Truth

“Ahhh!!!!” I screamed, throwing my arms around her neck right there in the doorway. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

Jane squeezed me tightly, and if it didn’t bother my side so badly, I would have hugged her for much longer. When I pulled back, I held her by the shoulders. I ran my eyes down her sparkly emerald cocktail dress and cocked my head to the side. “Are you coming to the charity party?”

She smiled connivingly. “Yep! Surprise!” I smashed my lips together, because if I were to have smiled any wider, my lips would likely fall off.

“How?” I asked, shaking my head in disbelief. “I thought it was an all-exclusive, invite-only, no-press-unless-specifically-invited event.

Jane raised an eyebrow. “I was invited.”

“What?” I asked, finally removing my hands from her shoulders. “By who?”

Jane narrowed her eyes at me, the shimmer of her eyeshadow catching the lights above her head. “Reid King called me up personally and asked me to come tonight so I could spend time with you. He mentioned something about being the reason you had to cancel, and he wanted to surprise you.”

My brow furrowed. Wh…what?

“Yeah, that means you”—Jane pushed through the threshold and stomped into my room before turning around and giving me a look—“have a lot of explaining to do, little missy.”

I swore I started to sweat. I wasn’t sure if it was from the twenty questions that Jane was about to throw my way regarding Reid, or if it was because my heart exploded in my chest at the fact that Reid went and invited Jane to surprise me. Why did that mean so much to me?

I held my breath and peeked out into the hallway. Before closing the door, I looked down both ends of the hallway, and that was when I found Reid, leaning against the wall in his all-black suit, looking like he’d just stepped out of a fancy photoshoot. My mouth went dry looking at his hands tucked into his pants pockets. He angled that straight jaw my way and captured me in a stare so deep that I was completely lost. His lip tugged upward just a bit, and butterflies flew in my stomach.

“Get in here and spill!” Jane shouted from behind, causing me to jump. I hurriedly stepped back into the room and slammed the door behind me.

I openly gulped for more than one reason.

One, I had to tell Jane that I was completely smothered by all things Reid King.

And two, I had to tell myself that, too.

How the hell was I going to make it out alive?

???

“Okay, so, he’s pretty freaking hot in person,” Jane whispered from beside me.

We were all in the Escalade, Reid driving, Finn up front, and then Jane and I in the middle seats with a lonely Jackson in the back seat. There was another Escalade behind us which held the security for Reid and the band, but other than that, we were all free tonight.

It felt weird not being cooped up on a tour bus with the guys, beating their asses in rummy or being shunned back into a small room with Reid, working on songs—aka, watching him with a grumpy expression plastered to his face as he tried to work with me.

“Who? Reid?” I whispered back, glancing up in the rearview mirror to see Reid’s intimidating gaze and locked jaw as he glared at Atlanta traffic like it was hell itself.

“No!” she hissed. “Well, yes, but I meant my date.”

I cocked a grin, but Jackson stuffed his face in between ours. “I heard he has chlamydia, so I’d stay away from him. I hear the guitarist of the band is the hottest.”

Throwing my head back onto the headrest, I cracked up.

Finn angled his head over his shoulder and asked what was so funny.

I smashed my lips together as Jackson piped up. “Oh, I just caught these two talking about how hot you are… You might have had a chance with blondie here, but I went ahead and told her your secret.”

Looking out the window, I kept my mouth shut, hiding a grin.

“What secret?”

Jane, being the extrovert that she is, blurted, “Oh, just that you have chlamydia.”

Finn smacked the dashboard, running his hands through his short hair. “I do not!”