But what if I didn’t? What if I actually accepted why “Lovely, Aren’t Ya” got under my skin, and put a name to it? What would Jake’s reaction be if he found out? Would we chalk it up to nostalgia, laugh it off, and move on? Or would something else happen? Something entirely different. Tempting, but dangerous. Would I want that?
Would it be wise to?
I held my breath, dared myself to open my mouth, and then—
The phone rang.
Chapter Thirteen
“Spill a secret about a bandmate, huh? Okay, how about this: when US was first formed, Phillip tried to get out of things by saying he didn’t know what we were talking about ‘because he’s British.’ Like, ‘Can you pay for this? We don’t use dollars in Britain.’ Or, ‘What’s this Wite-Out you want me to fetch you? We don’t have that in Britain.’ We only realized he’d been screwing with us when we asked him to wash the forks off in the tour bus and Phillip looked us right in the eyes and went, ‘What are those? We don’t have them where I’m from.’”
—Jake Moody forEndless Entertainment
Phillip Maan, the official pretty boy of the Usual Suspects, looked exactly like he did on his posters, even over a non-airbrushed, across-the-pond phone connection at eight in the morning UK time.
His button-down shirt? Expensive-looking and free of a single wrinkle. His blond hair? Flawlessly styled and so shiny Ifelt the urge to ask him what shampoo he used, although I had a feeling he might’ve just been born like that.
His laptop was positioned perfectly so he sat exactly in the center of the screen, with the lamps hitting him just right, not daring to grace his face with anything less than immaculate lighting. Even his chair was fancy—Phillip Maan could not simply sit in a regular chair. No, only a high wingback chair covered in dark-blue velvet would do.
“Good morning, Mr. Moody,” Phillip greeted, all posh and polished. I blinked, taken aback by the formal greeting. It made him sound old and businesslike, not like a teen boy band member who I knew for a fact jumped around onstage singing and shouting and wildly waving his arms under showers of confetti. “I must say I was quite surprised you booked an official meeting. It might interest you to know, I’m actually not in London right now, I’m in Paris to—”
Phillip’s blue eyes landed on me, making him stop mid-sentence.
“Well,hellothere,” he said in a different tone altogether.
Who, me?
“Hi,” I replied, too stunned to say anything else. Those articles weren’t lying. Having this guy’s full attention was kind of disarming.
“I’m Phillip,” he said, dropping his businessman act altogether and dialing Flirt Mode up to one hundred. “Who might you be? Jake didn’t tell me he was bringing such a lovely friend to the meeting.”
My eyebrows shot up. Jake grumbled something unintelligible I couldn’t quite catch, but it didn’t seem very complimentary.
“I’m Lucy,” I said, and then remembered I was supposedto be on this call to ask for a favor and not just stare at him. Figuring flattery would work on someone with his ego, I added, “I’m a big fan.”
Phillip grinned like the Cheshire cat.
“Calm down,” Jake inserted. “She’s notthatbig of a fan.”
“Never mind him, darling,” Phillip said, never taking his eyes off me despite Jake’s pesky interruption. “He’s the band’s bad boy. Being snarky and mysterious is just his contractual obligation.”
“Never mindhim, darling,” Jake mimicked, jerking his thumb toward the screen as he spoke to me. “He can’t turn the flirting off.”
“Even in the middle of a business meeting?” I asked coyly. Jake did a double take at my tone. But if flirting was how Phillip communicated, then I’d speak his language and give him my café pitch. Besides, it felt like a good distraction from whatever I’d been about to let happen with Jake before the phone rang. “Seems a little unprofessional,” I pouted. “We had to book this, you know.”
“What are you doing with your face?” Jake questioned beneath his breath. “Are—are youflirting back? Oh my God. Do not flirt back.”
Phillip flashed me a smile, looking like he was about to say something charming in reply.
But before he could, Jake decided to interrupt him with, “Did you get a chance to look at the ‘business proposal’ I sent over?”
Phillip took a second to refocus. “Yeah, I did. It’s a good cause and great promo for the band, but I must say I’m a bit surprised by it, mate, considering we’re supposed to be on a break from each other.” He narrowed his eyes at Jake. “A breakyousuggested.”
Jakesuggested the band stop seeing each other? He conveniently never mentioned that little detail. He made it sound like it was something all four of them wanted. I spun toward him, shocked.
Only not that shocked, I guess. Because Jake deciding to walk away from his friends for a while and being the driving force behind the silence? Yeah, that tracked.
“Hey,” Jake protested, putting his hands up defensively as Phillip and I shot him twin glares. “I was the first one to toss the idea out there, but everyone immediately agreed to it.”
