Wounded But Not Scarred (New Adult Rockers 2) (20 page)

“What is it?”

“The story finally surfaced.”

She doesn’t need to say more
because I know what she’s talking about. We knew it would only be a matter of
time before the story of Paige’s attack got out.

“Fuck,” I say quietly. “How do you
know?”

“Becky just called me. It was on a
couple gossip sites, but now it’s being picked up on bigger sites like
People.com.”

She scrolls through her phone and
then thrusts it in my face. Sure enough, there’s a small photo of Paige and a
paragraph beneath it stating that Paige had been raped and attacked when she
was just a teenager in Nashville.

“Do you think someone talked to the
media?” I ask, putting her phone down and taking her hand.

“I don’t know,” she sighs, her eyes
welling with tears. “I knew this would happen eventually, and everything sounds
like it’s coming straight from an old news article. I really don’t want to be
dealing with this during the holidays.”

“I know, baby, I know.”

Things had been going so well. Our
albums were selling great, we were engaged, and we had just put an offer in on
the house in Belle Meade. Paige was set on a wedding for the first weekend in
May, and she had plans to look at a couple venues once we were back in town for
the holidays. And her grandma had just been moved to a rehab facility, which
was a step up from being in the hospital.

There’s a knock at our door and I
pull it open to find Liam. His face is grave.

“I guess you’ve heard the news,” he
says.

“Yes, I’m sorry Liam.” Paige says,
pushing her damp hair aside.

“You have no reason to apologize.
What happened to you was awful. I’m only sorry that it’s going to be dragged
through the media.”

“I knew it would happen eventually.”

Liam nods. “I don’t want to sound
callous here, but we need to come up with a plan, and immediately, for how
we’re going to handle this. We want to be proactive and we want to deal with it
directly to prevent it from spinning out of control.”

Paige nods sadly.

I squeeze her hand. “Want me to
stay with you? Or I can leave and give you and Liam some privacy?”

She looks up at me, her eyes wide
and frightened. “No, stay.” She frowns. “Unless it’s too hard for you.” She
looks away and trails off.

“I can handle it, Paige. It’s
whatever you want.”

She nods, more determined this
time. “Stay.” She looks over at Liam. “Let’s deal with it. Let’s get it out
there. I don’t want to hide behind what happened to me, and if I can help
someone else dealing with something similar, then that’s even better.”

“Good. I like your attitude. I’ve
already had a few local TV stations in Nashville reach out to the label for an
interview with you. But I think we can do better. I was thinking we could get
the Today show.”

Paige’s eyes nearly bug out of her
head. “The Today show? But that’s so – so big! And is that right? I mean, are
they going to want to talk about something like this?”

“Of course they would want to talk
about it. If you’re okay with it, I will reach out to them this morning. I bet
they could get you on a segment by the end of this week.”

Paige takes a deep breath. “Okay.
But then what? It can’t just be an appearance on the Today show.”

“No, you’re right. Then I think you
should do a couple of interviews for magazines. Maybe a radio interview in
Nashville. People magazine would probably do a story on it. Maybe even one of
the more teen-oriented magazines like Seventeen.” Liam scratches his chin,
looking slightly ruffled which is unusual for him. “We don’t want to turn this
into a media circus so that it looks like we’re drumming up press for you. We
just want it to be clear that you aren’t hiding anything and you’re not
ashamed. So, I think we select a few places where you’re going to share your
story. Then in the future, if people ask you about it, you can give a short and
sweet answer and be done with it. All the details will already be out there.”

“All
the details?” I feel
her nails dig into my palm.

“I mean, you'll have already shared
things,” Liam says quickly, “Not that you need to rehash things. That’s the
point. You put your story out there, but you don’t need to rehash details. I’ve
already talked to your father, who is upset for you of course, but he also
understands that his name will be dragged into this too because it’s probably
going to come out that he was there but unable to help you.”

Paige hangs her head. “I didn’t
want this for Daddy.”

“Right, well, we can’t really avoid
that,” Liam says, standing up.

I can’t help but feel a twinge of
anger toward Kenny. Even though he’s clean now, I still hold him partially to
blame for what happened to Paige.

“I’ll make some calls and we’ll
figure this out today.” Liam goes to leave and turns around. “By the way, great
show last night for both of you. Houston
loved
you guys.” And then he’s
gone.

“Alright, no moping,” I say, trying
to stay upbeat. “The RV leaves in an hour and you need to finish getting ready.
Liam is going to handle this and it will be old news by the time Christmas
rolls around.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” Paige
slowly gets off the bed to finish getting ready, and it doesn’t come up again
until we’re on the bus, heading north.

Paige and I are reviewing some
documents at the table when Liam slides in next to us.

“I talked to the Today show,” he
says in a quiet voice. “They want you on in three days.”

“Three days?” clearly Paige wasn’t
expecting things to happen this quickly.

“Yes. So after the show in Tulsa,
you and I are going to catch a red-eye to New York. You’ll do the segment, and
then you’re going to sit down with one of the editors at Seventeen Magazine. By
lunchtime we’ll be back on a plane to Kansas City.”

It’s clear that I’m not a part of
this trip, which I understand. I’m sure the last minute flights are expensive,
especially at this time of a year, and the tour doesn’t need
two
tired
singers in Kansas City.

“What about People magazine and the
other things you mentioned?” Paige asks.

“I’m still waiting to hear from them.
I haven’t talked to any Nashville radio stations yet either, but that would be
something you would do next week when y’all are back in town.”

“Alright. Thanks for handling it.”

Liam starts going over travel
details when my phone rings. I have to do a double take at the Caller ID.

