Every one of them acted like I was the celebrity when they found out I was Z. My mind was blown.
I was still giddy from the friendly interactions with the famous actors when the lights dimmed. Ty wrapped an arm around my shoulders and didn’t let me go throughout the film. When Strike, the featured LTZ song played during the final scene, I looked up at Ty with such awe. He smiled humbly and kissed my forehead and squeezed me tighter to his side. I stroked his bracelet, finding it hard to fathom that my Ty was as famous as all the people I’d just met.
When the credits started rolling, we followed Sergey out the side exit through the winding hallway that led to the venue. With just over half an hour before the show, we stopped by the dressing room so I could make Ty some tea while he finalized the setlist. While it was brewing, he began his vocal warm-ups, causing goosebumps to decorate my arms each time he’d hit the high, wailing notes that were his trademark.
After a few minutes, satisfied that his vocal cords were ready, he sat cross-legged on the couch, closed his eyes, and started his ritual of visualizing the show. I tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible. Meticulous in his preparation, he mouthed the words and went through the set in his mind, moving his arms and legs slightly as he planned his stage attack.
Suddenly, Ty sprang from his chair and pumped himself up like an athlete by shadow boxing, running in place, and spinning one way and then the other. With the final push, he jumped up and down about twenty times, shook out his hair, and looked over at me sheepishly.
“Ummm, sorry. I kind of geek out when I get ready to go onstage.” Ty threw me a lopsided grin.
“Well, geek-boy, I think you’re fucking hot.” I held out his tea to him from where I stood across the room, leaning against the wall.
“Oh yeah?” Ty stalked over, taking my face in his hands to angle my head for a soft kiss before cocooning me against his chest, his head on top of mine.
The door banged open and Zane burst into the room. “Jesus, my brother! We’re so late, we gotta go.”
“Yeah, well I’m here and ready. Where were you?” Ty looked up nonchalantly, taking a sip of tea.
“Let’s just say I got stuck in the crowd.” Zane waggled his eyebrows and took a bite of a strawberry from the fruit tray.
“Where are Jace and Connor?”
“They sent me to get you, they went right up to the stage. So, let’s do this.” Zane dashed into the bathroom where we could hear him taking care of business.
Ty laughed and rolled his eyes, nonplussed.
“Come up with us, Z.” Zane emerged and reached in his back pocket to put another All-Access Band laminate around my neck. “We’re going out on stage right; all of the execs and actors are on stage left. We can set you up by my guitar tech, so you can watch the show with our crew.”
I was touched he’d thought of my well-being when I’d left my pass at the hotel. Clearly, I was out of my element navigating these professional concert productions. Following Zane and clutching tightly to Ty’s hand, I made my way back to the stage, past a bunch of the crew where Jace and Connor were waiting. Looking out at the sea of ten-thousand fans at this private concert, it was actually an intimate setting for the band who regularly played festivals holding hundreds of thousands of followers. The entire theater was chanting “L-T-Z” and posters professing their love for the band and each of the guys dotted the crowd.
“Spike, this is Ty’s girlfriend Zoey. She’s going to hang by you, it’s her first show in a long time so be cool,” Zane introduced me to his tech.
“Nice to meet you, gorgeous.” Spike, was at least three-hundred-pounds, rocking a hipster beard, a plaid shirt, overalls, and yellow crocs. He pulled me in for a bear hug.
“Hey!” Ty jokingly lunged at the big lug.
“I’m stealing her.” Spike slapped Ty’s arm. “Get your ass on the stage.”
The energy in the venue was so electric, I couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement to see my sexy rock god perform. After the guys did their quick pre-show huddle, Jace broke away and ran out behind his kit followed by Connor and then Zane. When the band took the stage, the crowd lost their minds. Ty kept his arm around my shoulders and watched with me from the shadows as Jace started tapping out the beat to Rise. My heart swelled, remembering that I’d been there when they were creating the song in Carter’s practice space.
