Platinum (All That Glitters #3) (36 page)

Trihn smiled at that. She was here. He just didn’t know it.

Good luck.

Just then, the lights flickered, and a cheer rose up from the audience. Everyone got to their feet just as Chloe appeared onstage in a cloud of smoke, singing the opening song to her self-titled album. She was wearing a two-piece black sequin outfit and killer heeled booties. Her dark hair was parted down the middle, and she looked fierce. No one would guess that she had been having panic attacks all day. The stage was her playground, and nothing could touch her there.

The crowd was enthralled. Trihn even had to admit that it was hard to tear her eyes away from the show to search out Damon in the back. He was playing guitar without any spotlight on him. He was just jamming away back there, as if he were a part of the band.

It wasn’t until he switched to the piano and a spotlight hit his head that the crowd even realized he’d been hiding in the back. Her Damon was perfectly happy out of the limelight, just playing his heart out in peace.

Halfway through the next song, Chloe strode over to the piano. The crowd roared when she neared Damon. Tabloids had done their job. Chloe sang into Damon’s ear and then propped herself up on his piano. He looked up at her while he played. He had a dreamy smile on his face, like he was having the time of his life. But to the crowd, Trihn was sure it looked like he was adoring Chloe and not the music.

It was the same set that they’d played in Atlanta while Trihn had been there a couple of weeks ago. Trihn recognized when they switched from the up-tempo songs into the power ballads. One of Chloe’s quick changes had her out of her skimpy attire and into a long flowy white dress that glittered and sparkled for all eyes to see.

When Chloe started in on “Homesick,” a major hit off of her debut album, she entranced the crowd. The song was about a girl holding out for her first love and how being without him made her homesick.

As Chloe carried it into the second verse, Trihn gasped. She looked over at Bryna. “This song…”

Bryna nodded. “Yeah.”

“It’s about Gates?” Trihn whispered, leaning toward her.

“It was so blatantly obvious when it came out. I was shocked that not even the conniving press figured it out.”

“I just…wow. I never would have known.”

Trihn looked back up at Chloe, feeling a little sorry for her. Not that what she had done to Bryna and Gates was right, but she must have felt something real for Gates to have written such a moving song about him.

Then, Trihn noticed that something wasn’t quite right. Chloe was still singing, but tears, real tears, were streaming down her face. The audience was totally silent now, watching her cry through the song.

As if a flood had finally broken inside her, the words to “Homesick” were broken in her mouth, and she couldn’t seem to quell the tears. The microphone was on a stand before her, and her hands holding it were shaking. Then, one of them bunched up into her perfect hair, and the other followed, as if she were trying to hold herself together but failing.

Then, she broke off her singing entirely.

She just stared forward at her captivated audience.

Crying. Shaking. And emotionally spent.

Her body collapsed into a puddle on the floor. Tears wracked her body, and great hiccuping sobs could be heard to those nearest to the stage.

Bryna and Trihn exchanged worried glances.

What the hell is happening to Chloe?

They watched as Damon rushed to her side, sliding to a halt before her. Everyone else was paralyzed, unable to put together the breakdown with the mega superstar they all knew and loved.

Damon was softly speaking to her, trying to coax her to her feet, but she wasn’t budging. Without a second thought, he hoisted her into his arms and started to walk offstage. The audience applauded quietly. Trihn had only ever heard of such a thing happening when a football player had gone down with an injury, and they’d finally carted his body off the field.

As soon as Chloe was removed from the stage, everyone broke out into whispers.

Trihn didn’t have any answers.

Bryna nudged her. “Hey, you can still kind of see them,” she said.

Trihn looked to where Bryna was pointing, and sure enough, Damon had carried Chloe to the side of the stage. It was only visible to people who were seated at an angle, but they could just make out the outline of two bodies.

Chloe was on her feet, and Damon had his hands on her face. Trihn couldn’t tell much more than that from where she was standing. She assumed he was trying to get Chloe to calm down and snap out of whatever episode she had just dissolved into. He’d said that she was stressed and in a mood that day. This must be the result of all that stress, but Trihn couldn’t believe Chloe had actually broken down onstage in front of everyone.

Trihn had her eyes glued to the pair. And just when she was going to grab her phone and find out what the hell was happening, her world shifted as Damon’s and Chloe’s lips met.

DAMON AND CHLOE WERE KISSING
.

Trihn reeled at the sight before her. Tearing her eyes away from them, she heavily sat down in her seat. She took healing deep breaths and tried to keep her stomach from lodging itself in her throat.

This couldn’t be happening again. Not another time.

She had come here for her proof, and there it was, right before her eyes. Clearly, everyone had seen the truth but her. She hadn’t wanted to believe it. No, she
hadn’t
believed any of it. Damon loved her. He wasn’t supposed to hurt her. He was supposed to be different.

Fuck!
It hurt. She had known it would hurt. She had told him from the beginning that she couldn’t handle it a third time. She couldn’t be cheated on and come out okay with it. She’d barely survived last time. Her heart was breaking all over again.

She should have read the signs for what they were instead of brushing them aside. Now, here she was, barely breathing, as her boyfriend was kissing another girl. It didn’t even seem possible.

Her Damon couldn’t hurt her this way.

“Trihn,” Bryna whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder, “we should get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving without talking to him,” she said with conviction in her voice.

“He did stop her,” Stacia said.

“Awesome,” Trihn said sarcastically.

“I just mean…maybe it was unwanted?”

“Are you defending him?” Trihn asked.

“No,” Stacia peeped.

“Yes,” Bryna corrected. “Yes, she is. Let’s talk to him first.”

Trihn stood and threw her hands wide. “Yes, let’s defend him, even when we see with our own two eyes what he did.”

