He curled up with Paige and tried to meditate away the burning vibration in his gut. “Sorry,” he whispered to her for the hundredth time. He’d been unable to do much more than use the bathroom and sink back into bed. Too much stress for one day.
“Nothing to be sorry for.” She was reading something on her iPad, but nestled against him.
“I’m crazy about you,” he said.
“I know.” He could hear the smile in her voice. “Little old me, and Tommy Foster, badass performer. I wonder how long it will take that audition of yours to go viral?”
“Huh?”
“Katie recorded it. Posted it to your fan group first. Whatever your father tried, failed miserably. Your audition, the music portion, has gotten half a million shares already,” Paige turned the screen to show him on stage, frozen in mid-song as it was paused and the count of the shares and likes. Likes in the millions.
He sat up and hit play. Paige leaned over to turn the volume up. It was good, though he could pick out little flaws here and there, flinching at each one. She smacked him on the shoulder. “Stop. Don’t pick it apart. It was good. Ru said it was amazing.”
“I made mistakes.”
“So did everyone else. A lot of that is nerves. And this was your first audition.”
“Wait, what did you say about my dad?”
“The girl security had to drag out? She was paid to drop that bottle in your pocket. No idea what they were hoping would happen. They have pictures of you leaving, jacket over your head, but proof of nothing else. None of the other guys who had been there to audition are talking either. They all say the same thing. That girl assaulted you, then you retreated behind security until we came. Nothing to tell. Media story dead in the water.”
“My dad set me up?”
“Your dad is getting slapped with about two dozen lawsuits,” Ru said as he came in.
“Dude,” Tommy growled. “Knock, we could have been naked.”
“With the door wide open?” Ru glanced back, every light in the apartment was on. “Whatever. We’re suing the asshole, but hey congrats.”
“On what?” Tommy asked.
“You got Freddie.” Ru turned his phone to show a text from Katie:Tell Tommy he’s Freddie if he wants it.
Tommy gaped. “What?”
“Sounds like you’re headed back to the spotlight, big bro,” Ru said plopping down on the bed next to Tommy. “You better be sure to get me front row tickets.”
“You can sit right next to me,” Paige agreed and leaned in to give Tommy a kiss. He accepted it without hesitation. Maybe his life was coming back together. As long as he had his family, he thought, maybe, just maybe, he could handle whatever got thrown his way.
