“You will give me viral.” Raelynn then pauses to soften her voice. “I push you, I know that, Piper. But I push you because I know you’ll succeed. We need something cuteandviral, just likeyou and the prince. Then the rest of the album can be whatever you want.”
As long as it’s pop music.My jaw locks tight. I glance back at Kellen, Elliot, and Nolan carrying on their easy-going argument. “I’ll deliver. Just give me a week or two.”
“Perfect.” Then Raelynn’s instantly onto the next crisis. “Also, heads up—there’s a lot of scrutiny on this relationship. I’d love to see some hand-holding tomorrow. Maybe a kiss. I don’t care if it’s staged or not, just give them something.”
How about I give them the truth?Carrying on with fake dates when there’s a foundation ofsomethingvery real involved is starting to feel icky. Exhausting.
But Raelynn holds the keys to my musical freedom behind the locked door of my last album on Reverie’s contract. So I acquiesce. “Copy that. Anything else?”
“No, I think that about covers it.” The echo of her setting down her tablet on a hard surface echoes through the call. “I’ll be in touch again soon. But let me know when you want studio time.”
“Sure thing, thanks Raelynn.” I hang up the call before she can add anything else on to my list, then stand there in the hallway for a minute.
I scroll through my notifications with the weird hope that maybe I’m trending for something unrelated, like a new haircut or public indecency.
No luck. Every headline is some version of “Kellen Hale and Piper Sumner: Endgame?” Even the trolls in the comments have upgraded from “industry plants” to “unhinged soulmates.”
I have to physically shake myself to break the trance. I don’t want to go back to the living room. I don’t want to go anywhere. But hiding here forever will just make Nolan come looking for me, and I don’t feel like talking about any of this right now.
I return to find all three men seated around a low table, which is now covered in a truly deranged assortment of late-night snacks.
Nolan, who is slouched in an armchair, perks up the second I walk in. “Everything okay?”
“Fine.” I don’t have the energy for nuance.
Elliot watches me with the same unblinking focus as always. “Raelynn?”
I nod. “She says hi. Also, she wants a new single as soon as possible.”
Kellen’s eyebrows shoot up. “That’s ambitious. Do you always work this fast?”
I snort. “No, not usually unless very inspired.”
I let that truth hang there. While the “royal fake-dating” bullshit is hitting just as the queen and Raelynn wanted, it’s the farthest thing from inspiring. To me at least. Because it’s notreal.
The scent-match is.
This easy bond that’s effectively friendship right now is also real.
But I can’t sing about scent-matching with three amazing alphas, two of whom I hardly know, when I’m meant to be only fake-dating one of them.
My knees bounce as the reality of the situation fully catches up to me. I can’t say that I can picture a full pack life with these three alphas, but I can picture thestartof something. Since the gala, a fondness has definitely grown for Kellen and Elliot. But we’re only here together right now because other people forced it.
Kellen tips his head, blue eyes sharp and a little too perceptive.
“What?” I ask, more defensively than intended. Usually only Nolan regards me that way.
Kellen lifts his hands. “Nothing, you just look like you’re about to bolt.”
He’s not wrong. I kind of want to. But I can’t.
And that’s the issue.
I inhale sharply and shake my head. “Maybe I’m just tired of being everyone’s favorite trainwreck. If I’m not ‘destroying the music industry,’ I’ve always got articles about partying too much.”
Nolan’s voice is softer than I expect. “You’re not a trainwreck.”
“Yeah,” Elliot deadpans, “your disaster is much more controlled.”
