by K. A. Linde
Trihn laughed. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah. Gates laughed at me and said we’d talk about it later, but to me, we were over. When he got back to LA, he acted as if we weren’t over. Jude was a one-night stand that Gates knew about, and I decided he was kind of right. You can’t break up with a guy like Gates on the phone.”
“Okay…”
“Well, the reason Gates was okay with Jude was because he told me that, on the same night, he’d slept with someone else, too. And since we’d both done it with nobodies who we’d never talk to again, it didn’t matter,” Bryna said.
Trihn’s stomach knotted. She had a horrible feeling that she knew where this was going. “But it did matter?”
“Yeah, I found out later that the girl had been interested in him the whole time, and that night was just a culmination of all their flirtations. And that girl was Chloe Avana.”
Trihn sat very still, processing Bryna’s story. “So, that’s why you hate her.”
“Yes.”
“So, what you’re saying is, she’s biding her time until Damon and I are on the rocks to…what? Swoop in?”
“I’m not saying that history will repeat itself,” Bryna amended. “We were younger and dumber. I think that’s why Chloe was acting like a jealous maniac that night at the club after your fashion show. She and Gates have had a rocky relationship since then. I don’t really know what’s up with them. My guess is, she’s still pining for her first love in some way, despite her cool, confident girl exterior that she portrays to the press. But that’s neither here nor there with Damon.”
“This explains…a lot,” Trihn admitted. It made her feel a little better and a little worse.
She hadn’t thought she had anything to worry about because Chloe wasn’t the type of girl to do something like that, but now, Bryna was saying that Chloe was absolutely that girl.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. But with these photos coming out…I didn’t want you to go in completely blind.”
“You don’t think that they were on Damon’s phone, do you?”
Bryna cringed. “I want to say no because Damon seems like a good guy. But I’ve seen good guys corrupted before, so just be cautious.”
“Thank you for telling me, but I don’t think this changes much. Either he did or didn’t have these pictures. Either there’s an explanation for it or not. But Damon loves me, and I love him. He’s not into Chloe.”
Bryna looked at her with pitying eyes, and Trihn just wanted to scream. She wasn’t crazy for thinking like this. She would show everyone the truth.
“His LA show is tomorrow,” Trihn told her. “Let’s drive to the show and surprise him. You’ll see it for yourself.”
They all would.
CONVINCING HER FRIENDS to go to Chloe and Damon’s show in LA wasn’t as hard as Trihn had thought it would be. Eric and Maya both had to work, which also ruled out Drayton, but Bryna and Stacia were all in. And though Bryna had tried to argue for Pace not to join them, he was seated in the driver’s seat with Stacia in the passenger seat and Trihn and Bryna in the back of Stacia’s SUV as they headed south on I-15 toward Los Angeles.
Somehow, Bryna had managed to work her magic and get them killer seats in the second row. She had complained that it wasn’t first row or center, but Trihn thought second row on the left side of the stage was a lucky grab on the night before the show. But that was Bryna.
Trihn was excited to see Damon perform again. The girls had no idea what they were in for. It was nothing like him deejaying at Posse, and they hadn’t been to a show of him performing with Chloe yet. Trihn really thought that videos didn’t do it justice either.
“So, did you talk to Damon about this?” Stacia swiveled around in the passenger seat to look at Trihn and Bryna.
“About the show? No, it’s a surprise,” Trihn said. “I thought we were all in on that.”
“I mean, the pictures…of Chloe.”
“They weren’t from his phone.”
“You said that already,” Pace chimed in.
“I talked to him last night once he’d gotten into LA.”
Damon had called as soon as he could, but he hadn’t had that much free time before this show.
“Is there any reason those pictures could have been on his phone?” Stacia asked.
Pace chuckled. “Oh, there’s a reason.”
Stacia smacked his arm. “Not helping.”
“Damon isn’t like that. He’s in love with me. Why would he have suddenly changed his tune?”
