by Raine Thomas
He still couldn’t believe Lily Montgomery had been the one to arrange decorating the suite for Katie. He only knew her from what he’d seen portrayed on the drama-filled House of Archer and in the media. The woman he’d met earlier wasn’t anything like what he’d seen on television. He’d always suspected Reality TV wasn’t actually real. This just proved it.
After the concert, E.J. came into the suite. “I hope you enjoyed the show,” he said to the group. “I’m going to have you hang out here for about thirty more minutes until the stadium empties some. We’ll head to the after-party soon.”
“After-party?” Will echoed as E.J. stepped back outside. Looking at Cole, he said, “Didn’t you call it a meet-n-greet?”
Cole shrugged and said, “I don’t know any more than you do.”
“This is where we’ll be calling it a night,” Ruby said. Behind her, Jerry held Makayla as she slept. “This child could sleep through an earthquake once she finally passes out. Thanks so much for inviting us, Will.”
“And for getting these dope seats, Cole,” Jerry tacked on.
“Of course,” Will said as Cole answered, “Sure thing.”
Gareth and Althea also gathered their things to go. “Althea has to be up early for her volunteer work,” he explained to Will, “but this has been quite an experience. We can’t thank you enough for inviting us.”
“That’s my cue, too,” Frank said. “They’re my ride and I’ve got to be on site at six o’clock in the morning.”
“You sure?” Will said. “You could always ride back with us in the charter.”
“Nah. We’ll leave the late-night partying with rock stars to you younger folks.”
Gareth and Althea chuckled as they all headed out.
As promised, E.J. returned thirty minutes later. He guided them through the venue to an area most people probably never saw. It reminded Will of the walk through the stadium to the clubhouse at the ballpark. The increasing sound of thumping music told him where they were headed. E.J. approached a set of double doors and opened the one on the right.
“Have fun,” he told them.
Because Katie was once again holding Jasmine’s hand, Will paused to let them enter first. The sight of them smiling and walking hand-in-hand once again brought the moment to mind where she’d firmly denied being Katie’s mother.
What would she think if she knew he desperately wanted that very thing?
He followed them into the room. It was set up like an intimate lounge with seating for about thirty people. Servers wearing all black stood against a wall near a nondescript door that he assumed led to a kitchen or bar. The music filling the room seemed to be piped in via a sound system. So far, they were the only ones there.
Belatedly, he questioned the wisdom of bringing Katie to this thing. He had thought it would be the proverbial icing on her birthday cake to meet the band, but he wasn’t sure what rock stars did at these kinds of things. Would The Void’s members all be drunk or high or on their way toward getting into those conditions? Would they do anything else a five—make that almost six-year-old—shouldn’t see? There was still time to pull the plug, as she didn’t know what was about to happen.
One look at the excitement radiating from her adorable face told him they had to stick around.
Over the next ten minutes, about fifteen more people arrived. Even then, the group was a lot smaller than Will pictured for an after-party. Maybe E.J. had mislabeled the event.
Katie soon got bored. Jasmine waved at the square carpeted section among the various sofas, loveseats, and padded chairs and encouraged her to dance to get her energy out. Katie kicked off her shoes and moved into the square. After a moment where she listened to the beat of the song, she started to dance.
“Where did she learn that?” Will asked Jasmine from his spot beside her on a loveseat.
She smiled. “We’ve practiced it sometimes after ballet when you’re not around. Since she watches The Void’s videos so often, I thought she’d get a kick out of it.”
Katie wasn’t performing ballet. She was pulling off some astonishing hip-hop moves.
Jasmine pulled up her phone’s camera and started recording a video. That was how she happened to capture the moment when The Void walked into the room.
First came a couple of the serious types in suits who had to be bodyguards. Then the five band members, Lily, and two other females he recognized from House of Archer strode into the room behind them. They all fanned out, most of them approaching the other party guests who happened to be closer to where they entered. Katie, who was facing Will, was unaware of what was happening.
He watched as Archer caught sight of Katie. The tattooed rock star tilted his head as though processing what he was seeing. Then he grinned.
No wonder Katie wanted to marry the guy, Will found himself thinking.
He wore a pair of black denim pants with leather accents and a series of horizontal zippers along the sides, a plain black T-shirt, and black high-top sneakers. Despite the simple, monochromatic style, he somehow compelled everyone’s gaze to follow him as he moved closer to Katie. He paused a few feet away from her and placed his hands on his hips.
“Hey, are you stealing my moves?” he asked.
She stopped and spun around. Her head tilted back. When she saw who was in front of her, her eyes popped wide and both of her hands flew to her mouth.
He lowered into a squat and gave her one of his famed dimpled smiles. “I’m Archer. You must be Katie.”
She nodded. Her hands didn’t move from her face. Will thought she might start hyperventilating.
“I like your shirt,” Archer said, indicating The Void T-shirt Jasmine had given her.
Katie instinctively made the sign for thank you. Will got to his feet so he could interpret.
