The Winner Takes It All (Love in L.A. Book 3) (12 page)

“Funny you should ask. According to him, she’s had a crush on him for years, but he’s never been interested. Just sees her as a family friend, so she’s pretty much a sister to him.”

“But he ditched you to have dinner with her instead of you.”

“Well, it’s not one hundred percent his fault. I was sightseeing around the city all day, and my cell battery finally died, so he couldn’t reach me to find out if I could join them for dinner.”

“So how’d you end up having dinner with this other guy? What’s his name anyway?”

“Trey.”

“Ooh, I like it.”

“Ha, yeah, the name and the guy are pretty cute, but trust me. You don’t want any part of that. He’s one of the other back-up dancers for Kayla Miles, so I met him in San Francisco a few months ago when I flew up to spend the weekend with Casey and catch the show.”

“So what’s he doing here in New York? Is he here to audition himself, or did he just come to cause trouble for Casey?”

“No. Apparently he’s been seeing Trisha for a while, but won’t commit to her. But he flew with her to New York because she was coming to show support for her brother and the rest of Pure Flow. I guess they got into an argument right before dinner, so she ended up going out with the guys and left Trey at the hotel to fend for himself. I bumped into him, and he asked me to join him for dinner. Anyways, she was with Casey when they came back to the hotel from dinner and saw Trey trying to kiss me. She and Casey were both upset.”

“Uh, understandably so. Did she try to claw your eyes out?”

“Ha, no, but I’m sure she wanted to.”

“Well, that’s good at least. She should be clawing Trey’s eyes out instead. Not your fault he doesn’t want to commit to her.”

“I know… I kind of feel bad for her, though.”

“Even though she wants your man, too?” Erin teased.

“Fuck that. She can have Trey, but like hell if I’ll let her have Casey. He is mine. End of story.”

“Speaking of the devil,” Erin started to say, but trailed off as Casey walked up just then.

“Hey, Erin. Do you mind if I steal Annie for a minute?” Casey said as he leaned down to greet Erin with a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.

“Not at all. I need to use the little girl’s room anyway.”

After Erin left in the direction of the restrooms, Casey cleared his throat before speaking. “Hey um, look… I’m sorry about last night. I know I may have overreacted, but when I saw Trey kissing you, I just saw red.”

“And I totally get that, but what upsets me is that you actually thought I was kissing him back. And it bothers me that you think I’m the kind of girl who would do something like that.”

Casey nodded as he grimaced slightly. “I know you’re not.”

“Then you should start acting like you trust me. I trust you when you’re gone for weeks and have all these beautiful girls throwing themselves at you when I’m not around. Do you have any idea how hard it is to not let my imagination get the best of me and not dwell on whether you might have a moment of weakness one time and give in to one of them? It fucking kills me knowing that you’re hundreds or thousands of miles away from me at any given time and I sometimes I can’t stop thinking that maybe one day the distance will be too much for you or you won’t miss me anymore or that you’ll meet someone else you like better. But I believed you when you told me you loved me.”

“I meant every word, and I appreciate your trust. Please don’t think I’m some kind of prick and take that for granted. I know it isn’t easy having me gone so often.”

“It’s torture, baby.”

Casey smiled, chuckling at the pained expression on Annie’s face. He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the nose. “I’m sorry. It won’t be like that forever.”

“Is this the last tour you’re going on?”

“Well, no. I hope not anyway.”

“Then how many more years will it be like this?”

Sighing, Casey rubbed his face. “Babe, I don’t know. And we don’t know what your future holds, either. What if you win this thing and are doing shows in Vegas?”

“Well at least I would be in one place and not traveling around everywhere.” Annie bit her lip and looked up at him. “We haven’t really talked about this, you know—what’s going to happen if either of this wins the competition and has to move to Vegas.”

“I know.”

“Would… would you consider moving to Vegas if I won?”

“Of course I would. I don’t know if I could make it happen like right away, but I’m definitely open to it. What about you?”

“Yeah, as long as I can find a job here, I would totally move here for you.”

Casey pulled her into his arms and hugged her, kissing the top of her head. “Okay then, that’s settled then. You forgive me for overreacting?”

“Mmmhmm,” Annie agreed. “Forgive me for being an idiot and trusting Trey to just have a friendly dinner with me?”

A low growl escaped him first, but he agreed to forgive her as well. “No more dinners with Trey.” Then he added on a please.

“No more anything with Trey, hon. Trust me. I don’t want anything to do with someone like that. I gave him a fair chance, just as I try to give most people. He crossed the line.”

“Alright, let’s not talk about that asshole anymore. We’ve given him enough of our time.”

“I agree. Anyways, congrats on making it through to the next round! I’m so proud of you!”

“And you, princess. Can you believe we’re finally here? We’re going to be on TV now. Are you ready for this?”

“More than ready. Being here has been the best thing to ever happen to me… besides meeting you, of course,” she said teasingly.

“I hope you always feel that way,” he said as he leaned down to kiss her. “I hate to kiss and run, but I have to meet the guys and start planning our next performance.”

“Yeah, I saw that they are offering a vocal coach and pianist for the singers if we want to practice beforehand. I’m going to find Erin and book our coach so we can start practicing.”

“Know what you’re going to sing, yet?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m going to do the song I’ve been practicing with my voice coach,
Impossible
by Shontelle.”

“Nice. Well, I know you’ll kill it. You want to meet up later and go shopping? If I know you, you’re going to want something new to wear for your first TV appearance.”

“You know me well.” Annie raised up on her tiptoes and kissed him again. “I’m glad we made up. I hate having you angry with me.”

“Same here. Call me later.”

“Okay.”

