Page 19 of Rock & Roll Nights: The Lila and Rivers Edit
Taylor, however, leaned toward me and dropped her voice. “I can see by the look on your face that you know exactly who I’m talking about, Rivers. I saw you watching her when she was onstage. I saw the way you wanted to eat her up. Stick her in your breast pocket and take her home like some sort of pet. You were practically drooling, and the funny thing was, she was just as into you. You two were acting like you were the only ones in the room, and anyone with eyes in their head could see it. So I don’t think chemistry is going to be a problem. All the people there already think you two are in love. We just need to keep that story going.”
Shit.
“She’ll never agree to it,” I said hoarsely. Sure, Lila was insanely cute and too sweet for words, and if I was being honest,I’d admit to myself that I’d fallen for her from the moment her big green eyes turned up to mine. But she was also smart, and had ethics. She’d been raised right by a family that cared deeply about her.
She’d never agree to some fake-dating scheme cooked up by my agent.
Even if she did, the press wouldn’t believe it. She was the exact opposite of what I usually went for. I liked groupies with tattoos and daddy issues. Girls I didn’t have to worry about after we slept together, because they would never dream of expecting anything more from me than just sex. Maybe a smile when I was onstage.
I kept them disposable, because that way I never had to worry about hurting them.
I did not go for sweet, down-home girls with sunshine in their souls and freckles across their noses, whose skin tasted of strawberries and was soft enough to make me forget the world existed. Those sorts of girls…
They weren’t for guys like me. And the press knew it. They would never buy me suddenly showing up with a girl like Lila on my arm. Lila herself would never take me that seriously.
Taylor just shrugged and went on looking smug, acting like she’d heard all the thoughts running through my head. “Course she will. She already did.”
Fuck.
“What? What did you offer her?”
“A contract. Luckily, she has the voice to deserve it. And she didn’t think hanging out with you while you’re on tour was the worst price to pay for it.”
I didn’t hear the rest of what she said. Some part of my brain knew that she was outlining how this was all supposed to work and what I was supposed to do to hold up my end of the deal. Idistinctly heard the words ‘do this or you’re off the tour.’ But the rest?
Yeah, I was too busy staring at Lila Potter to listen. The girl was sitting at the table with Anna, chatting at her friend like she hadn’t just agreed to sign her life and reputation away for a contract with Avery Dawson’s label.
Until she looked up at me with large, doubtful eyes and I saw that she was just as unsure about the whole thing as I was.
9
LILA
Anna didn’t approve.
I mean, ofcourseshe didn’t approve. We’d come out on the road to follow Olivia and Connor’s tour with one goal in mind: getting in front of them and auditioning for that contract. Winning our way into a deal with Avery Dawson Records and finally getting our careers off the ground and into the big time. Maybe even getting on a first-name basis with Olivia Johns herself.
We’d thought that getting to ogle Rivers Shine while we were here might be great.
But we hadn’t actually intended to meet him.
Or get drunk with him. Find our way into his hotel room and then his bed.
Making a deal with his agent to play Rivers’ fake girlfriend in order to win the contract we wanted had never even crossed my mind. In fact, it hadn’t even been in my wildest dreams. I’d been half in love with the guy for most of my life, but I’d never thought I’d be in a position to be anything more than a fan.
Of course I’d never thought I would spend an entire night enjoying him, either. And yet here we were.
Still, judging by the look on Anna’s face, I probably should have at least talked to her about Taylor’s plan before agreeing to it.
“You didwhat?” she asked, her voice low and disbelieving.
I shrugged, trying to play it off. “I agreed to play his girlfriend. Not for long. I’m guessing like a week or two, max. Just enough time to help him improve his image. And after that, we get first shot at the contract. Which is why we’re here, right? The contract? I figure I do this favor for Taylor James—you know, Olivia’s agent—and that contract is basically in our hands. Bonus: We’re famous ahead of time because I’m the girl who dated Rivers Shine and fixed him. We’ll be, like, pre-famous. Famous in advance.”
I mean, it made sense. Taylor hadn’t exactly sounded desperate, but I’d seen enough magazines to know about Rivers’ reputation. If she wanted to clean that up—which she obviously did—she had her work cut out for her. She must have known that she needed a girl who could pull it off and would agree quickly. I didn’t know whether she’d figured out that I’d already met Rivers or not, but she’d evidently seen me staring at him from the stage, and him staring back, and drawn her own conclusions. She’d decided I was the perfect candidate.
And she was lucky I’d said yes.
Because if all that held true, then I was doing her a big favor. As far as I was concerned, that meant she owed me. I was about to spend the next week or two hanging out with the guy who’d made me fall for him and then deserted me the moment he realized what he’d done. I’d have to watch my back—and my heart—the whole time. Be on my guard against anything that looked like it might hurt me.
