Platinum (All That Glitters #3)

by K. A. Linde

  Damon didn’t jolt away from Trihn, like she’d expected.

  He kissed her on the lips and smiled at her before turning to Chloe. “What’s up?”

  Chloe was beet-red. She cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to go over that one part in ‘Heartbreaker.’ It’s hell on my vocal cords.”

  “Sure. Let me get you in key.”

  Damon kissed Trihn’s cheek one more time, and then he and Chloe sat at the piano and worked on the song she had sang a hundred times before.

  Chloe had real talent. It was clear why she was successful. But her insecurities about her success were also blatant in the way she always looked for reassurance from others around her. Trihn would never have seen it before, but she recognized things about Chloe the Girl that she would never have seen in Chloe the Mega Superstar.

  By the time they finished up, an assistant came by to collect them, and then Trihn was deposited backstage, so she could watch the show.

  It was different this time, seeing Chloe and Damon onstage together.

  That first night, Damon had been a nobody. He had played one song, and Trihn had felt so proud of him.

  Now, when Damon walked on that stage, there were as many cheers for him as there were for Chloe. The fans adored him. He wasn’t here by chance or luck. He was here because he was meant to be here.

  All the hours recording and doing promotional tours, all the endless tour dates away from home, all the time he’d had to be away from her had coalesced into this one moment. Damon Stone had been made to be on that stage.

  He hadn’t been joking when he said that he played a bunch of instruments. He went from guitar to bass to drums and back to guitar. He played three songs on the piano, and then, he ended up with a trumpet that he recorded live and then fed into the feed for the crowd.

  His talent and complete adoration for the music mesmerized Trihn. Somehow, he had taken Chloe’s tour and made it about both of them.

  By the time “Heartbreaker” and “We Never Met” were played as the grand finale, the crowd was in an uproar. Philips Arena was on its feet, and Trihn couldn’t blame them. Damon and Chloe made a rocking duo.

  Damon came offstage with a wide grin and sweat dripping down his face. He took off his baseball cap and wiped his forehead with his soaked shirt. Chloe followed behind him, living off the energy from the concert.

  Chloe catapulted into Damon’s arms. He laughed and swung her around before placing her back down on her feet.

  “That’s the best it’s ever been!” she said, jumping up and down.

  “It really was,” Damon agreed. “God, that crowd. It’s like a life force.”

  “It so is. One more bow!” Chloe grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the stage.

  He apologetically looked at Trihn, but she didn’t say anything as he and Chloe ran back out together.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for bringing down the house tonight here in the ATL. I’m Chloe Avana, and this is Damon Stone. And we love you!”

  Chloe blew a kiss at the crowd, then at Damon, and then back at the crowd. She hoisted his hand in the air, and the room erupted all over again.

  This time, when he ran back offstage, Damon scooped Trihn right off the ground, pulling her against his chest. Trihn tightly held on to him. She slid down his body, and he planted a kiss on her lips.

  “I want you at every show.”

  She laughed. “I wish.”

  “Let’s make it happen.”

  “Damon…”

  “We can try.”

  “I have the fashion show,” she reminded him.

  “It’s better when you’re here.”

  “I think so, too, but I have work.”

  “You’re right,” he said, leaning toward her. “I’m just on a high from the show, and I want you here for everything.”

  “Mr. Stone, we should move this to the dressing room,” Mateo said. “People will be backstage any minute.”

  “Sure,” Damon said. He pulled Trihn forward and back into the dressing room.

  He stripped out of his shirt and toweled off before changing into a new shirt.

  “Chloe was pretty…affectionate after the show ended,” Trihn said. Then, she quickly added, “Not that I think anything is going on.”

  “Well, good. There are just a lot of endorphins and so much excitement by the end. It’s hard not to want to celebrate when you come offstage. Plus, she’s not normally this high-stress, so it’s easier to want to celebrate with her.”

