Rock Star: The Contest (Book 2 of a Bad Boy Romance) (15 page)

I could see why she was so controlling. But I think she enjoyed it a little too much. She didn’t like Meghan, not just because our relationship was drawing attention to me that she didn’t want to have to deal with, but because deep down she wanted me all to herself. I knew it too.

We had jumped in the sack many times. Usually it was after a long stretch on the road, or a new milestone. Sometimes it was to blow off steam, and other times I used it as an excuse. Where other artists would send their management a gift, I got in bed with mine.

I didn’t want to keep going down that road and I knew that if Meghan won this contest, Mia was liable to kick up a fuss. Who knew what strings she would pull behind my back?

All I knew was I wanted Meghan in my life. She was good for me. She made me a better man, and brought out the best. I wasn’t going to walk away from that.

No matter what happened tonight, Meghan was going to come with me.

That was for sure.

T
he crowds were cheering
. The noise beyond the curtain was loud as they kicked off the final episode of season three. Tonight would determine everything. Who would stay and who would go. I’d learned that the show didn’t have a chance to cover their ass over the Maisey and Spike incident. Media had got wind of it and had already kicked up a firestorm online. However, that didn’t seem to faze the fans. They were ever more eager to tune in and see who would win.

I wished people could have seen backstage. It was like a camera pulling back on a movie set to reveal that a house wasn’t real. It was just a cardboard cutout. Assistants, makeup artists and the TV show coordinators rushed around like bees gathering pollen.

They had placed us all in the same green room. The room didn’t hold much. A few leather couches. A table with a massive fruit tray, Evian water bottles and cans of soft drinks. A flat-screen TV showed us the crowd and played the opening intro to the show. The presenter was waffling on, giving his usual spiel.

“Well, I for one am pretty stoked,” Teddy said. “To think we have made it this far.”

Luke was lying back on a couch, looking unfazed by it all. He was plucking a few notes on his guitar and had his eyes closed. Leanne was pacing up and down and had almost created a rut in the floor.

One by one they called us out. When my time came, my heart was racing. I felt sick to my stomach, but also was excited to finally get this over. The past few weeks had been a long haul, and now this was my moment. Spike wasn’t there to play guitar, but I knew he would be watching. I drew upon that for strength.

I heard my name called and I took a deep breath and stepped out into the glare of the lights. I caught sight of Chase, he was smiling. They had assigned a new guitarist to me. I had been assured he was good.

For the next five minutes I sang my heart out. Thankfully the guitarist and the band were amazing. Real professionals. The crowd roared at the end, and I could see now why musicians did this. The feedback you got from an audience. The high that you experienced as you walked off couldn’t be compared to anything else.

Once I was backstage, I felt like a load had been taken off my shoulders. The weight of the past few weeks now seemed far away. I was eager to know who won. Even more eager to see Chase.

For what seemed like a long time, we waited in the green room.

“Whatever the outcome is, it’s been a pleasure knowing you all,” Luke said.

“Likewise.” I smiled at him. He had been the perfect gent. I knew he still felt something for me, and I could have quite easily gone down that road. He was gorgeous. But I couldn’t.

Eventually they brought us all out, and we waited for the announcement. The presenter brought out a golden envelope and tore it open. We held on to each other’s hands as we stared out into the darkness. I could barely make out all the faces. The few I did looked as eager as us to know the outcome.

“And the winner is…”

He held the crowd in suspense.

“We’ll find out after this break.”

Why did they do that? It was so friggin’ annoying. Everyone gasped and rolled their eyes. A few minutes later they were given the go-ahead.

“Welcome back. We are about to announce the winner of
The Next Country Star
. The winner will land a record deal, and get to go on tour. And the winner is…”

He pulled out a card.

“Luke Claybourne.”

I blinked hard. I wasn’t astonished that it was him who won. Even if it had been Teddy or Leanne, I wouldn’t have been surprised. All of them had so much talent. It would have been hard to make a snap judgment. The crowd clapped, its noise was deafening. We all hugged Luke and took a step back so the presenter could have a word with him.

This was followed by an applause for each of us. I didn’t look at Chase at any point. Inwardly I felt a little disappointed. But the fact that I had made it this far was a win, in so many ways.

As we were led off the stage, I could hear Luke singing one final song. Sophie was already backstage, though she wasn’t all over Teddy. In fact she just shook his hand which seemed odd.

“Sorry, darling, but good job out there,” she said to me.

“Ah it’s cool. Luke is an amazing artist.”

“So you are you. Don’t forget that.”