Then Archer responded in ASL, You sign?
She nodded.
How do you dance so well if you can’t hear the music?
She looked at Will. He moved forward.
“Hi. I’m Katie’s dad, Will Campbell.”
Archer rose from his crouch and reached out to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you. You’ve got a talented little girl.”
Will wanted to look back at Jasmine and shout, “Did you hear what Archer just said to me?” But he somehow kept his cool and instead said, “Thanks. Katie can hear the music. She just prefers signing over speaking.”
“Ah. Okay.” Looking back at her, Archer asked, “You want to dance with me?”
She gave him a bright smile and a nod.
“Do you have a favorite song?”
When she once again looked at Will, he answered, “‘Welcome to Wonderland.’”
Archer grinned and winked at her. “I should have known that was your favorite based on the dancing.”
He turned to say something to the suit standing behind him that Will couldn’t hear over the music. The suit said something into his sleeve, making Will think of the Secret Service.
Seriously, could this guy get any more badass?
A minute later, the opening strains of “Welcome to Wonderland” started playing. Katie jumped a little with an ecstatic expression on her face. Archer moved into position a few feet from her. Will stepped back to give them more room.
“Ready?” Archer asked her. “The same routine you were dancing from the video. I’ll count it off with the beat and we’ll start on three.”
She nodded.
“One, two, three.”
It was truly something to behold. Every camera in the room was focused on Katie as she matched Archer move for move. They performed the routine flawlessly like they had rehearsed it a hundred times. When they were done, they faced each other. Archer lifted his hand and Katie jumped to give him a solid high-five.
My daughter is way cooler than I am, Will instantly decided.
“That was the most fun I’ve had all day,” Archer told her. “Why don’t you bring me over to meet the rest of your friends?”
Their
dance proved to be a highlight for everyone. As the party went on, Katie stuck by Archer’s side and made her way around the room as he greeted the remaining fans and signed autographs. She also got to meet the other band members and get photos with them using Will’s phone. They all treated her like a VIP.
The band took photos with Will and everyone in their group too. They all exchanged autographs. It flattered Will that The Void members had brought along some Atlanta memorabilia for them to sign.
It was hands-down one of the most awesome moments of his life.
He carried the high of the evening with him to the pickup spot for the chartered car after the party, just as he carried Katie. She fell asleep while curled up against him on the sofa as they conversed with the band.
“I don’t think Katie will ever forget this evening,” Jasmine said after they climbed into the car and were on the way back home.
“Definitely not, especially since it could be all over YouTube by morning.”
Lily had been the one to prepare Will for that eventuality. As the band’s social media director, she had promised not to air anything featuring Katie if he didn’t want it. Since several of the party guests were filming with their phones, however, it was unlikely the content wouldn’t be released at all. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Hopefully no one in the room had a particularly successful YouTube channel.
“That dance was the best part of the night,” Jasmine said.
She reached over with a soft smile and brushed aside a lock of Katie’s hair that had fallen in front of her face. It stirred that desperate wish inside him.
“You’re so good with her,” he murmured.
Her gaze moved to him. “Katie’s an excellent student. She makes it easy for me. You’ve done such a great job with her, Will.”
It bothered him that she continued to classify herself as Katie’s teacher. Yes, it was an accurate description of her relationship with his daughter, but he was no longer happy with that. If he wanted that to change, he had to do more than just accept it.
“You know,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound as nervous as he felt, “this evening got me thinking about things. About us.”
“You mean you and Katie?”
“And you.”
Her lips briefly pressed together. “Are you talking about Lily asking if I was Katie’s mother?”
She was clearly uncomfortable. It appeared he hadn’t been imagining her earlier reaction. A sour feeling crept into his gut.
“In part,” he said.
She issued a deep sigh. “I figured that might come up.” Looking back down at Katie, she continued, “Look, this is a sensitive subject. I really don’t think now’s the right time to get into it.”
The feeling in his gut instantly turned bitter. “You have an audition coming up, don’t you?” he guessed.
Her eyebrows drew together. “Yes. In a few days.”
This wasn’t the first time he’d dropped hints that he’d like to discuss taking their relationship to the next level over the past few weeks. Each time, she circled back to needing to focus on her career.
Knowing she was once again putting him off for that purpose cut deep. Her response to the question about being Katie’s mother dumped salt right into the already agonizing wound. It had him speaking from temper rather than his heart.
“If you don’t want to discuss this until it’s convenient for you, Jasmine, that’s fine,” he said. “But you need to ask yourself what’s really important before all you end up with is a series of failed auditions and years of regret.”
He watched the words strike her like verbal punches and immediately wished he could take them back. He knew when her expression cleared and her chin lifted that he’d made a serious mistake.
“It’s funny you should say that, Will,” she responded in a tone so cold it spread like ice through his chest. “Because right now, there’s little I regret more than getting involved with you.”
