Luggage and rental car collected, Mandy navigated the Atlanta streets with ease. Even though Sophia had been to the city multiple times, Mandy knew the routes well as she’d attended college there.
Summer had arrived to the Georgia capital. The air was heavy with humidity and the heat was barely tolerable in the late afternoon. The interstate was heavy with traffic as they headed to a hotel near the horse park just east of the city.
“I love this town,” Mandy said, opening the sunroof. “I love the heat, the humidity and the traffic.”
“You’re weird,” Sophia replied, laughing. “Please don’t kill us.” She gripped the door handle just as a car cut them off. “I think these people drive crazy.”
Mandy didn’t seem to mind the rude drivers one bit as she weaved and sped to their destination. It was easy to see she felt at home in Atlanta.
“How’s the drummer, by the way? Is he playing tomorrow night?” Mandy glanced in her direction.
Sophia shook her head. “No, he’s still in pretty bad shape. From what I hear, he’s back in Illinois recovering.”
“Dang.”
“Yeah. They have a substitute I suppose.”
Mandy hit her knee with her palm. “I forgot to tell you. We have backstage passes tomorrow. I get to meet them.” She squealed with delight, oblivious to Sophia’s wide-eyed stare out the window.
Oh no. The last thing she wanted was to be face-to-face with Chad. She’d never told Mandy about the hospital visit, much less about the kiss.
“You have to go with me. It’s for both of us to get a few shots before the commercial airs so we can do some promo in case we do any work with Chad Hunter in the future. I know he threw up on you and stuff, but I figure it’s been long enough that one meeting shouldn’t be too awkward.”
Mandy continued her chatting, unaware of Sophia’s wildly beating heart.
Chapter 5
The booms of the drum vibrated over the outdoor space. In blue jeans, a tight plaid shirt and cowboy boots, Sophia couldn’t help but join with the crowd. She danced in time with the fast beats of the music.
Center stage, Chad didn’t just have the attention of the entire arena, he commanded over it. He sang into the microphone. His guitar, like an extension of his body, swayed along with the music. The richness of his voice drew her to lean forward as the music slowed.
“Wow, he’s amazing,” Mandy screamed into her ear. “This is awesome.” Her friend held both arms in the air and swayed as she sang along.
In spite of trepidation as to how any interaction would be after the concert, Sophia began singing along with her friend.
A guy with a mop of unruly hair and a wrinkled shirt escorted them backstage almost two hours later. Sophia couldn’t imagine how Chad, or anyone from his band, could possibly have any energy left to greet fans, much less be interviewed.
Mandy and the group of people they joined didn’t seem to have any such reservations. Everyone screamed more than talked as their ears were still ringing from the loud music.
Sophia moved toward the wall and watched as a pair of women took pictures of themselves and the surrounding area. Another guy pretended to talk with someone on the phone while recording, since they’d been warned no filming was allowed.
The same wrinkled-shirt guy approached and the phone guy spoke louder. “Yes, right. Let me get back to you in a bit.” So far he’d gotten shots of dark scaffolding and a group of loud people talking over each other. What a waste of time.
“Here we go,” Mandy grabbed her arm. “This is so exciting. Well, maybe not for you since you’ve already met him and all.”
Not wanting to be a stick in the mud, Sophia laughed. “I’d never seen him perform. And I’ve never met a famous person backstage, either.”
Mandy hopped up and down, too excited to remain still for long while Sophia’s stomach flipped, butterflies taking flight when she caught sight of Chad.
With a wide smile, he waved at the group and sauntered over to greet them.
Immediately, people vying for his attention surrounded him. No matter how much the wrinkled-shirt guy tried to get everyone in a line, they ignored him. Somehow, Mandy managed to stand next to Chad as he signed whatever paraphernalia was shoved at him. He patiently answered questions and posed for pictures. Each time, his expression indicated he was having the time of his life.
