Bad Liar (The Reed Rivers Trilogy 1)

“I have faith you’ll find some other amazing person or topic to write about, if you put your mind to it.”

She takes several deep, calming breaths. And then drags her palm down her face. “I didn’t want to have to play the sympathy card here, but you leave me no choice. I was really counting on those free hotel rooms this week. Please don’t mess that up for me because of petty jealousy. Please.”

“What are you talking about?”

She tilts her head back and sinks into the sofa, her body melting in adorable surrender. “I had to vacate student housing on graduation day. My student loans are all used up, and I’m told I won’t get my first paycheck for this job for about three weeks... ” She sighs. “I’ve got, like, seven dollars to my name right now, so I was counting on a week with no expenses to get back on my feet. Before I got this job, I was going to move back home with my dad in the Valley, so I could help him with his expenses. But now that I’m going to be spending so much time in Hollywood, commuting like that won’t work. I was hoping to take this week, with no expenses, to figure out a cheap living situation for the summer. Maybe a friend’s couch. A room to rent.”

My heart twists. It’s so rare for Georgina to drop her tough-girl routine. But whenever she does, I find her all the more alluring. “I’ll book you a hotel room for the summer—on me,” I say simply. “Something within walking distance of my office.”

She sits up. “Seriously?”

“Sure. I wish all life’s problems were this easy to solve.”

She’s absolutely elated. She hops up like she wants to hug me, but abruptly sits back down, her cheeks flushing. “Thank you so much, Reed.” She fans her blushing face. “Thank you.”

My heart skips a beat at the look of pure joy on her face. “You’re very welcome, Georgina.”

In a heartbeat, the expression of joy on her face is replaced by one of skepticism. “Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why, exactly, are you doing this?”

“Because it makes sound business sense,” I say, lying through my teeth. “You’ll be able to maximize your time this way. Plus, you’ll be relaxed and close by. All good things for the special issue, in the end.”

Her skeptical smile turns absolutely breathtaking. “Liar,” she says softly. But she’s said the word playfully. Affectionately, even. And it sends a flock of butterflies whooshing into my stomach—which is a shock to me. I haven’t felt the cliché of “butterflies” too many times in my life. And when I do, they usually feel foreign and strange to me. But, holy fuck, this time, I’m feeling them and thoroughly enjoying them.

“You ready to stop screaming at me and watch the rest of the concert with me?” I say. “We can watch from the wings.” I rise, assuming her answer is yes, yes, yes... but quickly realize I’ve miscalculated. Georgina’s not standing with me. Indeed, she’s staying put and shaking her head.

“Fuck,” I mutter, sitting back down. “Now what?”

Everybody’s got a price.

I say it all the time and know it to be true. But something tells me Georgina Ricci’s price ain’t a free hotel room a few blocks away from River Records.

Chapter 23

Reed

“Seeing as how you won’t let me go on tour or interview C-Bomb,” Georgina says, her eyebrow arched, “you owe me something as good or better.”

“I’ll let you interview RCR and also Dean, individually.”

“Not good enough. Dean’s been interviewed a trillion times. He’s so good at being interviewed by now, I’m sure I’ll be able to chat with him for twenty minutes at the party tonight and walk away with an entire interview all sewn up.”

I can’t believe my ears. “You still think you’re going to that party tonight? Georgina, obviously, that’s off, too. Same as everything else.”

She throws up her arms. “No!”

“Yes.”

“But Caleb invited me!”

“And I’m uninviting you. I thought you understood the party being cancelled was part and parcel of everything else I’ve cancelled.”

“Okay, that’s it. The last straw. I quit.” But she doesn’t move. She just sits there, stewing. Thinking. Strategizing. Finally, she visibly lights up with an idea. “What if I took off my press pass and went to that party tonight as a civilian? Not as a reporter. Just as Caleb’s personal guest. I could do that, and you couldn’t say boo about it.”

My heart rate spikes. Fuck. The clever girl’s found herself a loophole. Fuck me.

Georgina smiles wickedly, and I know I’ve done a shitty job of maintaining a poker face. Indeed, whatever she just saw flicker across my face, it’s egging her on.

“You know what?” she says, sitting up. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Throw away my press pass and go to the party tonight as a civilian. And not only that, I’m going to throw away my press pass for the entire week, and start my job a week later than originally planned, and go on the tour, too. Why should I be an official reporter on the tour”—she levels me with her blazing eyes—“when I can be Caleb’s... groupie?”