“Ah crap.” I slammed my finger into the phone once I heard the message. “I thought Sawyer would send them the track!”
It seemed that in the midst of getting everything ready for the interview, nobody had sent the rough cut of the duet we put together over to the radio station. I tried to call Sawyer, but I got his voicemail, so I decided to just stop by the studio and send it myself. The audio engineer let me in and pulled up the list of tracks we had been working on. I sat down and started listening. The first time I heard the complete song, there were tears in my eyes. It sounded so beautiful. There was still work to do and the band’s part still hadn’t been added in for the background, but it was amazing.
“How do I send this over to Carson Jones?” I looked at the audio engineer.
“Just select it and drag it over to the email. It’ll automatically fill if you type in Carson. We send him enough stuff.” The audio engineer chuckled.
“Oh shit.” I tilted my head. “I think I sent all of the tracks.”
“No problem, just tell him to play the one from yesterday.” The audio engineer shrugged.
“Okay, crap—I’m running late.” I looked at my watch and quickly grabbed my purse.
“Sawyer has me working on the duet all day, so I should have a finished product for you tonight.” The audio engineer waved as I headed towards the door. “Good luck.”
“Thanks!” I gave him a smile and picked up the pace once I was outside of the studio.
Brendan was pacing nervously when I finally arrived. I quickly explained what happened and we hugged as we walked to the elevators. He took my hand and held it all the way to the top floor where Carson’s radio station was located. Walking into the station brought back memories. It was the first time Brendan had been honest with me, and I was finally starting to like him—right before he promised the world our duet. I was so furious then, but it had worked out beautifully in the end. Carson seemed short with us when we walked into his studio, but I attributed it to us being late. We took our seats and pulled the microphone close as he motioned for the countdown.
“Hello, Nashville! I’m Carson Jones and as promised, I’ve got Brendan Tanner and Lauren Williams in the studio with me.” Carson pointed at us.
“Hi, Nashville!” I smiled as I spoke.
“Great to be here.” Brendan looked over at me and winked.
“So, we’re about to hear the duet we have heard so much about.” Carson leaned against the edge of his desk. “But, before we hear that—Lauren, the email you sent me had a lot of different versions of the song.”
“Yeah.” I rolled my eyes and tried to cover with a joke. “I guess email doesn’t work here like it did in Texas.”
“You two have come a long way in a short time.” Carson nodded. “Some might say it’s a bit of a fairy tale.”
“That it is.” I smiled again. “This is the man that swept me off my feet.”
“Yes.” Brendan nodded. “Lauren took me by surprise, but I couldn’t be happier.”
“Interesting you should say that, Brendan.” Carson reached over and hit a button on his soundboard. “Because one of the tracks Lauren sent was very interesting.”
I listened as the track started to play, but it wasn’t our song. It was the sound of Brendan’s guitar followed by drums, and then I heard Gavin’s voice. I tilted my head in confusion and looked over at Brendan. He seemed perplexed at first, but then his eyes opened wide. Carson glared at the two of us as Brendan’s slurred words echoed. It was the two of them talking in the studio and they sounded drunk. My lips started the tremble as I heard Brendan tell Gavin that he was only with me to help sell records. My relationship with Lauren is as fake as my accent. That was the line that pushed me over the edge and caused tears to well up in my eyes. I pulled off my headset, threw it on the desk, and ran towards the exit of the radio station.
“Lauren, wait!” Brendan chased me out into the street.
“What the fuck, Brendan?” I turned to him with my sorrowful tears turning to angry daggers. “Gavin didn’t get to Nashville until after my birthday party. You said that was the moment you knew!”
“I did!” Brendan put his hands on his head for a moment and then reached for me, but I pulled away.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” I slammed my hands straight down to my side to avoid him.
“Lauren, I wanted Gavin to know Sawyer’s plan. I didn’t want him to think he was walking into a situation like what we had back in Chicago.” Brendan started breathing hard and his eyes reflected despair.
“Oh, so I’m just another version of the girl that cheated on you? Were you using her too?” I took a step back and shook my head. “I fell for you. I thought you were right there with me, but clearly you weren’t!”
“I was! I swear I was! It’s not like that. It was stupid.” Brendan took a step towards me. “Please, Lauren. I love you.”
“How can I trust anything that you say?” I shook my head and turned away from him. “Just fucking leave me alone.”
There was nothing around us but pure chaos. I knew that every set of eyes I encountered hadn’t heard the broadcast, but it felt like they did. It felt like they were judging me for my relationship with Brendan—for being the idiot that fell for a liar. Brendan called me nonstop for hours, but I refused to answer. Sawyer was right there with him, blowing my phone up. I finally had to silence it just to get away from the constant buzzing. When Brendan beat on my door, I stared at it as the hinges rattled. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust the man that had taken my virginity and introduced me to a world of passion I never knew could exist, but his lies were so eloquent. He could slap an accent on his tongue and make anyone believe him. I felt like one of our foolish fans, falling for an illusion while the truth was right in front of me.
How could