“She told me why Axel split from the band.”
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
“According to Max, the band was working on some top-secret material for a new album. Axel went behind their backs and sold the lyrics and music of their best song to Rebel Deeds.”
“No,” I gasp, “that can’t be true.” My head spins. “Axel wouldn’t do that.”
“Rachel said Max is devastated that his best friend and longtime band member would stoop so low as to sell proprietary material to a competitor band.”
My blood runs cold. “I don’t believe it,” I say flatly. “Rachel’s lying.”
“She sounded convinced of her words to me. And trust me, I know human behavior.”
“Then Max is lying to his girlfriend,” I insist. “Cassie said yesterday that someone close to Axel hurt him. Maybe it was Max. You’re getting the wrong information.”
Harmony chuckles humorlessly. “No, it’s you who’s getting the wrong information. You’ve let your feelings get in the way of the story.” She spits out her words in hard thrusts. “Get your head out of the sand and do your job! I emailed you the transcript of my interview with Rachel. I’ll expect to have the story by the end of the day.”
Panic races through my veins. “You don’t understand.”
She raises her voice. “I understand perfectly. You have a crush on a country music star. It happens. Get over it.”
“This is no crush. This is?—”
“How does Zoe Reynolds feel about you taking her boyfriend?”
“She doesn’t know yet,” I croak.
“Great,” Harmony mutters, “more crap to shovel. When Bianca realizes that I put you into that house where you could steal Zoe’s boyfriend … it’s not gonna end well for any of us.”
“Look, I don’t know what type of hold you have over Bianca, but I’m telling you that you can’t trust her.”
Her voice goes shrill. “I don’t have a hold over her. I got her the Keith Anthony job, and she owed me a favor. There’s no hold,” she repeats. “She was repaying a favor. This is going to get ugly,” she frets.
“I thought you said she knew better than to cross you,” I snip.
She yells into the phone. “You need to break things off with Axel pronto … before Zoe gets wind of any of this. Now that Bianca knows who you are … she could do a lot of damage to get back at you. And it won’t help to have a powerful enemy like Zoe Reynolds.”
Invisible needles jab my skin from every direction. “One would almost think you care about what happens to me.”
“I do care,” she fumes. “Too bad you don’t care enough about your career, this magazine, and me to do the right thing. Get me the story by the end of the day!”
She clicks off.
Tears bubble in my eyes and drip down my cheeks as I put down my phone and stare at my reflection in the mirror.
I don’t want to wreck my career, but there’s no way I’m writing another smear article about Axel—especially one that’s a crock. He would never sell out his own band.
Would he?
After pulling myself together, I go into the kitchen to find Cassie at the stove, working the spatula to flip pancakes. She glances over her shoulder. “You hungry?”
“Starving.” Some people can’t eat when they’re stressed. I’m the opposite.
“You always could eat me and everyone else under the table,” she laughs.
“Nothing wrong with a healthy appetite.” I look around. “Where’s everybody?”
“By everybody, do you mean Seth?”
