The Songwriter (5 page)

Gwen’s stomach dipped.
“Please don’t say it like that. It makes me want to throw up.”

Cassie
laughed and hugged her. “I’m not trying to make you nervous. Trey knows what he’s doing by changing the songs and having you replace Natasha. Here I was thinking we had to find someone just like her and Trey finds you. Bizarre, huh?”

“
Gwen!” Trey pounded on the door.

Gwen bared her teeth
and shouted, “What did my text say? I said five minutes!”

“
I hear you guys gossiping and we have to practice.”

Angie gave her a disapproving look that she ignored. Angie had no problem ordering others around but she deferred to Trey in everything, Gwen didn’t care if Trey was a big shot superstar. He was demanding, relentless and worked her to the bone. She wasn’t shopping for earrings, she was trying on her wardrobe for the
tour and he was barging in! Gwen strode to the door and yanked it open.

“
If you think I’m going to let you order me around for the next six months, you better think again!”

Trey’s eyes swept over her and she stiffened when their eyes met. She’d never seen that look on his face before. When he didn’t talk but continued to look her over like a Porsche
, she shoved him backwards and marched down the hallway because she was short of breath. Maybe the gown was too tight.

“
You want to practice? Let’s go,” she said over her shoulder.

Gwen swept
on the stage and didn’t want to admit that the dress and makeup made her feel like a real singer. She and Trey rehearsed eight to ten hours a day and it was taking a toll on her. Trey told her where to walk onstage, how to interact with the crowd, how to pause in the song for emphasis and so on. Gwen could only thank her lucky stars that she knew the songs already because there was no way anyone else could learn the songs and memorize everything Trey drilled into her.

“
You look phenomenal,” Trey said when he joined her.

She arched a brow.
“I know. Let’s do this.”

Gwen walked over to the piano and
began to play
Release the Dream
. Trey leaned against the piano. She met his eyes because she didn’t want to be a coward. She felt more comfortable with an instrument between them and from the glint in his eye, he was well aware of what she was doing and why. The time they were forced to spend together was enjoyable, but it stretched her nerves to the breaking point. She knew something changed between them but neither acknowledged it out loud. Every day the tension between them grew.

Trey
walked behind her and put his hands on her shoulders and Gwen made sure not to jerk away. He was getting her accustomed to his touch so when they performed it would feel casual and comfortable. Trey was a great performer and part of that was the way he interacted with the women he sang with. Every woman in the audience would die for him to stroke their cheek and look into her eyes as he sang. Gwen ignored the impulse to lean back. He was so close behind her she could feel warmth radiating from him. She made sure to keep her back rigidly straight. Trey was her friend. Platonic. Just a regular guy…

Trey
stepped beside her and held out a hand, telling her without words to step away from the piano. She grasped a mic and again had that sense of being put on display naked. Trey saw her nerves even though she tried to hide them.

“
It’s just us,” he said. “Just sing it to me.”

She lost herself in the brilliant blue of his eyes. His hand clutched her free one and he
swung their hands playfully as if they were children rather than adults in their prime. Once more, Gwen couldn’t believe she was here with him. Trey’s charisma was so overwhelming that she was continually drawn to him like she had been at eighteen. As a teen, she had adored him with everything in her and he had treated her like a child. Trey was older than her by only five years but he was already jaded by the industry and wasn’t interested in a young teenager who thought she was in love with him.

As
Gwen’s mind drifted, her voice became more confident and pronounced. She broke eye contact and released his hand. She made sure she walked around the stage and did the right stops and passes. She didn’t want to look like such an obvious amateur. She knew that Natasha would have spies reporting every last thing to her. Over the past week, Gwen found something in her burgeoning since she stepped onstage and held her own against Trey. Pride. When she forgot that she wasn’t a singer and this wasn’t some horrible misunderstanding, she let her voice go and that was when she saw people’s mouths go slack in surprise. The crew stopped their duties to listen, watch and clap. It happened often enough for her to realize her voice was unique and had the power to affect people. Gwen ended
Release the Dream
with a mock pose in the center of the stage and Trey chuckled.

“
Very nice. You get better by the day,” he said.

She shrugged.
“It just clicked in my head that these are
my
songs and I want them sung well.”

“
Good. They’re great songs.”

She nodded and took a sip of water and walked over to the piano and ran her hand over the keys because she couldn’t help herself. Since she’d gone into the songwriting business
, she was never far from instruments and she could turn a gloomy day into a song about fighting inner demons. She didn’t want to take her profession for granted so she wrote every day. She worked on the music or lyrics for ten or so different songs that were a work in progress. Between those songs were collaborations with other songwriters or singers. She lived a busy life where she planned her own schedule and spent time in other cities for several weeks, but she always came home to her apartment in New York… her haven where she closed out the world and lost herself in emotion and music.

“
Who are the songs about?”

Her pleasant feelings disappeared. A cold ball of dread and shame
collected in her stomach.

“
Is it a secret?”

Her smile was strained
. “Kind of.”

He wagged his brows.
“You never tell me about your love life.”

“Isn’t not that exciting.”

Trey ran the lyrics through his mind. “The guy sounds like an ass.”

“He’s just a guy.”

He whistled and sat on the piano bench and pulled her down beside him. “Let’s not get into a fight about relationships.”

She shook her head. “Yes. Pass.”

