Platinum (All That Glitters #3) (21 page)

“Fuck. No wonder you hate him and are terrified of relationships.”

“I’m not terrified of relationships. I’m terrified of getting my heart ripped out all over again. I find it hard to trust people after what Preston and then Neal did to me.”

“But you trust me?”

She nodded slowly. “I really want to.”

“I really want you to, too.” He linked their fingers together and pulled her in for a slow kiss.

“What about you? Any past girlfriends?” Trihn asked, trying to take the spotlight off of her for a minute.

“Sure. A couple. None really worth mentioning.”

“That usually means something bad in my book.”

He chuckled and took another bite of his French toast before drowning it in coffee. “I guess I had a serious girlfriend in high school, but we went to different colleges, and long-distance worked for all of two weeks before she wanted to see other people. There were a few short-term girls in college. Just didn’t work out.”

“I’m surprised by that.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re so…perfect,” she finished.

Damon laughed disbelievingly. “I’ve cleaned up my act a bit since then. Decided I wanted to be someone other than the life of the party.”

“So, you partied a lot?”

“Comes with the territory. DJs usually end up at parties. You get to know a lot of people—frat boys, jocks, stoners. When you mingle with them all, you start to find yourself drifting in that direction,” Damon admitted. He frowned and looked down, as if he were remembering something particularly troubling. “I kept my cool, but I saw a lot of people who didn’t.”

“I bet you did. What was the worst thing you saw?” she asked.

Damon shrugged. “That’s all relative, of course. But one memory kind of sticks out.”

She questioningly raised her eyebrows.

“I was at this insane party last March. This crazy blonde cheerleader was throwing it because some sugar daddy had bought her a fucking mansion.”

Trihn laughed. “Bryna’s party?”

“Yeah. This
gorgeous
girl was at that party. Hands down the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.”

“Oh,” Trihn said, wondering why the hell this was important.

“But she was there with another guy.”

“How unfortunate for you.”

“Yeah. All I wanted to do was go over and introduce myself. But she was way too far out of my league. She had these beautiful friends who would do anything for her and a boyfriend who she seemed to care way too much about. The guy was a total dick and made it his personal mission to be as horrible of a boyfriend as possible to this girl.”

Trihn narrowed her eyes. “Me?”

“You.” He nodded. “He chose to come to the party. Then, he moped the whole time and got pissed at you for being there. He made you cry, and then you ran out after him.”

“I did,” she whispered. “You remember that?”

“I remember because I swore if I ever got a girl as amazing as you, I wouldn’t do the same things that douche bag did.”

Trihn sighed in satisfaction. “Where did you come from again?”

“Born and raised in London, love.” He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and leaned forward to give her a kiss.

“If all Londoners are like you, then I fear for the hearts of the women in England.”

“I only fear for my own heart because of my drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend.” Damon laughed and pulled her in for another kiss. “You taste like cinnamon.”

“I like when you say that.”

“Mmm…delicious cinnamon.”

She shook her head and playfully slapped him on the shoulder. “No, calling me your girlfriend.”

“You’re my girlfriend,” he repeated before kissing her nose. “You’re my girlfriend.” Then, he kissed her lips. “You’re my girlfriend.” Then, he kissed down her neck.

“I’m never getting any work done ever again,” she said.

“Is that a complaint?”

“Absolutely not.”

Damon picked her up and carried her back into the bedroom. He dropped her on his bed. She laughed and lounged back.

Something lit up on the nightstand that drew both of their attention for a split second.

He narrowed his eyes at the phone. “Weird.”

“What is it?” she asked, sitting up on her elbows.

He reached for his phone and looked at the screen. “I have four missed calls from Jimmy.”

“Do you think he’s okay?”

He looked worried. “We’re about to find out.” He dialed the number. “Hey, Jimmy. You all right, man?” He leaned the phone between his shoulder and ear and then sat down on the bed next to Trihn. “Whoa, slow down. What are you talking about?”

Damon’s face drained of color, and Trihn’s stomach sank.

What the hell happened?

“Is he okay?” she whispered.

He pulled the phone back and pressed the speaker feature. “Hey, Jimmy, slow down, and say all of that one more time.”

“Fuck, Damon. Just listen to me already. Cadence posted a video of you on YouTube. It’s of you performing with Chloe last night at Posse. It’s all over the Internet. Get online right now. You’re fucking trending on Facebook and Twitter.”

Trihn’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my God!”

“I have to see this,” Damon said.

She opened the Facebook app on her phone, and sure enough, there was the headline.

CHLOE AVANA, GRAMMY-NOMINATED ACTRESS, PERFORMS WITH DJ AT NIGHTCLUB

She clicked on the link, and the video started playing automatically.

Trihn couldn’t believe it. Cadence had gotten a great shot of Damon and Chloe singing, and the vocals were perfect. Even though the booth was dark, it was clear who was singing. It even looked like it was just the two of them with no one else there.

“Damon! Fuck, are you still there? Everyone is asking who you are and where you came from. Your name is starting to show up online. I saw an article with it in there. Hold on. Let me send it.”

A second later, Damon’s phone dinged, and he opened up the link to reveal a picture of himself with Chloe beneath another headline.

CHLOE AVANA PERFORMS A REMIX OF “HEARTBREAKER” WITH UP-AND-COMING DJ DAMON STONE

“Up-and-coming,” Damon whispered.

“You’ve hit the jackpot!” Jimmy cried. “Can I get your autograph?”

“Fuck off, Jimmy. It’s nothing. This is about Chloe. It’ll blow over.”

“I fucking hope not!”

“It will, but thanks, man. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Congrats. Later.”

Damon hung up, and Trihn and Damon silently sat there as the rest of “Heartbreaker” played on Trihn’s phone. When the song finally ended, she closed out of the video and then refreshed the page. Her eyes bulged when she checked the stats on the video.