“Because Chloe is hot?” Pace asked.
“She’s gorgeous,” Trihn said. “But Damon doesn’t see her like that. And if he did, then he wouldn’t be fighting for us to work out. I’m pretty sure he could have already had her if he wanted.” Trihn glanced over at Bryna. “You’re being awfully quiet about this.”
“I don’t like to be wrong, so I’m not chiming in.”
“Comforting.”
“If you believe him, then I’m sure it’s nothing,” Bryna said after a moment.
“Look, when I talked to him, he said that those photos were real. They weren’t Photoshopped.”
“Sweet,” Pace said.
Trihn shook her head. “Chloe agreed that they had been on her phone at some point, but she never sent them to Damon. Damon said that he’d never seen them before. They both think it’s spin from the press, saying it’s from his phone, since they’re in the public eye right now.”
“Okay, but why would an anonymous hacker group lie about where the photos came from?” Stacia asked intuitively.
“I asked the same thing. That was the part that worried me,” Trihn admitted with a frown.
She hated doubting Damon at all, but the evidence was damning. When she had picked up the magazine in New York, she had known how Damon and Chloe met, so it was laughable. When the press had started saying that Trihn was a homewrecker breaking Damon and Chloe up, she had been there to see what was going on. But these pictures…they’d just come out of nowhere.
“And what did he say?” Pace asked. “This should be good.”
“If you’re not going to be supportive, you can shut the fuck up,” Stacia warned him.
He smirked at her before facing forward and remaining silent.
“Damon didn’t know why the hacker had lied about that, but since this anonymous group could be anyone. We don’t know their motives.”
“Convenient,” Pace snapped.
Stacia glared at him. “That’s it. You’re not getting fucked tonight.”
His eyes widened. “Like hell I’m not.”
“You’re being a dick.”
“Last I checked, you liked that.”
“Will both of you shut up before I vomit in Stacia’s car?” Bryna spat.
“Anyway,” Trihn said, “I just…choose to believe him. If I didn’t, where would I be? Back in the same black hole of, Woe is me! My boyfriend is cheating on me. I just can’t think that’s Damon. So, unless I see something to the contrary, I’m not believing it.”
With that declaration, the rest of the car fell silent. Stacia flipped the stereo on, and “We Never Met” blasted through the speakers. Trihn couldn’t even be surprised at this point. The song was still at number one, and it seemed that all the press, negative or otherwise, was only helping their fame. Guess it was true. There was no such thing as bad press.
By the time they reached the venue, the opener for the show had already gone on, and everyone was milling around, anxiously waiting for Chloe to perform. Trihn noticed a group of girls wearing Avanaddicts shirts and holding up signs, and she quickly veered away from them. No need for a repeat run-in with some crazy fans. She just hoped that she wouldn’t be recognized.
Trihn took the seat at the end of the aisle next to Bryna and tried to relax.
Bryna was on her phone, likely annoyed that she had to sit through another one of Chloe’s concerts. Trihn thought she liked Chloe’s music, but the stuff with Gates mu
st have really hit home. Bryna held a grudge like no other. Even though she was happy with Eric and Gates was ancient history, Bryna still didn’t trust Chloe. Trihn really wanted to prove her wrong.
She grabbed her phone out of her bag so that she could text Damon. But when she looked at the screen, there was already a message from Damon waiting for her.
Chloe is in one of her moods tonight.
Are you pulling your hair out?
I’m going to rip hers out if she doesn’t chill. Panic attacks on top of panic attacks.
Then, another message dinged immediately after that.
Shit! Maybe I shouldn’t have put that in a text message. What if our phones get hacked again?
Both Chloe and Damon had gotten new phones after the hacking incident. And Trihn knew that he probably didn’t want anyone to read his personal information or get that personal information about Chloe, but the word again made her cringe. It was as if the last time had revealed something from his phone.
