“I assure you we’re not. Skyler is drawing a lot of attention to the two of you lately. We need to do something big to shift your fans’ focus elsewhere.”
“Skyler’s not a cheater,” he argued. “It’s bad enough you’ve paraded him all over the place with an endless line of women, but he would never do that to someone.”
“It doesn’t matter what he would or wouldn’t do,” Maggie said. “All that matters is what we let the media believe he’s doing. So far, we haven’t made him look bad. He’s simply a young guy enjoying his fame and playing the field. But we can quickly turn him into the arrogant pop star who only uses women for sex and then discards them. We can have him leaving a whole trail of jilted lovers in his wake. That’ll give the media something to talk about.”
As Maggie let them sit there in the quiet for a minute, Trevor realized what was happening. She was using his desire to protect Skyler against him. And it was working.
“Are you saying if I agree to a fake relationship with this girl, then you won’t make Skyler do all that? You’ll leave him alone?”
She smiled again. “I’m saying we could probably arrange it so he’s seen with less women, yes.”
Without giving it any more thought, Trevor gritted his teeth and said, “Fine.”
It was likely he didn’t have an actual choice anyway.
“Wonderful,” Maggie said faux-pleasantly. “Then I’ll make the final arrangements and let you know when you’ll be meeting Sierra. I’m so glad we could come to an agreement that works for everybody.”
“Uh-huh. Can I go now?”
“Of course.”
“Great,” he said. Then he walked out with his head hung, feeling like he’d negotiated a shitty plea bargain for a crime he hadn’t committed.
Skyler was going to hate this. And it was a much bigger lie than Skyler getting photographed with girls and letting the media think what they wanted.This would need to look like Trevor was in a serious relationship. Maggie would probably make him confirm it in an interview at some point.
But Skyler would have to understand.
Trevor was doing this for him.
And damn it, this was why he’d fought with Skyler tonight. If Maggie already had some girl lined up for him, that meant that she’d already had this planned, and Skyler had given her the flimsy reason she needed to set it in motion.
Truthfully, he’d seen something big like this coming eventually. Their team had subtly let them know from the beginning that they weren’t allowed to be together, not in the public’s eye. Apparently, Maggie was done with trying to be subtle about it.
Trevor was pretty sure he and Skyler had just been shoved a lot further into the closet.
Chapter Thirty-One
Before
TREVOR
Trevor hated staying inhis and Skyler’s place without Skyler. It felt weirdly empty without his dark curls bouncing around. They only had a five-day break, but even five days in the middle of touring was a mini miracle, so he and Skyler had planned to visit Skyler’s family. Then at the last minute, Maggie had informed Trevor he wasn’t allowed to go. Management didn’t want fans catching on to them being there together.
They’d managed it before with no issues. (They’d learned their lesson after that first time with Andrea, and now just didn’t leave the house when they were there.) But Maggie didn’t care.
Skyler had been willing to stay in L.A. with Trevor, but Trevor wasn’t about to let him miss out on seeing his family. And anyway, Maggie had arranged for Trevor to meet Sierra Mackenzie, his new “girlfriend,” during the break. They were scheduled for coffee and a shopping trip, plus Maggie wanted him to get in at least one more sighting with her.
When Skyler had found out about Sierra, he’d been understandably upset, so Trevor figured it’d be better if he wasn’t around for this. He hoped Skyler would enjoy his family time and not think too much about it.
If only Trevor didn’t have to think about it.
He’d used his free time yesterday to visit him mom in the new house he’d surprised her with. She’d insisted it was too much at first, but now seeing her there, amongst her new furniture and her massive record collection that shefinally had room to display, he was glad he’d convinced her to take it. He had so much money now and he couldn’t imagine a better way to spend it.
His sour mood had put a slight damper on the visit, though. He couldn’t help but complain about the Sierra thing and ask his mom’s advice. He even finally told her about how Skyler wanted them to come out publicly. And she told him she would support him with whatever he chose, but that if it wasn’t what he wanted to do, then he and Skyler would have to find a compromise.
She said, “Skyler loves you and he knows you love him. You two will make it work.”
Essentially the same thing Skyler’s mom had said to him once before. And it had felt good to hear it again, but the doubt was still creeping in anyway. He wondered how much longer every problem could be solved by them simply loving each other. What if they reached a point where that wasn’t enough?
