“I think me and that boy need to have another talk,” my dad said around a half-smile. He leaned in. “But between you and me, he gets my blessin’. We’ll make him work for it a little longer though.” Dad winked.
“That’s a good thing,” my voice wobbled, even though I said the words with complete conviction. “Because one day, Daddy, I’m goin’ to marry that boy.”
Eva
* * *
I woke to an empty bed.
“Rafe?” Pushing up on one elbow, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and scanned the room. There was a note on the pillow beside me.
* * *
Woke early but didn’t want to wake you. Snuck out with Fenton to get breakfast.
Love you more than words,
R.
* * *
I flopped back onto the soft pillows, smiling at the memories of the night before.
After the show, we had all come back to the suite, my parents included. We ordered a bunch of room service and talked well into the night. There had been jokes and stories and laughter. So much laughter. Hudson always seemed to be laughing at something or other, but it had filled my heart hearing the guys joking around and genuinely enjoying themselves. Even Levi had embraced it, surprising us all with his very own rendition of Jolene for my mom, who had revealed she was a huge fan of Dolly Parton. Of course, he’d dragged me up with him, and the two of us had entertained everyone until the whole room had joined in with us.
It had been more than just a celebration. It had been a group of people bound together by love and friendship and family. And I couldn’t think of a single place I would rather be.
It still all felt like a dream—Rafe, the tour, the future—except I knew it couldn’t be because he had whispered the names of every city we would visit, every city he would kiss me in, as he made love to me.
A small knock at the door pulled me from my reverie. “Eva, can I come in?” Letty peeked her head around the door, her hand covering her eyes.
I chuckled. “It’s okay, I’m decent.”
“Thank God for that.” She slipped into the room but didn’t return my smile.
I instantly sat up. “What is it, what happened?”
“We have a problem.” She came and perched on the edge of the bed, thrusting her phone at me. I frantically scanned the article.
“My drug-fueled night with a rock star... Mystery woman spills all on sordid night with Black Hearts Still Beat frontman Levi Hunter.”
“What the hell is this?” My body trembled as I tried to read the article.
“It was posted this morning. It doesn’t name the source and the details are pretty vague but social media chatter is already going wild.”
“Oh God, I feel sick.” I folded my legs underneath my body.
“Breathe. We’ve dealt with this kind of thing before. I checked the tabloids and it hasn’t broken yet, but stories like this gain interest. PR is already on it... but there’s something else.” She took her cell phone from me and clicked a few buttons before holding it up for me to watch. “It’s grainy; he’s barely recognizable.”
All the air left my lungs. This couldn’t be happening. Not when things were finally good between everyone.
“Eva?”
“Is… is he doin’ what I think he’s doin’?” Letty was right. The video was grainy, but there was no mistaking Levi snorting a line of powder off a woman’s stomach.
Bile rose up my throat.
“What do we do now?”
“We wait. The lack of clarity suggests the source is holding out for an exclusive. If we can figure out who is behind it before that happens, we may be able to stop them.”
“I know exactly who’s behind it,” I said quietly, anger flooding me.
Just then voices filled the air, and heavy footsteps sounded outside the bedroom. “Eva?” Rafe sounded fraught.
“I’ll let you two talk, okay? If you need me just call.”
“Thank you.”
“Eva?” Rafe burst into the bedroom, inhaling a ragged breath.
“I’ll just be...” Letty thumbed to the door, slipping around Rafe. He stepped into the room, his eyes locked on mine, begging me to fix it.
“What are we going to do?” He stalked toward me, dropping to his knees at the side of the bed. “Things were finally looking up for him.”
I nodded, shuffling to the edge and letting my legs fall on either side of him. “I know, but we’ll figure it out, okay? Does Levi know?”
Rafe’s expression darkened. “He spent the night with Phoebe. I haven’t seen either of them yet.”
“Crap,” I muttered. “This is bad, real bad. You know who did this, right?”
He nodded. “There’s only one explanation that makes sense.”
Except it didn’t make any sense. What the hell was Levi doing with Riley? But my gut told me I was right—that somehow, she was behind this.
“I can’t believe she would stoop so low,” I said. “What will happen if she gives the exclusive?” Riley, like all other employees at Razorsharp, would have signed an NDA.
“The label can seek damages. But it won’t change the fact the video is out there. It’s grainy, but if the exclusive interview breaks, the video will take on a life of its own.”
A drug-fueled sex tape.
Just what the band didn’t need.
Just what Levi didn’t need.
And Phoebe... oh God, poor Phoebe.