AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m doing it. Tell them yes.”
She walked around Barney toward her dressing room. Shay didn’t need to look back to know Graham was on her heels. The man followed her like her own shadow.
“Don’t do this, doll. Just sing ‘Be My Angel,’let the fans go nuts, and keep things happy. That song made you!” Barney hollered from behind her.
The hit song that had catapulted her to stardom but also restricted her. That song held a deeper meaning hidden underneath the light pop beat that no one understood.
Stepping into her dressing room, she kicked off her heels immediately. She removed the pins that held her hair up, and the tight 4A curls tumbled around her shoulders in a thick cloud.
“I want to do this. I’ve been telling you for months, I’m tired of being this cookie-cutter singer the label wants me to be. I’m a grown woman with opinions.”
“Your fans are used to—”
“You just don’t want me to rock the status quo.” Shay spun around toward Barney as he shut the dressing room door.
Barney sighed.
“Admit it,” Shay said.
She turned and sat at the dressing table.You want change, this is the time for it.
“You, the label, and even the fans want me to stay the same. I’m not. Book the gig, Barney.”
“Why now?” Barney walked toward her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You’ve been writing new music but the old stuff is good. The old ways are good. They keep yousafe.”
The innuendo wasn’t lost on her.
“For you, not me. It’s time for a change, we’ve been doing this for ten years. You know how good of a writer I am, but you won’t shop my songs to the label. Either you do it, or I’ll…”
“You’ll what? Quit?” Barney kissed the top of her head. “Fine, I’ll give you this. Do it, and face whatever backlash from your fans. Later, bodyguard.”
Graham scowled at Barney as the door slammed shut.
“He’s an asshole.”
Shay dropped her face into her hands. “You think?”
“Normally I’m one to say ignore Barney and his bullshit, but are you sure about this?”
Shay sat back in her seat and glared at Graham.
“You agree with Barney?”
Graham sighed deeply, moving closer, and her skin tingled in awareness. “It would be great for your fans to see you support an important cause.”
Shay swallowed. Would Graham ever see her as anything other than a twenty-three-year-old mess of a popstar? Could he see her as a woman coming into her own now?
“You’ve never been outspoken before, and you’ve played by your label’s rules. Don’t you want them to take your new project seriously? Do this. Show them that you’re a leader, an artist—a womanthey need to listen to.”
“You see me as a leader?” She pushed herself to her feet.
She set her shoulders back and Graham moved closer. Reaching out, he fingered one of her curls.
“You’re a powerhouse, Shay. I admire that about you. There’s too much to name that I admire about you.”
Heat immediately rushed up the back of her neck. She scrambled in her mind for a response.
“If you feel this is what you want to do, do it. A man who stands for nothing falls for anything.”
