Little Secret, Red Hot Scandal

by Cat Schield

  Music began to play, signaling that the show was getting under way. Mia relaxed and snuggled a bit closer. Had she been worried that her sister might stop by and make a scene? What was it going to take for Mia to get out from beneath Ivy’s thumb?

  It was nice for a change to not have to worry about performing. The only time he needed to leave Mia alone was a little over an hour and a half into the program, when Free Fall presented the award for Favorite Male Country Artist. He stood to the side while Dan and Mike took turns reading off the nominees. While the winner thanked family and fans, Nate shared a smile with Mia. She looked so perfect sitting there, her eyes bright, her gaze all for him as she waited for him to come back to her.

  All of a sudden he couldn’t wait for the show to be over so he could take her to the after-party and spend some time with her in his arms on the dance floor. Since she was officially his date, Mia couldn’t possibly use her sister’s presence as an excuse to keep him at bay the way she’d done on the tour.

  But he’d underestimated Ivy.

  When the pop star stepped onstage to perform, something was definitely off with her. Nate doubted most people would notice, but he’d watched her rehearse and perform for weeks while on tour. She was a beat behind the music and she was walking through her complicated choreography. Mia sat forward in her chair, her expression tightening with concern.

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  Mia shook her head, but he knew her well enough to know when she wasn’t telling the truth.

  “Is she drunk?”

  Mia’s gaze was glued to Ivy. Nate wasn’t sure if she’d even noticed his questions, until she shook her head again after a minute.

  “Maybe high.” Mia set her fingertips against her mouth and blinked rapidly. The bright glint in her eyes was from tears. “I need to get backstage and be there for her.”

  “Then we’ll both go.” He wasn’t letting Mia run off without him. She might never come back.

  “You can’t leave in the middle of the ceremony.”

  But she could. It was her way of highlighting the difference in their status. She was a lowly, anonymous assistant, while he was a celebrity. Nate was getting tired of it.

  “Contact your dad. He’s her manager. Let him deal with her.”

  Mia bit the inside of her lip, looking concerned at his insistence. “I’ll call him when I get backstage.”

  Nate cursed long and viciously in his head. Leave it to Ivy to upset her sister just when Mia was having fun. Nate reached for her hand, but Mia pulled it out of reach before he made contact.

  “I’ll be back in a little while.”

  Then, as the performance ended and the crowd politely applauded, Mia slipped away. And Nate wondered if he’d see her again before the evening was over.

  Nine

  It was a little after midnight when Nate returned to his hotel suite without his date for the evening. He wasn’t surprised that Mia hadn’t reappeared after heading backstage to check on her sister. At least she hadn’t left him hanging. She’d sent him several texts as she assessed the situation and waited for her father to show up and take charge of Ivy.

  Now, his cell phone pinged and his screen lit up with a text.

  I’m back at the hotel. Sorry about what happened tonight.

  The tightness in his chest eased as he texted her back, letting her know that he was also at the hotel and asking her to come to his suite. It was time he and Mia had a serious conversation about what was going on between them and where he saw their relationship going. He needed to know where she stood.

  A soft knock sounded on his door. When he opened it, Mia stood in the hallway holding a pint of his favorite ice cream and two spoons.

  “What’s that for?”

  “Girls always eat ice cream after a big disappointment.”

  He wondered which disappointment she referred to: the fact that Free Fall didn’t win their category or that her sister had ruined his evening.

  “I’m not a girl. And I don’t care that we lost.” He plucked the ice cream from her hand and gestured her in.

  “I am a girl and the ice cream is for me. I just thought I’d share.” She swiped at the container, but he moved beyond her reach.

  He set the ice cream on the coffee table and sat down on the couch. “It’s my favorite. And what do you have to be bummed about?”

  “You’re mad at me.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Liar.” She followed him and sat down cross-legged, facing him. “I’m sorry I ruined our night.”

  “You didn’t. Your sister did.”

  “I shouldn’t have left you.”

  In five minutes she’d managed to dispel his annoyance and arouse his sympathy. Here he’d been feeling sorry for himself, and she was the one who’d had to disrupt her evening to take care of Ivy.

  “How come you didn’t tell me your sister has a drug problem?”

  The question had been burning up his thoughts since he’d realized what’s going on.

  “She doesn’t have a problem.”

  Mia’s evasion annoyed him. It wasn’t just that she was keeping a whopping huge secret from him. Ivy’s career was something Nate and Trent were investing time and money in. If there was a problem, they needed to know.

  “You don’t think I can see what’s going on? You forget, I’ve been there.”

  Mia wouldn’t meet his gaze. “I know, but you got clean and Ivy can, too.”

  “Who knows about this?”

  “Just my immediate family.”

  “How long has this been going on?”

  “It started when she had plastic surgery at seventeen. She got hooked on the painkillers. She was on Broadway at the time and I was finishing up my senior year of high school in LA. No one knows this but my parents and me, but she almost died after overdosing.” Mia looked miserable. “That’s when it was decided I should become her assistant so I could keep an eye on her.”

