Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
LIVIANNA/LILY
Then
Perfume Wars & Silver Lighters
The celebration glitters, but the mirror it casts is stolen.
“Get your eyes off her, motherfucker.” Callum’s chest balloons.
“Stop, Callum.” I get between him and the bodyguard. “He didn’t do anything more than anyone else here has.”
“Lily, what the fuck?” Callum’s face turns red. “I don’t want people staring at you like that.”
“Then good luck being with me because it happens all the time. You need to get used to it.” I soften my stance. “I was only asking him to assist me.”
Callum growls. “You don’t need to touch the guy to get his help.”
“It was appreciated.” The bodyguard bounces his eyebrows up and down and peers over at Callum. “If you want her away from me, let me take you to Leon.”
Callum holds his stare for a few seconds with his jaw clenched. “Fine, but stay away from her. She’s only sixteen.”
My mouth falls open. He’s never used my age against me. If anything, he says we’re expected to be adults, so people should treat us as such.
“Well, shit. That changes things.” The guy turns to me. “You’re just a baby.”
I huff and spin away. How dare they mock me?
“Lily!” Callum digs his fingers into my waist to stop me from leaving. “I’m sorry. That was totally uncool of me.”
“You’re damn right it was.” I fume inside. “I’m going to use the bathroom and try to calm down. Go meet with Leon.”
“If I do, will you come find me when you’re done?”
I turn on my heels and glare. “I’m going to do what I need to do for me. If that isn’t enough for you, then I don’t know what to say.”
“Doing what you need is fine with me, but… Why do I have to explain it again? I wanna be with you at midnight. If we get separated, that won’t happen.”
I roll my eyes even though he’s right. “I’ll make them show me where you are once I’m in the space I can be around you again.”
“Lily, I said I’m sorry.”
“I heard you. Just give me a minute to get over it.”
His expression drops and he nods. “I shouldn’t have said anything about your age. It was rude. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
My shoulders come down a notch. “I know, but you did.”
“Forgive me?”
I keep my gaze on him for a second, then playfully push him away. “Only if you’ll quit giving me your puppy dog eyes.”
“All gone.” He holds back a smile.
“Okay, okay. But if I don’t find a toilet soon, I’m going to have a big mess to explain.”
“Take care of your business.”
“Yeah, you too.” I give him a quick kiss on the cheek.
He hugs me, then trudges away with the bodyguard leading him down a winding staircase. I find a restroom, relieve myself, and fix my makeup.
If everything goes according to plan, Callum and Mayhem will be one of the greatest rock bands of all time. I’m so excited for them.
Bringing in a new year with them working with Leon Baker is going to prove to be nothing more than amazing for them. Even with Callum having some unease around Leon, I don’t think anything can go wrong.
I think about my career. If I stay in acting, I’ll never get to see them out on tour. Besides that, I don’t like it anymore. It feels like something my mom wants for me.
I check out my reflection in the mirror and straighten out my dress. It’s a great design, but I could do better.
I let myself dream for a second. Being a fashion designer would be the best if only I had the guts to do it. I sigh and open the door to find Zara resting against the wall.
Fucking great. Why is she here?
I try to pass by her.
“If it isn’t my best friend in the whole world.” She pushes off the wall and steps in front of me. “What? Not even a simple hello, or does my presence intimidate you that much?”
“You don’t scare me. It’s more like you’re invisible to me.”
“Sure. My guess is I haunt you in your dreams.”
“Hardly. You’re nothing but a—”
She grabs my hand, flips it over, and checks out my wrist. “Holy shit! It was true. You did try to off yourself.”
I rip my arm away from her. “I did not.”
“Oh, yes, you did. You have scars to prove it.”
“Those aren’t… You know what? I don’t have to explain anything to you.” My heart beats hard. “Believe whatever you want.”
“Shit, Livianna. I could sell you out so easily right now.”
“Try it and see what happens.”
She slaps her hand to her breastplate and gasps, feigning shock. When she does, a shiny white gold necklace with an Irish trinity knot pendant that has a black onyx in the center of it that’s hanging from her neck snags my attention.
She starts to say something but notices me staring.
She cups the pendant in her palm with an evil smirk appearing. “Yes, I still wear the keepsake Callum gave me.”
My eyes snap to hers. “He’s Cash to you.”
“Not true. Ask him if you don’t believe me. I used to call him Callum all the time. Remember, he just recently changed his name to Cash. Although I catch myself calling him Cash more often because it’s so much…edgier.”
I get in her face. “If I hear you call him Callum ever again, consider yourself dead.”