A woman squealed with glee and wrapped her arms around his waist as their picture was taken. She tried to pull him down for a kiss and he good-naturedly shook his head. “Tryin’ to get me in trouble?” His gaze pinned Sophia. “My girl could be watchin’.”
The woman pouted, but recovered when he motioned the wrinkled-shirt guy over with a t-shirt, which he gifted to the, once again, squealing lady.
Finally, everyone was guided to where they’d be escorted out. When Sophia and Mandy joined the group, the wrinkled-shirt guy frowned. “Chad said you two should remain here.”
Mandy shrugged and looked back to where Chad had been. “He’s not around. What do you think we’re staying back for?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it has to do with Brant Montgomery. I think he’s here somewhere.”
They were escorted to a tour bus. Brant Montgomery and Chad were inside the bus, as well as their boss, Don.
“Gentlemen,” Don said motioning between the women and the men. “These nice ladies are my right hand women. Sophia is in charge of marketing and promotion, and Amanda handles all the filming crew scheduling.”
“Nice to see y’all,” Brant said in a Texas drawl and shook their hands. “Looking forward to working together for the next few days.”
He turned to Chad. “I suppose you already met my buddy here. He did me a big favor by performing today for the rodeo fans.”
Ensuring composure Sophia looked to Chad. “It was a great performance. We enjoyed it tremendously.”
“It was amazing. I’m a big fan,” Mandy pushed past Sophia holding out her hand to Chad. “It’s amazing to meet you. This is all so...”
“Amazing?” Chad said, laughing and nudged Mandy with his shoulder when she blushed.
In full fangirl mode, her friend faced Brant. “My husband is so excited about us working with you, he’s flying down to Atlanta for a day. I hope, if it’s not too much trouble, for him to meet you.”
The conversation flowed around Sophia, but she was not part of it. Laughter was followed by drinks being poured and one handed to her. Yet while everyone spoke and exchanged quips, Sophia was happy to remain marginalized.
Chad did not try to engage her and draw her in. Mandy seemed to think that by asking her questions only requiring a one word answer, she was including her. Don, her boss, spent most of the time trying to learn what bull riding consisted of and the training required.
Other than cursory glances in her directions during conversations, Chad kept his distance. Somehow, he wasn’t aloof. However, he maintained a professional distance between them that was tangible. At one point, they stood next to each other and he stayed facing forward, never turning to her other than when necessary.
It was good. The annoying pang in her chest meant nothing. If anything, his actions this day reinforced her previous assumption that the kiss between them was nothing more than a thank you. It didn’t mean anything.
“Hello?” Mandy’s voice permeated. “You sleeping standing up?” Her friend nudged her. “We better call it a night.”
Embarrassed at being caught daydreaming, Sophia nodded. “Yes, we have an early day tomorrow.” She stuck her hand out to Brant. “See you at the set.”
“That right,” Don interjected looking at them. “I need you to scout out the lake house. We’re filming there.”
“You changed locations?” Sophia and Mandy said in unison.
Sophia gave Don a pointed look. “Has the crew been informed?”
Looking properly chastised, her boss shook his head. “Not yet. Mandy will you let them know. I will email you the information before I cra
sh.”
Brant laughed. “I hope you don’t mind. I thought it would make things easier. The place is huge. Plenty of rooms and a private lake shore for filming.”
“Rooms?” Sophia looked to Don. “Who’s staying there?”
“You, Amanda and I,” Don said, then chuckled. “Not together, of course. The wife wouldn’t approve.” Don looked to Brant. “It’s great of you to offer. Not often one gets the opportunity to hang out at an exclusive lake and golf resort. Right, Sophia?”
It was then she noticed the interest in Brant’s expression.
Great.
Just wonderful.
Chapter 6
He didn’t like it one bit. Not only was Sophia now staying at the lake house, but also Brant Montgomery was definitely interested in her.
“I’m driving down early in the morning,” Brant said. “You?” He looked to Chad who wasn’t sure what to say. Cancelling now, in front of a group, would look bad. Tom was looking forward to it.