I didn’t see Chase after. He was caught up in all the things they had to do. Photos after. Arrangements for Luke’s future. It was a strange feeling to have gone from an extreme high to exiting through a back door and making my way to my truck. A whole flock of people waiting outside came over and wanted my autograph, which seemed really weird. A part of me didn’t want to give it, as I didn’t feel special in anyway. I was one of them. But I signed off on as many as I could and then slipped away in my truck.

It was only once I had reached my store that I started to feel a little down. I was truly happy for Luke. I couldn’t have thought of a better person, other than Teddy, to win it. But a small part of me had hoped it would be me.

I entered my store and ambled over to the coffee machine. Beside it was a fridge, where I kept the milk. I pulled out a carton and poured myself a glass. I warmed it up in the microwave and sat alone in the café sipping the milk. It was very late, almost midnight. Well, that was it. Tomorrow I would return to my daily life of serving coffee. To say I was disappointed wouldn’t have been exactly accurate. I had a mix of feelings. A part of me was relieved it was over. A small part was glad I didn’t win, then another part wished I did.

I was startled by a knock at the window. I walked over to the front entrance and looked through the blinds. Standing outside by himself was Chase. I unlocked the door and opened it up.

“Hi.”

I gave a half smile.

He immediately wrapped his arms around me.

“Sorry I couldn’t be there after. I came back and you were gone.”

“Yeah, I didn’t feel like hanging around for the after-party.”

“Milk?”

“It’s comforting.”

He nodded with his usual sexy smile. He took a seat at a table. I closed the door behind him.

“What a night.”

“Indeed.”

“Luke has a bright future ahead of him.”

I finished off my drink and placed it on the table.

“So tomorrow you will go back to what you were doing here?”

“Yeah.” I widened my eyes. “That’s the way the cookie crumbles, so to speak.”

He nodded.

“Or…”

My eyes flicked to his.

“You can come out on the road with me.”

I frowned. “But I didn’t win.”

“No. No, you didn’t but the suits were impressed with your performance. They know you have what it takes to make it in this business.”

“I’m not going to overshadow or step on Luke’s feet here by me showing up. He won the record deal and the tour. That’s not going to look good. It’s not fair on him. Plus, Teddy and Leanne would be pissed off too.”

He laughed. “You don’t know how these things work, do you?”

I shrugged.

“All of you are going to get a record deal. It’s just a given. That’s why they put on this show. It lets them weed out those that the public wouldn’t be interested in hearing. It gives them a handful of exceptional artists and immediate feedback from thousands of people. You just can’t buy that kind of response. Who Teddy and Leanne will get signed with is anyone’s guess, but I can assure you by next week they will be signed.”

I turned and glanced around my store.

“But I have a store to run.”

“Sophie can do it. Spike I’m sure will help out, once he’s better and out of the hospital.”

“I dunno.”

“Meghan. These kind of opportunities don’t come along every day. Most will never get this offered to them.”

“Yeah, I realize that, I’m just not sure about it all. I thought it was what I wanted.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Hot today, cold tomorrow. I mean, take season one and two. How many of those who ended up with record labels are still on their record label?”

Over the past few seasons there had been quite a few that had been picked up, only to be dropped by their label a year later. A lack of sales. A lack of interest. Whatever you want to call it. A few of them were now singing in Vegas. Vegas? That’s where most washed-up singers went when their career was nearing the end. These folks had been fast-tracked to Vegas.

What if Sophie and Spike couldn’t run this place? My parents would turn over in their grave if I lost it. There were lots of questions. Things I needed to work out before I said yes. I had heard of many artists signing contracts only to discover that years later they had made hardly anything as the label had given them a shoddy deal. Now they were obligated to produce two or three albums, tour and still get very little money. Heck, Chase himself was obligated.

“I need to time to think about it.”

“Take a week. Give it some thought. I’ve already been in touch with my record label, and they are keen to sign you. I made a bit of deal with them.”

“A deal?”

“I told them we would create a record in the studio. A duet. If they would let you come out on the road with me. If the response from the public, and sales from the duet were good, then they needed to promise to sign you.”

“And if it doesn’t sell? If the public doesn’t like it? What then?”

He went quiet.

“Chase?”

He ran a hand over his face.

“I would give them full rights to my backlog of albums.”

I frowned. “What? They would own everything. You would have nothing. No royalties.”

He nodded.

“I won’t do it. I wouldn’t place you in that position. Risking everything you have for me.”

“It’s already done.”

“What?”

“I’ve signed off on it.”

I scowled at him. “Are you telling me you are expecting me to go out on tour with you?”

