Page 42 of Spark

Savage shrugs. “You’ll have to ask Eli for specifics. He said something about them wanting to make sure you and Ruby wouldn’t publicly deny her being Ruby Tuesday and you being the guy in the song. You know, leaving everything open to speculation, at least. But who knows.”

I shrug. “I’d be willing to do whatever it takes to get Ruby onto the show. I know for a fact this would be a dream come true for her. Life changing.” I pull my phone out of my pocket. “I’ll text Eli now and let him know?—”

“No, not yet,” Savage says. “There’s something else.” He looks at Laila and grimaces before returning to me. “Cooper. Eli said they’ve confirmed him as a guest mentor thisseason.”

“What the fuck? Seriously?” I look at Laila, frowning. “I thought you were the only judge without a guest mentor confirmed.”

“I was, which is why I asked for Ruby. They initially said no about her, by the way. They said she’s not a big enough name yet. But then, Cooper’s song came out and took the internet by storm, and since they already had you, they decided to bump the guest mentor lined up for Jon and replace him with Cooper.”

“Poor Ruby,” I murmur. “Talk about an impossible choice to make. Saying yes to her dream opportunity and working alongside Cooper or turning it down and getting the biggest case of FOMO ever.”

“I know,” Laila says. “It sucks.”

I rough a palm down my face. “So, are they gunning for a love triangle storyline here, then? Is that what’s really going on?”

“Eli seems to think so,” Savage says. “But for now, I guess they’re being pretty vague about their intentions. First things first, they want to know if you’ll play ball. If not, they’re not going to make an offer to Ruby.”

“Like I said, I’ll do whatever Ruby wants. The question is whether Ruby will want to do the show with Cooper. Honestly, I don’t know. The past few days have been pretty rough on her.” I turn on my phone, and a bunch of texts and missed calls from Eli pop up. “I’ll let Eli know I’m in Ruby’s corner, no matter what.”

“He figured you’d say that,” Savage says as I tap out the message. “But he just needed to know for sure before he replied to the producers. Apparently, time is short for his response.”

As I’m still typing out a message to Eli, Laila says, “So, Kendrick. Have you talked to Ruby about Cooper’s song yet?”

“Yeah. I was there when she heard it for the first time. She’s furious about it.”

“No, I mean, have you talked to her about the lyrics? Does she know if the guy in the song is you?”

My heart is thumping. “We haven’t talked about any of that stuff. Ruby was sobbing when she first heard it, and I haven’t wanted to upset her again or dignify Cooper’s lyrics by asking too many questions.”

“You haven’t asked her if you’re the ‘brother’ she wants to fuck?” Savage blurts, his face awash in disbelief.

“I can’t ask her that. If I did, she’d thinkIthink those lyrics are about me.”

“Well, don’t you?” Savage asks. “I sure as hell do.”

My heart stops. He does? Does everyone in the band think that way, too? Does Titus?

“Who knows?” I babble, sweating bullets. “For all we know, they’re totally fabricated. Or maybe the guy in the song is a mash-up of you, me, and Kai. You know how songwriting is.”

“Maybe,” Savage concedes. “But it seems most likely they’re real and about you.”

“I’d say so,” Laila chimes in.

“Why do you both think that?”

They look at each other and shrug, like I’ve asked, “Why do you think the sky is blue?”

“Who else would they be about?” Laila asks. “I mean, if you want proof, I think Ruby being a ‘gem’ in the song is a nod you. You’re the one who always calls her that. A gem.”

“And I’m sure Cooper noticed,” Savage adds. “Both back when he opened for us and during his stint as tagalong boyfriend.”

Laila adds, “We think he’s giving you the middle finger by repeatedly calling her that in the song.”

“You think so? Seems to me, Ruby being a gem is low-hanging fruit in terms of a metaphor. It’s not like I’m some poetic genius for coming up with that.”

“But you’re the only one in the band who ever calls her that,” Savage shoots back. “The only one, KC.”

He’s not wrong about that. Suddenly, Ruby’s comment to Reed pops into my head: the one about Cooper’s song airing their “dirty laundry.” And my heart rate increases, yet again.

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