Tom interjected on his behalf. “We won’t be there until late. Probably won’t head out until late morning.
“Not a problem,” Brant replied with a wide grin. “It’s gonna be great. Love having a houseful.”
It had been a while since Chad had taken time off other than at his ranch. He wondered if Charlene could be convinced to come down and join him. The more buffers against him making a fool out of himself by chasing after Sophia, the better.
Any kind of competition to get her attention would only end in him losing as she’d already made it abundantly clear there was no interest on her part.
“Yeah, I better crash, too,” he mumbled. “See everyone tomorrow.”
A chorus of goodbyes behind him, he left, only to find himself outside alone with Sophia.
She shrugged. “Mandy had to use the bathroom.”
“You don’t seem too happy about the new arrangements.” Now, why had he spouted the stupid sentence? No filter...what an idiot.
“I think Mandy and Joe, her husband, will love it.”
“So you’re disappointed?”
“Nah, but I may have to kick Don out of his room when Joe gets here.” Sophia giggled. The musical sound made him smile.
“Woman can be very scary.”
She looked past him. “Life is pretty scary, if you ask me. Never know what happens next.”
Her turning away followed the cryptic statement. “What is keeping Mandy?”
“Have a good night. I suppose I’ll see you around.”
When she looked at him, there was something akin to fear in her eyes.
“Good night.”
Her friend came out and they walked toward the parking lot.
What kept Sophia Ortiz in the shadows? It had not escaped his notice how she managed to remain on the sidelines. Both at the meet and greet and now at Brant’s bus. Although she was in the room, she had a way of being just out of touch, as if wishing to blend into the background. Through what he assumed was experience, she was good at it, too. It had taken him several minutes to even realize she was at the backstage event. Standing next to a wall partially behind taller people, she’d been hard to spot.
He huffed at the entire idea. The woman was breathtakingly beautiful. No matter what she did, only a blind person would miss her.
The next day was eventful. Between packing up the equipment and ensuring to get everyone set to go to their destinations, it took longer than expected to get on the road.
The band returned to Nashville on the tour buses. Chad and Tom picked up a rental car.
“Everyone talks about this place called The Flying Biscuit. I hear the food is awesome,” Tom suggested, leaning forward with his eyebrows raised. “I’m starving.”
“What the heck. We’re already running later than planned. May as well.”
Thirty minutes later, they were seated in the eclectic restaurant. Thankfully, no one seemed to care much for either country music or whether one was a celebrity or not. The atmosphere suited Chad just fine as it wasn’t often he could relax in public and enjoy a great meal.
The rodeo had been entertaining and, despite his reservations as to what would happened at Lake Lanier, he looked forward to seeing water and relaxing. Although he didn’t know Don, Sophia’s boss, well, he liked him. Don had already contacted him to say he was in touch with Charley regarding an ad campaign. Business was great and Chad planned to take full advantage while he was still popular. When the day came to retire from performing, he could without worrying about debt or any kind of crazy bad habits. So far things were good on both fronts.
“Hey!” Tom pointed at his cell phone. “You see the big stink on social media about our meet and greet?”
“What about it?” Chad reached for his own phone. “Bad?”
“For some reason, a reporter is making a big deal out of the incident with the chick you refused to kiss at the back stage meet and greet. The TV idiots are making a big deal about it. Saying your girlfriend was there and is jealous of your fans. So now everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon trying to figure out who your girlfriend is.” Tom laughed. “I guess it’s not bad publicity, but if they decide it’s Sophia, it could make things a bit awkward.”
Chad frowned at the display. “Ya think?”
Sure enough, the first post he found was of someone taking a video. It showed him pulling back from the woman and saying, “You’re going to get me in trouble.”
The video then panned the group, hesitating on Sophia who stood back away from the rest of the fans. Whoever took the video wrote that the dark-haired beauty had remained back with her friend.
“Shit,” he muttered. “Hopefully, they won’t figure out who she is.”