“Is that a threat?” She inches closer to me so we’re nose to nose.
Her perfume swirls around me. Or is it mine? I narrow my eyes and take a whiff of her skin. The bitch is wearing the same scent I do.
I push her against the wall and dig my finger into the center of her chest. “You want to be me so much you started using the same perfume as me. That’s just pathetic.”
Bren pulls me away and slides between us. “Ladies, chill out.”
“Tell your suicidal sister that.” Zara flicks her hair away from her face. “She’s the one who needs some serious mental help.”
“Shut the fuck up, Zara.” Bren glares. “Why are you even here?”
A slick smile curls her lips. “Didn’t you hear?”
He shakes his head with a scowl. “Hear what?”
“I got out of acting and went into music.” She takes a dramatic pause while analyzing my reaction. “I’m working with Leon now.”
“Couldn’t make it as an actor, so you switched to singing?” Bren shrugs as if he couldn’t care less. “I feel bad for you, Zara.”
Her face bunches up. “Why?”
“When nobody goes to one of your gigs, it’ll be embarrassing for you.” He pats her on the shoulder in a patronizing way. “It’s okay, maybe something better will come along.”
“I guess that means you’ll be in the same boat.” She starts to strut away.
Bren stops her by hurrying in front of her. “What are you saying?”
The worried tone in Bren’s question tells me I’m going to hate her answer, and he knows what she’s alluding to. It hits me just as she says it.
“Leon said he would make me Mayhem’s opening act.” She gestures to the other room. “We’ve been recording an album for a while. It’s almost done. Once you guys finish laying your tracks, we’ll be touring together. Leon said at the very least I could count on the North American leg.”
Oh, fucking no way. I lose my breath and stumble.
Bren races to my side. “Don’t let her get to you.”
My world turns upside down and inside out. “Bren…”
“I always have such a good time when we spend time together, Livianna. Thanks for setting the New Year’s Eve mood.” She sways off, laughing as she does.
“Ah fuck, Livianna. I didn’t know.” Bren runs a wary gaze over me. “You don’t happen to have any of your anxiety medication with you?”
“No.” My limbs go numb. “What Zara said. Can that be true?”
“I don’t know.” He takes my hand and leads me down a hallway.
He checks different spaces and opens closed doors, looking for a place to take me while I try to remain standing. If Zara is going out on tour with them…
Dammit!
I thought it was bad when I knew Callum would be on the road with strange women throwing themselves at him. Zara being there every night is a nightmare come true.
My mind races, trying to figure out a way to stop it from happening.
Bren takes us to a pantry near the garage. “Here. Let’s go inside and I’ll help you out.”
“How?” I go into the room and lean against a large wooden barrel. “There’s no way to make this something I can handle.”
He digs into his pants pocket and pulls out a metal cigarette case. “This is better than nothing.”
“What is it?”
He clicks a button on the side and it pops open. “I have a couple of joints in here that we can smoke.”
“But I haven’t used in a long time.”
“You have any other ideas?”
“No.” I gaze over at him as he lights one up and takes a hit.
He hands it to me while keeping the pot trapped in his lungs. I hesitate, but I need something to calm the heaviness that fills my every cell.
I pinch it between my thumb and index finger and watch the paper and weed burn down as I take a deep inhale. I hold it in while the joint quickly diminishes into a small blunt.
Bren releases a puff of smoke. “That’s some wicked shit. You might not need much.”
I let the effects take hold and exhale. I cough when I do.
“You okay?” He takes back the weed and does more.
“Yeah. It’s just been a while.” My body starts to float and my thoughts quiet down.
The euphoria settles in and I start laughing. Bren joins in, losing his last drag.
He finds a bench to sit on. “Fuck, it’s good to see you like this again.”
“It feels good to be like this again.”
“Really? I thought you were into being clean.”
“It’s okay, but I miss the thrill of partying sometimes. It’s like I’m becoming a boring old person.” I shuffle over and nudge him to make space for me.
He scoots over and pats the seat next to him. “All you do is work, study, go to therapy, and screw your boyfriend, so I can see why you feel that way. It sounds exactly like what an adult would do.”
I sit close to Bren. “You know, I’ve been thinking.”
“About…?”
“Mom and Dad let you get your GED. Maybe they would let me. Then I could have more time to do some fun things.”
“Cut out the counseling and you’ll have a better time just by getting that out of your life.”
I rest my head on his shoulder. “I thought you’d want me to stay in therapy.”
“Wrong. I like that you don’t have as many anxiety attacks, but my bet is it has more to do with spending time with Cash.”
“Why do you say that?”