Manaconda(44)

Hammered guitarist Reed Mason and singer, Manaconda, fight over Victoria Sheer at a downtown LA club.

Because I didn’t have a goddamn name anymore. Just Manaconda.

Fuck, my jaw hurt.

I rolled onto my hip and swiped the back of my hand over my mouth, disgusted at the blood. Sucker punched. The topper to my week for sure.

I staggered to my feet and swore. Kenny stood by the DJ, her flame red hair cascading over one shoulder, a purple dress hugging every blessed curve she had. Her face was colorless, and her eyes huge with embarrassment.

At her side was girl that had brought this entire mess to my door. I pointed at Bethany with her white and silver hair that matched her silver dress. “You.”

She cowered behind Kenny, her gaze darting from the scene with Vic on the floor, to my face, to the exit.

“You started all of this.”

Bethany shook her head.

“That’s enough,” Kenny said and pushed me back a step. “She didn’t do anything.”

Exasperated, I turned to Reed and Victoria, then back to Kennedy and Bethany.

A hand clamped on my shoulder and turned swinging. When my fist connected with a stone jaw, I swore.

Patrick’s eyebrow rose, but otherwise he didn’t look phased at my punch in the least. “Looks like you need help.” He flexed his jaw. “Time to get you back in the gym. Keys throws a better punch.”

I blew out a breath. “Sorry, man.”

Patrick pushed me back into Wyatt as he waded into the fray. Our security expert, and babysitter, hauled Bats off the floor. He pushed him toward the side entrance before gently maneuvering Victoria after him.

I shook out my throbbing hand. Where the hell had Kenny gone? I spotted her leading the Bethany chick out of the club just as six uniformed cops crashed the party.

“Indie’s going to kill us,” Wyatt muttered.

“Well, fuck,” I said.





18





Kennedy





I rushed Bethany out of the club. We threaded our way through the paparazzi vying for a picture.

“Keep your head down,” I said.

“But the action’s back there. I think I saw Perez Hilton.”

I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t see Perez Hilton.”

“You don’t know.” She tried to pull away from me and go back to Enigma. “He loves the Manaconda craziness. I wouldn’t doubt he was here.”

“Bethany, you are already on probation. Did you perhaps notice the five squad cars that pulled up?” I’d been trying to temper some of the twenty-two year old’s crazy partying. I thought tonight would be a great way to get her seen without the drama.

What had I been thinking?

Oh, that’s right—not thinking. I was obviously still in some lust-haze over Hunter. And he was fighting with his bandmate over Victoria Sheer.

Just phenomenal.

Me playing his girlfriend—that was a laugh. And totally not happening now. No way was I wading into that madness. It was bad enough that I’d actually contemplated more than a one night fling with Hunter.

Now I looked like part of a triangle.

How was this my life? I was the one that put out these fires, not became the star of them.

Bethany tried to break away from me again, and I clamped my hand around her arm. “What were you thinking?”

“I was having fun. I did the TV Line interview you set me up with—thanks, by the way. My Instagram account totally blew up when I leaked that shot of me and Austin on set. Then I got fifty-thousand more followers when I posted that I was going to the Manaconda party.”

I sighed. “Bronze party.”

“Whatever. You know people only care about that Manaconda thing.”

It pained me to admit that she was right, but the phenomenon was fairly obvious at this point. I quickly steered her toward an Uber stand and opened the app on my phone.

“Then I was in Starbucks. You know how I like my Macchiato.”

“Everyone does,” I said and collapsed against the stand. Bethany had a post for her daily drink, and even a hashtag. Half her fame was her Starbucks shilling.

She smiled and rubbed her arms. “I forgot my coat at the club.”

“The car will be here in a minute.”

“Cool. Anyway, I went in for my Macchiato and I met Victoria Sheer. Can you believe it?”

My heart sank. “What a coincidence.”

“I know, right? She’s totally a Caffe Luxxe person. At least from what I heard anyway. She might even be their spokeswoman for the fall. Anyway, she was totally in my Starbuckies. We hit it off, spent the day shopping, and I just had to have her come with me to the party tonight.”

“Oh, Bethany.”

“What? We had a blast at the party. She introduced me to Bats—you know Reed Mason. Man, he’s hot. Not as hot as Hunter, but I think he was packing some goods too, you know?”