Abby and the Cute One (Backstage Pass) (9 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Nathan

L
J hadn’t been kidding when he said it wouldn’t take Abby long to pull her own weight. She was nearly there already, she just needed a few pointers, but her singing was tremendous. He was almost a little jealous of how effortless it seemed to her.

Luckily enough, he ran into LJ before heading into the writing session. Unluckily, his manager wasn’t too pleased with him for forgetting about said writing session.

“I need you at your best, Nathan. What’s wrong with you?”

Nathan rubbed the back of his neck. This wasn’t exactly how he wanted to start the conversation about Abby. “Sorry, LJ. Lost track of time after my date with Marissa.”

The creases in LJ’s forehead disappeared and he smiled. “Right. How’d that go?”

Nathan shrugged. “Good. But listen, now that you bring it up, I’ve got this idea. Does it matter who we use as the girl we—I…the girl I date?”

LJ’s smile quickly turned into a frown. “What’s this about, Nathan? Marissa is perfect because she has a wide reach and she has a segment of the market we don’t have.”

His manager checked his watch and then neatly crossed his arms.

It was now or never.

“It’s just that I thought it would be a great idea for the girl I date to be another singer. Someone a little different than Seconds to Juliet to bring more fans to us, but also someone you could have the media spin us as like a singing dream team.”

The wrinkles around LJ’s mouth deepened as his lips thinned. “And I suppose you know just the girl to use? Don’t be stupid, Nathan. You know my rule. Don’t let a pretty face screw up the rest of your career.” LJ looked him in the eyes. “And if that’s not enough to convince you to back off, let me say this. Don’t do something that screws up
her
career, either.”

His manager’s face, now red and angry, shook by the time he finished his tirade.

LJ had all but spelled out that he knew Nathan was talking about Abby. And he’d made the consequences clear.

If Nathan pushed this, Abby would be fired. Replaced.

If it was only Nathan’s career on the line, maybe he would push the issue. Try to call LJ’s bluff. But Abby’s career had just started. If she got fired now, this could be the end for her.

Nathan wouldn’t do that to her. He wouldn’t ruin her future simply because he had feelings for her. She was one of the best things that had ever happened to him. He wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to her.

He glanced away before his disappointment showed on his face. He shrugged nonchalantly. “It was just an idea, LJ. I didn’t really have anyone in mind. I just thought the singer angle would be cool. I can see the media loving that, but if you don’t think it’s a good idea, I’m not going to push it. I trust you.”

LJ relaxed visibly beside him. “That’s my boy. Just focus on Marissa for right now.”

“There he is,” Marissa said as she came toward them.

Nathan looked up and froze. What the hell was she doing here?

“Speak of the devil,” LJ said.

Marissa smiled, threw her dark hair over her shoulder, and pushed sunglasses down over her eyes.
His
sunglasses.

He’d thought he’d brought them to breakfast, but…

LJ cleared his throat and tilted his head toward Marissa.

Nathan sprang into action. He pointed at his chest. “My sunglasses?”

She smiled. “Well, they’re not mine. I noticed them on the table when you left.”

Uh huh. He’d looked on the table as Beau had come over to take him back to the hotel, but they hadn’t been there. “Thank God you found them. Those are my favorite pair.”

She held them out and he took them back. “It’s kind of a media circus out front right now,” she said. “Is it always like that for you? It was crazy.”

Nathan shrugged. He felt sick. Not only had LJ shot his and Abby’s plan down so quickly, but he was also stuck with Marissa. Minutes ago, he’d felt like maybe he had a way to stop this feeling that everything was slowly falling apart. But that hope had been blasted away in seconds, filled in with all of this fake BS.

LJ shoved Nathan toward Marissa. “Why don’t you show her around the hotel? I offered her some front row seats to tonight’s show, but she’s shooting a night scene, so…”

“Yeah, it’s too bad, because I’d love to see you sing live,” Marissa said. “I know how your fans just adore you.”

She smiled and, because playing the part was all he had left, Nathan returned her smile. LJ excused himself, and they walked toward the front lobby, the only place Nathan could think of to show her.

“Are you glad I came?”

An uncomfortable sensation tingled its way up Nathan’s spine. He hated lying. “I’m surprised.”

She laughed. “I figured you would be.”

Nathan pushed the lobby button on the elevator. When the doors opened, Marissa’s smile widened as she stepped out. He led her to a little table near a picture window that looked out onto the street. A chaos of bodies swarmed in front of the hotel, and S2J’s tour bus with their stupid shirtless mural was parked in the background.

