by Caisey Quinn
The brunette smirked. “What personal business are you talking about? Because honestly, I have zero interest in what goes on between you and your precious boyfriend.”
“That’s funny. Rumor has it you were once interested in making him your boyfriend.” Kylie tried to keep her voice down but a few women at a nearby table glanced over. Referring to Trace as anyone’s boyfriend out loud felt weird. She didn’t have time to analyze why.
“Guys, seriously. This is dumb. Please don’t do this. Not here.” Lily tried to lean between them but Mia scooted her chair forward, effectively blocking the petite girl from interrupting.
“No,” Mia began, “I want to hear this. What’s this rumor you speak of?” Her green eyes gleamed with angered interest and Kylie fought the urge to back down. She didn’t know if she wanted to know this. She still hadn’t come right out and demanded an answer from Trace because she knew the truth might make touring with Mia even more awkward than it already was. But it was kind of late now.
“You didn’t leave Trace’s Back to My Roots tour because of personal issues, did you? You left because you…” Lord, she did not want to say this out loud. She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. “You left because you hooked up with Trace and he didn’t—”
“Whoa,” Mia interrupted, her face contorted by shock. “Excuse the fuck out of you. No, I damn sure did not ‘hook up with Trace.’ That’s your story darlin’, not mine.”
“But Pauly said—”
“You know what? Screw this. I’m going back to the bus.” Mia stood and turned to leave at the exact moment the waiter arrived with more drinks. Kylie shoved her chair back to follow her and bumped him, causing the entire tray to tilt. She felt the liquid splashing over her and looked up just in time to see that Mia had received the worst of it. Wonderful. Kylie turned and saw that the ladies at the table next to them were using their camera phones to record the whole thing.
“Mia, wait!” She ran out of the restaurant, nearly tripping over her heels.
“Kylie,” Lily called after her. But she didn’t stop. She had just accused Mia of something that apparently wasn’t true and she hated people who went around doing that. Now she was one of them. And damn, Mia Montgomery could move.
When she finally reached the bus, she was panting. Lily clomped on behind her and they walked to Mia’s door. Which was shut. And locked. Kylie knocked softly.
“Mia?”
Nothing.
“Mia, can we talk, please? Like civilized people instead of high school girls who make asses of themselves in the cafeteria?”
Still nothing. Kylie looked over her shoulder at Lily, who shrugged. She took a deep breath. “Mia, I’m sorry for what I said. I had no right to accuse you of that. It’s just, Pauly said something and it’s been bugging me and I know I should’ve—”
She was interrupted by Mia sliding the door open. The girl glared at her as she pulled on a dry T-shirt. “You should’ve what? Asked me if I screwed your boyfriend before accusing me of it?” Kylie flinched but Mia wasn’t done. “Maybe you should’ve asked before deciding that I’ve been leaking your personal business online, too, which I haven’t, by the way. Either of those things.” She leaned in the doorway and folded her arms.
Kylie felt the relief at Mia’s declarations, both of them, flooding through her chest. “Okay. Well, good. And you’re right, I should have. But honestly, you’ve been grinding an ax over my head since day one. Look, I was a bitch at my party but I was hurting and I jumped to conclusions. The wrong ones, apparently. And then you act like you hate us most of the time and yet suddenly you and Lily are thick as thieves. But I’m still on the receiving end of the glares and the smirks and the silent treatment. You’re the only ones who could possibly know about what Trace and I have said in our conversations and—”
“It wasn’t her that leaked that stuff,” Lily said softly, causing both Mia and Kylie to turn and look at her. “It was me.”
Kylie’s eyes went round and wide. She felt her face go hot but she held back. She knew she didn’t need to make another scene like she had with Mia. “Okay. Mind telling me why you would do that?”
Lily’s eyes began to fill with tears as she looked up from underneath her eyelashes. “I didn’t mean to, Kylie, I swear. I was talking to my friend Jen from back home earlier. I was complaining because my dad had promised to call me but you were on there with Trace and I made a comment about how y’all were always arguing on there lately. I wasn’t thinking. I promise I didn’t mean for her to go tell people that. I forgot I even said it. And then my dad never called and I…” She trailed off, very obviously choking over her shame.
