“Um, yes? Who is this?”
She heard squealing in the background. “Oh my gosh! It’s really you! Can I ask you a question?”
“I’m sorry, who is this?”
“Are you and Trace Corbin really getting back together? Because you should know, he hooked up with my friend Kelly and she—”
Kylie hit the disconnect button and did her best to smile at Josh. “I’m so sorry but I need a minute. I need to make a phone call.”
As she was pulling up Chaz’s number, Hannah appeared in her line of vision. She hung up before Chaz answered and waved the girl over.
“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked as soon as she was in hearing distance.
“I need a new phone number,” Kylie informed her. “Now.”
“On it,” Hannah promised, retrieving her own phone from her pocket.
“I’m sorry, you were saying?” She turned back to Josh, who was busy jotting something down in a little notebook. “Damn. Now you’re going to write that I’m a huge diva who orders my assistant around, aren’t you?” She smiled her sweetest smile and winked at him.
“Nah,” Josh scoffed. “Not in those words anyway.” He winked back, and she sincerely hoped he was kidding.
Her phone rang again and she glared at Hannah’s back. Again, it was a number she didn’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“Is this Nashville’s Sweetheart?” a deep, male voice asked. “Because if it is, I just wanted to tell you that if I was Trace Corbin I’d come into your room at night and lick—”
“I’m not Nashville’s fucking sweetheart, you sicko,” she yelled into the phone. She wanted to throw the damn thing into the nearest river.
“Hannah!”
The girl turned and came running back in her direction. “Kylie, I’m so sorry. It looks like Lily Taite lost her cell phone in a club and someone leaked all of the numbers in it online. I’m doing everything I can to get yours changed right now.”
“Great. Thanks, Hannah.” She silently vowed to kick Lily’s ass both for being in a club and losing her phone the next time she saw her.
“Kylie,” Pauly Garrett called out to her. “Trace is all done. You’re up, darlin’.”
Turning to Josh, she apologized for what felt like the twentieth time. “I know today didn’t go so well, and I appreciate your time. If you want to continue this by phone later, I can have Hannah get you my new number as soon as I have it.”
“I think I got everything I needed. Have a great show.”
She tried to ignore the lump in her throat as she thanked him again. The entire day had been a disaster. She was damn near positive she was not about to have a great show. And she was canceling her subscription to Rolling Stone magazine immediately.
FOUR HOURS later, Kylie slid into the back seat of an SUV with windows tinted so dark she couldn’t see out of them.
“Just the nearest place with greasy fast food where no one will see us.” She’d wanted to drive her daddy’s truck, but in this part of town she would’ve stuck out like a sore thumb in an ’88 Chevy pickup.
“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Lulu reassured her. “I mean, he has to know you can’t help that your number was leaked and you were getting prank calls all day.”
“And,” Steven chimed in, “the interview was supposed to be about your music. Not your love life. He shouldn’t have even been asking those questions.”
She sighed and leaned her head against the blackened window. “He’s a reporter. He can ask whatever he wants. And he can write whatever he wants. And I was a bitch to Hannah.”
“You’re a celebrity. You can be bitchy. Totally acceptable,” Lulu said, shoulder bumping her.
“Yeah right,” Kylie mumbled. It didn’t matter how many albums she sold. She would never think of herself as a “celebrity.” They were an alien race she had no plans to join.
“For the record, I wouldn’t be mad if you went around telling people I was your boyfriend. I’ve been called worse.” Steven slung an arm around her shoulders.
“I was trying to be honest. Fat lot of good that probably did me.”
“Let’s just say you’re portrayed in a negative light in his article. You really think it’s the end of the world?” Her best friend got out her cellphone. “Watch this.” With a few quick touches, she pulled up a screen with search results for Kylie’s name.
Kylie let her eyes roam over her friend’s findings. A few YouTube music videos, her official website, social media sites, a few fansites, some mentions on TMZ, and celebrity gossip sites.