He’d lost her twice.
“MY HEAD is killing me. Please, please, if you care about me at all, stop shouting.”
Kylie pressed her fingers as hard as she could against her throbbing temples. After rubbing them for a solid minute, she pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes to relieve the pressure.
“I think you’re overreacting,” Lulu practically whispered, which Kylie appreciated. “He did the right thing. When I said tell him how you feel, I meant when you weren’t drunk. I also meant tell him with, you know, words. As opposed to with your vagina.”
“Nice,” Kylie muttered. Bile rose in her throat at the memory. She was grateful she was in the bathroom of her hotel room incase her stomach decided it wasn’t going to hang on to the bagel she’d choked down. “Now you tell me.”
Last night seemed like a blurry fever dream-turned-nightmare in her head. But no, the way she’d woken up, half-naked and sprawled out in his bed, confirmed what she’d pretty much known. It was real. And real humiliating.
She’d taken half a dozen shots of bourbon, despite Lulu’s and Mike’s protests, and thrown herself at Trace. Only to have him turn her on and then turn her slap down. Her head pounded so hard it felt like it was vibrating. It was as if her heart had relocated itself to her skull and was super angry that she’d exposed it last night.
“Where the hell is Hannah? I need something for this headache. Soundcheck is in an hour.”
Her friend sighed and sat her makeup brush down on the bathroom sink.
“Look, I know you’re upset, and I’m sorry things went the way they did. But I don’t think he did what he did because he doesn’t want you or care about you. I think it’s because he does.”
“Thank you, Dr. Love.” Kylie lifted her head and squinted at the torturous florescent lights in the bathroom as Lulu applied her makeup. “But it was a mistake—one I won’t be making again. Trace Corbin made his choice a long time ago, and there are obviously some side effects of dehydration that no one bothered to tell me about. Like clinical insanity.”
Lulu rubbed something under her eyes and then grunted her disapproval as she surveyed her work. “The dark circles under your eyes are lighter, but as far as making them go away, you might have to take a nap after soundcheck.”
“Sounds like a fantastic idea. Actually, I think I might need to go lie down right now.”
“Go,” Lulu said, dismissing her with an eye roll. “I’ve done all I can do for now.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Kylie was drifting in and out of consciousness on her bed when Hannah arrived with her pain pills and a bottle of water.
“How about I tell them you’re going to sit soundcheck out due to side effects of yesterday’s episode?” her assistant asked.
Lulu snorted from across the room.
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
She would take a nap and pray that she woke up in a different life. Or maybe a different universe.
Preferably one where she hadn’t made a complete ass out of herself.
KYLIE WOKE up feeling much better than she had the first time.
“You know, now that I’m not hungover and I’ve had time to think about it, Trace did what was best for both of us.”
“Agreed,” Lulu mumbled as she gave Kylie’s hair one last spray with something that smelled like rubbing alcohol and fruit. “As I was saying, it’s probably better to talk about—”
“Because really, how much of a nightmare would it have been to wake up knowing we’d done it?” She shuddered.
Being turned down was one thing. Having let him inside her again, giving him that part of her, just for him to walk away once this tour was over…Now that would’ve been something worth regretting.
“Right,” her friend said slowly. “I’m sure you’re super thrilled the two of you didn’t get it on last night. You don’t have to pretend with me, Ky.”
“I’m not,” Kylie said, nodding her approval at Lulu’s handiwork in the mirror.
“Last night was a minor drunken episode that only served to remind me of what I already knew.”
“Which is?” Lulu prompted.
Trace Corbin was bad for her. Bad for her heart, her body, and her career. She lost all sense of reason when it came to him. That wasn’t something she could afford to do in this business.
“It’s over.” She wasn’t going to shrug and pretend it wasn’t a big deal, because it was. He was the first man—besides her daddy—that she’d ever loved. “Trace and I aren’t going to have some big Hollywood love scene reconciliation. We had our time together and it’s time to move on. For good.”