Chapter 19 - Veronica
After my first night with Carter, I caught a cab to the first studio and set up my camera. I had to get back to work, and focus on taking great pictures of the band. Lacie appeared in the dressing room, looking flushed and tired. I’d seen her disappear with Maddox at the airport, and I knew she’d had an evening similar to mine.
Once the band were in the studio doing their first interview, I leaned against the counter and studied her face.
“You never checked in to our hotel yesterday,” I said with a grin. I know exactly where you were.
“No,” she replied slowly, focusing on her makeup and hair supplies. She put the brushes and makeup away, clipping the case closed without looking at me.
“Stop avoiding my eye,” I laughed. “What’s going on with you?”
“I’m engaged.”
My jaw dropped, and Lacie finally looked at me. My eyes widened and I opened and closed my mouth until finally I could speak.
“What?”
Turns out Lacie’s night had actually been crazier than mine… And I hadn’t even told her about Seth!
“I said I’m engaged.”
“I know what you said,” I laughed, not knowing how else to react. “What I mean is, what?! How? To who?! Are you engaged to Maddox Freaking Knight?!”
“Sort of,” she replied. “I don’t know. I think so?”
I put up my hands, shaking my head as I closed my eyes and tried to understand what the heck she was telling me. When I opened my eyes, I put my hands on my hips and stared at my best friend. Had she gone fucking insane? Had this band slipped something into our drinks and made us all crazy people? What the heck was going on?!
“Lacie, babe, I love you. You’re my best friend. But will you please tell me what the fuck you’re talking about right now?”
Her eyes were bright as she stared at me. We stayed like that for a few seconds, until Lacie started giggling. She couldn’t stop, and I stared at her for a few moments.
Yep, she’s gone nuts.
I tried to frown, but her laughter was contagious. I shook my head as the giggles started to bubble up in me, too, until finally I gave up. We laughed and laughed until tears were streaming down our faces.
“I’m sorry,” Lacie said, wiping her eyes. “I know it’s crazy.”
“You’re fucking right, it’s crazy. What is going on?”
“I guess he needs a wife to get his inheritance or something. I don’t know, I don’t really get it. He said he’d pay for my mom’s medical bills if I married him.”
Uh oh.
I frowned. “Lacie, that’s fucking weird. That’s like… coercive. I’m not okay with that.”
“No!” She said, shaking her head. “It’s not like that. He said he’d give me the money either way.” She opened my mouth but said nothing.
My heart started thumping. This was even worse than a stalker ex-boyfriend. Why would Maddox want to marry her? Just to get some money? This had ‘disaster’ written all over it.
I leaned against the counter, folding my arms and staring at the ground to gather my thoughts. I didn’t want Lacie to get mad at me, but I wanted to make sure she was okay. Finally, I looked at her. She was shifting uncomfortably, looking at me as she bit her lip.
“And you’re okay with this?” I asked
She took a deep breath. “I have to do this for my mom, Vee.”
“There are other options.”
“What options?” She exploded. “I’ve been denied loans, we can’t remortgage the house a third time, and I barely make enough money to pay for the house and food. I have no family to ask for money and I’m not going to like, start stripping to pay for it or anything. Remember that pole dancing class we took? I looked like a baby deer pretending to be a firefighter.”
I tried to fight the smile off her face, but I couldn’t. I finally laughed and nodded.
“Right, so stripping isn’t an option,” I grinned. “But marrying a guy you met a couple days ago? That’s not a good idea, Lacie.”
“I…”. She looked away and took a deep breath. “I kind of want to.”
“You want to marry Maddox?”
“I know it’s insane, and I know that it doesn’t make sense and we only just met a couple days ago. I know it’s probably a terrible idea for a zillion reasons, but—”
I held up her hand and Lacie stopped talking. I wrapped my arms around my best friend and squeezed her close. If Carter had asked me to marry him last night, after all the craziness that had gone on and the way I was feeling about him, I might have said yes, too.
“I get it,” I said. “As long as you want to, and you’re not just doing this because you feel like you have to.”
“I do want to,” Lacie squeaked, sniffling as her eyes started to mist. “It sounds crazy—”
“I get it,” I replied. I pulled away, putting my hands on her shoulders. “I’ve met someone, too, and—”
“Carter,” Lacie interrupted.
It was my turn to blush. I grinned at Lacie. I wanted to tell her about Seth, but she seemed so happy, and I didn’t know what would happen if I told her. I’d tell her later, when she wasn’t buzzing off her engagement to a rock star.
“Now we just need Morgan to hook up with Garrett and we’ll be all set.” I finally said.
“Yeah, right.” Lacie replied. “It’s one thing for you and I to do something like this, but Morgan is way too straight-laced.”
“I don’t know,” I said, grinning. “I thought I heard something in the hallway at The Morning Show the other day.”
Lacies’ cheeks flushed. “That was probably me,” she laughed.
Looks like I hadn’t been the only one getting freaky that day.
I shrugged. “Didn’t sound like you.”
“You think she and Garrett…?”
“I mean, you’re getting freaking married, so nothing would surprise me now.”
Lacie was getting married to the drummer, Morgan was hooking up with lead singers in the studio hallways, and I was trying to get rid of my creepy ex while falling head over heels for the bassist in the same band.
What a mess. A beautiful, sexy, insane mess.