More Than Music (26 page)

W
hen I returned backstage, our gear had already been set up on the back of the revolving stage while Brazen played Maroon 5’s “Wake Up Call” for the audience. One of the roadies rushed over to me with a horrified look on his face. “Maddie, there’s an issue with your guitar.”

I blinked at him. “What do you mean?”

He started to speak but then shook his head and gestured for me to follow him. There, inside my guitar case, was my beautiful sea foam green Fender, the one I’d bought with my own money when I went to college, the one I’d lovingly strummed every night in my room, the one I’d used for each performance on
The Sound
. It was the one instrument that was solely mine, and I knew every dent and chip on it. Only now its neck was snapped, too.

My mouth hung open, tears pricking my eyes, and I carefully lifted my guitar out of the case. The head dangled back, the wood completely splintered, held on only by the strings still attached. It was my baby, and now it was broken. Unplayable. Dead.

“It was like this when I opened the case, I swear,” the roadie said, his words hushed. He knew how bad this was. “The other guys can vouch for me.”

I clutched the guitar against my chest and sank to the floor, choking back a sob. I’d played it less than an hour ago, so someone must have done this while I was with Jared. If only we hadn’t sneaked off… But how could we ever imagine this would happen? And who would do such a thing? We were all musicians here, our instruments were practically sacred to us.

“Maddie, what—” Kyle asked and then kneeled beside me. “Oh, shit. What happened?”

I held it out to him, unable to form words. He took one look and gathered me in his arms. I cried against his shoulder, and he just held me on the floor without saying anything. That guitar had become an extension of my body after so many hours playing it, and a part of me had been destroyed with it. And with only minutes before our next performance, we were screwed.

“Kyle, what am I going to do? The song—”

“It’s okay. We’ll get you another guitar.”

“Where?” I gave a bitter laugh. “Who would let me use their guitar?” The only person I’d feel comfortable asking was Sean, except that was out of the question now.

“Maybe the show has one you can use?”

“It won’t be the same, I won’t know the guitar, and we’ve barely practiced this song as it is, and oh god, we’re doomed. We’re going home now, I know it.”

Jared and Hector showed up, and Kyle and the roadie explained what had happened while I tried to pull myself together. Lacey must have done this. She’d stolen my glasses and leaked the photo, and now she’d broken my guitar, too. I knew she hated me for some inexplicable reason, but I still couldn’t imagine she’d stoop so low. But I couldn’t think of anyone else who would do this either.

While the guys argued about what to do, I rose to my feet, set my guitar back in its case, and stormed off. After a quick search, I found Lacey in makeup, wearing a poofy red dress and cowboy boots. One look at my face and the guy touching up her lipstick split. Lacey, to her credit, stood her ground.

“Why did you do it?” I asked, hands clenched at my sides.

“Pardon?” she asked.

“You broke my guitar. How
could
you?”

Her big blue eyes widened a fraction. “Your guitar is broken?”

“Don’t play innocent. I know you did it!”

“Honey, I would
never
lay a hand on another girl’s guitar. Not in a million years. I’d sooner steal your wallet or kiss your man.”

“Is
that
what this is about? That time Jared turned you down in the elevator?”

Her nostrils flared a little. “I didn’t touch your guitar, but maybe this is a lesson that you should keep an eye on your things instead of making out with every guy on the show.”

It took all my control not to murder her right there under the vanity lights. “So you admit you stole my glasses?”

“I borrowed them for a few minutes.” She gave a little shrug. “Just a bit of harmless fun between competitors, that’s all.”

“And the photo? Was that you, too?”

“Sorry, but no. Though I’m flattered you think I care that much.”

My gaze swept over her for any hint she’d broken my guitar—chips of wood in her clothes, a broken fingernail, a bit of sea foam green paint—but there was nothing. I didn’t want to believe her because that meant someone else was intentionally sabotaging me and the band, but unfortunately, I did. She’d been surprised when I’d mentioned my guitar, and no matter how horrible she was, I truly didn’t think she would do something like this.