Connor picked up the bassline and Zane’s talented fingers picked his way through the complicated intro. Watching the crowd sway, scream, and chant in unison was so incredibly powerful, all of that positive energy for my guy and his band brothers. They deserved the accolades. Using a secret cue, Zane nodded over to Ty to signal it was time to take the stage.
Before he moved, Ty bent down to kiss the side of my face and whispered, “I love you more than anything. You’re my favorite person.”
I felt like the luckiest girl in the world when Ty ran out to the front of the stage. The lights swept all around the venue and crisscrossed in a brilliant pattern of blue, green, and purple, hitting each of the guys but camouflaging Ty. When he reached his microphone, the entire theater went black and a single blue spotlight hit the exact spot Ty was standing on as he held out the opening note for longer than was humanly possible. Utter silence descended on the venue for approximately one second, which was followed by unabashed crowd ecstasy when the lights danced in a pattern that matched the beat.
It was so easy to get lost in the music. Jace’s relentless rhythm was punctuated by pulsing moonbeam-like lights illuminating his entire body. Zane’s extraordinary virtuoso finger work was so far beyond what I remembered, his boyish smile was joyful as he worked the frets. The boom and thump of the bass was Connor’s way of keeping the heart of the band beating, his brooding stare was unforgiving as he took the crowd head-on.
But nothing could match Ty, astonishing in his domination as an entertainer. Whether it was witty banter during a song, his whirling dervish moves through hard-driving beats, subtle flirting with the crowd, his sex-on-wheels command of the audience, or the flat-out mastery of his vocals, he belonged on stage. He was absolute magic.
What melted my heart was that every few minutes, even if it was just for a moment, Ty looked to the sidelines for me, for which I rewarded him with an air kiss or wink. I was so enraptured and riveted that I didn’t notice that someone had joined me.
“Good show.” Sienna towered over me in a black-and-white-patterned jumpsuit, five-inch black Louboutin heels, her dark hair slicked back in a tight ponytail.
“Back in the clubs they were amazing, but now—they’re unbelievable,” I agreed, trying to engage and be friendly.
We both looked out as Pokey, Ty’s guitar tech, handed him his Gibson Montana Hummingbird. He took a few strums, smiled, and addressed the crowd. The spotlight zeroed in.
“We’ve only played this once, and it was a pretty small crowd.” Ty looked up into the audience and then over at me, smiling up from under his mane of hair, which had fallen over his eyes. An undecipherable look passed over his face when he saw Sienna next to me, but he forged ahead and strummed the opening chords of Heart.
Immediately a sea of phone flashlights lit up the entire crowd who were swaying to the beat Jace tapped out. Zane’s haunting guitar layered over the top of Ty’s acoustic work was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes. Connor’s deep plucks of the bassline joined in. Ty looked up and gave the most emotional performance of the entire night, singing his newest love song about me to the crowd. From where I was standing, I could see about fifteen rows deep where the blue illuminations indicated that dozens of people were recording the performance on their phones.
As the last chords ended, the crowd went absolutely bananas, and the cheers didn’t die down for nearly four minutes, despite Ty trying to get them to stop. Turning from the audience, he handed his guitar off to Pokey and strutted over to about ten feet from where I was standing and winked at me. I could feel Sienna’s gaze boring into me, but I rema
ined focused on my man, giving him a thumbs-up and kissy-face. Ty swaggered over to the drum riser, took a long swig of water, and whispered something to Jace.
Ty sauntered up to the front. Now that the crowd had calmed down a bit, he held his finger to his lips to quiet them. The entire venue went dead silent within seconds at his command.
“Are you ready for a song about a butterfly?” Ty purred into his mic.
The crowd lost its collective mind when Zane’s fingers strummed the intro to Butterfly, and Ty sang with Connor’s low backing vocals about letting me fly away. It was such a beautiful song, it was crazy that some of music’s biggest songs of the past few years were about me. After the song ended, Ty addressed the audience.
“Did you guys see the picture of my real butterfly on our Instagram?”
The crowd roared.