Casey hugged her tight before turning to walk out of the lobby area. She watched him leave, then sighed and pulled out her phone to text Erin. She felt better now, but she couldn’t push aside the nagging feeling that told her things weren’t quite resolved, yet. If one of them won this competition, they would have to face the reality that one of them would be the loser. Losing to the other and then having to uproot their life anyway to accommodate the other person might prove to be challenging. It was easier said than done, and Annie wasn’t sure that Casey would still feel the same way after being faced with the reality of having lost to her. She wanted to believe that he was a bigger person than to resent her for beating him, but in the end he was a man. And from her experience, men never enjoyed losing. But then again, neither did she.

After a week of rehearsals, Annie finally felt prepared for her first live recorded show. She’d spent almost every waking moment practicing, whether she was with her vocal coach, alone or with Erin. Practicing with her new best friend was helpful to them both in learning to overcome their stage fright, although they were now sick of hearing each other’s songs as well as their own over and over again.

When it was time for her to perform, Annie knew she had to remember that feeling you get when you sing a song for someone who is hearing it for the first time. It was time to lay it all on the line. She couldn’t afford to hold anything back. If she didn’t give it her all, she might as well pack her bags now.

Things with Casey were better, although a little strained. Both of them were working hard to prepare for the next show. This would be the first time the audience would be voting, so this performance was the most critical. He’d been sleeping in the room he shared with Chris instead of in hers. It just made sense for both of them. He was rehearsing with his crew into the wee hours of the night. She rehearsed long hours as well, but she still went to bed much earlier than him. He didn’t want to disturb her, and they both wanted to focus, so they reluctantly agreed to sleep apart for the remainder of the competition.

Now it was Tuesday night with only a few moments left until the taping was scheduled to start, and Annie felt like she was about to lose the little lunch she’d been able to force down. As she paced nervously in the green room, Erin snapped at her.

“Annie, stop. You’re making me nervous. Sit down for a minute and relax.”

“I can’t. I can’t sit. I can’t relax. I think I’m gonna puke.”

“Do not puke. That’s an order, lady.”

“Okay.” Annie swallowed the bile that was rising in her throat and forced herself to smile widely at Erin. “I’m good. I’m good.”

“Uh huh. Not buying it,” Erin retorted. “You need to breathe. Like seriously. I think you may be turning purple.”

“Shut up. And I am breathing.”

“Breathe more.”

“You’re making it worse.”

“Shut up, sit down, and breathe, bitch.”

Glaring at Erin for a moment, Annie sniffed before gingerly sitting down on the edge of the same sofa where her bossy friend was sitting. She took an exaggerated big breath, then exhaled again, then repeated the action twice more. To her chagrin, she was already starting to feel better. Not only did the breathing help, but Erin had distracted her by making her angry, therefore effectively making her less nervous of her impending first performance in a front of a live studio audience.

“See? Isn’t that better?”

Annie stuck her tongue out at Erin, who just smirked back at her. “Shut up.”

“Oh, I think you’re up, sweetie. The stage manager is waving you over.”

“Fuck me.” The room swayed slightly as Annie got to her feet.

“Tempting, but I prefer men,” Erin said dryly, then stood to give Annie a quick hug. “Knock ‘em dead, lady.”

“Thanks! See you on the other side. Break a leg!” Annie hugged Erin back and took another deep breath as she turned to walk to the stage manager. He led her backstage and showed her where to wait until she received her cue to enter from stage left. When he left her standing there alone, Annie almost had another panic attack, but she forced herself to stop and take slow, deep breaths, and she closed her eyes for a moment to help herself calm down.

You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.

Opening her eyes again, she took a swig from the bottle of water she’d brought with her. She bounced on her toes and stretched each arm over her head, took another sip, then handed the bottle to the assistant stage manager who had just walked up and offered to take it from her. In another minute, the stage manager gave her the cue to enter stage left. Feeling the sweat already beading on her forehead, she brushed it off with a finger and plastered a big smile on her face before she started moving forward and out onto the stage.

This was it. This was her moment to shine. This was her moment to make it or break it. If she fucked this up, it was over. She knew it in her bones. So she was going to give it everything she had. When she thought she had nothing left to give, she was going to reach as deep inside herself as she needed to pull out an emotional and memorable performance.

Using the dim stage lights provided, she made her way to the center of the stage and stopped in front of a microphone stand that had been set up for her. In another few moments, the music to
Impossible
started, and Annie counted off the beats in her head as the stage lights began to brighten. Then it was time for her to sing, and that’s exactly what she was did. She sang her little heart out. She owned the stage and sang like every single person in the audience might be hearing the song for the very first time. It was her moment to shine, and shine she did, like a brilliant star in the night sky. She was in the moment, and the moment was nothing like she had ever felt before. She could feel every heartbeat pulsing through her veins as her voice soared throughout the auditorium. She wished it was possible to capture the feeling in a bottle and keep it forever, so she could always remember.

As she sang the last note, the music ended at the same time, and the audience broke into loud applause. All three of the celebrity judges gave her a standing ovation, and the crowd even started chanting her name. Her jaw went slack as she stood there in shock, but quickly the smile returned to her face as she shakily raising her hand to wave at the audience. Kyle Atkinson, the show’s host, joined her and gently took her by the elbow, leading her to their mark.

As they had rehearsed before the show, Kyle asked what she’d been doing with her life before she auditioned for
The Next American Superstar
, and she answered that she’d been working an administrative position for a law firm. Then he asked her how she felt about the first week of final auditions and her first live recorded performance. She briefly described what it felt like when she got to New York and said she was thrilled with her latest performance and hoped they all enjoyed it, too. Kyle wrapped things up by telling the audience that if they loved Annie’s performance, they needed to call or text to vote for her starting at the end of the show.