  She thought Chloe was a little touchy, but it was innocent, so it really didn’t matter. Trihn didn’t want to stress about it when it was clear that Damon was into her and only her. He had told her that time and time again.

  “I believe you.”

  Damon leaned down and kissed her on the lips. “I’m going to go meet some fans, and then we can go back to the hotel and repeat this afternoon.”

  Trihn laughed and pulled him in for another kiss. “Deal.”

  THE NEXT DAY, Trihn had to forcibly remove herself from the hotel premises.

  She and Damon had spent all night in his room, and to say that she didn’t want to leave would be the understatement of the century.

  The idea that he’d had after the show kept ringing through her mind the entire plane ride home.

  She wanted to stay. She wanted to join him on tour. She wanted to be with him for every concert and every different city. She didn’t want to miss a moment of it.

  But reality crashed back in, and she knew it wasn’t possible. If she didn’t have the fashion show to worry about, she might have made it work for a little while. But what would happen when school starts? She couldn’t leave school. That would never be an option.

  By the time Trihn landed back in Las Vegas, she felt more confident about her departure.

  But when she switched her phone off Airplane Mode, the slew of messages didn’t help anything.

  The first few were from Bryna.

  Are you with Damon?

  Bitch, answer your phone.

  Your face is showing up online. Tabloids are kind of going crazy. When you get this, don’t check the news.

  Trihn frowned and kept reading. The next message was from Stacia.

  Hey! Answer your phone! We’ve all been calling you! Bri is flipping her shit, and now I’m worried.

  Then, there was one from Damon.

  I know you’re on the plane, love, but Chloe was right. Paps took pictures of us together in ATL. The story is that you’re a homewrecker. Working on the details of what our statement is going to be to the press or if we should just let it blow over. Call me, so I know you’re okay. I hate not being with you during all of this.

  Trihn took a deep breath. They’d been expecting this, begrudgingly accepting that Chloe was right about the paparazzi. It must have been pretty widespread for it to have completely freaked out everyone she knew in the time it had taken her to get to Las Vegas.

  As soon as she was off the plane, she called Damon back. She was glad that she only had a carry-on and could hurry out of the airport and into a cab.

  “Hey, love,” Damon said.

  “Hey. So…I’m a homewrecker. That’s a new one. It’s usually the other way around.”

  “Yeah, sorry. I guess I was completely unprepared for this sort of thing. I thought we could hang out anywhere we wanted, unmolested.”

  “Guess not anymore. Am I free to walk around without people following me?” Trihn asked, only half-joking.

  “Yeah. I mean…I don’t think anyone is going to bother you if I’m not with you, but if they do, just say, No comment, and walk away. Hey, hold on.”

  Through the muffled phone, Trihn could hear him yelling something to Chloe.

  “Miss Paranoid over here says you’ll be fine but to be on alert until it dies down,” he said.

  “This feels absurd, Damon.”

  He laughed. “It really does. I don’t think it’s a big deal. No one actual
ly believes tabloid bullshit.”

  Trihn didn’t think that was true, but as long as no one in her real life thought what the press had been spinning was true, then it wouldn’t matter to her.

  “Thank you for being so awesome about this. I can’t wait until New York when I can hold you in my arms again.”

  “I can’t wait either. But I should probably give Bri and Stacia a call. I guess they saw the tabloids and are freaking out.”

  “Oh, Jesus. Okay, yeah. Tell them I said hi.”

  “I will. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  Trihn immediately texted Bryna back to let her know that she had just left the airport and would be at the apartment soon. Her return text was classic Bryna.

  Hurry up and get your ass over here. I need answers, woman!

  Trihn arrived at her apartment a half hour later and was surprised to find her home holding way more people than she had anticipated.

  Bryna was talking on the phone and pacing a circle in the carpet. Eric was standing next to an African American guy from the football team who she had met before with Maya.

  Dray or Drayton?

