by Morse, Jody
I didn’t know what sort of media attention Colton sister’s twenty-first birthday bash would draw—if any—but I wasn’t going to risk it. I needed to look my best, just in case. The last thing I needed was for Perez Hilton to post pictures of me looking like a hot mess for the entire world to see.
“Good. It’s going to be fun. Though I should probably warn you, my family can be pretty intense sometimes,” Colton warned me.
“That’s okay. As long as they’re not quiet. Quiet people sort of freak me out,” I admitted.
He laughed. “Believe me, they’re anything but quiet.”
“Good.” At that moment, my cell phone began to ring with an incoming call. I groaned. “It’s probably Mads.”
When I pulled my phone out of my purse, I glanced down at the caller ID. It was Jimmy Jones.
My heart pounded. He never called me. If he needed to get in touch with me, he either sent me an email asking me to call him, or he set up a meeting.
With trembling hands, I pressed the ‘Talk’ button. “Hello?”
“Viola, it’s me, Jimmy,” he barked into the phone.
“Hey, Jimmy.” I swallowed hard, nervous to hear what he had to say next. Colton glanced over at me sharply, a curious look in his blue eyes.
“I wanted to get in touch with you and Colton, so I’m going to call him on three-way,” he explained.
“Actually, that won’t be necessary. He’s here with me right now,” I explained, hitting the Speaker phone button. “You’re on speaker.”
“Hey, King,” Jimmy said, his voice vibrating through the speaker.
“What’s up?” Colton asked.
“I’m sure you both know by now that your song’s been leaked. Well, it’s gone viral, that’s what’s up. According to my sources, it’s becoming the number one requested song at every major radio station. People are loving it.”
“Wow,” I murmured. I wasn’t sure why it surprised me. I mean, I knew the song was pretty awesome, but I didn’t expect everyone to have this sort of reaction.
“I want you two to come out and celebrate its success,” Jimmy went on. “You two busy Saturday night?”
“Actually, we are,” Colton replied. “It’s my sister’s twenty-first birthday party. Viola’s going as my date.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Okay, then. How about Sunday night?”
“I’m free Sunday,” I said.
“Yeah, me, too,” Colton agreed.
“Very well, then. Sunday night, it is. I’ll arrange for a car to come back you both up around nine o’clock.”
“Okay, cool,” Colton said.
“See you then,” I chimed in.
“Bye, guys.”
Once we hung up the phone, I exhaled sharply. “You always seem so calm when you talk to him. I don’t really get it. The man makes me nervous as hell.”
He shrugged. “Everyone puts him on this pedestal, but he’s just a person.” He paused and then added, “Not that you shouldn’t be nervous when talking to him.”
“What do you mean?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“The one thing I’ve learned about Jimmy Jones is that you need to watch what you say around him. Otherwise, your words may get twisted.” His blue eyes clouded over with a dark look, but it quickly passed. “So, what movie did you want to watch?”
“Actually, I think I’ll take a raincheck,” I said, rising to my feet. “I’m exhausted. I need to catch up on my beauty sleep if I’m going to be partying on Saturday and Sunday now.”
Colton shook his head and smiled. “Okay. I guess I should probably get some writing done, anyway, while you go play Sleeping Beauty.”
“Writing? You’re going to write without me? I thought everything had to be fifty-fifty,” I reminded him jokingly.
“Yeah, for your album,” he replied. “I’m working on one of my own right now, too. It’s supposed to be released about a week before yours.”
“Oh.” Why hadn’t I known that until now? He’d been spending so much time working on the songs for my album that I hadn’t even considered that he probably needed to be working on his own.
“Do you need me to give you a ride back to your place?”
I shook my head. “No, my driver’s still here. But thank you.”
“No problem. Hey, I’ll give you a call later, okay?” Colton met my eyes, searching them for my approval.
I smiled. “Sounds good.”
As I walked out of the house, I wondered why he hadn’t mentioned the kiss. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he didn’t regret it, after all.
Chapter 22
When I got back to my apartment, I headed straight for the fridge.
Just as I was about to open the door to grab a bottle of water, I spotted the note that was hanging from the door.
Viola,
Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I’m going to go spend a few nights with my parents, and then I’m heading back to Nashville to really try to get this music career started. I hope you understand.
Don’t worry, though. I won’t go another three years without calling you. I’ll call you every week, maybe even every day.
Love you like the sister I never had.
Skylar XOXO
Wow. That was the very last thing I’d been expecting to happen, for some reason. Even though I was happy that my best friend was going to pursue her dreams, my apartment suddenly felt lonely again. It had been nice to have a roommate, even if it only was for a few weeks. I was going to need to get used to being entirely on my own again.
I may have told Colton I was coming home to sleep, but it had actually been the very last thing on my mind. I’d been planning to come back to schedule an appointment to get my hair done and to search my closet to see if I had a dress for his sister’s birthday party. If I didn’t, I was going to need to go shopping.
Suddenly, though, the only thing I wanted to do was curl up into a ball, pull the covers over my head, and just lay there. And so that’s what I did.
