Chapter 25
NOELLE
I ordered room service for breakfast and sat on my balcony watching the sun spill golden morning light over the rolling hills in the distance as I sipped my chamomile tea.
A sense of calm descended on me as I took in the awakening of those hills—it might also have to do with the swap out of my usual iced coffee for the tea.
We had a day of rest at the hotel before the three-hour drive to Dallas tomorrow. Jermaine preferred to travel during late nights, checking into the hotels with minimal fanfare, but the proximity of Austin to Dallas gave us a little breathing room. I could use a little breathing room right now.
I wanted to celebrate Conor’s release with him last night, but I couldn’t muster up much joy. While his turn of fortune thrilled me down to my toes, my own issues weighed on me.
Most of the crew would sleep in, hang out by the pool, and probably hit the Austin clubs tonight.
Conor had plans to meet with a friend of his, a country artist, in town who had invited him to his recording studio to work on a song.
Conor had hit me up early this morning to ask if I’d join him, but I had to prepare for a big meeting—maybe the biggest of my life.
I’d gone over a hundred scenarios in my head to rework the PR on this tour so that everyone came out on top.
I hadn’t talked to Ashley since she and Tomo swept out of the venue last night.
But I was pretty sure she was convinced that neither Conor nor I had anything to do with leaking the pictures. Not that it mattered to her.
But it mattered to me. I could work with her better if she still believed we were on the same side.
I was still playing with the idea of using her failing vocals to save her—even though that sounded counter-intuitive.
Honestly, Ashley might be more open to admitting she had vocal issues than admitting that she cheated on Conor.
Which was absurd. There was no cheating involved on either side. Because there was no real relationship. They both paid for going along with my scheme.
Managers and publicists used the stunt dating scam all the time for artists with varying levels of success. The one time I propose it, it blows up in my face.
Because how often did the managers and publicists who engineered fake dating actually get involved in it themselves? Not like this girl. Seemed I had a special knack for fucking things up when it came to Conor Flynn.
I should’ve never gotten involved with him twelve years ago. I crossed the line then—and paid for it, and here I was crossing the line again. How would I pay this time?
Someone knocked on my door, and I set my tea down and walked into the room to answer it. Peeking through the peephole, my shoulders tensed. Better now than later.
I swung open the door to admit Ashley into my room. As she waltzed past me, her blond ponytail swung, matching her chipper mood.
She made a beeline to the breakfast tray on the table. “Ooh, avocado toast. Can I have this piece?”
“Knock yourself out. You’re doing a lot better than I am for being a doomed woman.”
She crunched into the toast, leaving a shower of crumbs on the carpet. “I know. It sucks. But at least Tomo and I had some fun last night without sneaking around.”
Her gaze traveled to my primly made-up bed. “You and Con?”
“No.” My cheeks blazed as I returned to the patio. “He had to get up early for a recording session, and I have a lot of work to do for the meeting today.”
She opened the pot of hot water, wrinkled her nose, and snatched up the other half-eaten piece of toast. “You mind? I’m starving. Tomo has a lot of stamina.”
“That’s why he’s such a good dancer.” I shoved the other chair on the balcony with my foot, and Ashley took the invitation and joined me. “Y-you don’t still think Conor had anything to do with those pictures, do you?”
Ashley considered the uneaten side of the toast and took a bite. “Conor’s too fucking noble to pull a stunt like that, and I don’t think even you’re silly enough to save Conor at the expense of your job. At least I hope not.”
Did she just call me silly? “I always saw another way out.”
She kicked off her heels and propped her feet on the railing, crossing her legs at the ankles. “Don’t come at me with that voice stuff again, Noelle. I’m not admitting to the world that my voice is shot just to get the sympathy vote.”
“You were willing to admit a man cheated on you to get it.” I took a gulp of tea hoping it could get me through this conversation.
“I get it. There’s no shame in that, but there’s no shame in losing your voice, either.
Happens to a lot of people. Think of how many singers have gotten nodes removed from their throats.
Charlie Beck lost his voice last year—on stage. It happens.”
“Hmm.” She dabbled her fingers against her chin. “I suppose we could spin that. We could blame it on the venues or the equipment, and then I could lip sync for the rest of the tour.”
I rubbed my eyes. Why did everything have to be a lie? “But how does all that rescue you from hooking up with Tomo while you were supposedly in a relationship with Conor?”