“We love you, Ty!!” “Marry me, Ty!!” Shouts from the audience permeated the venue.
“Aww, I’m not on the market, my friends, but I love all of you!” Ty looked over at me and pointed.
Shrinking a bit, I covered my eyes with my hand, feeling very shy about being the subject matter of any audience banter. Sienna had turned fully around to stare at me, her contempt not hidden even a little bit. My gut feeling had been right about her. She certainly wasn’t my fan. I pretended not to notice, after all I wasn’t about to let her get the upper hand, and I certainly wasn’t going to let her ruin the show for me.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. The initial beats of Down began with Jace’s heavy beat of the bass drum. Connor joined with the low bassline intro, swinging around toward the front of the stage. Zane’s melodic chorus blasted right in front of me, startling me into looking up right into Sienna’s cold stare.
I stared right back, narrowing my eyes, and cocking my head slightly.
Tilting her head, Sienna bent down to my ear and through her glossy red lips whispered just loud enough so I could hear her. “Sucks that they found out about you on TMZ, I knew you’d be a fucking liability to Ty and the band. I’m going to have my work cut out for me to fix it.”
Startled, I stared at her, trying like hell to keep my face impassive.
“See for yourself.” Sienna handed me her tablet and returned her focus to the stage.
Looking out at my sweet Ty, who was closing out the show, and then back at the tablet, I didn’t know what to do. Curiosity got the best of me, and I read the article, unable to prevent myself from recoiling in horror.
Devastation set in.
The best night of my life had just turned into a nightmare.
Chapter 28
TYSON
Cathartic. The show was absofuckinglutely cathartic. As we played our set, I felt invincible. Zoey being with me made it so much better. Catching glimpses of her on the side of the stage, smiling and encouraging me, swaying and dancing to the music. It made me even more excited about our new normal of being together always.
When I bellowed the final chords of Down and the crowd went crazy, I glanced over to see Sienna hugging Zoey, almost comforting her. The hairs on my neck tingled. Something was really wrong. My butterfly looked absolutely shell-shocked. Almost like she was going to faint. Panic set in. Suddenly my focus was only on my girl.
I quickly addressed the crowd, signaled to Zane to do a solo, and ran to the side of the stage where they were standing.
“What’s going on here?” I directed my question at Sienna.
“Finish the show, Ty.” I could tell Zoey was struggling to keep it together. “This can wait.”
“What the fuck, Sienna?” I whirled around at her.
“Look, Ty.” Sienna glanced down to check a long, red nail. “Don’t worry, I’ll fix it. I’m pulling in all the favors I could. I’ll try to get to the bottom of how it happened.”
“I’m doing a goddamn show, Sienna,” I shouted. “What are you talking about?”
A look of hurt passed over Sienna’s eyes as she reached for my arm, “Ty, I’m just here to do damage control.”
“For what?”
Zoey stared up at me with her big hazel eyes and shook her head, handing the tablet back to Sienna.
“I’ve got to get set up at the after-party.” Sienna grabbed it and sauntered off toward the dressing rooms. “Zoey will fill you in after the show.”
She gestured to where Jace was waving me over, glaring at all of us. Zoey motioned for me to go finish the set, then slumped against the wall next to Zane’s guitars. I reluctantly obeyed, but it took every ounce of professionalism I had in me not to stop the show.
At least Sienna didn’t say anything about our hook up.
When I took my position back at the mic, I looked back over at Zoey, but she wasn’t paying attention. I managed to finish our encore to thunderous applause before running off stage, but my earlier mood of elation had been replaced with anxiety. And guilt.
Somewhat oblivious of the drama, Zane and Connor ran ahead toward the dressing room whooping it up, pumping fists, sweat flying everywhere. Jace fell into step behind me as I approached Zoey.
“Z—”
“No.” Her face was a stone mask. “We can’t talk here.”
I reached for her hand, which she ignored, instead directing a question at Jace. “Do you know about the article?”
“No, what article?” He looked genuinely perplexed.