*
By eleven o’clock that night, I figured Colton wasn’t going to call me. If he was, he probably would’ve done it already. He was probably already in bed, possibly with someone else. Just the thought made my heart squeeze.
What was wrong with me? I never got this way over guys. Well, except for Jake… But that was different. I really believed I would’ve been able to move on from Jake a whole lot quicker if he’d just told me why he was breaking up with me. It was the not knowing that had killed me.
Things were different with Colton, though. I knew it was probably crazy, but…it felt like I was beginning to fall in love with him.
I tried to shake the thought away. You couldn’t really love someone after only knowing them for a few weeks…could you?
But as hard as I tried, I couldn’t seem to figure out any other explanation for the way I’d been acting. This was clearly more than just a little crush. There was a reason I didn’t want Colton to be with Tessa or anyone else.
Ugh. I knew agreeing to work with him had been a mistake from the get-go.
Grabbing my phone, I opened a new text message to him. I typed: Way to not call me, jerk.
Just as I was about to hit ‘Send’, my phone started to ring and Colton scrolled across the caller ID.
I waited until it rang three times so I didn’t make myself seem too available before hitting the ‘Talk’ button. I pressed the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hey. I didn’t wake the sleeping beauty, did I?”
I smiled. His voice sounded deep and sexy on the other end of the line.
“No, I was awake.” I paused for a moment and then asked, “Did you get some writing done?”
“Yeah, I was feeling pretty inspired.”
I waited for him to elaborate. When he didn’t, I asked, “What’s the song about?”
“You’ll hear it once it drops,” he replied.
“Oh.”
/>
The disappointment in my voice must’ve been obvious, because he explained, “Sorry. It’s nothing against you. I just have a really private songwriting process. I don’t tell anyone—not even my family—what my songs are about until after they’ve been recorded. It’s just how I work.”
“I understand,” I replied.
Colton yawned into the phone.
I found myself giving into a yawn, too. “Yawning is so contagious.”
He laughed. “Sorry. I should probably head to bed now. I just wanted to call and say goodnight.”
I smiled again. “Okay, goodnight.”
“Night, Viola.”
Once I hung up the phone, I deleted the text message I’d almost sent him. A feeling of relief washed over me. I could only imagine what his reaction would’ve been. If he didn’t already think I was a clingy, crazy bitch, he would’ve for sure.
*
“So, are the rumors true?” Lauren asked.
“You need to be a little more specific than that. If you heard a rumor that I ate a hot dog for lunch, the answer would be yes,” I joked.
“Wow. Viola Pierce ate a hot dog?! How scandalous,” she teased as she painted some bleach onto my hair and then wrapped it with tin foil. My head was so full of tin foil that I felt like I could’ve attracted the Tin Man. “Did you have ketchup on that or mustard?”
“Both,” I replied with a giggle.
“Well, just for the record, that’s not the rumor I heard.”
“What was it then?”
“You’re dating Colton King?” Her gray eyes were full of excitement, though I was pretty sure there was some jealousy mixed in there somewhere, too.
I let out a laugh. “No! Where did you hear that?”
“It’s been all over the news. Apparently, that’s what a ‘source’ who’s close to you said,” Lauren explained, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “You know you can trust me, Vi. I won’t say a word.”
She was right; I could trust her. Aside from Finn, she was the only person who I’d told I was dating Jake in the beginning and neither of them had let the cat out of the bag. The media hadn’t found out about our relationship until we’d decided to go public with it.
“If it was true, you know I would tell you. But we’re really not dating. We’re only working together,” I insisted, deciding not to mention our one night stand. It wasn’t that I didn’t think Lauren was trustworthy. It was just that I suddenly regretted that I’d told anyone. It felt like something that should’ve stayed between Colton and me. I wished I hadn’t kissed and told.
“I wonder why anyone would say you are dating, then,” Lauren said, shaking her head.
“Me too,” I murmured, wondering who it could’ve been. I wasn’t sure why, but for some reason, the only person I could think of was Skylar. Was it possible she could’ve said something that was taken out of context? Maybe she’d hinted that she thought we should date and the media had twisted her words.
“Your hair is getting so long. I need more foil than I realized.” As Lauren went to the back of the salon to get more foil, I grabbed my cell phone and opened a new text to Skylar.
Hey, did you tell anyone Colton and I are dating?
I waited for a few moments to see if she would respond. When she didn’t, I sighed. Most people either texted back right away or hours later. Apparently, Skylar was going to text me back hours later…though I couldn’t help but wonder if she was really just avoiding me, because she was the one who’d said something.
*
As I was walking out of the salon with freshly highlighted hair and covered roots, my cell phone went off. I glanced down, hoping it was Skylar getting back to me, but it was Finn.
I pressed my phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, Vi. Congratulations!” Finn said.
“For?” I asked, even though I had a feeling that I already knew what he was going to say. Rumors traveled fast, clearly.
“You and Colton. I knew it was going to turn out this way.”
“Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s not actually true. Colton and I aren’t together,” I told him. “It’s just a rumor.”
