“Carmen.” Kimmy rolled her eyes. “Yes, I saw that jezebel in the back hallway. Following Yoshi around like a puppy, laughing incessantly at everyone’s jokes, so damn thirsty it’s a miracle she hasn’t passed out from dehydration. Yoshi couldn’t be less interested, by the way. Every time she speaks, he looks like he’s praying for death.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to reassure me.”
“I’d be a fool to believe it didn’t bother you. It would bother any woman. I don’t think I could do it.”
“Yoshi says it’s common in the industry. You know, for the label to fabricate relationships. Carmen just broke up with that English soccer player, so even the European papers are saying Yoshi’s name now, wondering if he’s the reason her last relationship ended.”
“Her last ‘relationship.’” Kimmy put up air quotes. “Do you think it’s a coincidence that the guy she ‘broke up’ with just moved to LA and signed on to play the lead in Spiderman Reloaded? The people who put Carmen in that ‘relationship’ and ended that ‘relationship’ are the same people who are calling the shots for Yoshi right now. They’re smart, they’re powerful, and they know what makes money. Girls like Carmen make money. If you look back on all her ‘relationships,’ you’ll always find her on the arm of an up-and-comer. Then, when that up-and-comer explodes, she’s on to the next one.” She smacked her lips. “That girl wouldn’t know a real relationship if it sat on her. She’s an industry whore. Point. Blank. Period. No man in this city would ever date her seriously.”
“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“And that’s why I only date writers and producers. Just as rich, but there’s nobody in the background pulling their strings like a puppet. Carmen’s been passed around all over town for years. Started when she was sixteen and has been full speed ever since. She can’t get anyone to put a ring on it, especially now that she’s pushing thirty. Yoshi might be her last chance at starting a career of her own—off his back, of course—and I have no doubt she’ll slit anyone’s throat who gets in her way. Watch out for her, okay?”
Aria changed the subject, feeling her stomach getting sick again. “Has Phil played you the bonus track he and Yoshi just finished working on?”
“Just this morning. Fire. Those two are a hell of a team.”
“They are.” Aria nodded. Phillip Gold was a well-known producer/songwriter in Hollywood, responsible for some of the most successful albums of the decade. When Yoshi got the call that he was going to be working exclusively with Phil for his first album, he’d been near tears with excitement. “I still remember the night Yoshi got the call that Phil was in. I’ve never seen him so happy in his life.”
“They’re a beautiful fit, with their goofy asses.” Kimmy laughed.
Aria chortled. “Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of them giggling in the studio. I’m not worried about Carmen. If I’m in danger of losing Yoshi to anyone, it’s Phil.”
“Just look at what they’ve done in six months. Just listen to the beautiful album they’ve recorded. It’s impossible to create something so groundbreaking without deep love in the mix. Honestly, I think most artists and their producers are one drunken night away from a dick in each other’s mouths.”
“Okay, it was funny at first, but now it’s freaking me out,” Aria said. “I could really see Phil stealing my boyfriend. And it’s scaring me. Can we please talk about something else?”
They laughed, bumping each other’s shoulders. Soon, a silence fell between them and Kimmy leaned over, trying to catch Aria’s eye.
“What about you?” Kimmy asked.
“Me?”
“Yeah. Yoshi writes the songs. He sings the songs. He’s living his dream. What’s your dream?”
“What’s yours?” Aria nudged her.
Kimmy smiled proudly. “Fashion. After Phil and I got married, he gave me the money to start my own line. I had him paid back within six months, and then tripled that number by the end of the calendar year.”
Aria shrugged a shoulder. “Yoshi got me a gig on his first tour. Backup singer.”
“Is that your dream?”
“So what if it is?”
“I’d tell you to dream bigger.”
Aria blinked. “I guess I never really thought about it.”
“So often women in relationships with powerful men forget to think about themselves. What they want. What their dreams are.”
Aria lips fell at the corners. “I guess some part of me always wanted what Yoshi has now. My own album. My own fans. My own rise.”