“Shouldn’t you be on stage now?” she asked, twirling one of her blonde ringlets.

Did it matter? Without a guitar, we wouldn’t be able to do the song. And even if we could find another guitar, I was too rattled to perform. The show might as well send us home right now.

Back at the revolving stage, Kyle and Hector were arguing with Steve, but I didn’t see Jared anywhere. No one was performing up front, which was a bad sign. They’d probably had to cut to commercials or something to delay, but that would only give us a few minutes before it was do or die.

Dan rushed to my side. He never came backstage during the live shows, so this must be really serious. “Maddie, I’m so sorry. This has never happened before, but we’re going to get to the bottom of this, I swear.”

“Thanks,” I said with a sigh. “Is there a guitar I can borrow for the song?”

“We can get you a Gibson, I know it’s not the same, but—”

“No need,” Jared said behind me, sounding out of breath. Sweat beaded across his forehead, his suit jacket was missing, his tie hung on for dear life, but he held his guitar case at his side and he’d never looked more handsome in his life.

“Did you go to the hotel?” I asked.

“Yeah. I figured this was better than some guitar you didn’t know.” No wonder he was out of breath. He’d gotten back so quickly that he must have run the entire way. Without even asking, he’d instantly jumped into action and known exactly what I’d need to get through this next performance.

He popped open the case and handed me his guitar. His black Fender was nearly identical to mine in weight and shape and felt almost as natural on my shoulder as my own guitar did. Plus, I’d already played it twice before.

“Thank you.” I placed my hand over his for a brief moment, and when he gave me his real smile, it hit me: I was in love with him. And not like before, when I’d loved the idea of Jared, the tattooed rock star who could have any woman he wanted. Now I was in love with the
real
Jared, who sang to me in public, raced through supermarkets with his brother, and had a different villain T-shirt for every day of the week. Somehow that made everything worse because I had no idea if he felt the same for me, and either way, I still couldn’t be with him.
One more week
, I reminded myself.

“Good thinking,” Dan said, bringing me back to the moment. “Now get out there and win this thing.”

The four of us looked a bit ragged, our hair and clothes messy like we’d just had sex (for good reason), but that worked perfectly for “Locked Out of Heaven.” Jared made every girl in the audience swoon with his sultry vocals, and I stalked across the stage, my feelings for him making it all too easy to connect with the emotion in the song. It wasn’t our best performance, but it was still pretty damn good. I just prayed it was good enough to get us into the finals.

T
he results show was the longest hour of my life. In between performances from some of the previous seasons’ winners (minus the band that had caused so much trouble, Addicted to Chaos, of course), the different teams were called up for eliminations. Team Angel was first, and everyone was shocked when The Static Klingons were sent home. I wasn’t that sad to see Sean go, though The Static Klingons were a lot more talented than the remaining band on Angel’s team, Not Too Calm. The show hadn’t aired our kiss last night, thank god, so I’d never know if it would have helped Sean’s band get more votes or not. And frankly, I didn’t care.

Fairy Lights was picked for Team Lissa, of course, and Lacey blew kisses at the audience when she strolled off stage. I still wanted to strangle her a little, but I knew in my gut she hadn’t broken my guitar. It was back in Dan’s studio now, but I had no idea if it was fixable. Not only had the producers been unable to find who had done it, they’d said it wasn’t their responsibility to pay for the repairs, even though it happened while my guitar was in the show’s care. Dan knew a guy who would look at it, but I wasn’t optimistic. It would be expensive to repair, enough that I could buy a new guitar for the same price or less—but that was
my
guitar. I
had
to get it fixed.

Brazen won the final spot on Team Lance, and then it was Team Dan’s turn. We stood on stage with the many members of The Quiet Battles (I finally counted them—eleven!), and I rocked back and forth on my heels, unable to stop moving. Kyle linked his arm with mine, probably to get me to stay still, but then we dragged the other guys in, too.
Please, please, please,
I chanted in my head as the band clung to each other. We couldn’t go home now, not when we were so close to the end.