Sorry, love. I have to go onstage in a minute. Wish you were here.
Trihn smiled at that. She was here. He just didn’t know it.
Good luck.
Just then, the lights flickered, and a cheer rose up from the audience. Everyone got to their feet just as Chloe appeared onstage in a cloud of smoke, singing the opening song to her self-titled album. She was wearing a two-piece black sequin outfit and killer heeled booties. Her dark hair was parted down the middle, and she looked fierce. No one would guess that she had been having panic attacks all day. The stage was her playground, and nothing could touch her there.
The crowd was enthralled. Trihn even had to admit that it was hard to tear her eyes away from the show to search out Damon in the back. He was playing guitar without any spotlight on him. He was just jamming away back there, as if he were a part of the band.
It wasn’t until he switched to the piano and a spotlight hit his head that the crowd even realized he’d been hiding in the back. Her Damon was perfectly happy out of the limelight, just playing his heart out in peace.
Halfway through the next song, Chloe strode over to the piano. The crowd roared when she neared Damon. Tabloids had done their job. Chloe sang into Damon’s ear and then propped herself up on his piano. He looked up at her while he played. He had a dreamy smile on his face, like he was having the time of his life. But to the crowd, Trihn was sure it looked like he was adoring Chloe and not the music.
It was the same set that they’d played in Atlanta while Trihn had been there a couple of weeks ago. Trihn recognized when they switched from the up-tempo songs into the power ballads. One of Chloe’s quick changes had her out of her skimpy attire and into a long flowy white dress that glittered and sparkled for all eyes to see.
When Chloe started in on “Homesick,” a major hit off of her debut album, she entranced the crowd. The song was about a girl holding out for her first love and how being without him made her homesick.
As Chloe carried it into the second verse, Trihn gasped. She looked over at Bryna. “This song…”
Bryna nodded. “Yeah.”
“It’s about Gates?” Trihn whispered, leaning toward her.
“It was so blatantly obvious when it came out. I was shocked that not even the conniving press figured it out.”
“I just…wow. I never would have known.”
Trihn looked back up at Chloe, feeling a little sorry for her. Not that what she had done to Bryna and Gates was right, but she must have felt something real for Gates to have written such a moving song about him.
Then, Trihn noticed that something wasn’t quite right. Chloe was still singing, but tears, real tears, were streaming down her face. The audience was totally silent now, watching her cry through the song.
As if a flood had finally broken inside her, the words to “Homesick” were broken in her mouth, and she couldn’t seem to quell the tears. The microphone was on a stand before her, and her hands holding it were shaking. Then, one of them bunched up into her perfect hair, and the other followed, as if she were trying to hold herself together but failing.
Then, she broke off her singing entirely.
She just stared forward at her captivated audience.
Crying. Shaking. And emotionally spent.
Her body collapsed into a puddle on the floor. Tears wracked her body, and great hiccuping sobs could be heard to those nearest to the stage.
Bryna and Trihn exchanged worried glances.
What the hell is happening to Chloe?
They watched as Damon rushed to her side, sliding to a halt before her. Everyone else was paralyzed, unable to put together the breakdown with the mega superstar they all knew and loved.
Damon was softly speaking to her, trying to coax her to her feet, but she wasn’t budging. Without a second thought, he hoisted her into his arms and started to walk offstage. The audience applauded quietly. Trihn had only ever heard of such a thing happening when a football player had gone down with an injury, and they’d finally carted his body off the field.
As soon as Chloe was removed from the stage, everyone broke out into whispers.
Trihn didn’t have any answers.
Bryna nudged her. “Hey, you can still kind of see them,” she said.
Trihn looked to where Bryna was pointing, and sure enough, Damon had carried Chloe to the side of the stage. It was only visible to people who were seated at an angle, but they could just make out the outline of two bodies.