“One point two million views, and it’s only been up for a few hours,” Trihn said.

“This is Chloe’s life.”

“But you’re in it,” she said.

She started scrolling through the comments. Every fifth one mentioned Damon in some capacity. It was variable on whether it was favorable or not, but he was as much a part of this as Chloe was.

Trihn didn’t think Damon even realized it until his phone started ringing again.

“It’s a blocked number,” he said.

She shrugged. “Just answer it.”

“Hello?”

Damon straightened immediately and stood up. “Uh, hey, Chloe.”

He took a few steps into the other room and chatted on the phone. He even laughed a few times at whatever she was saying.

Trihn pulled her knees up to her chest. Her stomach was in knots. She wanted to know what Chloe was saying on the other line, but some part of her didn’t want to know. At some point, she knew that whatever Chloe said had something to do with the 1.2 million views on their now viral video.

It wasn’t often that a person could point to one specific moment in time and say,
This changed everything
. But here, right now, was Damon’s moment. And it was about to change everything.

He walked back into the room as he hung up the phone and turned to face Trihn with clear shock and exhilaration on his face. “I’m performing ‘Heartbreaker’ tonight at Chloe’s concert at the MGM.”

“
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
, the moment you have all been waiting for,” the announcer called out into the stadium. “Chloe Avana.”

The crowd erupted with deafening applause.

From backstage, Trihn watched as Chloe rose from an underground platform onto the stage. It was insane to think that, just last night, she’d had front-row seats to this show with her best friends, and now, she was watching it live with her boyfriend, who would be performing the final number with Chloe.

Her life had flipped upside down in the span of one day.

Damon laced their fingers together and rubbed his thumb up and down her hand. “Breathe,” he told her.

She turned away from Chloe’s show and stared at him, taking in his chiseled strong jawline, sharp cheekbones, long dark lashes framing even darker eyes, and perfect kissable lips. His messy hair was tucked up under his signature flat-brim baseball cap, and he’d gone with an all black ensemble. Chloe’s people had said they would dress him if he wanted, but he’d wanted to be comfortable and confident out there. Trihn was biased, but she thought he was strikingly handsome tonight.

“Why are you comforting me? You’re the one about to go out in front of seventeen-thousand people.”

“And you’re the one who looks like you’re going to hyperventilate.”

“I do not,” she said. She took a few even breaths and reminded herself to calm down. She was supposed to be here for moral support, not freaking out herself.

“I did a sound check already. Chloe and I practiced the song a dozen times today. It’s going to be fine.” His fingers grazed her chin. His dark orbs bore into hers, and it was as if he could see right through her. “We’re going to be fine, too, love.” He raised their laced fingers to his lips and pressed a kiss there.

They watched the remainder of the show from the sidelines. Near the end, a guy came over to collect Damon for his role in the closing number.

“I’ll see you after the show,” he said.

“Have fun.”

“I will.”

And then Damon was gone.

A few minutes later, Chloe had made another full costume change, the last of some ten outfits she’d worn during the two-hour show. It was a black front-zipper high-waist miniskirt and a jeweled black bra top with spiked high heels that Trihn would die for.

Chloe had a rhinestone microphone and spoke into it, “Hello, fabulous Las Vegas!”

The crowd cheered for her.

“I have one last song for you tonight before I go. You might have seen my new single ‘Heartbreaker’ online today. Did everyone watch it?”

The stadium practically shook with cheers from her dedicated followers.

“Well, my good friend is here tonight to sing
that
version of ‘Heartbreaker’ for you. Everyone, DJ Damon Stone!”

Damon walked onstage with confidence in every single fiber of his being. The crowd cheered just as loud for him as they had for Chloe, and he soaked it up. What would terrify most people was a straight shot of adrenaline to his system. He was purely in the zone when he stepped up to the booth.

The drummer kicked in. The guitar melody thrummed to life. The bassist started up the backbeat. And then Damon mixed it all together with his soundboard until it sounded as amazing live as it did every single time he had played it in Posse.

Chloe was cued up for her intro, and then she went full swing into her number one hit. Damon picked up the backup vocals with ease, and soon, they were singing together. Their voices mingled, hers shining above his, and the harmony was perfect. Near the end of the song, when her big vocals came into play, she turned to face Damon, and with their eyes locked, they sang the final words to each other.

Trihn’s heart stuttered.

The crowd cheered for the finale. Chloe turned away from Damon and took a bow, and then she ran back and grabbed his hand, forcing him to bow with her.

“Thank you,” Chloe said breathlessly. She waved at her audience and then strutted offstage, still holding Damon’s hand. Once they were offstage, Chloe threw herself into Damon’s arms. “That was incredible!”

He hugged her briefly and then put her back down on the ground. He hastily removed himself from her, but he was smiling wide from their performance. “That crowd! You have the best fans.”

Trihn just stood there and watched with a sinking pit of worry in her stomach. She was happy for him. The show had been incredible. He had the world at his feet. She didn’t want to think about anything else—not the fear clawing away at her or the knowledge of what fame could do to people and definitely not the look Chloe had on her face when she looked at Damon.

In that instant, he turned to Trihn, as if knowing she was watching. His smile lit up, and he called her over. She walked to him, and he pulled her to his side.

“Hey, Damon, stick around. I’ll be right back,” Chloe said.

Mateo was already hurrying her away to her dressing room.

“See you in a bit.” Damon turned his attention back to Trihn. “What did you think?”

“You were great out there,” she honestly told him. “Truly amazing. You were meant to do this.”

“Thanks.” He pulled his hat off his head and then ran a hand back through it before plopping it back down. “It’s easy to do with you watching me.”