“I knew it from the moment I saw you,” Kimmy said. “So, what’s stopping you?”
“I can’t make it about me right now. Not when it’s about him.”
“I’ve got news for you, girl. It’s never going to stop being about him. And the bigger he gets, the harder it’s going to be for you to break free from the background. If you want to come to the forefront, the time is right now.”
“Seems like Simon Brady is really against that. Yoshi won’t tell me the whole story, because he’s trying to protect my feelings, but I know the reason Simon brought Carmen in is because she’s so damn beautiful, and I’m…” Aria shrugged again. “Well, I’m—”
“A breathtakingly gorgeous African queen. Did I say princess earlier? Retracted, bitch. You are a queen.”
Aria met her eyes, smiling sheepishly.
“And you deserve your bliss just as much as he does.”
“One day…” Aria whispered.
“Or… To-day. Today.” Kimmy paused, appearing frustrated. “You know you’ve got fans on Instagram, right? You and Yoshi? They call you guys Yaria.”
“I know. We’ve been deeply amused by them for the last five years. They’re very passionate.”
“They’ve already got this fake shit with Carmen completely figured out.”
“They should really go out for the CIA. Their investigative skills are simply unrivaled.”
“They see what I see,” Kimmy said, pulling up Instagram and showing her the ‘Yaria’ feed. “That boy loves you more than he loves himself, and his fans can see it. Carmen has always been Simon’s hole in one, but he’s making a mistake this time. Yoshi’s moving mountains because you are by his side, and the public knows it. They know Yoshi will never move those kinds of mountains for a caricature like Carmen, but Simon Brady is too fucking stupid to see that. All he sees are dollar signs and he thinks industry whores are the only way there.” She let her phone-clad wrist go slack, shooting Aria a look. “You know what? You’re having lunch with me tomorrow.”
“I am?”
“It’s done.”
“It is?” Aria giggled.
“You’re just such a wide-eyed angel. I have so much to teach you, and since I can’t slap some sense into you without being arrested, I’m just going to have to take you under my wing instead.” Kimmy snaked their arms together just as the low lights of the club dimmed even more, a spotlight illuminating the host onstage.
The moment the host announced Yoshi’s name, the room roared with applause. When he stepped onto the stage, the cheers grew deafening, forcing Aria to cover her ears, squinting against the painful ringing, all the while laughing.
Carmen stepped onstage behind Yoshi and came to a stop beside him, snaking her arm around his waist with a beaming smile on her face.
Yoshi’s arm went around her shoulder as he accepted the microphone from the host.
As he went on to thank everyone who bought the album, his label, and his fans, his eyes rose to the staircase, and somehow, through the thick crowd of adoring fans and industry powerhouses, his eyes locked with hers. He smiled at her just as Carmen took his jaw, turned his head, and kissed him square on the mouth.
Yoshi yanked his head away instantly, and his eyes shot back to Aria as the crowd screamed with applause at the kiss. He faltered and then his eyes searched the room. He seemed to realize he still had a job to do, because he co
ntinued his speech with a wobbly voice.
Aria rolled her eyes the moment they filled with tears, trying to hold her breath to stop them from multiplying and boiling over.
It didn’t work.
Feeling Kimmy’s eyes searing into her, and her hand massaging her back, only made the fire roaring in Aria’s gut burn ten times hotter, until she couldn’t take it anymore. She turned and raced down the stairs, shouldering her way through the crowd, which had grown thick even on the staircase.
She heard Yoshi’s voice break the moment she broke their eye contact, heard him hesitate in the middle of his speech as she bounded down the stairs, and heard the way it had changed when he spoke again.
He continued going down his list of thanks, and she raced towards the bathroom near tears.
She waited for the one thing that would dry her eyes in an instant.
She waited for him to say her name.
By the time she’d gotten to the women’s restroom, and he still hadn’t said it, the tears were flowing freely, and as the bathroom door swung closed behind her, a sob left her lips.