Kylie was equal parts pissed off and sympathetic. Lily’s dad was clearly an ass who could care less about his daughter. She’d learned enough already as she watched Lily sit around waiting for him to call, or show up at a concert, or Skype her, to know that he hardly bothered. Guess he thought throwing money at her and paying to send her on tour to keep her busy would be good enough. And the girl obviously felt bad. Really bad. She was always so annoyingly perky that seeing her so defeated and upset was disturbing.
Kylie took a deep breath and shook her head. “It’s okay. I mean—it’s not okay okay. And in the future, it would be awesome if you kept your mouth shut about anything to do with me. This is bigger than us and people can use me to cause problems for Trace.”
“I’m sorry. About earlier too. I really am.”
As much as Kylie wanted to stay mad, she just didn’t have it in her. She’d used up all her energy on Mia. “It’s fine. Forget about it. I have.”
Lily nodded, her small, pink mouth turning down at the corners as she retreated to her room.
“Well, aren’t you just little Miss Congeniality?” Mia snorted. “When it was me, you were on a rampage, but Princess Lily runs her mouth and all is forgiven. Nice.”
Kylie closed her eyes and tried to gather herself. “You know what, Mia? Why don’t you just say whatever it is you want to say to me so we can move on?”
The other girl’s eyes narrowed. “That really what you want?”
Kylie’s heart pounded in her chest. Was it? She wasn’t sure. But she couldn’t take any more of the unadulterated hatred constantly coming at her either. “Yeah, it is,” she confirmed.
Mia licked her lips and swallowed hard. “I think you got where you are because of who you’re dating. I think you’d step over anyone who got in your way to be the next big thing.”
Kylie recoiled, feeling the sting of the words as if she’d been slapped. She didn’t say anything as Mia closed the door in her face. For once, she didn’t have anything to say.
Because everything she said is true.
“THANK YOU, Birmingham! Y’all are beautiful!” After two encores, Trace exited the stage at the Oak Mountain Amphitheater and headed back towards the bus. Gretchen was closing the first show and he couldn’t have been happier. He’d waited all day to talk to Kylie, and then she’d canceled their Skype date because of a meeting with the guy helping them with their tour site stuff. She didn’t have a show tonight so he’d promised to call her as soon as he was done performing.
Once he’d thanked the guys and chatted with Mike a bit to make sure he was hanging in there, he hopped on the bus and grabbed his phone.
“Hey.” She sounded tired and kind of like she’d been crying.
“Hey, baby. Everything okay?”
“Oh yeah. Everything’s wonderful.” Her tone was laced with something lethal. Anger. She was angry. But she was playing it off for some reason.
“Doesn’t sound wonderful. You and the girls gettin’ along?”
“Not really. You and Gretchen gettin’ along?” Oh shit. That did not sound good. She said Gretchen’s name like it burned in her mouth.
“Er, I guess so. I mostly avoid her. She’s…got some issues.”
Kylie snorted out a harsh laugh. “Really? From what I saw, it doesn’t look like you’re avoiding her at all.
”
“Um, babe, I don’t know what you think you’ve seen but Gretchen and I—”
“You listen to me, Trace Corbin. Don’t you dare talk to me like I’m some naïve idiot who doesn’t know what she’s seen. Please go suck it up and Google your fucking self.” With that, she hung up. Actually hung the hell up on him. Well this night was going downhill fast. She knew good and well he had a strict rule about not ever looking himself up online. He forbade his sisters from doing it too. He’d advised her to do the same. Because people were assholes. The anonymity of the Internet really tended to bring out the inner asshole in some. But his girl was upset about something she’d seen and he had to know what it was. As soon as he got a drink.
His hands shook as he poured himself a few inches of dark liquid in a plastic cup. He made a point to screw the lid back on the bottle. This was it. Just enough to take the edge off, to slow the adrenaline coursing through him.
