“I can’t believe you and Grey Kingston. Damn, girl, he’s hot.” Meg fanned herself with her hand.
Riley’s smile started slow and built until she was grinning. “It’s about time.”
And then there was Olivia. “You’ve been holding out on me.”
Guilt slid through Avery, and she grasped her sister’s hand. “I’m sorry. It’s just that after the concert—”
“I don’t know what happened after,” Olivia reminded her.
Avery sighed. “Nobody does.” Except Ella, but Avery wouldn’t dig the wound deeper by saying so. “I went backstage, and there was a female wrapped around him. A half-dressed groupie with teased hair and too much makeup, clinging to him like a Howler monkey. And yes, he pushed her off him, but then she began shrieking like he’d hit her. She made a scene. He ignored her, ran after me, but it … hurt.”
“Aww, honey,” Meg murmured.
“He knew you were coming and couldn’t keep them away?” Olivia asked, outraged on Avery’s behalf.
She swallowed hard. “It’s part of his lifestyle. That’s what had me so thrown afterwards. To even be friends with him now, I’d have to expose myself to that, and I didn’t know if I could handle it.”
“And you couldn’t share that with me?” Liv asked, really and truly hurt. “I know what you went through because of Dad. I was there for you.”
“And I knew you’d be there for me again. But you were busy making things right with Dylan. And then when you did, you were happy. I didn’t want my problems to drag you down. Plus you’d have felt bad about moving out, and I didn’t want that either. You finally had your happiness, and I wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of that.”
“What about your happiness?” Olivia asked, obviously moving on from the personal issues between them.
Avery shrugged. “I don’t know. We still click. It’s all still there between us, but so are the differences. I sat in a corner for thirty minutes while he signed autographs and took selfies, and that was at a local restaurant.”
“You don’t think you can handle the spotlight?” Meg asked.
Olivia nodded. “When Dad came clean about the others, and then Avery was a match for Sienna, everything became public. And ugly. Dad’s well-known in Miami. It hit the papers, and we had a really hard time in school. From the youngest”—she glanced at Avery—“to Ian, the oldest, kids were awful. Mean. People looked at Mom in the grocery store, whispered behind our backs.”
Avery knew Olivia was leaving out the rest to protect her, but she didn’t mind confiding in her friends. “I started getting panic attacks after the first time the photographers surrounded us. They yelled horrible, intrusive questions at my mom, and light bulbs flashed at me … I was nine. And I freaked out.”
“Passed out is more like it,” Olivia said.
Avery dug her fingernails into her hands at the reminder. “Yeah. So I really don’t like being the center of attention … not for any reason.”
“Yet you put yourself out on the blog. That’s so interesting,” Meg, the teacher, said.
“I know. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I studied psych in college. Extroverts like Grey feed off the crowd. They get energy and a high from it. For introverts like me, it’s draining. I control the blog, I put myself out there on my terms, and the rest is behind-the-scenes, where I’m most comfortable.”
“Makes sense,” Riley said.
“You know I support whatever makes you happy, right?” Olivia asked.
“I know. And I love you for it. But don’t worry. It’s early days for me and Grey. I can’t begin to even think what will happen.”
Olivia narrowed her gaze. “I don’t want you hurt again, but I do want you to open your heart to possibilities. I did myself and Dylan a true disservice by not doing that.”
Nice words, Avery thought, but she’d learned the hard way that by opening her heart up to possibilities, hurt inevitably followed.
* * *
When Grey picked up Avery on Thursday evening, the weather was hot and humid, but the sun shone overhead, setting in a beautiful explosion of orange, red, and yellow on the horizon. He’d let nearly a week pass without more than a few texts and little pressure, despite the fact that he craved her with every cell in his being.
Where she’d been a vague dream for the last three months, a goal and hope for the future, since he’d seen her again, spent time with her, kissed her, now she was so much more. He wanted a future, and not knowing if she’d come around ate at him more than he wanted to admit. Grey didn’t do nervous. Not before a show, not ever.
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Yet as they drove over the bridge to Star Island, his stomach was in knots, and he knew why. This was his shot. Avery would meet his friends, see what his life beyond the stage was really like, and she’d judge whether or how she fit in. He had no doubt Lola and Rep would accept her and make her feel at home. But would she relax enough to give them a chance? He felt like a fucking pussy, worrying so damned much.