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Talia nodded thoughtfully. “Right, okay. Cameron can contact her directly.” She looked over at her manager, waiting for him to confirm before continuing. “But she’ll know the only way I could have heard it was from you, right?”
“As long as she doesn’t think I’ve pushed you into it as a favor to her. She needs to know it’s her talent that captured your interest, not my influence.”
“Okay, we can make that work.” She studied him. “You swapped out our duet with Beau because you didn’t want Cassie to think something was going on between us. Now there’s this. You obviously care about her. More than care, I would guess. Why the hell aren’t you with her?”
“Because we want different things.” The words felt wrong coming out of his mouth. He was starting to think he might have been telling himself a big fucking lie this whole time.
“Well, what is it you want Zac?” Talia asked.
He hesitated. For the first time, he didn’t have a clear answer to that question. Things were changing.Hewas changing. A few months ago, he would have said he only wanted to focus on his music. He would have said he wanted to get Crossfire to the top as quickly as possible, regardless of the cost. But that had been because he thought he had something to prove. To his dad. To himself. And doing something when it was just to prove a point came at a cost too. One he wasn’t sure he was willing to pay anymore.
A few months ago, he’d refused to believe he could be what Cassie needed. But now…
Now he was starting to see the possibilities.
ChapterForty-Two
Cassie pressed a button to stop her laptop recording. She couldn’t hold back the smile that spread across her face. After clicking a few buttons, she hit upload and gave a little squeal of happiness. She followed that up with a laugh at herself as she flopped backward on the bed.
It was the tenth song she’d uploaded to her various social media channels. She’d already gained a small but enthusiastic following. One of her fans had even contacted her to ask if she’d write a song for his band. And he’d offered her money! She was really starting to think she could make a go of this songwriting thing. She wished she could tell Zac.
Zac…
Her heart gave a single, pained thump.
Why did it still hurt so much to think about him? Surely she should be over him by now. Considering how much Bryan had meant to her, she’d been able to move on from him much quicker than this. And she was in a great place now. She had her apartment, which was small but neat, a job she enjoyed, even if it wasn’t her dream job at the moment, and the possibility of doing something she could really be passionate about. She’d even made friends. Now that she wasn’t wrapped up in Bryan anymore, she was finally taking opportunities to meet people.
And yet whenever she thought about the time she and Zac had spent together, her heart still hurt, and her eyes still burned with tears she tried hard not to shed.
At night, he still filled her dreams.
Cassie sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She just had to keep reminding herself that even though what she’d felt for Zac was real, the scars of his past would never let him believe there could be something true and lasting between them. Not that she could talk about letting your scars have power over you. She’d clung to someone who didn’t really love her just because she’d been scared to be alone again.
Her phone vibrating on the bed next to her pulled her out of her thoughts. She frowned at the unknown number.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Cassie Elliot? My name is Cameron McAllister. I’m Talia Harrison’s manager.”
Cassie blinked a few times. “I’m sorry.TheTalia Harrison?”
He gave a dry chuckle. “The one and only.”
Cassie blew out a breath. “Wow. Okay. Um, what can I do for you?”
“Well, recently Talia heard a song that you wrote, and she liked it. She liked it a lot. So much so that she’d like to purchase the rights to record and release it.”
“What?”
“Talia would like to buy your song.”
Cassie’s mind went blank, her heart almost punching through her chest. An unwelcome thought occurred to her, and she sucked in a sharp breath. “Did Zac put her up to this?”
“She overheard Mr. Ford playing the song when he was in the UK recently. But he in no way influenced her decision. In fact, he insisted on not being involved in this process at all.”
Hurt bloomed in Cassie’s chest. Zac wanted nothing to do with her. If he had, this would have been the perfect opportunity for him to reach out to her. “Well, he helped write it, so doesn’t he have to be part of this?”
“No. He’s signing over all rights to you.”