The young, scantily clad girls leaning over the bathroom sink and freshening their makeup in the mirror all snapped their eyes to her. One particularly young-looking girl with stick-straight blonde hair that touched her ass gasped at the sight of her.
“Oh, my god, what’s wrong?” she begged, her high valley-girl voice catching the attention of everyone else in the bathroom. Soon, all eyes were on Aria.
Aria slapped the tears from her face, trying to breathe, and when she felt an arm coming around her waist from behind, she knew it was Kimmy.
“Come on,” Kimmy said. “There’s a more private bathroom in the back hallway.”
--
Licking his teeth, Yoshi stomped through the nightclub’s back hallway, hearing three pairs of shoes chasing after him, including the click of the heels that had sent him flying off the stage before he’d even finished his speech. In the distance, the first song on his album blasted through the club, pounding dully on the walls of the service hall. It was the song he’d been set to sing live before Carmen had pulled that stunt onstage.
He zigzagged through maze-like halls, jaw tight, ignoring the curious eyes of the club’s employees, security guards, and administration. Some of the workers milling through had to press their bodies against the wall to get out of Yoshi’s path, lest they be run down in his blazing trek to the back.
A hand clutched his arm from behind, and he snatched it away.
Coming to a stop in front of the next security guard he saw, a burly black man standing with his hands behind his back, manning one of the many doors that led back out into the nightclub, Yoshi tried to keep his voice level, motioning to his left eye. “A dark-skinned girl with an eye patch?”
The security guard pointed down another hallway—the club seemed to have a million of them. Yoshi followed the direction of his finger without a word, huffing as he ran a hand over his downturned lips.
“You should be out onstage performing right now,” Simon said, taking Yoshi’s arm again.
Yoshi yanked it away and came to a complete stop, facing Simon, Carmen, and Gus. All three of them barreled to a stop behind him, and Yoshi pointed a finger at Carmen first.
“That wasn’t what we talked about,” he said.
“Yoshi, this is business.” Simon pressed his thumb and forefinger together, speaking as if he were communicating with an infant. “Of course Carmen kissed you. She has to keep up appearances. She’s doing her job. You need to get out there and do yours.”
“Not until I speak to Aria. And if you want me onstage tonight, at all, let me make one thing really clear. Disrespecting her won’t fly. Period.”
“Yoshi.” Carmen stepped in front of Simon, who was laughing under his breath. She took both of his arms.
Yoshi reared back from that too.
She swallowed, facing Simon and Gus. “Can you give us a minute, please?”
Simon and Gus looked at Carmen in disbelief. Then Yoshi. Then each other. Gus was the first to break, turning and making his way towards the door of the club.
“You’ve got five minutes to get your head right and get back onstage. We’ve spent way too much money on you for this kind of bullshit, Yoshi. Just because you’ve sold a few albums doesn’t mean you’re in charge. One phone call from me, and this all ends—” Simon snapped a finger “—like that.” He pointed at him. “Don’t you ever forget that.”
Gus took Simon’s arm as he snatched at his suit jacket, which had gotten rumpled in his haste to follow Yoshi offstage. Gus pulled him away. After they’d re-entered the club through the side door, throwing Yoshi one last heated look, Carmen turned to face him again.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her green eyes searching his.
Yoshi kept his eyes on the bare walls of the service hallway, licking his teeth.
“I really was just trying to keep up appearances. Make it seem more real. I’d assumed that you and Aria had already discussed our arrangement.”
“We didn’t discuss your tongue in my mouth.” Yoshi met her eyes, nearly breathing fire as he motioned between them. “Because we never discussed your tongue in my mouth. Where the hell did that come from, Carmen?”
