Her eyes go comically wide. “Is it his?”
“He is sure it can’t be, but who knows? These boys act like animals most of the time.” I smile at her. “Stone stopped sleeping with anyone with a pulse once he got sober. The other two are a different story.”
“Really? I haven’t seen Xander with many groupies.”
“He’s more discrete than Tobias.”
“A pink elephant is more discrete than Tobias,” she says with a chuckle.
The joke cuts the tension from my shoulders, and we settle down to get a little bit of work done for her social media content.
Having a degree in marketing led me down the public relations pathway, especially when one of my social media channels took off while I was in college.
I’m lucky to have a good eye for trends and understanding of how to appeal to the masses.
Using those skills to further Hazel’s reach as an author has been so rewarding.
She’s tried to pay me, but I make more than enough from my job with the band.
I believe in her and her work, so it’s an honor to help her flourish.
Bass vibrates from the stage floor up my legs, settling in my belly as the guys rehearse to start the back half of the tour.
They had a short break to recover, do a charity event, and start recording a couple songs for the new album.
Stone, the frontman and guitarist, turns to watch as Tobias enters into one of his drum solos.
Xander taps his toe and rocks his body in sync with the beat.
The muscles of his back ripple under his tight, white tee.
He’s always been magnetic to watch while he plays music.
Both he and Stone are absurdly talented and classically trained with multiple instruments.
The music these three make together is pure magic.
Xander glances backstage and catches me watching him. I immediately force my eyes away but not before catching the smirk on his face.
“I sent one of our lawyers to Atlanta to oversee the paternity test,” Darren says as he comes to stand beside me.
“Good. I’ll wait to release a statement then, even if her people get an interview with someone.”
“Do you think it’s his?” He looks down at me. “I mean, you know Xan the best.”
“I don’t know him the best. Our parents were only married a short time.”
“Yeah, but still. You spent your senior year of high school together. There’s history there.”
History I wish I could forget.
I sigh. “I honestly don’t know. Even if he’s not lying about always wearing a condom, they’re not one hundred percent effective.”
“I think he’s right.”
Of course he does. If Darren and I were to play good cop bad cop with the guys, I’m bad cop every single time. It’s worked for us, though. Our well-established relationship has provided a solid foundation for the band as they continue to reach new heights.
“Maybe.” I check the time on my phone. “I’m going to head out. There’s a late-night pole class I want to try to catch.”
“Have fun. Take one of the cars.”
“It’s just down the street from the hotel.”
“Take. A. Car.” He scowls at me. It takes him a bit to warm up, but once he does, he’s as protective as it gets.
“Fine, Dad,” I add extra sass just because we can’t make life easy for men. It won’t hurt any of the guys around me to work a bit harder, it’s good for them. Even though I am a sucker for a protective man. That’s probably my personal daddy issues at play.
My biological father left Mom the day they brought me home from the hospital. He said he was running an errand and never came back. I think that’s why I’ve always been so patient with her because that was unimaginably shitty of him to do.
I slip into one of the SUVs waiting outside the arena and tell the driver where to take me. Rain rolls down the windows as the Pacific Northwest does what it does best. The windshield wipers slide across the glass rhythmically.
My phone vibrates inside my tote, so I pull it out to see the group chat with my friends lighting up. Amber, one of my college roommates, is texting updates about her date.
Amber
He has been ignoring the check for fifteen minutes
Amber
Even when I look at it and then to him, he acts completely blind to it
Shan
I knew he was a loser when he said he’d never seen any movies without Adam Sandler.
Amber
I’m just going to pay it so I can leave
He pursued you, right? The date was his idea?
Amber
Sure was
I’m deleting all dating apps
Totally not worth the hassle
Stephanie
Why date mid men when you can take yourself out?
Exactly
We pull up to the studio, so I slide my phone back into my bag and lean forward. “You can go back to the arena.”
“No ma’am. I just got a text from Mr. Brown informing me I’m to stay to drive you back to the hotel.”
“Okay, thank you.”
He waves me off over his shoulder. “No problem. Have fun, Ms. Maxwell.”