He pulled out his laptop and tried to log onto the Internet. Apparently the backside of a mountain in Alabama wasn’t a great service area. He didn’t even want to imagine what she’d seen about him and Gretchen.
He closed his eyes and tried to think. He knew one girl who was always online and generally made a habit of knowing more than she should. Plus he missed her and wanted to hear her voice. So he finished his drink, savoring the slow, sweet burn while he pulled her number up on his phone. She picked up on the first ring. He held the phone a little ways away from his ear in anticipation of her squealing.
“Trace! I was just thinking about you!” Yep, there was squealing. Good thing he’d been prepared.
“Hey, baby girl. You missin’ me?”
“You know I am!” He could practically see her beautiful smile. The same one that had wrapped him around her little finger the first time he’d ever seen it.
“I miss you too, Rae. But I’m actually calling because Kylie’s upset with me and—”
His little sister, who, much to his dismay wasn’t so little anymore, interrupted him. “Oh no! Why?”
“Because I’m practically an expert in the art of pissing off women.”
Rae laughed softly. “Nah, you make me pretty happy. I’m still loving my car by the way.”
Trace grinned despite the heap of trouble he was in at the moment. “You’re wearing your seatbelt and not texting and driving, right?”
“Yes, Dad.”
An ice-cold hand plunged into his chest and squeezed. He wished he had been her dad instead of the sorry fucker they’d been stuck with. May his black soul not rest in peace. But he was ten years older than her, so he was the closest thing she had. Just the thought of the man had him pouring himself another drink. “Rae, I need you to Google me. Please.”
“But you said never to—”
“I know what I said. But Kylie’s really upset and I have no idea what I’ve done this time.” He used the hand not holding his phone to rub his temples. This was not how he usually celebrated the end of a kickass show.
“Just a sec,” she said. He stood up and paced a path around the bus while he waited for her response. “Okay, you ready for this?”
No. “Yeah, tell me what came up.” He eyed the bottle sitting on top of his dresser. He’d barely even broken the neck of it. See? All under control.
He heard the girl take a deep breath. “Um, so there’s like three articles about you and Gretchen hooking up and having a night out on the town. The rest of the links look like just tour info. But on the images…”
“What about the images? Tell me.”
“The first one is of you and Gretchen Gibson taking body shots off of each other. The second is of you staring at her like an obsessed creeper while she plays pool. And the third is of you dancing together in a bar.”
Jesus Mary Mother. Some asshole had used the photo shoot pictures to make it look like he and Gretchen were involved. And out drinking together. No wonder Kylie Lou was so beside herself. He unscrewed the cap on his bourbon and took a swig straight from the bottle without even consciously meaning to.
He swallowed and took a deep breath. “Okay, we are going to discuss how you even know what body shots are at a later date. For now, please tell Claire Ann that it was a promotional photo shoot for the tour and that there was water in my shot glass if she sees them. I gotta go, baby girl. I love you.”
“Love you, too. Good luck with Kylie.”
“Thanks.” I’m damn sure gonna need it.
“STOP LOOKING at them.” Lily demanded as she slammed the computer screen closed.
“Hey!” Kylie protested, flipping the screen back up. “I might have been checking my email or posting on the blog.”
“No you weren’t. You were looking at those pictures. I could tell by the look on your face.”
“They were promos for the tour, he said.” She bit her lip. He’d called back and explained. She knew she needed to get a grip. It was just easier said than done.
“Whatever. I need the computer. My dad should be calling any second.” Lily plopped down next to her in the booth.
“Okay.” Kylie swallowed the lump that looking at the photos of Trace and Gretchen Gibson taking body shots off of each other had caused.
“Is she looking at them again?” Mia asked, poking her head into the media room and smirking at Kylie. She’s probably enjoying this.
“Jesus. Can a girl not check her Facebook?” Kylie shook her head and stood. “I’m done, okay? Y’all can use the computer all you want.”
Mia stepped aside to let her out of the cramped room. “You’ll see him next week, right? He’s coming to the show, isn’t he?”
