Page 18 of Rock & Roll Nights: The Lila and Rivers Edit
Oh. My. God.
8
RIVERS
When Taylor told me the plan, I thought she must be joking.
Only a part of me knew that she wasn’t, because this went along with what she’d already told me. The stuff Noah had been pounding into my brain every chance he got, like he was somehow in charge of making me understand it.
Though that, I could partially understand. The band was the best thing that had ever happened to Noah—to any of us, honestly—and he was smart enough to know that if the band failed, life as we knew it would be over.
Which meant I had the power to make or break all of our lives.
I didn’t like that.
But I also didn’t like Taylor’s way of trying to fix what ailed me.
“You want me to pretend to date a girl to rehab my reputation,” I said slowly. Just making sure shehadn’tbeen joking when she said what she said.
“Right, exactly,” she said, in that no-nonsense way only Taylor James could pull off. The woman had acted like she ruledthe world from the moment I met her, and it had never stopped being annoying. “You date the girl, take her on the road with you, and make sure there are plenty of photographers taking pictures of you. You act like you’re over the moon. Like you can’t get enough of each other. She’s got a sterling reputation and is all good girl energy. The kind of girl you settle down with. And the world at large starts to see that you’re a changed man. That maybe you’ve finally figured out what you want in life. Maybe...” Her eyes got suddenly large, like she’d just come up with the most brilliant idea ever.
I didn’t believe it. I guessed she’d had this whole thing planned out before we even sat down. Not that it mattered.
“Maybe we put it out there that being around Connor and Olivia, those two lovebirds, has made you realize that you want love, too, and then you happened to meet this girl and everything just fell right into place,” she finished breathlessly. “Maybe this is your coming-of-age moment. The tour when you finally start to see that there is good in the world. And you want your slice of it with this girl.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that one. “Me? Suddenly deciding that I want to fall in love with someone and then walking out and finding the right person immediately? What, just the girl next door? Are you serious right now?”
Her eyes snapped back to mine and her face changed from excited to hard and driving. “I’m dead serious. I wouldn’t approach you with the idea if I wasn’t. Do I need to remind you that your spot on the tour probably depends on you cleaning up your act and following the label’s rules? Or that there are other acts coming with us and auditioning for your spot? Your career depends on you doing whatever I tell you to right now, Rivers.”
I scowled at her, and at the confirmation that the bands coming with us were actually auditioning for my spot.
I wondered if any of them knew.
Or if they’d care.
Lila would. Or at least I hoped so.
“No, you were perfectly clear about that part. I just don’t see how you think any of us is going to pull this off. Reporters know how to do their jobs, Taylor. They’re going to spot it in three seconds if I’m trying to pass some girl off as my girlfriend. They won’t believe it in the first place, and if they see I don’t have any chemistry with her...”
My point was obvious as far as I was concerned, so I let my argument die there. This would never work. Taylor was going to find some groupie who didn’t know anything about music and who I didn’t have anything in common with, and that poor girl was going to be stuck to me for the rest of the tour. I’d be miserable the entire time, she’d end up heartbroken and probably drinking too much, courtesy of spending time with me, and no one would buy it. They’d see how unhappy we both were. I didn’t keep girls for more than one night, so having one around for the long term, and having no chemistry with her, would be a dead giveaway. And once they figured it out and unmasked the whole plan, the publicity would be really bad.
Taylor was a good agent, but this was a really, really stupid idea.
So why the fuck did she look so cocky and triumphant?
“What?” I asked suspiciously. “What do you know that I don’t?”
She shrugged, looking unbearably smug. “I was worried about the same thing. You know, that whole chemistry thing. I’ve been thinking about it all night. Then I came to breakfast this morning and realized that you’d already solved my problem for me. You’ve already found a girl you have chemistry with. And she just so happens to be at our fingertips. And, if I’m not mistaken, head over heels in love with you.”
No.
I knew without having to ask who she was talking about. Lila had gone up on stage and volunteered to sing, and the moment she was up there—the moment I’d seen her in her cute little cutoff shorts and tank top, with cowboy boots to match—I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off her. She’d been so sweet and small-town up there, so ‘aw shucks,’ all flushed with excitement, and I’d been completely entranced. My fingertips had remembered the feel of that skin, and my mouth had gone dry with the need to take her up against me, sink my hands into her red hair, and kiss her like she belonged to me.
I’d been staring, and I hadn’t cared.
Even when she caught me doing it and spent the whole song staring right back at me.
My heart tried to climb its way up my throat at the memory—and the ghost of her kisses on my body—and I attempted to wipe my face clean of any emotion. Taylor didn’t know about that. She had no idea who I’d been with last night or how much she’d affected me. She probably hadn’t even seen me watching Lila on stage.
