Page 36 of Guitars and Mistakes
She smirked like she knew exactly what I’d been up to, which made me wonder suddenly if she had spies on me or Rivers anddidknow where we’d been last night, but then she went right back to business.
“We’re both done with Rivers. He’s no good for your reputation anymore. Your next mission is to break up with him. Very publicly. Make it something big and splashy and make sure there are photographers there getting pictures of it. I want it in all the papers. I want a clean break. We’ll put you and Anna into the band and carry on without him. He’s told me he’s heading back to Nashville so there shouldn’t be any trouble from him on this. We can leave him behind and take you toward your bright, shining future.”
Oh God, I hadn’t had enough caffeine for this yet.
Though I guessed Taylor wouldn’t accept that as a reason for putting off the conversation.
Still, at least I had a plan already in place. I’d received another email this morning, and it had given me exactly the answer I’d been hoping for. And an address.
An address in Jonesboro.
“I have a better idea,” I said, putting my coffee down and gazing calmly at Taylor. “I don’t want to have a big, splashy breakup with him. What if I could do something even better?”
Her face shuttered. “Like what?”
I leaned toward her, relief and triumph rolling through me. “The best publicity of a lifetime. The feel-good story you’ve never had with him. And a guarantee that if it works, I’ll save Rivers Shine from the spiral he’s in, save the band, and save your contract with him.”
It was a huge promise. Bigger than anything I’d ever promised anyone before, and twice as tricky. Would it work? I had no idea.
But I was willing to bet on it, because if it did, it might be the only thing that could teach Rivers that he was worth a hell of a lot more than he thought he was. It might pull him up out of the tailspin he’d put himself into and show him that he deserved good things in life. Show him that he deserved love.
And I’d give just about everything I had—including a contract I hadn’t even signed yet—to teach him that.
If I could convince him to follow me a bit further down the yellow brick road. Believe in me a bit longer. And trust me with the biggest secret he’d ever kept from anyone.
RIVERS
“Matt, I swear to God, if you’ve got me out here for something that’s going to get me in more trouble than I’m already in, I’ll?—”
“It was Lila’s idea, not mine,” my best friend said quickly, never taking his eyes off the road in front of us.
Lila, however, spun around in her seat—taking her eyes completely off the road—and glared at him. “Matt! This is a group effort!”
He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back around in her seat. “If it’s a group effort, maybe you should make sure we arrive in one piece. Eyes on the road!”
I mean, Lila was driving, so I agreed with him on that point.
Anna, however, reached out and smacked the hand closest to her, then turned to glare at Matt. “Lay another hand on her and I’ll make sure you don’t get it back, buddy.”
This was such a change from the way she’d been looking at him lately—namely with mooning eyes and lips ready to be kissed—that I sputtered with laughter.
I mean the whole thing was actually hilarious. They sounded like some sort of traveling comedy routine with their banter—which had been going on, by the way, since they’d essentially kidnapped me from my room this morning before I was even fully awake. Matt had come in and yanked me out of bed, shoving me quickly into jeans and a t-shirt while he made excuse after excuse about why I had to get up and get dressed before the sun was even rising over the buildings around us and telling me not to worry about it because he had everything under control.
Two things: First, Mattneverhad anything under control. He was way too much of a nice guy to ever assert control over anything, and I knew for a fact that he preferred following someone else’s directions to making up his own rules. Second, and more importantly, when he’d hustled me into the living area of my suite, we found Lila and Anna there, both looking bossy and in charge. Which meant that he absolutely didn’t have anything under control.
I’d thought at first that this was some Anna scheme—she was definitely the more assertive of that duo—but within moments Lila had started talking about wanting to take me on a road trip and needing to do something, and that although she’d been doubting it, Taylor had said something that had made her think it was necessary but that she needed me to sign on to whatever it was.
I guessed that meant she was at least kind of asking my permission before they kidnapped me, though most of her words flew in one ear and out the other without making much of an imprint. I’d only been asleep for a couple hours, courtesy of Lila dragging me out into a meadow for most of the night, and I hadn’t had any caffeine yet.
But the fact that she had dragged me out into a meadow for most of the night, and had actually asked what was wrong with me and then listened to the answer, made me agree to whatever plan she had. Hell, I would have agreed to almost anything she said in that moment. Her hair was messy and her eyes were on fire with excitement—which should have made me nervous—but she was looking at me like I was the only person in the world for her, and that was enough for me.
This girl had taken the time to try to see who I was and ask what I wanted. And for that, I would have cheerfully run off the edge of the world if that was what she’d wanted.
All of which led to this moment, where I was stuffed into the backseat of Lila’s tiny car—still on tour with us courtesy of one of the roadies driving it for her when she couldn’t—with Matt, while Lila and Anna took up the front seats.
No, it didn’t make sense for the two tall guys to be stuck in the backseat while the girls were in the front. But it wasn’t my car. Also, I didn’t know where we were going, so I wouldn’t have made a very good driver or navigator.
“Turn right here!” Anna suddenly screeched.
