I deservethis. I never should have thought I deserved her. So I don’t let myself look away.
Nash stops in front of her, grinning like her love is the fuel he needs to survive. He offers the bouquet. She takes it. Carefully.
She’s playing a part, right? She has to be. What else could explain the way her fingers tense? The way her spine stiffens? The way her hand brushes against his jacket like she’s grounding herself?
And then?—
She kisses him.
My chest tightens—breaks. But I don’t move. I don’t even breathe.
The stadium erupts, but the sound dulls in my ears.
I knew this was coming. She warned me.
But knowing doesn’t soften the blow any more than a tissue softens a sledgehammer.
I turn. I can’t watch another second and survive.
Coming on tour, letting her in, falling for her—it can’t be a mistake.
It has to be worth it.
Because Lou just broke my heart.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
LOU
The moment my fingers close around the flash drive in Nash’s back pocket, victory rushes through me like wildfire.
He doesn’t notice.
If he felt anything, he probably thought I was copping a feel.
As if.
He’s too busy soaking in the applause, too busy pretending this is real, too busy playing his role as the charming, effortless golden boy of country music to care about anything else.
The kiss is over.
Greer is smiling from the wings, and Nash looks like a conqueror who just finished another conquest.
He thinks he’s won.
“We’re gonna take over the world, darlin’,” he whispers, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
He wants me to blush. To melt. To let this moment linger.
Instead, I smile. Bright. Secretive. Controlled. Like this is just for us. Like I’m not holding a nuclear bomb in my hands.
Let him think this is his victory.
“Yeah,” I say, voice sweet as sugar. “We’re gonna be something.”
The crowd explodes, the cameras capturing every second of our so-called love story.
I can already see the headlines forming in real time:
