In the chaos of your love, I’m standing still.”

  Behind closed eyes, I see her as she was that night. A sad, lonely girl sitting at a bar with an empty daiquiri, writing in a notebook. And, Christ, all I want to do is walk over to her and⁠—

  “Knox, what the fuck?!”

  I blink out of my memory to find Harmony poking her wet head around the shower curtain.

  “What are you doing in here?!” she shouts, her voice echoing throughout the bathroom.

  “That song,” I say, still entranced.

  “Get out!”

  “Wildfire, right?”

  “What?”

  “That song. It’s called Wildfire, right? You sang it at the pageant.”

  “I— yes. It is. Now, will you please get out?”

  “Why isn’t that your single?”

  She groans with annoyance. “If you’re going to stay, would you at least hand me a towel?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m naked and wet!”

  “I’ve licked your butthole, Harmony. Believe me, all mystery is gone.”

  She sticks out her hand and waits.

  “Fine,” I say, turning to grab the nearest towel folded on the rack above the toilet. “Here.”

  Harmony snatches it from me and disappears behind the curtain again. I stand in the doorway, waiting as she wraps herself up.

  “Why isn’t Wildfire your single?” I ask again.

  Harmony opens the curtain and steps out of the shower. “What are you talking about?” she asks.

  “Why go with Boom Boom when a gorgeous song that you wrote already exists?”

  She approaches the mirror with the roll of her eyes. “Because it’s not that great, Knox.”

  “Well, it ain’t fucking Boom Boom.”

  “I made a demo,” she says, glaring at me in the mirror as she runs a comb through her hair. “They didn’t go for it.”

  “Why not?”

  Harmony takes a breath. “Paul said it was… against my brand.”

  “The fuck does that mean?”

  “It means that Harmony is fun and pink and the life of the party. Wildfire is very much not, so… we decided to shelve the song.”

  “You mean, he decided.”

  She exhales and goes back to combing her hair. “What are you doing in here again?” she asks.

  “Oh,” I say, standing tall as I remember. “You’re a cheating whore.”

  Harmony nearly drops the comb. “Excuse me?”

  I present my phone from my pocket, showing her the article. “You spent the night with Logan Shock?!”

  “Wait, what? No, I didn’t.”

  “Not according to this.”

  She takes my phone. As she reads, her eyes grow wider and wider until I think they might fall out of her skull.

  “Oh, what the fuck?” she says.

  “Yeah, that was my initial reaction, too.”

  “Knox, this didn’t happen,” she says after a minute. “In fact, I told him in very clear terms that I wouldn’t run away with him when he asked me to.”

  I blink as a white hot rage nearly blinds my vision. “He did what?”

  “Heartbreak Harmony?” She groans disappointedly. “Come on. That’s not even clever.”

  “He asked you to run away with him?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Harmony lowers the phone and takes a breath. “Knox, Logan Shock and The Electrics are a much bigger problem than we realize.”

  “How so?”

  “Last night, Logan introduced himself to me as the man who was going to destroy my boyfriend’s career,” she says, each new word making my blood boil even more. “Said I was wasting my time with you and was better off with him instead.”

  “What a dick.”

  “That’s not even all of it. Priscilla is involved with him somehow, too.”

  I frown. “Who’s Priscilla?”

  “Chrissy’s twin sister.”

  “Chrissy has a twin?”

  “An evil twin. I don’t know the whole story, but if Chrissy says she’s bad news, I’m inclined to believe her. And if she’s following us around and talking to Logan Shock, then she’s probably up to something.”

  A protective urge rumbles my gut. “She’s following you?”

  “She was at the show in Vegas. Then, last night, I saw her at Diablo Pink talking to Logan. So, definitely seems to be following us, yes.”

  “But… you didn’t leave with him?” I ask, just… needing to hear it again.

  “Of course not, Knox,” Harmony says. “I wouldn’t do that to… Criminal Records.”

  I nod, believing her.

  “Logan seems pretty hell-bent on taking you down. He wants be to number one as bad as you want to keep it.”

  “That’s bad,” I say, thinking. “We have to get ahead of this article.”

  “How?” she asks. “It’s already published.”

  “It’s seven in the morning. Who could have read it by now beside your normal everyday record exec who starts every morning with a black coffee enema? I assume.”

  “The east coast?” she says.

  “Oh, who cares about the east coast?”

  She smiles without argument.

  “We need to…” I look Harmony over. Wet, tattered hair. Sexy as sin towel.

  She holds it tight against herself. “What?” she asks suspiciously.

  I hand her my phone before peeling my shirt off. “Get on the bed.”

  She doesn’t move. “Huh?”

  I walk over to the bed and plop down onto it. “He wants people to think you spent the night with him, so we need to make it clear that you spent the night with me instead.”

  “But I didn’t spend the night with you,” she says.

  I ruffle the blanket and fluff the pillows. “And that matters why?”

  “Right. Duh.” Harmony steps forward with my phone. “So, what do I do? Wait, I should put something on⁠—”

  “No,” I say, stopping her. “You shouldn’t.”

  She looks down at her towel. “Right. Yeah. This is better. This is… we can work with this.”

  I smile as she paces the room, mapping out a shot from the bathroom to the bed.

  “So, I’ll come in,” she says. “They’ll see you. I’ll hop up, say good morning. Then⁠—”

  “I’ll hug you. I’ll kiss you. We’ll say good morning to the world.”

  “Yeah.” Harmony smiles. “That might do it.”

  I lie back, getting comfy.

  “All right,” she says, standing back in the bathroom doorway. “Look tired. But sexy!”

  “That’s my brand, baby,” I joke as I rest my head on a pillow and close my eyes.

  23

  HARMONY

  OMG this is so cute!

  I can’t believe he posted this!

  Ok I’m officially on the Knoxmony train now!!!

  I don’t buy it. She was with LOGAN SHOCK last night! Check Gossipa!

  Ugh. There’s always that guy.

  “Harmony?”

  I look up from the endless comments on the video. “Hm?” I say.

  Chrissy smiles from across our table in the Plaza restaurant. “I said, you okay?” she says. “You zoned out.”

  “Yeah, sorry.” I force myself to put my phone down. “I haven’t finished my coffee yet.”

  I scan the others chatting around the table in hushed whispers. After Knox and I posted our sexy good morning video, he texted everyone to meet us for breakfast. Criminal Records had a lot to talk about. Logan Shock, especially.

  And the video.

  “An eyewitness at Diablo Pink told Gossipa that Logan and Harmony were seen touching and kissing throughout the night,” Katrina reads aloud from her phone, “and that the couple left together around eleven thirty. Well, that’s not true.” She frowns. “Harmony was with us the whole time.”

  Addison nods. “Except for that one minute when you went to the bar, and they snatched that picture of you and Logan.”

  “Prissy’s handiwork, no doubt,” Chrissy says, sneering.

  “Well, I won’t make that mistake again,” I say, grimacing at the photo in the article. Me. Logan Shock. Him leaning in to whisper at me.

  Yeah. I can see how that might be misinterpreted as a moment of sweet nothings between lovers. He must have had Priscilla standing in the corner, lying in wait to catch the perfect shot.

  Bastard.

  Jonah pushes a bunch of scrambled eggs around his plate with a fork. “And in response to this, you guys posted… what you posted?”

  Knox’s eyes meet mine across the table. “We controlled the narrative,” he says. “More people saw that video in the last hour than read that article. Guarantee it.”

  “That’s not controlling anything, Knox,” Jordan says. “If anything, you muddied the narrative. “

  Katrina nods. “I agree. Posting that was… impulsive,” she says, giving me a pointed look.

  “We had to do something,” Knox says. “I’ve got Paul Monroe sliding into my DMs. It ain’t cute.”