He rubbed his hands together. “You’re gonna blow everyone away.”

“
Really?”

He began to play the piano and sang,
“Gwen, where’ve you been all my life?”

Gwen snorted.
“I don’t think you should go into songwriting.”

Gwen’s phone rang and when she saw who was calling she walked across the stage as Trey continued to sing ridiculous lyrics.

“Hello?”

“
I must have heard wrong. Trey can’t be replacing
me
with
you
!” Natasha cackled.

Gwen
had been bracing herself for this conversation. Ever since Natasha took off with her Hollywood man, she made sure to send taunting pictures to Gwen and the entertainment news. Gwen hadn’t responded to any of her texts or calls, she knew it was just a matter of time before someone told Natasha that the tour wasn’t going to be cancelled and who was going to take her place.

“
He’s not replacing you. He’s hiring someone else since you took off,” Gwen said.

“
I can’t believe he talked you into doing this. God, that man could talk lesbians into being straight.”

Gwen’s hand tightened on the phone. She knew Natasha was a pro at making everyone feel stupid, small and inconsequential. It worked when
Gwen was a young kid. No more.

“
Have fun on your honeymoon and don’t worry about Trey. He can take care of himself.”

“
You mean
you’ll
take care of him. Gosh, Gwen, you never snapped out of it, did you? You think he’ll look at you differently if you sing for him and get him out of a tight spot? That’s pathetic. You’re going to embarrass yourself in front of the world.”

Natasha’s words scraped her raw.
“I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t left. If you’re so worried, then come back and do the tour.”

“
No.”

“
Go back to your new husband. I have work to do,” Gwen snapped and hung up.

She resisted the urge to hurl her phone off the stage. She was
trembling with anger. She couldn’t stop the doubt that coursed through her.

“
What did she say?”

Gwen turned to Trey and pasted a bright smile on her face.
“Oh, you know, ‘thanks for covering for me.’ She was spreading her cheer like usual.”

Trey examined her face.
“Whatever she said, forget it. You sound great and whether or not you want to be a singer, you were born to be heard.”

Gwen laughed weakly and rubbed a hand over her face before she remembered she was wearing makeup.
She moaned and looked down at the dress that was “comfortable.” After listening to Natasha’s mocking voice, the dress now looked washed out. When Natasha got onstage, she commanded attention. She was tall, thin and beautiful. Gwen was short, curvy and the dress she was wearing was demure and safe. If she was going to be onstage
singing
, why should her outfit be safe?

“
What’s wrong?” Trey demanded.

He didn’t know how to take the way Gwen was looking at herself as if she realized she was wearing pig skin. He knew as soon as Gwen answered her phone who she was talking to. It had taken a lot on his part not to snatch the phone out of her hand and give Natasha a piece of his mind. Even if Natasha appeared out of thin air he
wouldn’t take her on tour. He was excited with what Gwen was doing to his show. It was a calm, honest energy he never experienced onstage with another female singer. Maybe it was the fact that Gwen connected with the song personally that made her voice strike anyone that listened straight in the heart. The fact that they’d been friends over a decade didn’t hurt.

“
This dress isn’t right,” Gwen said.

Trey looked over the dress again.
“I think it looks just fine.”

Gwen looked up and he saw the anger on her fa
ce. Her hands clutched fistfuls of the rose colored dress that trailed behind her.

“
I’m not a damn teenage princess!” she snapped.

Trey held his hands up in defense.
“I had nothing to do with this.”

“
I can change the dress?”

“
You can do anything but ditch me.”

Gwen nodded and took off towards the dressing room.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. I need to talk to Angie, Cassie and Barbie.”

The next day when Gwen walked
onstage, Trey forgot what he was saying. Barbie, Angie and Cassie high fived each other when the men did double takes. Gwen’s auburn hair was now a rich brown which emphasized her eyes and skin. Her normally wavy hair was pin straight and had been layered to frame her face. She had bright red lipstick that emphasized full lips and she was dressed in a skin tight sparkly dress that stopped on her petite frame at mid-thigh. With each step she took, the dress shimmered and Trey’s throat locked. He rubbed the back of his neck and watched “Gwen” walk up to him. The desire that had been on low simmer since he heard her sing went into full boil. He’d always seen Gwen as cute, but what he was seeing now was a woman bent on seducing and he was ready and willing.

“
Uh, hi,” he said.

Gwen
eyed him coolly. “Hi.”

Gone was the uncertain girl he met every morning to rehearse. This was a woman that knew what
and how she wanted it. He wasn’t sure how a haircut and new dress could give Gwen the stage persona she needed but he didn’t care. All that mattered was she was here, ready to do the tour and she was smoking hot. 

“
So… what’s up?”

She put a hand on her hip and his hands tingled with the urge to shape her hips and bring her up against him.

“I said I wanted to change some things.”

He blinked.
“I thought you were talking about your dress.”

“
I was and then I realized I wanted to change some other things too.”

“
Like your hair?”

She swung her hair and it fell seductively around her face.
“You like it?”

“
Uh huh. Is this the only dress you’re going to wear during the show?” She was killing him.

“
No. This is my finale dress. I have another dress for
The Better Man
and
Touch Me
. Sorry I’m late. Let’s do this.” Gwen grabbed her mic and went to the front of the stage. She tapped red hot stilettos and sang the opening lines of
Breaking Out
strong and clear.