Page 584 of Manhattan Bossholes

“Megan’s family and Cameron’s family are basically the Montagues and the Capulets. Diamond rivals,” I told her. “Long-standing blood feud.”

Megan gave me a halfhearted smile. “I wouldn’t go that far. Let’s just say things are touchy between our families and have been for years. But I don’t even work for the company, and neither does Aiden, so it’s not like we have a direct stake in the game, you know? Not that it matters to Cameron. He looks at me like I’m a mail order bride asking for money to help my ‘sick mother.’” She made air quotes. “I bet he’s going to blame me for Aiden’s arm.”

“I’m sorry,” Nina said, frowning sympathetically at Megan. “That really sucks.”

“It does, but I get it. There’s the family stuff, plus Cameron also has a crappy history in the romance department.”

“Oh?” I asked, trying not to look as desperate for intel about him as I was. “What happened?”

Megan glanced toward where the guys had disappeared. “I don’t know all of the story, but Aiden told me things ended badly with his ex. Like, catastrophically bad. Cameron got his heart destroyed, which is probably also part of the reason why he hates me. I bet he thinks his brother is going to end up with a broken heart, just like his. But Aiden and I are in love. Real love, like, forever love. Cameron will see it, eventually.” She frowned and played with the glass of water in front of her. “At least I hope so.”

I chewed my lip as I considered this new insight into my bosshole fake boyfriend. A broken heart? It barely seemed like he had one, but now the way he had been acting toward me made a little more sense.

Cameron hated love. Awesome.

Nina craned her neck to look over our heads, then clapped her hands together. “There he is! Tyler’s just walked on stage. I’m so excited.”

“Looks like love is in the air tonight,” Megan mused as she watched Nina. She leaned toward me, probably to ask about me and Cameron, right as Tyler greeted the crowd. The accompanying mic screech made everyone grab their ears.

“Oof,” Nina said. “Not a great start to the set.”

Cameron stormed back to his seat with an angry Aiden trailing behind him, and I think we all felt lucky that we could focus on the music instead of the tension in the air while Tyler played his solo set. Tyler was in his element alone on the stage with just his guitar. He played songs everyone sang along to, as well as one that mentioned a “winged beast and a timeless love.” I glanced at Nina to find her mesmerized by him. Watching him seduce the room left me even more worried for her.

As expected, Aiden and Megan said their goodbyes shortly after Tyler finished up. Cameron relaxed a little once they were gone, and even more so once Tyler joined us at the table.

“Well?” Tyler asked as we applauded him. “How was it?”

A waitress interrupted us before we could go into a full-fledged gush, and Tyler ordered celebratory tequila shots for the table, as well as a whiskey for himself.

“You were incredible,” Nina said, staring at Tyler like she still couldn’t believe he was in her orbit. “And I loved the new song. You mentioned Astarot the dragon!”

He smiled broadly at her. “It wasn’t the easiest word to rhyme, but ‘caught’ did the trick.”

“Do we all agree that Tyler needs to do more solo gigs from now on?” Cameron asked, looking around the table at us. “He’s always good, but he’s great when he’s on his own.”

“Hold on, hold on,” a voice rang out from nearby. “Are you trying to steal jobs from Ty’s bandmates?”

A skinny, scruffy-looking guy with tired eyes in a tank top pulled a chair up to our table and sat down.

“What?” Tyler exclaimed, staring at him with wide eyes. “Jerry Jones is in the house! C’mere, brother.”

He jumped up and pulled him into a back-slapping hug. I glanced over at Cameron to find him frowning at the stranger. I didn’t blame him—there was something about the guy that came off as a little sinister.

“Jerry is a legendary guitarist,” Tyler explained as they sat down. “We played together during my West Coast tour a million years ago.”

“Yeah, been way too long,” Jerry nodded at Tyler. “And speaking of those good times, I know of someone who’s very interested in hanging with you again. Mr. Brown is in town tonight.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Is he here?”

“Sure is. C’mon, let’s go have a chat with him.”

Tyler’s eyes landed on Nina for a beat, and it seemed like he was wrestling with the decision to go see his other friend. I didn’t blame him, since the two of them were hitting it off.

“Hey, uh, Imma go say howdy to an old buddy, but I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere,” he pointed finger guns at us as he backed away.

“Do you know who he’s talking about?” Nina asked Cameron as she watched Tyler disappear into the crowd.

He shrugged. “Tyler’s world is huge; he knows everyone. Probably some old blues guitarist.”