  “Well, half of the internet thinks Harmony is two-timing you,” Addison says. “The other half think you two are dripping in each other’s body fluids. Everyone else is very confused.”

  Katrina cringes at the mention of body fluids while Knox smothers a smirk. “Logan said it’d get ugly,” she says. “I think you guys should tip the scales further in your direction before he retaliates. And he probably will. Very soon.”

  Knox glances at me, his sister’s words ringing true. Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do. Fortunately, Knox still knows me well enough to read it all over my face.

  “If you ladies have a suggestion, we’re all ears,” he says to them.

  “Not now,” Jordan says before we can continue. “Now, we have practice. We have sound check and lighting tests because we have twenty-thousand people coming to our show tonight. We can deal with everything else tomorrow.”

  Katrina leans forward. “But⁠—”

  “Tomorrow.” Jordan fixes all of us with a hard glare. “Finish your breakfast. Then, get on the bus.”

  “Yes, mother,” Knox teases.

  Jordan sharpens her stare as the rest of us chuckle.

  “So, wait…” Harvey Moon leans forward, having been sitting off to the side this whole time. “You guys aren’t really dating?” he asks.

  “No,” Knox says with a furrowed brow. “Did we not tell you?”

  “No.” Harvey looks between us, his eyes wide. “You didn’t.”

  “Oh,” I say. “I thought someone did.”

  The table nods in confused agreement.

  Bronson pats Harvey on the shoulder. “I’ll explain everything,” he says as he stands up.

  Harvey goes with him, abandoning the last of his bacon and toast.

  At Jordan’s insistence, the rest of us get back to eating with minimal chatter. At least, nothing pertaining to me, Knox, or Logan Shock.

  I pick up my phone, drawn once again to the endless feed of comments.

  So sweet!

  Love you guys!

  Wow, couple goals!

  He loves her so much! :’)

  I look across the table at Knox and wonder… hell, what don’t I wonder?

  Chrissy nudges me with her elbow.

  “What?” I ask.

  She shrugs as she hides her smile behind her coffee mug.

  I say nothing as butterflies quiver in my stomach.

  24

  KNOX

  Twenty-thousand voices. The only thing standing between us and them is a giant curtain.

  It’s a great feeling. One you can never really prepare for. I still remember the thrill of standing on the stage at the Sin and Sand for the first time. There were only maybe ten people in the audience that night for our first show. And half of them were named Botsford.

  Now, twenty-thousand souls fill their seats, waiting for Criminal Records to take the stage.

  And all I can think about is Logan fucking Shock.

  He thinks he’s better than me?

  He thinks he can destroy my career?

  He thinks he can walk up to my fake girlfriend in a bar and ask her to leave with him?

  I think fucking not.

  But what if posting that video was the wrong thing to do? What if we really made things worse? What if our ruse is over before it even began?

  But what am I supposed to do? With the world watching and Paul Monroe breathing down my neck and Logan Shock circling me and mine like a hungry vulture?

  How am I supposed to fake being in love with a woman I tried so hard to fall out of love with before?

  “Knox,” Jordan says as she passes me backstage, her eyes glued to her clipboard, “you should do vocal warm-ups.”

  “Already did them,” I say.

  “Oh, well then, please continue standing in the middle of the path in everyone’s way.”

  “Okay.”

  She stops and eyes me over the rims of her glasses. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing,” I say.

  “I should hope not. You are Knox Benton. You are the front man of Criminal Records. You are a god among men. Sex. Art.” She raises her hand and rolls it into a fist. “Knox.”

  “I know you’re using specific words and phrases to manipulate me right now… and it’s working.” I smile. “Thanks, Jordan.”

  “It’s my job,” she says as she checks something off her clipboard and continues toward the girls’ dressing room.

  My chest tickles with confidence.

  I am Knox.

  God of sex and art and… something.

  Nothing can bring me down tonight.

  Not even⁠—

  Harmony emerges from that dressing room, her laughter breaking through the thunderous hum on the other side of the curtain.