“Now
that’s
a piece of art,” Marissa said.

“It’s terrible, actually.”

She frowned. “I’m sure it works publicity-wise.”

He shrugged again. The last thing he wanted to do was start talking publicity with her.

She touched his forearm. “You seem a little tense. Hectic day?”

Her hold heated his skin. What if someone saw them, with her holding him like this? But no, that was the point—people were
supposed
to see them. And he hated it. This wasn’t real—he didn’t even like her. This was just as bad as that shirtless mural.

“You could say that,” he muttered.

Marissa stood on her tiptoes and leaned toward him. Ice shot down his spine and his stomach churned—no. This wasn’t right. He didn’t want this. Nathan shifted just enough so her lips landed on his jawbone. He took a step away and rubbed the back of his neck.

“You know we actually don’t have to like each other, right?”

When Nathan didn’t say anything, she pulled her purse straps up higher on her shoulder and crossed her arms. Her usual soft voice morphed into a hard New York accent. “Do you think I was thrilled to be paired up with you? You’re like a little kid. I would’ve preferred Miles, but he’s apparently taken.”

Nathan almost choked. “Excuse me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Don’t play innocent. You agreed to the arrangement, too.”

“So you don’t really like me?”

She smiled and batted her eyelashes. “No, I just have way more acting skills than you do.”

Nathan shook his head. “This is…insane.”

She smiled coyly and put her hand on Nathan’s shoulder, sympathy oozing from her while her words came out like a whip. “What’s insane is that you don’t get it. All you have to do is pretend you like me. When I go in for a kiss, you shouldn’t pull away in horror.”

Nathan’s temper flared. Whether LJ liked it or not, he was drawing the line at kissing. “I’m not going to kiss you.”

“Fine.” She huffed. “You’ll just have to do better at the other stuff. Smile at me once in a while. Act like we’re having a fantastic romantic conversation.”

“Like you said, I’m not a good actor, and that would be pure acting.”

Marissa scowled.

Nathan’s cheeks reddened. He’d spoken without thinking—he wasn’t trying to be so hurtful. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I could try harder, I guess.”

She put her hand through the crook of his arm. “Maybe you can walk me out to my car and wave to the cameras a little. Flash that handsome pretty boy smile and gaze lovingly at me. It’s what would be best for the both of us right now.”

Nathan did as she said. He put on his best Nathan Strong smile, waltzed out in front of everyone, helped the beautiful actress into the car, and pretended to be embarrassed when the paparazzi called out their names.

As he walked back inside, his mind whirred with three realizations:

One, LJ would be pleased.

Two, he didn’t feel bad for disliking Marissa now.

Three, he wasn’t going to get Abby like they’d hoped—and he had to tell her, now, before she found out from anyone else. He owed her at least that much.

He ran through the lobby to the elevators, but when an elevator didn’t come right away, he found the stairs and took them two at a time until he reached the third floor conference room.

Abby was in mid-song when he stormed in, but she stopped. Her eyes widened as he jogged all the way up to the stage and leaped on it.

He wanted to tell her as soon as he saw her, but she was so beautiful standing there, everything he’d never known he wanted in a girl and everything he’d never thought he could have. As soon as he told her, it would all come crashing down around them. They’d both go back to their careers. But at least she’d have a career. At least she’d have a future.

It was selfish, but he wanted one last moment with her before he tainted it with the truth. Let her feel how much he felt for her. Hopefully, if she ever stopped hating him, she’d remember that much.

He threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled her to him, their lips crashing into one another’s. Her guitar pressed between them until she moved it to her back and cupped his face.

This was what he wanted. This was real, honest, and didn’t have to be forced. His arms wound around her, caressing her as he went. Free and exploring, not that stiff, mechanical movement he had with Marissa.

She melded into him too, lacking all that uptight, holier-than-thou attitude of the girl he just left behind. She skimmed her thumbs across his cheeks and down his neck and arms.

There was something so innocent yet so amazing about the way they touched. He was nothing like Marissa, but he and Abby…clicked. When he pushed, she pulled, when he needed, she gave. Like the teeth in a zipper, they lined up in all the right places.

He knew he shouldn’t.

He knew it could ruin everything he’d worked so hard to achieve.

But he also knew he didn’t want to deny himself this last time.

When they pulled apart, Abby watched him expectantly, her face almost glowing.