“Jasmine, I’m sorry. I—”
“No. I said it wasn’t the time to discuss this. Unless you want to destroy anything that might be left between us, you’ll stop talking right now.”
With no other choice, he suffered through the rest of the ride in silence, wondering how he’d ever convince her now that he was irrevocably in love with her.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Let me get this straight,” Alima said. “This is you.”
She pointed at the still image on her phone where Jasmine’s silhouette was barely visible.
“Yep,” Jasmine said.
“And you’ve been teaching this little girl ballet.”
Now she pointed at Katie, who had frozen while high-fiving Archer when Alima paused the YouTube video.
“Yep.”
One of the other dancers sitting around the table at Steamy Beans with her said, “And you’re dating that guy, who’s a professional baseball player?”
The dancer, Wendy, pointed at Will’s image where he stood watching his daughter in the background. The word “dating” caused a sharp pain in Jasmine’s chest…the same one she’d been experiencing since the terrible words they’d exchanged the last time they’d been together.
“Yeah,” she said.
Although she had attended a couple of previous gatherings with Alima and her dancer friends over the past few weeks and she found them all wonderful, she didn’t see any need to go into her relationship drama. They’d only had a glass of wine each so far. Digging into her complicated romantic situation required at least a bottle.
Or maybe a round of tequila shots.
“I hate you,” Alima deadpanned.
The other five women at the table laughed with Jasmine. Alima grinned.
“You seriously met Archer?” another dancer, Miriam, asked. “The Archer?”
“Yep.” Though she still had a little trouble believing that herself.
“What was he like?” asked the youngest one in their group, Chelsea.
“He was really nice.”
“And hot.” Alima stated it like it was a fact.
“So hot,” Jasmine admitted, having the other females sighing and laughing.
Alima tapped her phone and scrolled the video back to its beginning to replay it. “I’ve watched this at least ten times. It’s already one of my all-time faves.”
Apparently tens of millions of other people felt the same way. The video had only been live for about three days and it had already broken records for the number of views.
Jasmine worried how this might impact Katie and Will. Within the first hour of the video’s posting, viewers mentioned Will’s name in the comments. She knew he had a strong fan base as a professional athlete, but the speed of the identification still amazed her. How easy would it be for people to find out where he lived? What if those people went to their house? Could this potentially cause Katie to regress?
“You’ve got to tell us how this all came about,” Wendy said. “What’s your boyfriend’s name?”
Not the time, she told herself when her brain tried to snark that Will wasn’t her boyfriend.
“Will Campbell.”
“How’d you two meet?” Chelsea wanted to know.
Jasmine indulged them with a few minutes of talking about how she and Will met and how he later asked her about teaching Katie ballet. She related how they had gone to the charity event together as friends and things had clicked from there.
She didn’t say how quickly and fiercely the passion had ignited between them.
She didn’t mention how strong the bond had formed between her and Katie from the moment their gazes first met in the mirror, nor how deeply she’d come to care for the little girl with the sweet temperament and courageous spirit.
She didn’t tell them how Will, Katie, and Frank had become like a second family to her since they entered her life five months ago.
She didn’t admit how attached she’d become to all of them, and how empty a future without them felt to her now.
And she most certainly didn’t reveal how devastated she’d been to know Will didn’t believe she’d achieve her dancing dreams either.
Although she glossed over the details, her new friends hung onto her every word.
“That’s so romantic,” Wendy breathed.
“Did you teach Katie the routine in the video?” Miriam asked.
“Yep,” Jasmine replied. “We haven’t practiced it in weeks though. She picked it up quickly and retained it. That dance with Archer wasn’t rehearsed at all.”
Alima’s eyebrows winged up. “Wow. That girl has some mad skills.”
“She sure does.” Jasmine sipped her wine. “Now enough about me for now. Diana, what happened on your date with Cory?”
Taking the hint, the other dancers were polite enough to change the subject. She appreciated them doing so, especially because it had to be hard to resist plying her with questions. She was sure if their positions were reversed, she’d feel the same way. It wasn’t every day one met a person who knew and hung out with actual celebrities.
It had been such a blessing meeting Alima at that audition. Jasmine had struck up conversations with her at a couple of other auditions after that, and Alima had invited her out for coffee. The next time, it had been lunch. Over the past month, they had sat together and talked for hours.
Jasmine learned that Alima’s family was originally from western India. Her father was a politician of some distinction, and it had been his job that initially brought them to America. Alima was an only child who had been showered with everything she ever wanted or needed. She hadn’t understood how much that impacted her until high school, where she met Wendy. Because Wendy was also a dancer, the two girls had bonded their freshman year. Wendy had been raised in a much different household, however, and had attended Alima’s private school on a scholarship. Their time together opened Alima’s eyes to how spoiled and entitled she’d been throughout her life.
That caused friction in her family life. Her efforts to become more grounded and get more involved in the community were seen as teenage rebellion. Her parents had even discussed sending her back to India to stay with relatives there. She’d had to resort to keeping her personal beliefs to herself.
