Little Secret, Red Hot Scandal

The difference in Mia when Ivy wasn’t around showed Nate how unhappy Mia was being her sister’s personal assistant. Yet whenever he broached the subject of leaving her sister’s employment to do something for herself, he hit a brick wall.

“You told your brother I met someone while on tour?”

“I might have mentioned that you were a bit distracted.” Melody responded carefully, but there was laughter in her tone.

Nate closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. Melody had a romantic nature and succumbed easily to simple gestures of affection, like the dozen handwritten notes her boyfriend, Kyle Tailor, had tucked amongst the clothes in her suitcase. She’d discovered them halfway across the country and been over the moon that Kyle had done something so romantic.

Unfortunately, the strain of separation for so many months had led to trouble in their relationship. Nate blamed himself. If it weren’t for him, Melody never would’ve gone on tour. He’d been the one who persuaded her to leave behind the anonymity of songwriting and to join him onstage. She had a fantastic voice and deserved to shine.

Fortunately, Kyle didn’t blame him. If he had, it might have put a strain on their business partnership in Club T’s.

“He thinks it’s Ivy.” Nate spent the next minute listening to Melody’s laughter. “It’s not funny.”

“Oh, it is. Why does he think that?”

“Because I suggested I produce her next album. It’s the only way I could think of to spend more time with Mia. She’s determined we’re over.”

“I think that’s fantastic. The girl has a killer voice and needs a producer who can showcase it. Besides, no one but you can stand up to that father of hers and make sure her next album kills it.”

“I’m flattered that you think so.” Nate’s tone was as dry as the Mohave Desert.

“So how did the meeting go?”

“It didn’t. Mia showed up without her sister and father. Apparently they were taking a meeting with someone from Mayfair Cosmetics. They’re considering Ivy as their next spokesmodel.”

“Are you kidding? They stood you up? Don’t they realize who you are?”

“Obviously someone they can skip a meeting with.” Nate thought about his stern words to Mia about her sister and regretted taking his frustration out on her. It wasn’t her fault how her sister and father behaved. “I’m taking them to dinner tonight. Hopefully, they’ll show up this time. I’m going to be out of commission for a few weeks starting tomorrow.”

“Out of commission? What’s going on?”

“I’m going in for surgery on my vocal cords.”

“What? When did this come up?”

“I started noticing a problem on the tour, but we were so close to the end, and I didn’t want to cancel any shows.” In part because to do so meant shortening his time with Mia. Their relationship heated up a lot in the last two weeks and he wouldn’t have missed that for anything.

“This is serious. Why didn’t you say anything to me? Does Trent know?”

“I told him earlier today.”

“Is he taking you to the surgery appointment?”

“He’s out of town. I have a car scheduled. It’ll be fine.”

“No it won’t. I’ll get on a plane and be there to take you back to the hotel.”

“That’s not necessary. You need to stay in Vegas and work on your album. I’ve given you a deadline, remember?”

“A couple days isn’t going to matter one way or another.”

“Humor me.” Letting anyone baby him was not in his nature. “It’s outpatient surgery. I’ll be in and out in a few hours.”

“Why do you have to be so strong all the time? It wouldn’t kill you to accept help once in a while.” Melody let loose an exasperated sigh. “You are so stubborn.”

After a childhood spent bouncing from one backwater town to another, Nate had learned to take care of himself. Sometimes his dad would be gone for months, sent all over the country to whatever oil fields needed his expertise the most. If the job required an extended stay, he might bring Nate and his mom along. Nate’s dad never cared if this meant his son had to fit in at a new school or that his wife would have to take whatever job she could to make ends meet.

“I could say the same of you.” Nate knew of only one way to get Melody off this particular subject. “How are things between you and Kyle? Have you talked yet?”

“Did you know that Trent hired Hunter to DJ twice a month at Club T’s?”

“He mentioned something about it. I told him it was a bad idea.”

Hunter Graves was Melody’s ex-boyfriend. Several months ago he and Melody had run into each other in a New York City club. As they were leaving, to keep from getting separated while passing through the raucous crowd outside, Hunter had taken Melody’s hand as they headed to a waiting car. The paparazzi had snapped several pictures of the couple and the media had ruthlessly promoted its theory that the former lovers had reunited.

Back home, while Kyle hadn’t really believed Melody was cheating on him, he hadn’t appreciated seeing the woman he loved hand in hand with her ex. And the months of separation had created tension for the couple, making Kyle even more reactive.

Melody sighed in Nate’s ear. “And to answer your earlier question, Kyle and I have exchanged several texts, but we haven’t sat down to talk.”

“Don’t you think that should happen soon?”

“I’m afraid if we have the talk we’ll just end up fighting and the subject of us being over will come up.”

“Kyle hasn’t come to Las Vegas and taken over temporary management of Club T’s because he’s ready to give up on you two.”

“He’s here because Trent’s in LA with Savannah and the club needs a manager.” Melody’s voice had a ragged quality that tore at Nate’s heart. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I really hope you’re right about him, but I can’t stop feeling like he’s going to use what’s happened between us since that photo came out to rationalize that we’re not really meant to be together.”

“He’s not going to do that,” Nate said. “Especially after he finds out what’s really going on.”

“What do you mean by that?” Melody sounded more wary than confused.

“You forget how hard it is to keep secrets on tours.”

“You and Mia managed.”

“That’s because the only one we had to keep in the dark was Ivy, and in general she’s so preoccupied with herself that she isn’t sensitive to what’s going on around her.” Nate circled back to Melody’s problem. “When are you going to tell Kyle he’s going to be a father?”

“Damn. Who else knows?”

“Both Dan and Mike commented that you were looking a bit off and mentioned that their wives had both been sick like that when they were pregnant.”

“Why did they tell you?”

“Because you’re like my little sister and I’ve made it pretty clear all along that anyone who messed with you would get their ass kicked by me.”

Melody huffed out of a breath. “I can take care of myself.”

“Aww, that’s cute,” he mocked. “But you really can’t. You are too sweet for your own good and people take advantage of that.”