Page 3 of His Secret Addiction

This is insanity.

I fall back against the chair, lowering my guitar to its stand. It’s true that no one has ever seen me with a woman before. I have been involved discreetly with women, but I always let them know beforehand that I don’t do relationships and I intentionally chose women who weren’t interested in the spotlight.

This would be huge news, no doubt.

My phone pings in my pocket, and I imagine it’s another person texting me about last night. I reach into my leather jacket and dig out my phone, hoping for a distraction when I realize it’s an Instagram notification about a post from my private account the one fans do not know about. I use the account to follow people from back home and to keep up with what’s happening in Valor Springs.

The notification is for a post from my mother posing at brunch with a bunch of her friends. I sigh and go to exit the app when another post under my mother’s catches my eye. I scroll to it, my heartbeat racing as I look at the picture. My eyes focus on a familiar blonde-haired girl looking into the camera and smiling around a forkful of cake.

Elizabeth Fae Anthony.

It has been years since I last saw her, but I would recognize that pretty face anywhere. Her light blonde hair is styled in loose waves that brush her bare shoulders. Her beautiful blue eyes are like sapphires, slowly drawing me into their depths, and I am helpless to look away. My eyes trace to the gentle curve of her smile, so radiant it lights up her delicate features.

I quickly click on her profile, and soon, I am scrolling through her page, taking in the girl I haven’t seen in so long. My eyes linger on her most recent photo. She is rocking a casual outfit of a cozy, oversized sweater paired with high waist jeans and holding a mug of coffee, and fuck…the way the sunlight dances on her delicate features tugs at my heart in a way no one ever has before.

Elizabeth, who is fondly known as Lizzie back in Valor Springs, is my parents’ neighbor. Her family lived next to mine for as long as I can remember. Our age difference meant I never paid Lizzie much attention growing up. I was friends with her older cousins, James and Jax, and she’d try to tag along whenever they came around. I never minded because she was mostly a quiet kid and easily unnoticed. I’m noticing her now though.

“Yes! That’s exactly the kind of girl I’m talking about. Who is she?”

I realize with a start that I’m smiling and quickly lock my phone screen before looking up at Gary. “No one,” I say, not wanting to share her with him for some reason. Despite having known each other for a decade, Gary and I aren’t close. He works for the label and his loyalty is to them. Telling him about Lizzie feels wrong.

Gary looks at me with narrowed eyes, but lets the subject drop. “If you say so. Anyway, I need to get back to the office and deal with this shitstorm. Stay off social media and keep your head down until you hear from me, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah. I know the drill. But I’m still not convinced a fake girlfriend is the way to go. It could backfire if it’s exposed as a lie.”

“Don’t worry about a thing, Foster,” Gary says, clapping me on the shoulder as he makes his way to the door. “In ten years, I’ve never steered you wrong, have I? Just leave it to me.”

I wave him out, but something about his words and the way he looked at me as he left have me on edge. I pick up my guitar again to distract myself, feeling suddenly inspired by a pair of beautiful blue eyes.

Chapter Two

Liz

“Sebastian Foster has a girlfriend!”

I jump up in fright when a hand smacks the reception desk I am standing behind, the sound carrying through the empty lobby. I sigh and look up to find my boss staring at me, her eyes wide with excitement.

I clutch my hammering heart and glare at her. “Abby!”

Abby Miller is the owner of the hotel where I work. A few months ago, she inherited the place from her late aunt, which is around the same time she became engaged to my cousin, making her family as well as my boss. Although close in age to me, she knows very little about running a business, let alone a hotel, but she’s been trying hard to learn. Still, she gets easily distracted, and in turn, likes to distract me.

Abby and I rarely get any work done when we’re together, especially when she’s got some new celebrity gossip to share. Maybe it’s partly my fault, but it’s hard to resist slacking at work every once in a while. Today, however, is not that day. We have a shit ton to do. I’ve been receiving calls all afternoon from people looking to book the hotel. I can’t help but wonder if this has allbe some kind of elaborate prank. In all the years I’ve worked here, we’ve never been this busy. Valor Springs is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Why do so many people want to visit here all of a sudden?

“You know who Sebastian Foster is, right? The hot, mysterious guy in the band, Dirty Chapter?”

I splutter. “D-dirty Chapter?”

She blinks at me in confusion. “Isn’t that what the DC stands for?”

“It’s Dynamic Circuit.”

“I like Dirty Chapter better.” She waves me off. “Anyway, do you know their lead guitarist and vocalist, Sebastian Foster?” she asks, thrusting the screen of her phone in front of my face before I can respond. I blink several times before my eyes focus on the familiar shirtless man with dark hair curtaining his face as he plays an electric guitar. Sweat gleams on his beautiful, tattooed skin, and my eyes shift to the perfectly defined V that disappears into his jeans before quickly looking away.

I push the phone away from my face and shake my head at her. “Abby, might I remind you that you are engaged to my cousin and should not be drooling over other men.”

“I love your cousin to the moon and back and cannot wait to walk down the aisle to him, but loving him does not make me blind. I can admire art when I see it, and Sebastian Foster is just that.”

I snicker at her words, turning back to the computer and doing my best to ignore her, but my mind keeps going back to the picture of Sebastian. It’s been years since I last saw him, but judging from his photo, it doesn’t seem like he’s changed one bit. Except for the fact that he wears his hair a little longer now orthat his body is much more filled out than it was the last time I saw him.

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