“We’ll blame it on Tomo.” She wagged her finger in the air. “He got me drunk, seduced me.”
“Umm, that’s called rape and could get Tomo into a lot of trouble.”
“Okay, forget the drinking part. Maybe he blackmailed me into it—threatened to throw the show or...drop me on stage during a dance sequence if I didn’t get with him.”
“That’s almost as bad. He’d never work again.”
“Memory loss? Temporary insanity? Hypnosis?” She bit the tip of her finger. “I can always blame my sex addiction.”
“I think you should stop trying to find excuses.”
“I know.” She kicked her feet in the air like a little kid. “Conor and I had a fight. I thought he broke up with me. Tomo was a sympathetic shoulder to cry on.”
“If you thought Conor broke up with you, why were you calling him out on stage every night for being a cheater?”
“Because I thought we made up. It was all a big misunderstanding. Now he can dump you, I can dump Tomo, and we get back together.” She pressed her hands together. “Everyone loves a second chance romance.”
A sharp pain lanced my skull. “I...”
“It solves your problem too, Noelle. You thought Con and I had broken up, and you thought you had another chance with him. You never would’ve kissed him if you knew he was still with me.
He never would’ve kissed you if he thought we were over for good.
In a moment of weakness, we reached for second best.”
“Thanks.”
“That does mean—” she looked up at me through her fake lashes “—you two have to stay away from each other, at least on this tour.”
“I’ll put that one on the list, Ashley. We’ll review all our options at the meeting today...except hypnosis.”
“In the meantime, I’m going to get a massage, facial, mani-pedi, body scrub, and crystal alignment.” She stuffed the rest of the toast in her mouth and hopped up from her chair. “See you at the meeting.”
Ashley let the hotel door slam behind her. I could use a crystal alignment myself.
Instead, I crammed my laptop, phone, sunscreen, a paperback thriller I started reading two weeks ago, and a bottle of water into a canvas bag for the pool.
I pulled my ponytail through the opening in the back of my baseball cap and tugged the hat’s bill over my forehead.
Maybe I could slip down there incognito.
Opening the door, I poked my head into the hallway and looked both ways. When the elevator door opened, revealing Shanice, I clapped a hand to my chest.
“You scared me.”
“Thanks.” She adjusted her sunglasses on her face. “I feel like shit, and I look like shit. Stayed out way too late last night.”
An idea hit me, and I blurted it out without thinking. “Was it you who leaked those pics of Ashley and Tomo? He’s your ex...”
I trailed off as Shanice pulled her sunglasses to the tip of her nose and stared at me over the top of the frames.
“Are you serious? I already told you. I got nothing but love for Tomo, but he’s a manchild. Totally like him to get mixed up in all Ashley’s bullshit. Besides—” she shoved her sunglasses back up the bridge of her nose “—that shit coming out is gonna hurt you. I wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Okay, it was just a thought.” I wedged a shoulder against the elevator car as we settled onto the next floor. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. What’s done is done.”
When the door opened, Marcus, from the band, stepped between us. “Ladies.”
We nodded at him but stopped talking.
When the car reached the lobby, Shanice leaned in. “Are you going to be able to fix it?”
“I’m working on it.”
She blew me a kiss and continued toward the lobby as I veered off for the pool. I did not want to see Ashley here and continue our conversation from my room. She’d made herself clear. I didn’t have to worry about seeing Conor. He texted me a picture of TJ’s recording studio earlier.
I snagged a towel from the kiosk and shook it out before laying it on a chaise lounge. I waved to a couple of crew members soaking up the sun and settled down with my laptop.
Reviewing my proposal, which even included Ashley’s sex addiction, I made some notes. I focused on Ashley’s redemption and left out my own role in the chaos. I didn’t need to remind Dina—she’d reminded me enough over the past twelve hours.
When the waiter in the board shorts and cowboy boots stopped by, I ordered an iced tea and put away my laptop. I had several suggestions for the team, most of them outright lies or some distorted version of the truth. Exactly what they wanted to hear.
I slipped out of my shift, adjusted my bikini, and sprayed myself with sunscreen. I grabbed my book and read two lines before a shadow fell over me.
I sighed as I looked up at Jade. I was never going to find out whodunit in this book. I couldn’t even remember what they dun.
“Hi, Noelle. Got a minute?”
“Yeah.” I pulled my legs up to my knees, making room for Jade to sit at the bottom of my chaise. “Are you okay? Late night?”