“In a week.”

“Holy crap, Chase. You said I could think about it for a week.”

“You can, then we go out.”

I could feel my heart starting to pump blood around my body faster. I didn’t know whether to slap him, kiss him or walk away.

“You’ve pushed me into a corner. If I say no, you lose everything. No, I won’t do it. You go back to them and say there has been a mistake. I never agreed to this. I said I would think about it, but you can’t do that, Chase. You can’t just expect me to drop everything.”

“You were going to have to do that if you had won this contest. So I imagined you would be ecstatic about this.”

“Not having your career ride on me. No. That’s not fair on you or me. I should have a say in this. And right now, I’m thinking this is a bad idea.”

“Do you want to be with me?”

I fixed my eyes on him.

“Well?”

“You know I do,” I replied.

“Then come with me. Be with me.”

“I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“Well, you have a week to decide.”

* * *

G
lass cut
into my skin as I crawled out of the overturned tour bus.

We were on the final leg of the tour, when the bus went over the cliff — sudden, an unpredictable crash, it had threatened to take our lives in an instant.

It had happened in a flash. The same tour bus had broken down several times on the way around the country. It wasn’t unusual to find us parked on the side of a highway, while we waited for roadside assistance. We had experienced blown tires, fuel that had run out and steam pouring out from under the hood, but nothing that placed our lives in jeopardy. Until now.

It all began several very long months ago. Chase Bryan, Luke Claybourne and I were traveling around the United States, filling up massive venues. It had by all accounts been a dream come true. From playing in a café to Madison Square Garden, it was what every singer dreamed of being able to do.

Now it had turned into a nightmare. I had found it hard to sleep on the tour bus. Something niggled me. Maybe it was a gut feeling. But our lives were in the hands of one driver. He was meant to sleep while we played, but numerous times we had found him playing video games or smoking weed. Every time he started that engine, I thought this is going to be it. The night he falls asleep at the wheel. But Chase was unfazed by it. Roger Martin had been his bus driver for over seven years. Never once had they experienced a problem. Nothing had ever given them cause for concern. Except this night was different.

We had finished on a high. One more venue to play in Oregon and then it would be over. Originally I wasn’t meant to be back in Lakeside for twelve weeks and that tour was cut short, for reasons which you will discover soon. I never thought I would say it but I missed that old town. I missed the people and their quirky ways. I missed the insults from my customers, and hearing the Dancing Jelly Babies playing their ear-piercing, brain-melting songs on Friday nights.

Now as I tried to make sense of my surroundings, I gritted my teeth, and gasped for air. I was moving slowly, crawling but at least moving. I didn’t know if the bus was on fire, or if Chase and Luke were dead. The entire world had been flipped upside down. I had blacked almost instantly. Blood was trickling down the side of my face. My hair was matted. I was still in the same T-shirt and pajama bottoms I had gone to bed in. With pain coursing through my body the mere effort of trying to crawl on my hands and knees was the equivalent of trying to push a car. It took an inhuman amount of strength and determination. I had no idea if I had broken bones, it took everything within me to fight my way through the pain.

A cold west wind blasted through the smashed windows. Only one thought pushed through my mind. Get out. The thought of being burned alive was worse than any pain I was experiencing in that moment. From beyond the window, between the blood that was blurring my vision, I could see a body. It was so dark outside. It was just the silhouette form of someone lying still. Inside the tour bus the lights had gone out. There was no way to tell if anyone else had survived. My desire to live took over and a voice inside my head warned: This bus is going to blow any minute now.

My hand touched the cold, wet snow. It stung my cuts but the pain served as a reminder that I was still alive. Keep moving. Get clear of the bus. I had no idea where we were. I had fallen asleep hours ago. I knew we were heading to Oregon City and had been playing earlier in upstate New York. We could have been anywhere in the Midwest. My right arm was in excruciating agony. I was pretty sure it was broken. Every movement felt like someone was stabbing me.

Finally I made it out of the tour bus. My entire body sank into the chilly snow. January wind nipped at my skin and began the process of lowering my body temperature. I might have made it out of the bus, but if I didn’t find something warm to wear, I would die from the below zero temperature.

I kept moving towards the unknown figure. Please be alive. Please don’t die on me. It didn’t matter who it was. Traveling that night, there were fifteen people on board. Crew members, Spike, Chase, Luke, Roger the driver and myself. It could have been any one of them.

I had no way of knowing this was going to happen. Nor could I have foreseen that the tour would end on such a tragic note, or that it would claim the life of someone I cared for dearly. Someone I loved.