“Yeah. They probably won’t. Since you and her aren’t gonna date, there’s little chance they’ll find her. The problem is that the captions all over are saying you’re an asshole to your fans.”
Chad leaned back and closed his eyes. “Everyone who knows me, knows I go above and beyond what most singers do. Hopefully, like other rumors, this will blow over fast.”
The cell in his hand rang and he answered it to a fast talking Charley. He put the phone on speaker so Tom could hear.
“What happened? Did you really say that? We’re going to have to do damage control. I’m sorry, I know you want time off, but I’ll be setting up a fan party in Atlanta. Maybe fifty people. You play a couple songs...”
“Ah, come on,” Chad snapped. “Give it a day or two. It will blow over.”
“I don’t want to take the chance it won’t. What if it blows up bigger? People will start finding pictures and making up things.”
Tom’s mouth fell open. “Oh man, looks like one is already up. The picture of you goofing around with a fan with your arms out is captioned ‘singer has a history of dissing fans’.”
“What?” Chad grabbed Tom’s phone. “This is crazy.”
“Told you,” Charley quipped. “Plan to be available. I’ll call you back in a few with details.”
“Oh no.” Mandy moved her cell phone closer and stared at the display. “Oh boy.”
Dread tightened in her gut and Sophia pretended not to hear. If she didn’t ask then Mandy would keep whatever the bad news was to herself. But what kind of friend was she if whatever happened pertained to Mandy? By her friend’s silence, whatever it was seemed bad.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Sophia kept her eyes on the road, signaled and guided the rental car into the right lane slowing just enough. “Should I pull out at the next exit?”
Mandy shrugged. “It could be nothing. You have to look at this, so yeah. You should pull over.”
In silence, she drove another mile to the exit and took it. The first thing on the right was a large gas station, so she pulled in and parked.
“Okay, show me whatever it is.”
Mandy pressed the screen on her phone and passed it to Sophia. It was a video for the meet and greet. The caption underneath was “Chad Hunter’s mystery girlfriend j
ealous of fans”. The video captured the exchange between Chad and the woman who’d tried to kiss him. It was perfectly audible when he said, “You’re gonna get me in trouble”, and then whoever took the video focused on her before ending.
“Oh my God,” Sophia exclaimed taking a shaky breath. “What the hell is that all about? I knew it. I should have turned that guy in. I saw him filming.”
“You did?” Mandy gawked at her. “Why didn’t you say something to him?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think it would hurt for him to do it. Now, I could kick myself.”
Mandy nodded. “He was probably paparazzi or something.”
“Or something. Like an asshole.” Sophia took a deep breath. “Should I call Chad?”
“We’re almost at the lake. Maybe you can wait and talk to him in person.” Mandy opened the passenger door. “I better drive. You need to search and make sure someone hasn’t identified you.”
“I changed my last name. Hopefully, it will block people from discovering about my father. But if they do a photo search based on my face, who knows?”
“Can they do that?” Mandy’s voice rose an octave. “Seriously?”
Sophia shrugged. “I don’t know...maybe.”
Back on the road, she searched and found several other pictures accusing Chad of being mean to his fans. The whole thing made Sophia angry. If anything, he’d been nothing but nice to his fans. He’d even given the lady who tried to kiss him a gift and had spent time after an exhausting performance to ensure they each got a few moments with him. And all it took was the one idiot to make it all a waste of time. Now she understood why celebrities became jaded after a while.
As soon as she arrived at the lake house, she’d speak to Chad alone. It was best to do so before Don found out. Especially since there was a deal being worked between the advertising firm and the singer. The timing couldn’t be worse.
Chapter 7
The fresh air took away the bother of heat and humidity. The resort at Lake Lanier was on a set of islands in the center of a huge lake, just north of Atlanta. The area was beautiful and obviously upscale. The passing landscape was a mixture of old south and modern buildings, which made an appealing combination. Most of the buildings were painted in pale pastels with white trim. There were tall pines and transplanted palm trees that intermingled with short palmettos and azaleas that bloomed in every imaginable color.
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