  “But it’s been eight years.” At least this explained Mia’s dedication to her sister. “How long is everyone expecting you to sacrifice your life for Ivy?”

  She didn’t answer his question. “She doesn’t always make good choices. I’ve been worried about her spending so much time with Riley and Skylar. They are far more likely to drag her into trouble than they are to keep her out of it.”

  “How bad are things with her?”

  “She’s been mostly clean since what happened in New York.”

  “Mostly?”

  Mia winced. “Except for a setback a couple years ago.”

  “She seemed fine on the tour.”

  “She was. It’s the album. She’s really struggling. But I don’t know what happened tonight. Usually she loves performing.”

  Nate had a pretty good idea. “It’s because you’re here with me. Your sister loves to spoil things for you.”

  “That’s not true.” But she didn’t sound or look convincing.

  When Mia offered nothing else, he asked another question. “Does your father know what’s going on?”

  “Before. But not this time around.”

  “You should tell him. He’s her father.” Nate thought that Javier needed to act like her father for a change and put his manager role on the back burner. “This could ruin more than just her career.”

  Mia dropped her gaze to her hands. Misery radiated from her. The tour had offered Nate plenty of chances to observe the family dynamic and he sensed more at work here that Mia wasn’t saying.

  “What?”

  “They’ll blame me.” She leaned forward and dug her spoon into the ice cream. “That’s not true. I don’t mean that.” But it was obvious that was exactly what worried her. “It’s just that I’m supposed to keep an eye on her. And I’ve
been distracted.” The sly smile she shot him wobbled at the edges.

  His heart broke. “Why do you let them do that to you?”

  “Because she’s my sister and I’m...”

  “Responsible for her?”

  He’d never had a brother or sister and didn’t understand the connection these two had. To make matters worse, Ivy and Mia were twins. Granted, they were fraternal rather than identical twins, but still, sharing a womb with someone for nine months must take the bond to a whole different level.

  “Where does it end?” Hopelessness overwhelmed him as he suddenly realized his plan to disengage Mia from her sister had been doomed from the start. “When do you get to live your life?”

  “I don’t know.”

  His mother had stayed with a bully too long and she’d ended up beaten and bruised on too many occasions. Mia wore her wounds on the inside.

  On the other hand, he wasn’t sure if Mia was ready to leave her situation. Shucking off her family’s expectations couldn’t be easy. He’d seen firsthand the pressure Javier exerted on both his daughters.

  “Have you asked yourself what you owe her?”

  “I know you don’t think I owe her anything,” Mia said. “Maybe I don’t. I just know if I leave and something happens to her again, I would never be able to forgive myself.”

  That sort of emotional blackmail was nearly impossible to walk away from. Nate wished he could somehow make her understand what they were doing to her. Or maybe she did. Maybe the way she coped was to pretend it didn’t bother her.

  More than anything Nate wanted to protect her from herself. He’d be her champion if she’d let him. But he couldn’t force her to get out of the bad situation she found herself in. Unlike when he’d stepped between his parents and wrestled the knife away from his father, the danger to Mia wasn’t tangible. But that didn’t make it any less dire.

  “How much longer can you keep it up? Following Ivy around. Keeping her out of trouble. Catering to her every whim. When do you get to live your life?”

  He’d posed this same question several times on tour. Each time Mia had given him the same answer.

  “It’s what I need to do right now. Once Ivy’s new album drops and it’s a sensation, I’ll have more options.” Her eyes pleaded with him to understand. “I promised my parents to watch out for her. She doesn’t take good care of herself. That leads to people taking advantage of her. Like Riley and Skylar are doing right now.”

  “You say you’re going to leave after this album launches, but what if she needs you more than ever?”

  That Mia didn’t answer immediately told him a lot.

  “You know I’m in your corner, right?”

  “I do.” But she didn’t look at him.

  For a moment he felt as if she didn’t want him to be in her corner. As if having him on her side created a whole new set of problems for her. How was that possible?

  “Where does this leave us?”

  “I just need some time to sort things out.”

  “How much time?” He had to head back to Las Vegas tomorrow, but hated the idea of leaving her behind in LA.

  “My parents are sitting down with Ivy tomorrow. I’ll know more then.”

  “Are you coming back to Las Vegas?”

  “I promised I’d help with Thanksgiving dinner.” She gave him a wan smile. “We can talk then.”

  * * *

  The morning after the AMAs, Mia drove Nate to a checkup with Dr. Hanson and then to the airport. As delighted as she’d been to hear that Nate’s progress was good and he was able to start speaking again, she would miss being his voice. That he’d needed her to translate for him was a great excuse for why she was spending so much time with him. Now, she’d have to come clean about their relationship and face Ivy’s displeasure.

  When Mia got to her sister’s house, she saw their mom’s car parked in the driveway. Mia approached the front door with a sick feeling in her stomach. Her mother stood in the foyer as Mia entered the house. As Ivy’s career had taken off, Sharon Navarro had changed from an average housewife and mother who’d homeschooled her three daughters and shopped discount stores for her clothes to a designer-label-wearing middle-aged woman with large diamonds at her ears and on her fingers. Despite what must have been a harrowing night worrying about Ivy, she looked as if she was ready for lunch at a fancy restaurant.

