Page 35 of The Duet

“Maybe,” I play along. “See you in a few.” I hurry out of there, hoping Jess won’t follow me—but she’s not that bonkers yet. I correct my thinking immediately, because this is one of my best friends I’m referring to. Someone I trust implicitly. Someone I’ve been through ten years of ups and downs with. Someone whose friendship I can’t just set aside because I have the extreme hots for the same rock star as she does.

I’m alone in the elevator. Billie was still downstairs, but I expect her to be up soon. Lana texted me her room number earlier. I make my way over. The door opens as soon as I knock.

“You might want to hide me in the bathroom,” I say, by way of a jumbled hello. “Things are afoot. Billie’s coming this way to get you to join a big night out that I already got roped into.”

Lana looks at me in that calm and collected way she has, unswayed by the mad human tornado that just waltzed into her room.

“Hey,” she says, and curls her arms around my waist. “I’ve been waiting all day for some alone time with you. I’m not going to some club with people half my age. I have far better plans tonight.” She leans in to kiss me, but just as her lips are about to touch mine, someone knocks on the door. Billie.

“Bathroom’s over there.” Lana points to a door on her left.

I rush into the bathroom and gently close the door behind me. Lana’s suite is so big, the bathroom is too far from the door for me to hear what Billie is saying—or even be sure it’s Billie at the door. Whoever it is, Lana has made quick work of getting rid of them. Only a few minutes pass before she opens the bathroom door.

“The coast is clear. Where were we?” She holds out her arms for me.

“You don’t get it. I have to go. Jess somehow knows about us, or at least suspects, and she’s going to go mental if I don’t go clubbing with them tonight.”

“Jess knows?” Lana’s eyes go wide.

“She must have seen us at the rest stop earlier. Or she might have just sensed a change in the air. I don’t know, but she reminded me of our long friendship and the repercussions on the band if you and I…” This all sounds so utterly crazy when spoken out loud. It’s not as if, when we started the band, we all swore an oath to never fall for the same woman. These things happen and people deal with it.

“Hey, calm down.” Lana puts her hand against my back and guides me to a couch over by the bed. “Let’s sit for a minute.”

“I don’t have time to sit. They’re expecting me downstairs.”

Lana sits as though wanting to lead by example. “There’s always time.” She reaches out her hand. “That club isn’t going anywhere.”

I take her hand and let her pull me closer. “I’m so conflicted.” I straddle her legs but keep standing. “If I were in Jess’s shoes, I’d be upset too.”

“Jess has absolutely nothing to be upset about.” Lana’s hands ride up the back of my thighs.

“I don’t see things the way you do.”

Lana nods. “I know, which is what makes you so wonderful to be around.”

“What do you suggest I do?”

“What do you want to do?” Lana’s tone is so casual, it irks me. She’s not getting how serious this could be—or at least become—for me.

“I want to stay here with you.” And pretend the outside world doesn’t exist.

“Then stay here with me.”

“But then I have to lie to my bandmates, and Jess will know.”

Lana exhales slowly. “Oh, Cleo. I wish you could see that this is all such bullshit.”

“Maybe to you, but all four members of The Other Women have hero-worshipped you for years. We’re all different, so we’ve all dealt with it in our own way, but when it comes down to it, I’m not that different from Jess. I’m just lucky because I’m the singer and I go out there with you on stage every night and it led to… becoming more.”

“You’re overthinking this in the worst possible way.”

“I don’t have to tell you what it’s like to be in a band. How intense that bond is, but also how fragile egos can be, especially on a long tour like this. We have more than six weeks to go and I’m not risking weeks of tension over…”

“Over what?” Eyebrows arched up, Lana inspects my face.

“We’ve had one night.” Oh, no. Am I actually saying this? “Maybe that’s all it should be, for the sake of my band and the peacefulness of the rest of the tour.”

“Cleo.” Lana pulls me closer, pressing her fingertips into the flesh of my behind. “Jess is a grown woman and she’s your friend. She’s not going to begrudge you sleeping with me forever. Do you want me to talk to her?”

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