“Look. Every other man I’ve been involved in these kinds of relationships with wanted me to make it look as real as possible. Touching. Kissing. Sometimes even fucking, if they wanted. The last one even moved me into his house. He proposed to me. He introduced me to his family. He met my family. None of it was real. But damn if our faces aren’t on the cover of every newspaper in Europe right now, and yours too, because the public is so heartbroken by our breakup. Because we were so perfect for each other.” She exaggerated every other word with goofy faces and a bent spine. Then, she straightened, fixing her face. “All fake. Fake, fake, fake. Yoshi, this is business, and if your girlfriend is already crying off one kiss?” Her eyes went wide. “Holy shit, she’s never going to make it. She is never going to make it in this town. They will simply eat her alive.”
Yoshi licked his lips, motioning to his heart. “Every other guy might’ve enjoyed you, and all the perks that come along with you. But I’m taken, Carmen. I’m in lo—” He couldn’t even finish, his body jolting in shock at the words that had nearly left his mouth.
Carmen’s eyes searched his, going darker. “If Aria doesn’t understand this industry now, she never will. Those tears in her eyes are going to end your career before it begins. I’ve seen it a million times. She will never understand. She will always be standing in your way.”
A silence fell between them.
Yoshi blinked, his eyes softening. He licked his lips, unable to stop his gaze from falling to her heaving chest.
Carmen nodded towards the door of the club where Gus and Simon had just disappeared.
“Now, are you going to get back out on that stage where hundreds of people are waiting to hear you live?” she asked. “Are you going to do what you need to do to be the star you were born to be?”
She reached down and took his hand, tightening her fingers around his.
Yoshi looked down at their hands, swallowed thickly, and then lifted his eyes to hers.
--
“I feel like such an idiot. He told me not to let it upset me tonight. I promised I wouldn’t get upset. I think I even believed it, but when she kissed him out there….”
“She went over the line, and she knows it. Did you see her checking for you the second after she kissed him? That was a plan and it was for your eyes only,” Kimmy whispered, standing between Aria’s splayed legs from where she was hunched over on the counter of the employee bathroom. She blotted the damp tissue rolled around her fingers against Aria’s cheek, dabbing away the black mascara that had run with her tears. “In theory, a P.R. relationship seems like it should be easy to stomach, but it’s the farthest thing from it. Seeing another woman touching your man, kissing him, is not easy. It never will be. Only
the toughest-skinned women can take it. You’re an artist, my love, and that means you’ll never have the skin for some bullshit like that. Yoshi knows it too. That’s why he warned you.”
“I can’t believe I’m one of those girls crying in the bathroom of a club over some guy.”
Kimmy smiled gently, still blotting her cheeks. When she reached the bottom of Aria’s eye patch, where mascara had caked between her cheek and the rim, she hesitated.
Aria finished the job Kimmy was too uncomfortable to do, pulling the eye patch over her head completely.
Kimmy’s dark brown eyes danced back and forth between Aria’s, and a slow smile spread on her lips.
“Oh, love, you really have no idea…” She cupped Aria’s jaw.
Aria watched Kimmy taking in her blue eye, but didn’t shift. “No idea about what?”
Kimmy squeezed her cheeks. “You’re a star.”
At that, Aria laughed boisterously. And in an instant, her tears were dry.
“I’m dead serious.” Kimmy beamed, even as she laughed with Aria, continuing to clean up her face until all traces of her mascara were gone. As Aria re-donned her eye patch, Kimmy stepped back and pressed her fists to her hips. “I’m calling it, right here tonight, in this employee restroom… You, Aria, are a fucking star. Yoshi who?”
Aria snatched up her clutch, which Yoshi had also bought for her, bedazzled with metal spikes just like her eye patch, and let Kimmy sling an arm around her waist once she’d jumped down from the counter.
A moment after Kimmy swung open the door to the bathroom, about to step out into the hallway when she stopped dead in her tracks.
Leaning on the opposite wall with his hands shoved deep into the pocket of his jeans, Yoshi looked up. His pained eyes immediately locked onto Aria’s over Kimmy’s shoulder.
Kimmy lingered in the doorway, looking over her shoulder at Aria. “I’m going back into the club. Holler if you need me.”
Encore (Stereo Hearts Book 2) Page 10
