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“You can’t tell him things aren’t as they seem.”
I glare at Jenni’s half-shadowed face, shocked by her comment. It is early morning in London, and with two children under six and a rock-star husband forcing her to burn the candle at both ends, she appeared to be having a sleep-in before I called.
“He thinks I’m an adulterer.” I had an inkling Laken had mistaken Knox’s position in my life when he mentioned finding my earring next to a bottle of aftershave, but it became blatantly evident during our argument. “I can’t let him believe that.”
“Why?” Jenni asks through a prolonged yawn. “Noah showed me the songs you’ve sent through the past few days. He said they are your best to date. But they’re not Rise Up material.” My heart sinks until she adds, “They’re Nikki J lyrics. You’ve been endeavoring to unearth these songs since signing with Knox Records. They’re your pot of gold under the rainbow.”
I flop onto my bed before tossing an arm over my glossy eyes. “I doubt Apollo would agree with you.”
“Then Apollo is a dick.” I grimace when Nick’s head pops onto the screen of my phone. I woke him too. His bad bedhead can’t hide this fact.
Nick is as cocky as Apollo, and before Jenni joined his life, he was just as much of a player, but he’s never once looked a gift horse in the mouth and turned his nose up at it. “I told Noah he was crazy if he didn’t consider at least one of your songs for our next album.” My heart warms when he confesses groggily, “He said he couldn’t do you wrong like that. That family doesn’t stab family in the back. He wants you to succeed and knows your new songs will ensure that.”
“Knox—”
I want to squeal in frustration when I’m interrupted again. How can I work through my confusion if I’m not given the chance to voice my worries?
“I woke up to hundreds of alerts for Nicole.” Jenni swivels her phone to the door of her room. “Oh, hey. I was just about to call you.” Emily enters the room with her laptop balanced on her hand. “I know you can’t afford a publicist right now, and you don’t want me working for free, but I set up some Google alerts for your debut radio interview Monday morning.” My groan gets gobbled up by her confession. “I set them up as your friend,notyour publicist. You can’t turn away help from a friend.” Excitement highlights her face. “Anyhow, there werehundredsof alerts overnight.” She clicks her keyboard a handful of times. “Someone in the audience leaked a video of your last rehearsal. It is all over the net…” Her words trail off as her brows inch together. “Oh…”
“What is it?” Jenni asks before I can.
Her eyes scan Emily’s laptop screen for several terrifying seconds before her expression backs up Emily’s unvoiced worries.
I sit a little straighter. “What?”
“It’s nothing,” Emily gabbers out before snapping her laptop screen shut and peering at me through Jenni’s phone. “You know how bad some critics treat new talent. They’d rather cut you down while you’re still in the minors than wait for you to hit the majors.”
“The reviews are negative?”
“No.” She brushes off my worry with a wave of her hand. “Not all of them.” When the FaceTime screen advises her my camera is in pause mode, Emily warns, “Don’t google reviews, Nicole. It is the first advice I give all new artists. Let me correlate the feedback and give you the true response before you believe the keyboard warriors hiding behind computer monitors.”
Her warning comes too late. I’ve already hit the mother lode, and it is as painful as it gets.
“Ouch…”
My one hurt-filled word tells them everything they need to know.
I found hundreds of comments under the leaked video.
Not a single one of them is positive.
19
LAKEN
My pillow smashes into the wall separating my room from Knox and Nicole’s when a breathy feminine moan churns my stomach more than my argument with Nicole.
I’ve managed one restless night in the past five.One.It was the night I convinced Knox to drop off my mother’s “ransom” so she couldn’t milk me of more of his funds.
My mother would have left me for dust the instant I handed her the bundles of cash in a gym bag, but with Nicole too tipsy to make decisions for herself, and Knox notorious for overlooking consent, I made out I’m not schooled on my mother’s inner workings.
I thought I had won the battle when Nicole stormed to her room.
Turns out my asshole radar isn’t my only feature on the brink.
Knox made up for his one night of absence multiple times over the past three days. He and Nicole are acting like newlyweds, and their actions had me giving Bella more attention than she deserved.
She could be a decent girl if she didn’t have dust for brains and if she stopped belittling her friends on the belief it would big-note herself.