  She spots me and walks over and I can’t stop the way my eyes flow down her body. Her dress is cute and form-fitting, with a deep slit down the side that exposes her upper thigh as she walks.

  And pink, of course.

  Very on brand.

  “Hey,” she says, smiling at me.

  “Hey.” I look over her shoulder at the dressing room. “What’s so funny?”

  “Oh, just Jordan. Forgot how intense she gets on show nights.”

  “She’s just doing her job.”

  “She called you a god, huh?”

  “It’s her job.”

  Harmony laughs. “I missed this,” she says as she bridges the gap between us, coming to a stop directly in front of me. She looks up with soft eyes and licks her lips; the classic invitation.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  “Still a few roadies back here,” she says. “Might seem odd to them if I don’t give you a kiss for good luck before the show.”

  She’s not wrong. I glance around, catching one or two of them quickly looking away when they spot me.

  One kiss.

  Just one little kiss.

  Just like the one in Vegas.

  Wait, how did that one work again?

  Harmony drifts closer. I hold my breath, racking my brain to remember. Which way did I turn my head? Was my lip over hers or vice versa? Was there tongue? Should I give her some now?

  “Knox,” she whispers. “Good luck.”

  She kisses me.

  Somehow, I make it through it.

  Maybe this can work after all.

  “Ooo-la-la! Where’s my kiss?”

  We turn to see a man standing there with a backstage pass hanging from around his thick neck. Expensive suit. Botsford brown eyes.

  “Hayden!” Jonah pokes his blue-beanied head out of the dressing room and beams. “I thought that was you.”

  Hayden grins as Jonah rushes over and gives him a hug. “Hey, baby brother,” he says. “You get shorter?”

  Jonah laughs it off. “Wasn’t sure you’d make it tonight.”

  “Hey, my brother’s band tours through my city, I make time for it.”

  “Is Penelope here, too?”

  “Yup. Mom, too.”

  “Mom is here?” Jonah asks excitedly.

  “Well, I have a game tomorrow, so… she’s actually here for that,” Hayden teases. “But she fit you in, too. I guess. An afterthought. You know how it is.”

  “Sure, sure.”

  Hayden looks over at us. At me and Harmony, our hands still held tight. “And this is a sight for some sore peepers,” he says, smiling at Harmony. “Hey, Harmony.”

  She smiles back. “Hello, Hayden.”

  “Welcome back.”

  “It’s good to be back.”

  “My wife won’t stop humming your song. I was surprised to find out it was you.”

  Harmony bows her head politely, her eyes shining. “I think the most surprising word in that sentence is wife,” she jokes.

  Hayden chuckles. “Sad but true. I am a claimed man.”

  “I’d love to meet her.”

  “I’ll bring her back after the show.”

  “Looking forward to it.”

  “As will she, I’m sure.”

  Jordan shuffles out of the dressing room again. “Five minutes to curtain!” she says without looking up, walking on unfiltered caffeine and pure instinct as she finds her way toward us. “Vocal chords better be nice and warm, Knox.”

  “They are,” I say.

  “Excellent.” She finally looks up and sees Hayden. “Hayden!” she greets with a smile. “Hello.”

  “Hello, Jordan,” he says.

  “Get off the stage. You, too, Harmony. Everyone else, it’s shot time! Gather up!”

  She walks off and we laugh.

  “So nice to feel welcome,” Hayden says.

  “You heard the lady,” Jonah says. “Five minutes to curtain.”

  Harmony turns to me, quickly popping up onto her toes to give me a kiss on the cheek that fires a bolt of warm surprise through my face. “I’m going to go find a dark corner to watch the show from,” she says. “I’ll catch up with you after.”

  “After,” I say with a nod.

  She smiles at Hayden one more time and leaves, disappearing into the shadows somewhere backstage.

  “I guess I’ll go as well,” Hayden says as he turns, then stops to smirk at me. “Or… I could wait and see that little sister of yours before I go.”