Chloe was on her feet, and Damon had his hands on her face. Trihn couldn’t tell much more than that from where she was standing. She assumed he was trying to get Chloe to calm down and snap out of whatever episode she had just dissolved into. He’d said that she was stressed and in a mood that day. This must be the result of all that stress, but Trihn couldn’t believe Chloe had actually broken down onstage in front of everyone.
Trihn had her eyes glued to the pair. And just when she was going to grab her phone and find out what the hell was happening, her world shifted as Damon’s and Chloe’s lips met.
DAMON AND CHLOE WERE KISSING.
Trihn reeled at the sight before her. Tearing her eyes away from them, she heavily sat down in her seat. She took healing deep breaths and tried to keep her stomach from lodging itself in her throat.
This couldn’t be happening again. Not another time.
She had come here for her proof, and there it was, right before her eyes. Clearly, everyone had seen the truth but her. She hadn’t wanted to believe it. No, she hadn’t believed any of it. Damon loved her. He wasn’t supposed to hurt her. He was supposed to be different.
Fuck! It hurt. She had known it would hurt. She had told him from the beginning that she couldn’t handle it a third time. She couldn’t be cheated on and come out okay with it. She’d barely survived last time. Her heart was breaking all over again.
She should have read the signs for what they were instead of brushing them aside. Now, here she was, barely breathing, as her boyfriend was kissing another girl. It didn’t even seem possible.
Her Damon couldn’t hurt her this way.
“Trihn,” Bryna whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder, “we should get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving without talking to him,” she said with conviction in her voice.
“He did stop her,” Stacia said.
“Awesome,” Trihn said sarcastically.
“I just mean…maybe it was unwanted?”
“Are you defending him?” Trihn asked.
“No,” Stacia peeped.
“Yes,” Bryna corrected. “Yes, she is. Let’s talk to him first.”
Trihn stood and threw her hands wide. “Yes, let’s defend him, even when we see with our own two eyes what he did.”
“If I could interrupt,” Pace said, holding his hand up.
“You can’t,” Bryna snapped.
“You’re causing a scene,” Pace growled low.
Trihn and Bryna both stopped what they were doing. Looking aroun
d their area of the arena, they saw it was true. Eyes were drawn toward them. Several girls had taken pictures of them. Some of them even seemed to have recognized who Trihn was.
“Shit,” Trihn whispered. “We should go backstage.”
Her friends nodded without a word. They veered out of their aisle and headed toward the nearest exit. Trihn heard her name as she passed by the Avanaddicts. She ducked her head and hurried out of the room. The last thing anyone needed after Chloe’s breakdown was to draw attention to Trihn.
Bryna had been to the arena before and lapped them around the room to the backstage entrance. A crowd had formed by the door, and a bouncer was standing there, directing people to return to their seats.
“What’s going on?” Bryna asked the nearest girl.
“They won’t let backstage-pass holders in to see Chloe even though we paid for them.”
“Once again,” the bouncer’s voice boomed, “if you are not on the approved list to be backstage, then you should all return to your seats. No backstage passes will be granted at this time. I don’t have official word yet on a refund. Please return to your seats.”
No one moved.
“Are you on that list?” Bryna asked Trihn.
“Damon doesn’t know I’m here.”
“Then, maybe you should get ahold of him.”
Trihn nodded. “Yeah. Right. Okay.”
She grabbed her forgotten phone to text Damon, but she already had a message there. That was fast, considering what he’d just been doing.
I love you.
Trihn wanted to melt at those words, but it just infuriated her. He’d just been kissing Chloe, and now, he wanted to tell her he loved her. Did he think that the word would get out, and he wanted to protect himself before she could find out? Because she had seen it firsthand and wasn’t going to roll over.
Then, you should let me backstage.
What?
Surprise…I’m at the show.
In Los Angeles?
Yep.
Fuck…I’ll be there in a minute.
Trihn showed the messages to Bryna. “Clearly, he knows something is up.”