Page 66 of Forever Yours

I pinched the bridge of my nose before remembering it was caked in my face mask. “They make it sound like I’m in a catfight with Lindsey over you.” A few months before, the idea would have been ridiculous. I couldn’t believe that was my life—is this the sort of nonsense I have to look forward to?I wanted to be known for my music, not my so-called drama.

He sighed. “That’s just stupid. Lindsey and I are over, and we were barely together in the first place.”

“People think I’m playing dirty in an attempt to win.”

There was a pause. “Being with me is playing dirty?”

He wasn’t understanding, and it seemed like he was purposely twisting my words. I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that viewers might think I was, and that could hurt my chances in the competition. My focus had gotten skewed. I needed to remember my purpose for being LA.

“I think we need to go back to our original plan of keeping things strictly professional,” I said. “We’re so close to the end, and I don’t want to jeopardize everything.”

“Okay,” he said slowly.

I swallowed thickly. “I don’t think we should rehearse at your house anymore either. If someone sees me—”

“I get it.” He sounded tired, and I couldn’t blame him. The whole mess was exhausting.

“Thanks,” I said quietly, grateful he wasn’t fighting me. If we didn’t change our behavior, the speculations would only get worse. The thought of keeping myself away from him made me equally sick to my stomach, but I didn’t see another solution.

“Sure. Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He ended the call before I could respond.

Trenton

I stared at my phone in disbelief, Ali’s words echoing in my mind. When I told her I got it, I meant it, but probably not in the way she thought.

What I understood was that she would never be satisfied. If she lostSing Battle, she would obviously be upset and wonder if viewers turned against her because of her so-called feud with Hollywood princess Lindsey Piccolo. If she won, she would always wonder if she truly earned it or if being my partner had clinched the deal.

I loved this girl, but I couldn’t be with her, not when she put more importance on gossip than on what we had between us. She wasn’t ready for any of this—fame, but more importantly, a relationship with me. Until she could get past all the shit in her head, I had nothing to offer her.

She was fighting tooth and nail to get into the business, but she was ignoring a big certainty of it—people would always talk about celebrities, no matter how private they tried to keep their personal lives. Those stupid memes and the pictures of Ali and me were proof of that. That was the catch-22. We needed fans to be successful, but we also had to be careful not to put too much store in other people’s opinions.

I knew what I needed to do, and I could only hope that one day, she would understand and wouldn’t hate me.

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