Page 35 of Forever Yours

“Apparently not.” Though since I hadn’t checked my email in the past hour, I couldn’t say for sure.

A contestant walked by, and Ali met her gaze evenly, as if daring her to give a dirty look. The other woman cast her eyes on the floor and continued on her way. Under other circumstances, I would have been proud of Ali for standing her ground. But I didn’t know why she had to stand her ground in the first place, and she was obviously upset about it.

“Can we get out of here now?” Ali asked.

I took her hand and led her out of the building.

Ali

I shouldn’t have let it get to me.Damn it.I couldn’t believe I’d let the other girls see me cry. More than that, I couldn’t believe I’d let myself cry. The number one rule to dealing with mean girls was not showing weakness, and I’d already broken it.

To be fair, not all of the other female contestants were jerks. It was only a handful, and I could only hope that their nasty attitudes were compensating for lack of talent and they’d get kicked off the show in the first rounds.

In the parking garage, Trenton led me to a sleek sports car and opened the passenger door. I climbed in, grateful not to be taking an Uber. I rode with Georgia in her rental car when our schedules aligned, but that didn’t always happen.

When Trenton got in the car, he didn’t start it right away. “Are you going to tell me why you’re upset?”

I sighed. Whether I liked it or not, we were partners. Besides that, he was bound to find out sooner rather than later. I pulled up the email I’d mentioned earlier on my phone and showed it to him.

It contained an image forSing Battlethat was part of the new advertising campaign. After the reveal show, it would appear on public transit across the country and eventually in magazines. Maybe even in Times Square. All of the celebrities were pictured, but Trenton was front and center and easily three times bigger than the others.

He gaped at it, seeming dumbfounded, which confirmed what I’d already suspected—he hadn’t known about it. “What the hell is this?”

“The new advertising campaign.”

“What the hell? Are there other versions that feature the others?” That was actually a good question, and it would have been a sound strategy, similar to how there were different versions of marquee posters for movies to feature each character.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Well, this is unexpected.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “I didn’t know they were going to do this.” He didn’t seem upset, exactly—more perplexed. With as long as he’d been in the business, he was probably used to the unexpected. Besides, it was good publicity for him. I was under no impression that the celebrities were on the show out of the goodness of their hearts. They were trying to elevate their own careers. Well, not Trenton. He was doing the show as a favor to Evan.

From a marketing perspective, the new advertising made sense. Trenton was the most famous celebrity partner, with Carlita as a close second, which must have been why those two were chosen to go onThe Nightly Show.The network wanted to bring in new viewers, which would bring in more revenue. They cared about making money, not the integrity of the competition. I understood that, but it didn’t mean I liked it.

“Well,” Trenton said slowly, “this is actually a good thing. It brings attention to us, which can only help.”

I stared out the window at the packed freeway visible from the parking garage. “Yeah.”

“But you’re not happy about it.” It was a statement and not a question, but I could tell he wanted me to confirm it.

“The other contestants aren’t happy that my partner was chosen to go onThe Nightly Showand appears front and center on the show posters. They say it gives me an unfair advantage.”

Trenton was quiet for a moment. “They’re not wrong.”

I whipped my head around. “And you’re okay with that?” Even though I agreed with him, I hadn’t expected him to so readily admit it.

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if I’m okay with it. Lord knows this business isn’t fair. You’ve got to take whatever breaks you can get.”

“This isn’t how I want to make it—riding on someone else’s coattails.”

“That’s admirable, but you’ve got to be realistic. Do whatever you can to get a leg up, and then let your talent speak for itself.”

I shook my head. “My talent can speak for itself without a leg up.”

He studied me, and I could tell he wanted to say more. He probably wanted to explain why I was being ridiculous. Deep down, I knew he was right. The music business—whether classical or popular—was unforgiving. Further down the line, I might take his advice. But for the time being, I needed to prove to myself that I—and I alone—had what it took.Kinda hard since I’m being forced to be part of a duo.

″Iwant to win,” I said stubbornly. “I want to win for me, not because I’m Trenton Mazer’s partner.”

He blew out a breath, and I worried I’d offended him. If I had, so be it. It was my truth. Without saying another word, he started the car and started down the ramp that led out of the garage. We were silent on the ride to his house. Damn it, maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. Whether the competition was one hundred percent fair was irrelevant. I’d signed the contract, so it wasn’t as if I could back out, not that I wanted to. I still wanted to win, and pissing off my partner wouldn’t help matters.

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