“Excuse me,” I say stiffly, getting
up and heading to the bedroom before closing the door.

“What do you want?” I growl into
the phone.

“Well, hello to you, too,” Savannah
drawls.

“I’ll ask again – what the hell do
you want?”

“My, my, you seem to have lost all
your manners since you took up with that new woman of yours.”

“Actually, it’s just how I choose
to speak to you. And that woman you’re referring to is now my fiancé.”

There’s silence on the other end.

Good.

Savannah quickly recovers. “Yes, I
figured the tabloids were reporting correctly.” Her tone is bored but I know
her better. She’s been humiliated even more so. “Speaking of tabloids,” she
purrs, “such a shame about what is being reported now.”

“Yes,” I say slowly, “but we were
expecting that eventually.”

“Mmhmm, I’m sure you were,” she
says absentmindedly. I can almost see her inspecting her nails like she used to
when she would pretend that she was bored with the conversation, but was really
just about to go in for the kill. “How sad that it came out right around the
holidays.”

This call is timed all too well,
and Savannah has no real reason to call me. The purpose becomes clear, and I
feel my blood boil, but I’m not going to let Savannah get the best of me. She’s
goading me; this is exactly what she wants – to send me over the edge.

“I really don’t have time for
games, Savannah. Paige is in the next room, and we’re busy with wedding plans,”
I say purposefully, hoping to piss Savannah off some more. “So if you called to
brag about leaking the story about Paige, I really don’t care.”

Actually, I do care. I’m not a
violent person, and I would
never
raise my hand to a woman, but if
Savannah was in front of me now, I can’t guarantee that I wouldn’t punch her in
the face. I
want
to cause her physical pain.

Savannah laughs gaily. “Oh, please
Blake. Like you said, it was only a matter of time before that story got
leaked. I mean, I
may
have mentioned it to one of my reporter friends,
but geez, I don’t even remember.”

“Of course,” I say tightly, “I can
see why the rape of your ex-finance’s
new
fiancé would certainly come up
in conversation. I’m sure that happens all the time.” My carefully controlled
voice is starting to slip.

Savannah laughs again. “Whoops.”

“Well, really we should be thanking
you. This is going to bring Paige quite a lot of press, and all along her plan
has been to put a positive spin on things. Looks like she’ll be selling a hell
of a lot more records in time for the holidays.”

There’s silence on the other end.

“Well, this call has been fun,
Blake,” she says in a tight voice, and I know I’ve succeeded in pissing her
off. She didn’t think about how this would backfire and make Paige an even
bigger star. “But I need to go.”

“Lovely talking to you too,” I
spit, before I hit the end button. I take a deep breath to control myself, and
then I head out to explain everything to Paige.

I have so much on my mind, but I’m
exhausted and sleep wins out. As soon as the plane reaches cruising altitude, I
slip the eye mask over my eyes and lean against the pillow I have propped up
against the window.

When I come to, I hear the captain
saying that we are descending into New York. I look next to me, and see Liam
stirring too.

“Did you sleep?” he asks me,
rolling his neck.

“Yes.”

“Good. Things are going to get
hectic this morning.”

We disembark the plane; bring our
carry-on bags with us. It’s still dark when we go outside to catch a taxi, and
I hug my coat tighter around me; the cold is chilling.

“I’m sorry that we have to do
this,” Liam says quietly.

“It’s okay.”

I stare out the window and can’t
help but think about how Savannah was the cause of this. I knew it was going to
happen eventually, but it definitely was more painful knowing who was behind
the leak. But while it angered and upset me, I was also determined to turn this
into something positive,
especially
since Savannah was behind the leak.

I look down at the beautiful ring
on my finger and remind myself that Blake loves me and that we are going to
spend the rest of our lives together. Nothing or no one is going to stop us,
and I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

Our taxi takes us directly to
Rockefeller Plaza where the Today show films. It’s just after six a.m., but the
studio is already bustling. A friendly assistant named Ellie, who is way too
chipper for this hour of the morning, shows us to a dressing room. She embodies
everything that I had noticed about the east coast while we were touring. She
talks fast, moves fast, and is dressed to perfection.

“So,” she continues, hurrying
through a winding hallway, “you’re going to speak with a producer first, then
go into hair and makeup and Matt will probably stop by sometime then to say
hello and introduce himself. We’re sorry that Savannah couldn’t be here to
interview you, but she’s under the weather today.”

My heart is pounding at the mention
of “Savannah” and then I realize that she means Savannah Gunthries, the female
news anchor.

“It’s no problem,” I murmur
quietly. I’m actually a bit star struck to meet Matt Lauer. I used to watch the
Today show every morning in Bristol. It was always on in the coffee shop, and
at home I turned it on while I was waking up and getting ready.

I have to nearly run to keep up
with Ellie, and I feel like a slob in my sweatpants and hoodie. I remind myself
that I just spent a night on an airplane.

Ellie deposits us in a comfortable
dressing room, and closes the door behind her.

“Okay, so far?” Liam asks, sitting
down and opening a bottle of water.

I plaster a smile on my face. “So
far, so good.”

He nods, though I don’t think he
quite believes me. The truth is, I’m nervous as hell, and my insides are
rolling in a sickening fashion. It’s not just that I’m going to have to talk
about my past, but that I’m doing it on national television with Matt Lauer.

Holy shit.

A female producer comes in and sits
down with us, and she goes over the questions that Matt is going to ask. It’s
actually not that bad, and she assures me that Matt does not expect me to go
over any specific details, and it’s really just getting my story out there and
showing how I’ve overcome my past.