“Hey, Miss Sadie.” Cruz tipped an imaginary hat. “Max.”
“Hey, lovebirds!” Johnny crooned. “I signed up for this room, and you’re officially”—he tapped his oversized gold watch—“taking up my time.”
Max scowled. And even though Sadie knew the judges took turns with contestants and it wasn’t their week with Cruz, she felt a surge of jealousy. Johnny was their biggest competition, and was breathing down their neck in viewer votes. He was as close to winning this thing as they were. Closer, because it now seemed Cruz was dedicating himself to mentoring him.
“We’re all done here,” Sadie said, pasting on a smile.
Johnny clapped his hands together as he sat down on a couch in the corner of the room and said, “Alright, Cruz, let’s rock!”
Just then Cruz caught Sadie’s gaze. It was almost imperceptible, but he rolled his eyes, and Sadie had to force down a chuckle.
Now she clocked the expression on Max’s face as he watched Johnny and Cruz settle in on the couch, clearly about to have a serious tête-à-tête about whatever Johnny’s next winning move should be. The only way to describe Max’s facial expression now was one of pure envy. And all this gave Sadie pause. He really did want this, for reasons she could not figure out. Max Brody, son of the great Holden Brody, seemed as intent on winningStarmakeras she was. And while everyone else seemed to roll out an imaginary red carpet anytime Max came anywhere near, Cruz—arguably the most influential member of theStarmakerteam—barely gave him the time of day.
Sadie tugged the sleeve of Max’s denim jacket and murmured, “Let’s go,” but she could tell what Max wanted most was to be sitting where Johnny King was.
5
Max
Nashville, Tennessee
December 15
Max? Are you in there?” Two short raps on the trailer’s metal door followed, and Max jumped up from the small couch where he’d been sitting.
The show had set up trailers in the soundstage’s parking lot for when contestants needed a moment of privacy, to call family or shed a few tears after receiving biting criticism from the judges. Max had told Landon he’d be in trailer #2 going over “contract negotiations” with Bobbi. There were no contract negotiations, however. He simply needed to get away from the prying eyes of the other contestants, and the hushed gossip that followed him, for a spell.
He was about to say, “Just a minute!” when the door to the trailer door swung open. Sadie poked her head inside.
She took in the scene, her eyes moving from his face to his hands, which were in front of him... and holding knitting needles. A ball of pink yarn had fallen from his lap when he stood, and rested near his feet, one long string connecting the ball to the half-knit dog sweater he had been working on.
“Don’t you knock?” he grumbled, quickly setting the knitting needles and sweater behind him on the couch and then shifting to block Sadie’s view. He cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets, wondering what the chances were that Sadie would mind her own business.Not freakin’ likely.
“Why are you never where you’re supposed to be?” Sadie retorted. That was fair enough. Max followed his own schedule and rules, only bending to those of the show when he absolutely had to. He got away with it, but while he benefitted from the privilege his last name provided, what he longed for most was freedom from it.
“Besides, I did knock.Twice.” Sadie tugged on the sleeves of her sweater, tucking the ends over her hands and then crossing her arms over her chest, a sure sign she was annoyed. Max was starting to recognize her tells. “So, you knit, huh?”
“Yes,I knit,” Max replied. “But it’s not... something I advertise, okay?” Then he pointed at the door, which still stood open. “Could you close that before Patsy bolts?”
Sadie obliged, then glanced at Patsy. The dog was fast asleep on a fur-covered pillow, lying on her back in a heather-grey sweater with her stumpy legs sticking up in the air. “Does she always sleep like that?”
Max chuckled. “Yeah, she’s one of a kind.”
“Look, I would love to take a deep dive into the whole ‘Max Brody, Incognito Knitter’ thing,” Sadie said, absentmindedly tugging on the hem of her short skirt. Her long forest green cardigan hung just about an inch above the skirt. “But Cruz is in a mood, he has a meeting he said can’t be changed, so we need to do the rehearsal now.”
“Well, Cruz can wait another dang minute. And why are you all made up like that?” Max asked, noting Sadie’s stage-ready makeup and sleek side ponytail.
“It’s a dress rehearsal, remember? Full costume and makeup and these ridiculously uncomfortable shoes.” She stuck one long leg out in front of her, showing off the golden-hued heels before losing her balance and pitching into Max. As he steadied her, the warm scent of vanilla wafted into his nose and he suddenly wished he didn’t have to let her go. Which confused the hell out of him, because 97 percent of the time Sadie Hunter was a thorn in his side.
“You really aren’t a stiletto gal, are you?” He set her back on her feet, but the vanilla scent lingered, as did the unwelcome desire to take her in his arms again.
“Says the guy who never has to wear anything uncomfortable.”
Max looked down at his outfit—jeans slung low, held up by a leather belt with a wide buckle, cowboy boots, a white T-shirt over which he would throw a leather jacket. This was his everyday outfit, but also his onstage one. He knew it wasn’t fair.
“Anyway, we’d better head inside. Need me to carryanything?” Sadie looked pointedly to the couch, where Max had tried to hide his knitting supplies, a lilt of amusement on her face.
“All good, thanks.” He shoved the yarn and needles into the black leather messenger bag he was rarely without. This was going to be awhole thingnow. Sadie was what his mom used to call the “niggling” sort—unable to mind her own business, even when it was clear she should. Plus, the last thing he wanted to do was have to explain why he was knitting a dog sweater in aStarmakertrailer, because it all linked back to his mom, and he didn’t want to talk about her.