Is she trying to comfort me or does she want to see him as much as I do?
Kylie took a few deep breaths and tried to keep her voice calm. “Yeah, his show in Louisville is in the afternoon, and he should make it to the music festival by the time I go on. Long as y’all are still okay with me closing.”
Both girls nodded. Their expressions were matching masks of sympathy. Mia’s was tinged with disgust. Or pity. Or maybe amusement. Kylie wanted to scream. She’d have preferred they both go back to being bitchy.
“I’m going to bed.” She sulked to her room, semi-grateful that Lily had interrupted her. The CMA Music Festival where she’d be performing seemed a million miles away. He’d called right back after she’d acted like a childish idiot. She believed him about the photos. But it still hurt. Bad. She texted him goodnight, knowing he was probably asleep or busy. She lay awake for a long time, waiting for a text back. Just something that connected them. It had almost been six weeks since they’d been together on his farm in Macon. When she looked at the pictures of him and Gretchen, she couldn’t help but feel like she’d dreamed the whole thing.
Because when she closed her eyes, the images of Trace and a dark-haired woman drinking together, dancing, playing pool—looking for all the world like they were out on a date and having a hell of a time—flashed behind her eyes. She’d stared at them for so long they were burned into her retinas.
THE NEXT morning started with a Lily Taite breakdown of epic proportions. It was nearly enough to make Kylie forget all about the pictures of her boyfriend with another woman. Almost.
“Lily? Lily, come on. We’re gonna be late.” Kylie sighed as she watched Mia banging on the bathroom door. She leaned against the counter—at least she thought there was a counter under all the curling irons, shoes, clothes, and piles of makeup.
Kylie couldn’t even count which number breakdown this was. Once again, Lily had locked her crazy ass in the bathroom with her cellphone and was refusing to come out.
Mia knocked again. They’d been with Lily a few short weeks and they both knew her dad wasn’t going to show up for shit. Yet Lily was sixteen-years-old, had been dealing with him her whole life, and still didn’t seem to get it.
Kylie stepped towards the bathroom door. “Listen, Lil, we’re supposed to meet with Brian at that little diner so he can show us how to post videos and s
tuff to the site before tonight’s show.”
“I don’t care.” Lily’s muffled voice came from the other side of the door. “Just go on. I’m not going to post any stupid videos anyways.”
“Lily,” Mia began in her calmest voice. “This is part of our contract, remember? This isn’t something you can just stop doing because you’re having a bad day, okay?”
Kylie watched as Mia fumed at the door. She was a no-nonsense chick and Lily was practically made of nonsense.
“Go away!” Lily screamed.
“Listen to me!” Mia yelled right back. “Get your spoiled little ass out here and come the fuck on. Grow the hell up, Lily. You wanted this, wanted to be on this tour. So you are damn well on it. Now let’s go!” Mia smacked the door hard with her hand. Kylie winced. That was going to leave a mark.
And it didn’t work. Lily’s sobs got louder. Kylie shrugged at Mia. “Maybe we should just tell Brian she isn’t feeling well.”
“Right, let’s start making excuses for her like everyone else does. Great idea.”
Lily’s pampered princess act pissed her off too. But she also felt kind of sorry for her. If her daddy was still alive, she knew he’d put on his one dress shirt—the gray striped one he wore to weddings, funerals, and the few times they went to church—and come to every show of hers he could. A flicker of anger began to well up in Kylie’s gut. What the hell was Lily’s dad’s deal? Could he not be bothered to show his daughter a tiny bit of support or affection? Far as she’d seen, he hadn’t shown up for anything and his few calls left Lily in tears.
The night Lily had fallen off the tailgate in Oklahoma, she’d gotten wasted and cried and gone on about her dad not paying enough attention to her. Kylie had chalked it up to the alcohol. But she could see there was more to it. Lily had been all over several random guys at the party. Kylie practically had to drag her off of them and out of there. Girl might as well have had a neon sign flashing ‘Daddy Issues’ over her head. Lord help if Country Weekly ever found out about that.