I heard an obnoxious pounding sound coming from the foyer. I opened one eye and then another. I looked down at the empty bottle of bourbon on the floor. It was at least the third one. Fuck. My head hurt.

I heard it again. Someone was at the front door.

I pushed myself off the couch, stumbling to the door. I opened it.

Alexa was on the porch, dressed in a long beaded gown that hugged her hips and dipped between her breasts.

For a second I had forgotten that she had betrayed me. That we were no longer together. I saw her and my instinct was to pull her in my arms and kiss every inch of her skin. And then I remembered.

“What are you doing here?” I growled.

“If this is the only way I can get you to talk to me, I had to at least try.”

“I don’t want to talk.”

I stumbled back.

“Are you drunk?” Her eyes widened.

“Fuck yeah. You have a problem with that?”

“Is this my fault? Have you been drinking for two days? I called Linc and he said you had a cold. This isn’t a cold. This is stupid.”

“Go back to Nashville, Alexa.” I started to close the door in her face, but her palm slammed on my initials.

“No. You are going to hear me out, Luke.”

She busted past the loose hold I had on the double doors and marched into the living room. She was a blurry whirl of glitter and sequins. I couldn’t keep up. I was fucking drunk.

She stood in front of the fireplace. I tried to keep my focus on her, but the room spun.

“You need to get in bed.” She looked at me. “You are drunker than I thought.”

Before I knew it, she had my arm over her slender shoulder and started to push me toward the bedroom.

“You are not getting in my bed,” I threatened.

“I know,” she whispered. “But you need to sleep this off and we can talk in the morning.”

“I don’t know about that.” I shook my head.

But as soon as I saw my bed, I collapsed in a heap. I felt the tug of my jeans, but I was too exhausted to fight her. Her cool hands worked the pants off and she slid me under the covers with some effort. She returned a few minutes later with a tall glass of water and some ibuprofen.

“Take these and then I’ll let you sleep.”

I scowled at her, but tossed them on my tongue.

“Good night, Luke.” She turned off the light and closed the door.

* * *

The next morning the hangover wasn’t as brutal as I thought, but I was pretty sure I had dreamed Alexa had appeared on my doorstep. I walked to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth.

When I walked into the kitchen, I realized it wasn’t a dream. There was a pot of coffee and a gorgeous blonde in my kitchen.

“Good morning.” She smiled. “How are you feeling?”

I rubbed the back of my head. “Like you aren’t supposed to be here.” I’d never tossed a woman out of my house before.

“I came to tell you my side of the story. Don’t I deserve that? I’ve given you that more than once.”

She walked toward the kitchen table with two mugs of coffee. She placed one in front of me.

“I don’t know. I’m fucking pissed right now. You lied to me.”

“I thought you would be mad.”

“I am mad.”

She closed her eyes and slid into the seat. She wasn’t going anywhere. She was as stubborn as I was. I sat across from her.

“You can be mad. But you can also listen.” She glared at me.

I felt ambushed. She had jumped me when I was down. When I was too drunk to protest. The agony of what I had been through the past two days was enough to never attempt it again. I thought I found a way to drown out the noise with bourbon and vodka. Enough to numb the pain. Enough to erase her.

But fuck. She was close enough I could smell her hair. I could reach out and touch her if I wanted. And then the jab of the knife twisted under my lowest rib and I remembered the betrayal. The fucking dishonesty that was sitting at this table too.

“I can’t.” I shook my head. “I won’t.”

“Just sit there. That’s all you have to do.” Before I knew it she started telling me the truth. The full truth. “When I moved to Nashville I told you I had nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

“Yeah, I remember the story.” I put the coffee to my mouth. The gulp cleared the last bit of haze in my head.

“So I took a job for a dating agency.” She eyed me. “A dating agency. All I did was go on dates. Two hours max with men who needed someone for a business dinner or a social setting. It was never more than that. Never.”

She pressed the last word into the air between us. “I was not a hooker. I was not an escort. I never slept with any of the men. Every date was in a public setting. I used a fake name and wore a wig because if I did make it one day I didn’t want anyone to know I had a job in a business that doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation.”

She lowered her eyes. “I swear that is what happened. That is the complete truth. I was never a prostitute or a call girl. It wasn’t the best decision I’ve made, but it wasn’t the worst either.”

“Then why haven’t you cleared your name? Told everyone the truth?”

“Because that agency is still in Nashville. And there are a lot of girls just like me. Guys too, who need the money. And it’s not a prostitution ring or a whore house, Luke. I’m not going to out them just to save myself. Jake did this because he’s an evil son of a bitch.”

“Jake?”

She nodded. “He was one of the guys I went out with. Many times actually. He always needed a date.”

“So you two were an item? Fucker. I knew it.” The idea of them together lit the rage fire again. I’d hated him from the instant we met at the gala.

“No. He’s gay, Luke. Jake is gay.”

“What the fuck?” I chugged the coffee as if there were shots of bourbon stirred in. I needed a few.

“We used to be friends. Really good friends actually. And then something happened to him. He got caught up in the fame. My fame. And the money and meeting bigger and hotter stars. It changed who he used to be. And when I wanted to change he didn’t want it. I was his golden goose as the good girl. He didn’t want me to evolve and risk what he had built. He threatened me with my secret. He’s held it against me for years.”

“What a dick. I told you he was an asshole.”

“I know you did. You were right, but I was too scared to leave. Too afraid that he would expose me.”

I clenched my fists. I didn’t know what to think. My gut told me to go beat the shit out of that guy for what he had done to Alexa. Part of me was mad she hadn’t told me the truth. And then there was the man who was so fucking far over the cliff in love with her he couldn’t push her away. There wasn’t enough booze in the world to drink her memory away. There weren’t enough days to make me forget.

“So now what? Where is he?”

She shook her head. I saw the shame in her eyes. She didn’t need me to tell her she should have trusted me with her secret. She was already in pain because of it. But I could have helped her. Fuck it. I didn’t know I valued the truth until it was something I didn’t have.

“He said I violated our contract. Had it nulled and then signed with a bigger pop artist. He’s gone.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “Good. You’re better off without that piece of shit in your life.”

“I don’t know how I feel about it yet. It was a big price to pay to be free.”

I looked into her eyes. This girl had been through hell and back. She was alone in this life. No parents. No other family.

“It cost me fans. It cost me friends.” Her lashes glistened with tears. “Did it cost me you?”

I swallowed hard. Fuck.