And then he felt like an even bigger asshole. He’d wanted that last moment, one final kiss, as a way to ease her pain. Instead, he’d just given her false hope. He should have told her as soon as he saw her.

“Nathan, what happened? Did LJ…?”

He shook his head.

Her gaze dropped to the floor and her hands fell away from him as if she’d just lost a fight.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But he made it clear. If I don’t stay away from you, he’ll fire you. I won’t let that happen.”

She shook her head. “But maybe if we go talk to him together. Or if we bring Reeta in. She’s so persuasive. Maybe she can—”

“Abby.” He swallowed. “I don’t want to stay away from you. I don’t know how I’ll be
able
to. But we have to try.”

Chapter Fourteen

Nathan

N
athan and the rest of Seconds to Juliet walked toward the lunch tents set up outside MetLife Stadium. It had been a great writing day in spite of, or maybe because of, all the emotions swirling around Nathan. He didn’t think he imagined it, but the guys had extra pep in their step. They’d finalized a couple more songs for their third album and nailed the choruses for two more. The sound was coming together even if Nathan felt as if he were being torn apart inside.

Trevin bumped Nathan’s shoulder. “You’re humming that melody again.”

He was? Nathan shrugged. “It’s catchy.”

“Damn right it is,” Ryder said. “Mark my words, that’ll be the first single off the next album.”

They all stared at each other. No one objected, which was practically a miracle; getting all five guys to agree on something musically was damn near impossible. Maybe that tune
would
be their first single—they just needed some lyrics, which they didn’t have. Yet.

As soon as the lunch tent was in view, Nathan scanned the area. Two days ago he’d lied to himself and said he wasn’t searching for a cute little blonde who could sing—and dang she could sing. But today he didn’t need to. The only thing he needed to do was keep it from everyone else.

Nathan spotted her off to the far right sitting alone, and he flew through the food line and sat opposite her. She looked up, startled, as he put his plate down.

“Can I sit here?”

Her face turned pink. “I’m pretty sure it’s your tour and you can do whatever you want.”

He fidgeted across from her, wanting to ask if she was okay. She didn’t look at him. He tried to eat in silence next to her, but he couldn’t stand it. “Do you hate me?”

Abby’s mouth dropped a little before she snapped it shut. “No. I don’t hate you.”

He glanced around and then lowered his voice. “Can we act…I don’t know… Can we just pretend to be friends?”

The truth was, he’d gotten a taste of Abby Curtis and he didn’t want to lose her from his life completely. Even if it did hurt to only be friends with her, he could try.

“I just don’t think I can pretend as if I don’t care about you. Friends can care about each other, right?”

He loved the way she blushed. It set firecrackers off in his stomach.

Finally, she nodded.

He took a deep breath and then steeled himself against his warring emotions. He’d picked the friend path and now he set out on it. “So, how’d your staging go with that guy your label sent? I bet he wasn’t any better than me.”

Abby caught her lower lip between her teeth. “Good. But he wasn’t near as good as you. I’m thinking of telling Reeta I don’t need him if I have you.”

Nathan grinned. “I’m sure Reeta already knows how good I am. Managers have a way of knowing things, trust me.”

Her shoulders relaxed, as if by seeing they could have a normal conversation, some worry left her. She picked up her sub. “How did your writing session go?”

“You know when you have those days where it just clicks? Today was like that. I think I had a lot on my mind I needed to get out.”

Her eyes shone bright in the sunlight. “That’s great.”

Nathan admired her until her gaze moved up and beyond him to a man he didn’t recognize coming straight for them. Probably a reporter on a press pass. Nathan stood.

The guy shook his hand. “Nathan Strong, David Reynolds. It’s nice to meet you. I’m actually here for Abby.”

Abby fidgeted.

“Don’t worry. Reeta sent me. She wanted me to check in on you while I was in the area. She said she texted you.”

Abby took out her phone and frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see this before now.”

“Hey, that’s no problem. Looks like you haven’t had the chance to eat yet, which is good. I thought we’d head over to the open-air market, grab some food, and talk a little about your PR plan.”

Nathan tried not to get angry. It wasn’t right that LJ gave him free reign to see Marissa whenever he wanted—which was never—but he had to be all secretive when it came to Abby. It was backwards.

When they left, he stared at the meatball sandwich on his plate. It had seemed like a great choice a few seconds ago when Abby was there, but now? Not so much.

