Immediately, I was pissed. First off, why the hell was it the label’s business if Braden and I were seeing each other? Who cared? Even though we’d tried to keep it quiet, I didn’t really care if anyone knew—but it was nobody’s business but our own. Zack must have already known about something like that, asking Roxy to keep our relationship off the record, because the label apparently wanted to control every aspect of our lives.
Why the fuck hadn’t they cared that much about Zack’s addiction issues? Was it because that was “typical” rock star behavior?
As I read over the email again, I couldn’t help but wonder if that news had somehow been leaked by Roxy…just as I was starting to feel like we could become best friends. What else of my supposedly off-the-record remarks would come out? I started to panic.
There was a link in the email, so I clicked it. It went to the “gossip” section on theFerocitywebsite—and there it was: a picture of Braden and me at the festival kissing. My blood turned boiling hot as I realized where the photo had come from—the supposed fan who’d asked me to take a selfie with her.
I was confused. Maybe Roxy had had someone posing as afan working for her? And the picture was just too juicy to keep under wraps?
But the article highlighted a social media post with the captionBrayden and Dani from OUAR getting romantic!The fact that whoever had originally posted it spelled Braden’s name wrong made me wonder if maybe itwasn’tRoxy. The gossip post—with the picture attributed to someone named C. Rose—was short, and no authors were listed on that page.
Braden called. “Are you okay going public? If not, we could—”
“No, that’s fine.” There was a chance we could be spotted again holding hands or something, and I didn’t want to lie. The most important people in our lives already knew. “Do you want me to email Russ back?”
“I can if you want. I’ll just tell him we started dating after the tour and let them do whatever the hell they want to.”
“Okay. Sounds good.”
“Sorry about that.”
Again, Braden melted my heart with his considerate nature. “Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault someone took a picture of us without permission.”
Hoping to lighten the mood, I said, “At least it wasn’t a sex tape.”
The sound that came through my phone resembled a cough. “Yeah. No shit. You okay?”
I assured him I was and asked the same before hanging up. And then I decided to send a text message to Roxy.Let me know when you have a minute to talk.
Just minutes later came her reply:Now’s good. Call when you’re ready.
So I did. “Have you seen the gossip stuff on your website?”
“Yeah, once in a while.”
“Braden and I were leaked.”
“How? What happened?”
I had to stop myself from accusing her.Shehadn’t taken the photo—and that was clearly what had fueled the speculation. So I told her about the girl at the festival who’d taken my picture—and that she’d been pointing her phone at Braden and me before that, so I knew she was the one who’d taken it.
“So what are you guys gonna do?”
“We decided to confirm it through Crushed Velvet’s publicist. I mean, what else could we do?”
“You could deny it. You wouldn’t be the first couple to do that, even with proof.”
I laughed, already sensing that she’d had nothing to do with it, even though the news had come from her magazine. “Too late. Braden’s confirming it with them right now.”
“You guys are gonna break a ton of hearts with that.”
Once again, laughter spilled easily out of my mouth—because my relationship with Braden still didn’t quite seem real.
Would it ever?
CHAPTER 11
Over the next week, I sensed some unease within the band. At first, I’d thought it was because of the publicity about Braden and me—but we soon discovered the tension was coming from Cy—and it had nothing to do with our relationship.