“If I could interrupt,” Pace said, holding his hand up.

“You can’t,” Bryna snapped.

“You’re causing a scene,” Pace growled low.

Trihn and Bryna both stopped what they were doing. Looking around their area of the arena, they saw it was true. Eyes were drawn toward them. Several girls had taken pictures of them. Some of them even seemed to have recognized who Trihn was.

“Shit,” Trihn whispered. “We should go backstage.”

Her friends nodded without a word. They veered out of their aisle and headed toward the nearest exit. Trihn heard her name as she passed by the Avanaddicts. She ducked her head and hurried out of the room. The last thing anyone needed after Chloe’s breakdown was to draw attention to Trihn.

Bryna had been to the arena before and lapped them around the room to the backstage entrance. A crowd had formed by the door, and a bouncer was standing there, directing people to return to their seats.

“What’s going on?” Bryna asked the nearest girl.

“They won’t let backstage-pass holders in to see Chloe even though we paid for them.”

“Once again,” the bouncer’s voice boomed, “if you are not on the approved list to be backstage, then you should all return to your seats. No backstage passes will be granted at this time. I don’t have official word yet on a refund. Please return to your seats.”

No one moved.

“Are you on that list?” Bryna asked Trihn.

“Damon doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Then, maybe you should get ahold of him.”

Trihn nodded. “Yeah. Right. Okay.”

She grabbed her forgotten phone to text Damon, but she already had a message there. That was fast, considering what he’d just been doing.

I love you.

Trihn wanted to melt at those words, but it just infuriated her. He’d just been kissing Chloe, and now, he wanted to tell her he loved her.
Did he think that the word would get out, and he wanted to protect himself before she could find out?
Because she had seen it firsthand and wasn’t going to roll over.

Then, you should let me backstage.

What?

Surprise…I’m at the show.

In Los Angeles?

Yep.

Fuck…I’ll be there in a minute.

Trihn showed the messages to Bryna. “Clearly, he knows something is up.”

Bryna and Stacia frowned but didn’t say anything. They all waited impatiently for Damon.

A few minutes passed before a bouncer called over the crowd, “Trihnity Hamilton!”

Trihn’s head whipped around, and she raised her hand.

“You’re all cleared.”

A bunch of girls glared at her. Bryna and Stacia both squeezed her and wished her good luck.

“I’ll see you guys later.”

“You’ll do great,” Stacia said.

Bryna just smiled forlornly. Trihn took a deep breath and then elbowed her way through the crowd and past the bouncer.

Damon was standing on the other side of the door, looking as ruggedly handsome as she had ever seen him. At the moment, it was actually unfair for him to be that attractive. He still had on the dark jeans and dark blue T-shirt he’d had on while onstage. His baseball cap was missing, and he looked like he wanted to be fiddling with it to give his hands something to do.

“Hey,” he said. His face brightened when he saw her, and he pulled her against him.

Trihn was stiff in his embrace, and he quickly pulled back. He looked concerned at her lack of enthusiasm. And she figured he had every right to be afraid after what had just happened.

“Um…let’s get out of here. We’ll go to my dressing room.”

She followed behind him as he hurried away from the crowded backstage area. Trihn wondered if it was to tell the crowd that the show was over. Chloe hadn’t looked like she would be ready to go back out there anytime soon.

But who knew? Maybe Damon’s kiss had reenergized her.

Trihn frowned at her own negative thoughts as she followed him into the dressing room with his name on it.

By the time she walked inside, she was seething. All she wanted to do was blow up and demand answers, but she also wanted to give Damon a chance to tell her the truth.

“Not the best concert for you to show up to,” Damon said, closing the door behind her.

“Why is that?” she asked.
Because you kissed someone else?

“Chloe just had a breakdown onstage. The staff took her to the hospital. We don’t know what the fuck is going to happen to her. It sounded like they were already talking about checking her into some rehab facility for emotional and stress-related issues.”

“Oh.”

That was not the right answer.

She crossed her arms and waited for more, for him to tell her what had happened between him and Chloe.

“Panic attacks and everything finally got to her,” Damon said. He reached for his hat and plopped it back down on his head. Then, he immediately removed it and started rolling it between his fingers. He looked up and met her eyes. “I guess she just cracked.”

“And that’s the reason I shouldn’t have been at this show?”

He narrowed his eyes in confusion. “You’re upset.”

“Yes.”

“Because of Chloe?”

Trihn gritted her teeth. “Are you going to act like you don’t know?”

Damon opened his mouth to respond and then shut it. He shook his head to reorient himself and sighed heavily. His head dipped back for a fraction of a second as realization seemed to dawn on him as to what she was getting at.

“You saw her kiss me.”

The truth was like someone branding her skin—fiery hot and impossible to remove.

“I saw you two kiss—along with hundreds of other people, I’m sure.”

“It wasn’t like that,” he said immediately.

“Oh, really?” she asked. “Do you want to tell me what it
was
like, Damon? Because I was standing there and saw what happened with my own two eyes. My friends were worried about me because all this shit was showing up in the tabloids. I defended you, even laughed it off, because you love me. You would never do something like that. I brought them here to the show to prove to them that their worries were unfounded. Then…
that
.” She gestured to the stage where she saw them kiss. “Do you have any idea what the fuck that felt like?”

“No. Fuck…I couldn’t imagine how I’d feel if I saw someone else kiss you. I’d want to murder them.”

“Basically. So, who do I kill first? You or Chloe?”

“Please understand—”

“I understand! Chloe is into you and saw her chance.”

“She kissed me. I didn’t kiss her back,” Damon told her. “It really didn’t even happen. You know I have no interest in her.”