Will sat where Abby had been, and before he could start eating, Nathan said, “Hey, do you want to get out of here? I kind of want to try a ripper.”

Will’s eyebrows rose. “A ripper? Am I supposed to know what that means?”

“It’s a hot dog, I guess. My sister texted me about it.”

The guys all knew about Natalie’s obsession with food. “The ripper is the big thing around here?”

“That’s what I hear.”

Will shrugged. “I’m up for it. A change of food would be nice. Do you think they’ll have something I can eat?”

Nathan smirked. He knew just the place to go, and he might see a cute blonde while they were there, too. “I heard there’s an open-air market nearby. I’m sure they’ll have a bunch of different things there.”

Nathan gazed around. Now came the tough part. If they couldn’t convince someone to let them go or for someone to take them, they were screwed. With Will going with him, he had a way better shot, though.

Times like this, it was easier just to go to Beau. He flagged him down, and when he loped over, Nathan stood. “Lunch on me?”

Beau gestured toward the food tent. “Isn’t lunch always on you?”

Nathan laughed. “Well, yeah, but Will and I kind of want to get out today.”

Beau crossed his arms. “It can be arranged. Natalie sending you off on a food mission?” Nathan nodded and Beau smirked. “So what is it Natalie thinks you should eat in Jersey?”

“Rippers.”

Beau’s eyebrows raised. It was kind of a terrible name for a hot dog. He was positive Ryder had used that same word to describe something else and it sure as hell wasn’t food.

“It’s a hot dog.”

Beau looked disappointed. “It better be one hell of a hot dog.”

“Actually, I was thinking we’d go to the open-air market so Will could get something he could eat too. That way, if you don’t like the ripper, you can get whatever you want.”

Beau motioned for them to follow as he pulled out his cell phone. “Don’t think you’re getting away with not buying me one, either, Nathan. Call the other guys and see if they want to go. I need to know how many black shirts to bring.”

They watched as Beau spoke on the phone to set up the outing. It was kind of a bummer to have to arrange something as simple as lunch, but if he didn’t, it could be mayhem.

At least with Beau there, things would be under control and safe. He loved his fans like no one else, but they could get rowdy. And sometimes, rowdy groups and boy band members didn’t mix well together.

Trevin and Daisy also wanted to go, so all four of them followed Beau out the back gate where a car already waited. Beau would drive them and then two more vans would follow filled with security, some in and some out of uniform.

They’d gotten it down to a science this past tour. Beau had explained to Nathan earlier on that someone would already be searching for the best way to enter and exit the area in case something went wrong. There’d even been times they’d wanted to go somewhere, but once they arrived, the guys couldn’t get out because the plans they’d made wouldn’t work. There were too many people, or a tractor-trailer was parked where they wanted to. Bottom line, if it wasn’t safe, Beau and his security detail wouldn’t take risks.

The car slowed to a stop near the open air market. Beau turned around in his seat, clutching the passenger’s side headrest. “We need to wait while the guys scope the place out.”

“Beau…” Nathan said. He just wanted to get out there and look for Abby so he could pretend he was having lunch with her.

In full force security mode now, Beau raised his eyebrows. “I’m checking in with my guys. I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

Defeated for the moment, Nathan leaned over the seat. “Hey, did LJ slip you any spare tickets for tonight?”

Beau shook his head in disbelief. “You guys pull off more tricks than Houdini and I always get in the middle of it. So, you not only want lunch, you want to make a scene, too?”

Nathan smiled; he had Beau hooked. All of the guys knew which buttons to push so they could get away with doing more things. This little outing for rippers was about to turn into giving some lucky fans great tickets to the show tonight.

LJ gave Beau spare tickets for when he was out doing security to surprise a few superfans with floor seats. Beau loved doing it and LJ would be ecstatic to find out some of the guys had given out tickets. People would tweet about it in no time. Talk about good PR. It was also the kind of PR Nathan loved to do because he couldn’t give a crap about it benefiting him. It was all about the fans.

Beau opened his suit jacket, fished out some tickets, and handed them over to Nathan. “If and only if the situation is clear. I’ll give you the signal.”

They got all the way to the hot dog stand without being noticed. For those precious few minutes, it was as if he could do anything again. He was free.

Daisy and Trevin strolled hand-in-hand, goofy grins on their faces as they walked with Will to the next stand, which sold made-to-order salads. This gave Nathan time to pretend to look at the menu when he was really searching for Abby. There were quite a few blondes walking around, but he couldn’t spot her anywhere.