  In contrast, Mia felt disheveled and gritty despite the shower she’d shared with Nate that morning. “What are you doing here?” she asked, hoping nothing worse had happened to her sister overnight. “Is Ivy okay?”

  “She’s fine. Where have you been?”

  “At the hotel. I told Dad last night where I was going. I needed to return the dress.”

  “And you stayed?”

  Although they’d spent the night together, talking and making love until dawn, she couldn’t help but feel as if Nate had put a wall up between them. He wanted her to leave Ivy and be with him. Mia thought that’s what she wanted, too. So why couldn’t she just walk away? Because Ivy needed her? How long was she going to use that as an excuse? Especially now that she was pregnant.

  “I knew Dad was here. Ivy didn’t need us both.” Mia’s tone contained a touch of belligerence. “I had a whole night planned.” To her own surprise, she sounded like Ivy, petulant and frustrated.

  “Do you mean to tell me you went to the after-parties after dropping your sister off here?” Mia’s mother looked appalled.

  “No, of course not. I just wanted to point out that I had my own plans for the evening that didn’t involve my sister getting high and making a fool of herself on live television.”

  “Mia,” her mother admonished. “Your sister works so hard and is under such pressure.”

  Fury rushed through Mia’s body as she thought of her high hopes for last evening. It was supposed to her magical night. Her chance to appear in public with Nate and behave like a couple. To dance and mingle and have fun while not giving her sister a single thought.

  “She spoils everything,” Mia countered.

  “She supports all of us.”

  “Well, maybe I’m tired of being supported by her. Maybe it’s time I started supporting myself.”

  When had her level of resentment risen so high? How had she not noticed that each day of acting as her sister’s assistant grew harder than the one before? Nate’s constant pointing out how badly Ivy treated her didn’t help.

  Mia’s mother retreated a half step beneath the rush of her daughter’s emotional tirade. “You can’t turn your back on her sister. She isn’t strong enough to do this on her own.”

  “I’m not turning my back on her.” All the energy drained from her. No matter what she said or did, Mia was never going to win this battle. It all came down to guilt. Responsibility. “She’s my sister and I love her. But my life revolves around her and I want a little something for myself.”

  “You mean your songwriting,” Mia’s mother said. “I’ll speak to your father. Maybe there’s room on Ivy’s next album for a few of your songs. And this time you should get the credit.”

  “That’s not what I mean.” But Mia could tell her mother wasn’t listening.

  Her fingers shifted to her abdomen and the child that lay there. Now wasn’t the time to get into this with her mom. She needed to talk to Nate first.

  But right now, Mia needed some sleep. The past twenty-four hours had been a roller coaster of highs and lows, all of which had taken every ounce of Mia’s energy.

  “Can we talk about this later?” she said. “I’m exhausted. Are you going to stick around for a while?”

  “No. I have a meeting at the foundation.”

  Sharon Navarro ran the Ivy Bliss Foundation, a program that promoted hearing health and helped low-income children with hearing impairm
ents. It was a charity near and dear to her heart because of her eldest daughter’s hearing loss at age two.

  “Where is Dad?”

  “Your father’s meeting with Trent Caldwell about Ivy’s album. It looks as if she’s going to finish recording it with Hunter Graves.” Mia’s mother picked up her purse. “He’ll come by afterward.”

  “Then I guess it’s just me keeping an eye on her.” Again.

  “I don’t understand what has gotten into you lately. You used to be happy for your sister’s success.”

  “I still am. But she’s become such a different person. There are times when I don’t recognize her anymore.”

  “She’s a star,” Mia’s mother said, as if that explained everything.

  Overwhelmed by defeat, Mia watched her mother depart before shuffling toward her bedroom. She shut the door behind her and glanced around the space. Besides the clothes in the closet, barely anything in the room belonged to her. Mia dropped her overnight bag on the floor and flung herself on her bed, where she lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her eyes were dry despite the lump in her throat.

  She didn’t remember ever feeling so alone. And yet, what about her situation had changed? Acting as her sister’s full-time personal assistant and keeper had kept Mia from forming lasting friendships, and interfered with every man she’d ever tried to date.

  Except now, Mia had been given a glimpse of what her life could be. A career as a music producer. Friendships with Melody, Trent and Savannah. A relationship with Nate. Motherhood.

  Mia closed her eyes. Ready or not, everything was going to change.

  * * *

  Nate was surprised when the person picking him up at the Las Vegas airport was Kyle and not Melody. As he slid into the passenger seat of Kyle’s bright blue BMW convertible, he glanced at his business partner and thought he looked as exhausted and miserable as Nate felt.

  “I didn’t expect to see you,” Nate said.

  “Melody asked if I could get you. Seems she had a small window to get Hunter’s input on her album—” Kyle’s eyes widened. “Hey, you’re talking again.”