Zoey fought back tears. “It’s really bad.”
“Fuck.” Jace punched his hand.
“Zoey, what is going on?” I reached for her, but she shied away.
“Not here,” she hissed.
“Zoey, don’t make it worse. You’re going to have to get used to people saying a bunch of fucked-up lies about Ty, me, the guys, and now you. Unfortunately, it’s part of all of this.” Jace whispered loud enough so that only we could hear him. “I can and will handle the press. If you could try not to add to the fucking drama in front of our crew, that would be great.”
Zoey and I stared after Jace when he stalked off without another look. Road crew was busy breaking down the stage and loading out gear all around us, averting their eyes. After my initial few seconds of being stunned at the way Jace talked to Zoey, steam came out of my ears.
“Hey, you asswipe. Don’t you fucking talk to her that way!” I started after him.
“It’s okay, Ty. He’s right, please do not make a scene.” Zoey grabbed my arm to stop me.
“He can’t speak to you like that,” I grumbled.
“Can we just get to somewhere private. Please?”
I nodded. Silently we made our way through all the crew activity down the ramps into the backstage area. A few fans spotted us and cheered and chanted my name. They also started chanting Zoey’s name. I took her hand and she let me, but we kept going. Once we reached the dressing room, Zoey fell apart.
“What happened.” I knelt down in front of her, placing my hands on her outer thighs. “Talk to me.”
“You should just read it.” With tears streaming down her face, Zoey frantically dug out her reader and pulled up the TMZ website where her picture was front and center with the headline Zoey Uncovered: Ty’s Crazy Stalker Bitch. I read the article, my blood simmered and then boiled over by the time I was done.
The basic premise of the story was Zoey was an underage Lolita who seduced me to fall in love with her only to have an affair with Carter and dump me, which lead to the release of Z. She stalked me for years despite having a boyfriend, which sent me further into a downward spiral leading to abusing booze and sex just to cope. Miraculously, I recovered. Just when I turned my life around and found happiness with Ronni, after she had affairs with two men at her law firm, she managed to worm her way into a role in my non-profit. Which is why Ronni and I broke up. Now under her spell again, not only was I quitting LTZ to be with her, but she refused to marry me unless I ripped up the prenup, deeded my houses to her, and gave her the CEO job at the foundation.
Clearly, it was ridiculous and almost comical. But Zoey didn’t know that. All
she could focus on was the horrible assassination of her character. I knew that this type of shit would usually blow over in a day or two.
The problem was, I’d been in the game long enough under the guidance of shrewd publicists to know when a fake story had been fed to TMZ. This went one step further. This felt planned. Personal. The only people outside of me, Zoey, Carter, her parents, and the band who knew about her role in the foundation were Sienna and Andrew. The tabloid had displayed old pictures of us making out at the recording studio that had been removed from our social years ago, which Andrew and Sienna also had access to. The rest of the story was a laundry list of shit. Unflattering pictures of her from God knows where? Check. Requisite quotes and interviews with people who claimed to know her well? Check. Wholly made up facts? Check. Snippets from women I didn’t know claiming to have slept with me? Check.
The other distressing part of the article was an appearance from my long-lost mother, whom Zoey had never met. Mom helpfully provided a very fictionalized portrait of me and a timeline of my early relationship with Zoey. Her quote about Zoey being a crazy, stalker bitch was where they culled the headline of the article. I was more surprised that it had taken her so long to sell me out for money than I was at the quote itself.
“Oh, butterfly. What the fuck.” I collapsed down next to her.
“So, it’s as bad as I thought.”
“It’s all a crock of shit, which I should be fucking used to by now, but I’m so sorry.” I put my arm around the back of the chair to stroke her hair. “You don’t deserve any of this.”
Something was really off about the piece, and I needed to get to the bottom of it.
Zoey’s eyes welled with tears. “I think I want to go back to the hotel.”
“I’ll go with you.”
She didn’t respond, just tucked up into a ball with her head on my shoulder.
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