Page 3 of Never Been Worse

“It’s the press,” Beckett says, the quiet man of our tight-knit group, making sense as always. “Right?” Stella and Riggs look at one another, and then she nods. “You don’t want to tell the press you’re pregnant yet.”

“We want to keep it under wraps. It took us a while to get here, so just in case anything…happens, I’d like to keep things quiet. And I don’t want the press on our asses. But because the last time you guys postponed…” It kicks in then, the problem we’re going to face. The last time we postponed a tour was because Riggins was in rehab for alcoholism.

“I’d come out with it to avoid the drama,” Stella continues, biting her lip again. “But I’m really early. And with my depression, I’m high-risk. If something happens, I don’t want the entire world to know about it. I also don’t want them hounding me. They finally backed down a bit, which has been so nice.”

The reunion of Stella and Riggins, music’s one-time power couple, was huge news, especially when Riggins told the world he was married to Stella and had been for several years, despite their long-term breakup. Add in the drama of Stella’s mom and Riggins’s struggle with alcohol, and they just recently stopped getting followed every time they simply went to the grocery store.

“If you announce the tour is postponed without explanation, the press will think it’s like last time, and Riggins fell off the wagon,” Beck fills in bluntly. Even if we told the world Riggs wasn’t in rehab and that we just needed a break, the paparazzi, the forums, and social media will absolutely run with whatever version sells the most paper or gets the most likes.

“We need a different reason,” I say, with Reed, Beck, and Jaime, who has seen the worst of how the press can be, nodding in agreement.

Before anyone can respond, Stella covers her mouth with her hand and stands, rushing out of the room. We look around, eyes wide with confusion and concern, except for her husband.

“Morning sickness. She’s been sick a ton,” Riggs says, before he runs after his wife, leaving the rest of us in the living room.

Silence hangs in the room as we take in this big change before I break it. “We need to come up with an explanation for the break. Something legitimate. We need to get the press on to one of us.” Beck goes white at the mere idea of the press hounding him, and I roll my eyes. “Reed or me,” I say. “Don’t worry, big guy. We won’t make you a viral sensation.”

“I can pretend I want to try my hand at something cooler, like aerial acrobatics,” Reed suggests, and I sigh in exhaustion. I love Reed like a brother, but the man is out of his mind sometimes.

“Yeah, maybe we try something a bit more…believable?”

“That actuallyispretty believable, if you know Reed,” Beck says, and I glare at him because Reed does not need encouragement.

“Yeah, I was thinking more like one of us calls up Willa and see if she needs a whirlwind romance,” I say of our pop star friend who has PR relationships to create buzz around her music. Riggins “dated” her when he and Stella broke up to cover up his drinking problem, and they wrote a few songs together to legitimize it.

“I volunteer as tribute!” Reed nearly yells, throwing his hand into the air.

“I think Willa is out,” Leo says with a shake of his head. “Considering she was tied with Riggins’s drama.” I cringe, knowing that to be true.

“We could call Evie and have her spin a story?” Beckett suggests, referencing Stella’s twin sister, Everest, who works as a journalist for a major music magazine.

I nod. “We should do that either way, but she’s not necessarily an unbiased source of information. It could do the opposite of what we need to accomplish, prove as evidence something’s up.” Leo nods.

“We’ve got some time,” Beckett says, his hands on his knees as he leans forward. “We should sit on it, think about what we could do. Being impulsive on this isn’t the right move.”

“Just don’t mention it to Riggs, yeah?” I say, tipping my chin to Reed, the biggest mouth of all. “He’s got enough on his plate.”

He rolls his eyes but nods.

“He’ll just tell us not to worry and then run off with some stupid last-minute plan that makes things worse. Maybe—” Reed starts, but Jaime's phone rings, cutting him off. When he looks at the screen, his face lights up.

Ava.

The only person on this earth who makes Jaime look that happy is his wife, and even then, sometimes he looks like?—

“What do you meanarrested?”he barks into the phone.

Like that.

More often than not, his wife makes him look likethat. Red-faced and annoyed and a bit panicked because she tends to often find herself in a bit of trouble. I can’t hear the person on the other end of the line, but I watch Jaime’s face get increasingly red.

“Jesus Christ, Ava, vandalism andstalking?” My eyes go wide, and Reed is bouncing in his seat, fighting the urge to laugh out loud, something we know from experience will just turn his ire to one of us. “I don’t care if you weren’t actually stalking the man, Ava. If you’re charged with stalking and it goes through, you’re a fucking stalker forever. And you’re pregnant, Ava! Jesus fuck. What were you doing there?” Another pause before his head tips up to the ceiling and he sighs deeply. “Ava Wilde, love of my life, mother of my future children, you are going to send me into an early grave.” Another pause before he groans. “Yes, because you’re fucking insane! Why else?” There’s another pause before his face turns red, a blush burning over his cheeks. “Ava, I’m begging you, please stop. I’m in a room with the Atlas Oaks guys, and you’re in a fucking police station. This call is beingrecorded.”

“Ava Wilde is an icon,” Reed says low. “She’s the only woman I know who would be in a holding cell and trying to have phone sex with her husband.”

Jaime's eyes snap to Reed with a threat.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there in…” Jaime pauses, looking at the clock on the wall before answering. “Thirty. I’m in Ashford. Yeah, yeah. Love you too, Princess.” One final pause before his face goes from soft to annoyed again. “God, Ava, I’m not bringing Peach. Jesus Christ, woman. See you soon.” He hangs up before taking a deep breath with closed eyes like he’s trying to center himself before he stands.

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