Resigned, Nathan finally peered up. It was a stupid idea anyway.

The hot dog guy pointed his tongs at him, his eyes round. “You’re…”

Call it flattery. Call it his ego being stroked by the fact a random middle-aged guy knew who he was, but this was a high you couldn’t get from walking around unnoticed—whether he felt free or not. Nathan wouldn’t give this up for the world.

He smiled. “Yeah, I’m…”

Beau stepped in and casually asked the guy if he wouldn’t mind keeping it low-key. They didn’t really want to make a scene.

The hot dog vendor lowered his voice. “I won’t tell anyone, I swear. My girls are going to kill me, though. They love you guys.”

A tingle of adrenaline shot up Nathan’s spine. “Yeah? I’m honored. Thank you.” The guy stared until Nathan finally chuckled. “Can we order?”

“You want one of my dogs?”

Nathan motioned toward Beau. “We heard good things about rippers.”

Hot dog guy nodded, his hands working behind the counter. “I happen to serve the best rippers in Jersey. Do you want onion rings on those?”

Beau smacked Nathan’s forearm and nodded before returning to Robocop mode. “One with, one without,” Nathan said.

Around them, an older couple stopped to stare. A woman in business attire stood near a bush and took pictures with her cell phone. Nathan’s heart hammered, but he ignored the gathering crowd as best he could. If it kept up like this, Beau wouldn’t let him give away the tickets.

When the guy handed them the fried hot dogs, Nathan took a huge bite. “Mmm. That’s good. What’s your name?”

The guy behind the little stand held out his hand. “Jimmy.”

Nathan shook it. “Nice to meet you, Jimmy. How many daughters do you have?”

An enormous smile grew on Jimmy’s face. “Two.”

“And they’re big fans?”

“Huge. I’m telling you they got posters, they got dolls. I tried to get tickets to the show but they sold out. They even had me calling the radio station to win some.”

Nathan smiled. He loved hearing those kinds of stories.

The guy looked down. “Do you think I could get a picture with you? To show them?”

“Sure.”

Jimmy took his apron off and handed his phone over to Beau who called over one of their plain-clothed guards to snap the picture.

Jimmy shook his hand as he stared at the screen on his phone. “Thanks again. They’ll love this.”

“Tell you what.” Nathan’s stomach knotted in anticipation. He glanced at Beau who casually gave him a thumbs up. “Why don’t you give your daughters a call? I’d like to talk to them.”

“Wow. Really?” Jimmy pushed his hair away from his forehead then held down buttons on his phone. “Marie. Put Kiera and Krissy on the line.” A pause. “Just get them. They’ll never believe who I’m standing next to right now.”

Nathan whispered. “Put them on speaker phone.”

Jimmy did and held out the phone between the group. Trevin, Will, and Daisy were coming over now, all of them beaming from ear to ear.

“Hi, Daddy,” a chorus of voices spilled from the phone.

“Girls. Guess who’s in front of me right now? Nathan from Seconds to Juliet.”

There was a pause and then a tiny female voice said, “Are you joking?”

“No.”

Then the voices squeaked so loudly the sound cut and the speaker buzzed.

Nathan motioned for the phone and Jimmy held it out. “Is this Kiera and Krissy?”

“Uh-huh.”

At least one of them was crying—the sniffles spilled through the speaker.

“You’re big S2J fans?”

“The biggest! Oh my god, you have no idea. We love you.”

More and more people gathered around their group. He saw at least ten cell phones recording their exchange. Beau was getting antsy—Nathan had to wrap it up.

“What’s your favorite song?”

“‘The One,’” they squealed.

He knew that was coming. Ninety-nine percent of the time, “The One” was the answer. “You know, I really need to practice before tonight, and I’ve got Will and Trevin here, too. Will you sing a little bit of it with us?”

More squeals on the other end. “Oh my God. YES!”

Nathan hummed the beginning and then they launched into the lyrics. After the first verse, they stopped singing and the girls kept going. He loved hearing their cute little voices sing their song. The crowd around him clapped in time.

The guys came in again for the chorus and then stopped when Nathan held up his hand. “Listen, Krissy, Kiera, you sang that so well. I’ve got a surprise for you guys.” He reached into his pocket and brought out a few tickets. Jimmy’s face blanched and he covered his mouth with his hands before tearing his fingers through his hair.

“I’m handing your dad tickets to tonight’s show right now.”

“WHAT?! OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD.”