“Damnit! Really?” The disappointment in his voice was obvious.
“Really,” I replied with a laugh. As I rounded a corner, I heard the familiar sound of cameras clicking. I rolled my eyes, relieved that they were hidden behind my Gucci sunglasses. “I gotta go, Finn. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Viola, is it true that you’re dating Colton King?” one photographer asked.
Another said, “Did you start dating Colton before or after you started making music together?”
“Are the songs you’re working on about your relationship?”
“Viola, has Colton King ever blown up your phone?”
At that moment, I spotted Eddie pulling up to the sidewalk in the limo. Glancing at the photographers, who were all taking pictures of me and waiting for their answers, I said, “I have no comment.”
As I headed for the limo, I smiled to myself. I tried not to make a habit of saying ‘no comment’, but I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t care what the media or what the world thought about Colton and me. If they wanted to think we were dating, then let them.
I knew the truth, even though I wasn’t going to lie. I really did hope we ended up a couple.
Chapter 23
On Saturday night, we pulled into the driveway at Colton’s parents’ house, which was where Kylie’s 21st birthday party was being held.
When we climbed out of his car, I tried not to let the surprise show on my face. There were lots of gorgeous homes in Los Angeles, but this place was impressive. I was pretty sure I’d seen pictures of this one somewhere. I wasn’t positive, but I thought it might’ve belonged to Jennifer Anniston or Courtney Cox or some other celeb at one point.
“You’re quiet tonight. I thought quiet people freaked you out,” Colton said as he handed the valet his keys.
Yes, his parents had apparently hired a valet for Kylie’s party, which seemed a little bit extravagant to me. You know how I spent my twenty-first birthday? At a dive bar with Skylar and a few of my friends from high school. The highlight of my night had been getting hit on by a self-proclaimed “real cowboy” (and, in case you’re wondering, his pick-up line had been, “Save a horse, ride a cowboy.” It was pretty classy, let me tell you).
Granted, I’d celebrated that birthday before I’d gotten famous, and it wasn’t like I’d had parents to throw me a fancy schmancy birthday party. So, I supposed that it was sort of different.
“They do freak me out. I’m just tired,” I answered. It was a lie, of course. The truth was that I’d just realized how different our lifestyles were. I may have grown up more privileged than some people, but I was certain that the King children had been a lot more spoiled than I’d ever been. Not that it was a bad thing, but it made me wonder if the Colton and I had less in common than I’d originally thought.
“Well, I hope you’re not too tired to have fun tonight. Parties at the King homestead tend to run late into the night…err, early into the morning.” His blue eyes darted over in my direction. “But we can leave whenever you’re ready.”
“Okay. I’ll remember that. Just in case it gets…you know, boring,” I said with a sly grin.
“It won’t,” he promised as we stepped into the backyard.
My jaw fell open in awe. For some reason, I thought this party was going to be on the smaller side; I didn’t expect to find what I would’ve envisioned the ball in Cinderella to look like in real life. There was a huge crowd of people who all surrounded the pool in the center of the yard. And not just people—people who were dressed to impress. The emerald green dress from Ambrosia’s that I’d chosen to wear made me look entirely out of place in comparison to all of the gowns that most of the girls and women were donning.
The only silver lining was that I wasn’t the only one who was under-dressed. Colton’s navy blue polo shi
rt (which really brought out the color of his eyes) and black pants looked pretty dressed down in comparison to the suits and tuxedos that most of the men were wearing. He didn’t seem to even care, though. Maybe it was because his parents were hosting the party, or maybe he was just that comfortable in his own skin; I wasn’t sure which.
It didn’t take long to pick Colton’s sister, Kylie, out of the crowd. She wore a light pink puffy gown with a sparkly bodice. Her long, dark brown hair was styled in bouncy curls that cascaded over her shoulders. What gave her away was the tiara, which sparkled under the moonlight. She looked just like a princess.
A waiter came over to us, carrying a tray of flutes. “Would you like some champagne?”
“I’d love some,” I replied, taking one from him.
“Alright.” Colton took some champagne, too, though I got the impression that he only did because of me. He glanced down at me, his blue eyes taking on golden flecks in the light that reflected in them from the pool. Holding up his glass, he said, “To songwriting.”
“To songwriting,” I replied with a smile as our glasses clinked together. I took a sip of my champagne, just as a man walked over to us. He was tall with very broad shoulders, auburn hair, and light blue eyes.
“Hey, Colt. I’m surprised you were actually able to make it today,” he said.
“Oh, come on, Dad. How could I miss my baby sister’s birthday? I need to witness her getting drunk before she has her first hangover.” Colton laughed.
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” his dad said with a chuckle. Glancing over at me, he extended a hand. “Hello… I’m Christopher King.”
“Hi. I’m Viola Pier—” I started to say, but he cut me off.
“I know who you are. I have to say, I’m absolutely thrilled that my son had the opportunity to work with you. I’ve talked to quite a few people in the industry, and they all feel you have a very bright future ahead of you.” He smiled at me warmly.