  Trihn wasn’t sure if he and Maya were officially dating or not, but him being in her house with his arm around her beautiful friend made her think that was the case.

  The most surprising thing, however, was the fact that Stacia was currently sitting on a tall blond football player’s lap who was not her boyfriend…or sort of boyfriend—whatever Marshall was. Instead, Stacia was laid out on Pace’s lap, as if they hadn’t spent the last six months at each other’s throat—and not in a good way.

  Trihn immediately saw why Bryna had been so short in her text messages. The history between she and her stepbrother, Pace, was poor at best. Despite the fact that Bryna had been moving forward and getting along with her family since the birth of her half-sister, Zoe, Bryna still didn’t much like or trust Pace. And that was obvious in the glares she kept shooting his way.

  “Our local celebrity,” Eric said when Trihn finally edged through the door.

  “Hey, E.”

  Bryna’s eyes snapped up to her. “I have to go,” she said into the phone before abruptly hanging up. “There you are!”

  “Hey, everyone. Didn’t realize I was walking into a party.”

  “Yeah, well, you were supposed to be back yesterday,” Bryna said.

  “Went to see Damon in Atlanta instead. He flew me back this morning while they went on to Charlotte.”

  “I think everyone knows that already,” Pace said with a chuckle.

  Stacia smacked his chest. “Have you read any gossip lately?” she asked Trihn.

  “No, but Damon told me what the press was saying about me. It’s not a big deal. It’s all a lie anyway,” Trihn said with a shrug. “Damon and Chloe aren’t together, and I’m obviously not a homewrecker.”

  “I told you she wouldn’t be worried,” Maya said. She was pouring drinks in the kitchen, working even when she wasn’t at her job.

  Bryna smiled. “I’m glad. It seems Damon has been good for you. I thought we would have a mess on our hands after this shit.”

  “Such confidence in me, Bri,” Trihn said. She rolled her eyes and started walking back to her bedroom.

  Bryna followed her and grabbed her arm just before she could disappear. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

  “Totally,” Trihn said automatically. “Chloe flipped when she found out that Damon and I had been out in Atlanta. Some girl took a picture with him and Instagrammed it to Chloe, putting it on the press’s radar. It’s literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever had to deal with. If I thought for one minute that any of this was a threat, that Chloe was a legit threat, then maybe I’d be worried. But I have no reason to think that. None.”

  Bryna pursed her lips and looked down. Her eyes fluttered back to Trihn’s, but they didn’t exactly meet hers when she said, “You’re right. None.”

  The entire thing did not blow over like Trihn had wanted.

  She was stuck in Vegas, working on her fashion line and getting ready for the big show in New York, which meant there were no more pictures of her and Damon out in public together. But there were enough photos of the two of them on their social media accounts, and those were now crawling all over the Internet. Trihn had to make all her accounts private to keep people from commenting on her shit. It was annoying for all of a couple of hours before she shut it all down and went back to work.

  Chloe and Damon were both asked questions about their love lives, but their answers were usually, “No comment,” or “It’s personal.”

  Trihn was fine with that. She didn’t exactly want to be out in the spotlight or have paparazzi to deal with while she still had so much on her plate. But part of her also kind of wished that she could just come out and say that she and Damon were together. Trihn knew it was business, but it seemed stupid to just ignore it.

  She had just finished up another day locked away in the studio and was on her way to meet her friends at Posse when her phone chimed.

  I’ll call you when I can. It’s not true.

  Trihn had been so out of the loop while working that she didn’t even know what the hell Damon was talking about.

  She pulled up Facebook to see a slew of posts about an anonymous hacker posting nude photos of celebrities stolen from their phones.

  Trihn groaned. “Disgusting.”

  Don’t these creeps know that celebrities are people, too?

  No one should have access to personal information, let alone to very personal images meant for a significant other. Trihn clicked through the list of hacked celebrities’ phones, and she froze. It was a relatively long list, but two names popped out at her.