“And the band representing Team Dan in the finals is…” Ray Carter opened his envelope at sloth speed. “Villain Complex!”

The audience roared and lights flashed around us. Did Ray really say our name? Oh my god! We were in the finals! The four of us exploded with a burst of jumping, hugging, and laughing. We’d made it, we were going on tour, and we were one step closer to winning the record deal. My arms were shaking, and I could barely catch my breath. I wanted to let out a happy scream and kiss the guys and tell them I loved them. Hell, I loved everyone in the entire theater right now. And when Jared picked me up and spun me around, I grabbed his face and kissed him.

He stepped back, yanking his hands off me like he’d been burned. “What the hell, Maddie?”

Behind him, Kyle and Hector both stared at us like they weren’t sure what they’d just seen. Oh god, what had I done? I hadn’t meant to kiss him, I’d just been so caught up in everything, and with his arms around me, my body had taken over and done what felt natural.

“Wow, that was some reaction,” Ray said. “We’ll talk to Villain Complex in a minute. Let’s give a hand to The Quiet Battles, who did a great job, too. We’ll miss them.”

We hugged the other band and said, “Good luck,” but the entire time I was thinking about how I’d just kissed Jared in front of all of America. The show rushed us straight into an interview with Ray, so we didn’t even get a chance to talk about what had happened before we were back on camera.

“Congrats on making it into the finals,” Ray said. “Are you surprised you made it this far?”

“Definitely,” Jared said, perfectly calm and collected again. “I mean, we hoped we would, but we never expected this to happen. We’re so thankful for our fans who voted for us and downloaded our songs. We wouldn’t have made it to the finals without them.”

“Well, it’s definitely well-deserved. ‘Locked Out of Heaven’ was a great song choice.” He leaned a little closer to Jared, like he was going to let him in on a secret. “But there’s something we have to discuss or the fans will kill me. That kiss.” The crowd screamed, and I realized this interview was being shown on TV right now and on screens above the stage. “Now be honest—is there something going on between the two of you?”

Here it was. The moment it would all come out. I found myself strangely relieved. No more secrets, no more lies, no more sneaking around. After we came clean, this thing between us could finally be real.

“No, we’re not a couple.” Jared said, without any hesitation. He even gave a little laugh. “I was just as shocked as you when she kissed me.”

“Maddie? Any response?” Ray shoved the mic in my face, but I could only stare at Jared with my mouth open. Was he really going to keep pretending? Even though our kiss had been live on TV in front of millions of people?

When I didn’t answer, Ray turned back to Jared, ignoring Kyle and Hector like usual. “Everyone saw that photo of the two of you together, and now the kiss—but you’re still saying you’re
not
a couple?”

“No, I’m very single.” He gave the camera a little shrug. “I can’t help it if Maddie is into me though.”

“You do have a reputation of being a ladies’ man…”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked away, not caring that my sudden exit was on camera or that everyone backstage was staring at me. The instinct to flee took over, and I shoved the back door open, stomped past the roadies on their smoke breaks, and ducked around the corner of the theater for some privacy. Only when I was out of sight did I lean against the wall and take big, gasping breaths of cold night air.

How dare he act like our relationship was all one-sided, like I was some groupie obsessed with him, following him around and begging him to love me. He’d been the one who had kissed me first, after all. The other night he’d held me in his arms and told me I was the only one he wanted, yet he still wouldn’t admit to being with me. No matter what he said to me in private, he would continue to tell the world he was single and flirt with every girl in sight. I thought I’d uncovered the real Jared, the one behind the stage smile and the player reputation, but that was all a lie. Maybe Kyle had been right all along; Jared didn’t want a serious relationship and this was a way for him to keep his options open while sleeping with me. He was just like my father, living two different lives, destroying everything with his secrets and lies.