  Chloe Avana.

  Damon Stone.

  Shit! She didn’t know what that meant, but she had a feeling it wasn’t good.

  Trihn pulled into Posse’s parking lot and searched for their names, as related to the scandal. About a hundred different sites appeared at once.

  She clicked on the first one.

  CHLOE AVANA NUDE!

  Anonymous hacker group strikes at celebrities once more. This time, Chloe Avana, former Disney star and platinum-recording artist, is revealed in a series of naked photographs. These photographs were allegedly extracted from her phone as well as from the phone of her current fling, DJ Damon Stone, whom she recently recorded with on her latest number one hit, “We Never Met.”

  These photographs come on the wave of another breach of security for celebrities and bring up a call for increased…

  Trihn stopped reading as she tried to process what the article was saying. It was obvious, of course. She knew what they were saying. But…she couldn’t comprehend the other part.

  Why would Damon have those photographs on his phone?

  She knew he had immediately texted her to let her know that it wasn’t true. So…it must not be true. That didn’t seem like Damon at all. It didn’t make sense.

  She leaned her head against the steering wheel and tried to make all of the puzzle pieces fit together. The hacking group had no reason to lie about where the images had come from—or at least she didn’t think so. She really knew nothing about them.

  But if Damon didn’t even ask for nude pictures from me, why would he want them from Chloe?

  The only way it could be possible, in her mind, was if Chloe had sent them to Damon, unprompted.

  Or Damon was a liar.

  Trihn squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head at the ludicrous thoughts. It was a mistake. It wasn’t true. The press was manipulating her, and she needed to wait to hear from Damon before freaking out about this. She needed to trust him and believe in him, as he had done for her all those times. They were a team. That was all that mattered.

  Taking a calming deep breath, she exited her car and entered Posse.

  Her friends were hanging out at the bar. Maya was pouring drinks and laughing with Drayton and Pace. Eric planted a kiss on Bryna’s foreh
ead while Stacia was dancing around in a too-short skirt. When they saw her, their faces fell, and they all looked stricken.

  Great.

  “Hey,” Trihn said. “We have to quit meeting like this.”

  “Have you not heard?” Bryna asked.

  “I saw. But it’s not true. Damon said it wasn’t true.”

  Trihn realized how ridiculous she’d sounded when a bunch of them winced. Have I become that girl again? Am I making excuses for Damon when he could be doing whatever he wants behind my back?

  God, insecurities on red alert.

  She needed to pull herself back together. Damon was not cheating on her. He would never have flown her to Atlanta or texted her reassurances or totally fallen in love with her if he wanted someone else. She would not let this stress her out. There was an explanation for it all.

  “Can I talk to you?” Bryna asked.

  She looked nervous. That was not a good sign.

  “Sure,” Trihn said hesitantly.

  Trihn glanced over at Eric, and he looked worried. She didn’t know if it was about the stuff that had come out in the press or if it was about what Bryna was going to say. Either way, it was not good.

  The girls walked across Posse and then went outside to the patio. They sank down onto a bench next to the empty pool. For the summer, the university had emptied out, aside from the football players. During the day, it would be busier out here, but right now, they basically had the place to themselves.

  Bryna looked directly in Trihn’s eyes. “I’ve never told anyone this story before. I swore that I wouldn’t let it get out to the press, so I’ve held my tongue. And it’s been hard. I’ve wanted to say something for a long time, but it didn’t feel like my place or the right time.”

  “You’re freaking me out.”

  “I just need you to promise that you won’t say anything about this to anyone…even to Damon.”

  Trihn chewed on her lip. “Does this have to do with Damon?”

  “Not directly.”

  “Okay…I won’t say anything.”

  “When I was dating Gates our senior year, he was on the set of Broken Road with Chloe in Atlanta. I met Jude one night at a club and decided I wanted to sleep with him. So, I called Gates in the middle of the night and broke up with him.”