Skimming her hands over the skirt of her forest green suit, she approached the representatives from the theme park. The decision to do so rather than begin with her boys was strategic. She figured an apology on behalf of the Under the Bridge Tour would seem more sincere if issued quickly and directly, which would go a long way towards smoothing things out.
Politics, she mused. Just smoke and mirrors. A small price to pay for the media attention this would get them.
Within the hour, she was leaving the restaurant with Brandon, Mal, Hunter, and Vic. She maintained her stern expression until they were safely out of sight of any cameras. Then she gave them all smiles.
“Well done, boys,” she said. “Mal, threatening Brandon was brilliant.”
He grinned. “Brandon makes it easy.”
Brandon just glared at him.
“I still don’t see what good this does us,” Hunter said, glancing over his shoulder as though making sure they were still alone. “Getting into a food fight at a theme park? BFD.”
“It’s a big enough deal to get us in the news,” Regina countered. “Mal stirred up questions about the status of the band but didn’t push it far enough to get arrested. This is the kind of publicity that managers dream about.”
She silently added that it was the type of footage Elijah needed to make House of Archer successful. She intended to give him enough such footage to make her and Suddenly Something invaluable to him. It wouldn’t surprise her if the show’s concept changed before the pilot episode aired.
“Won’t we have to pay for all that damage?” Vic asked.
“Yes,” Regina said. “But that’s what insurance is for. It really wasn’t all that bad. A quick visit from the park’s maintenance crew will have it good as new in no time.”
“What about Corey Gauthier?” Brandon asked, his blue eyes moving among each of them and landing on Regina. “Anyone give a shit about him?”
Regina almost stopped walking she was so taken aback by the comment. Brandon never thought about anyone but himself. Years of keeping her emotions in check kept her moving forward, however.
“It was an unfortunate accident,” she said briskly. “We’ll make sure his medical expenses are covered and issue an apology.”
“Seems like a lot of money getting tossed around for a little exposure,” Brandon said.
“Trust me to do my job,” Regina countered, her patience thinning. “Believe me, the rewards will far outweigh the cost.”
No one argued with her as they walked out of the park and headed towards the news crews. Still, Regina sensed some of their uncertainty. It grated, but she reminded herself that they didn’t have a clue how to be successful in her job, nor did they know the extent of her plans.
By the time she was done, she would have her father and other important members of the music industry bowing at her feet.
Chapter Twenty-Five
By the time Archer, Lily, Aria, and Sydney left the park, Corey Gauthier had been discharged from the hospital. Barney informed them that he had received eight stitches but was otherwise fine.
Archer saw how relieved Lily looked over the news. The spark of jealousy he felt over her reaction was unwelcome and ridiculous. She wasn’t romantically interested in the other musician, for the love of God. Was he really that insecure?
He supposed on some level he was. His experience with Lily on the Delta Flyers had ignited feelings for her that he never anticipated. By sharing that passion and intimacy with her, he felt closer to her than ever, more protective of her and their new relationship. It was a challenge for him to keep their relationship to himself when he really wanted to tell the world she was his.
All in good time, he tried to convince himself.
Since they didn’t get to eat at Great America, they stopped at a Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. He devoured most of a basket of chips with fresh salsa, his entree of handmade chicken enchiladas, and most of the sopapillas that Lily ordered for dessert.
“Hungry?” Lily asked dryly as he licked a drop of honey off his thumb.
He grinned. “Not anymore.”
Sydney rolled her eyes. Archer’s smile faded. She had been giving him the deep freeze all day. He wasn’t sure how to convince her that he really wasn’t a bad guy.
“What should we do now?” Aria asked as she checked her appearance in a small mirror she kept in her purse. “We were supposed to be at the park most of the day.”
“We could hang out at the hotel pool,” Sydney suggested. “It’s heated and has this great waterfall feature.”
“I didn’t pack a bathing suit,” Lily said.
“We can stop and get you one,” Archer offered.
Aria’s eyes lit up. “Shopping?”
Lily groaned. “You’ve awoken the beast.”
“Well, then, sounds like we have a plan,” Archer said.
What he figured would be twenty minutes at the local mall turned into something of a shopping free-for-all. Lily hadn’t been kidding about Aria. The woman scented out fashion deals like a hound chasing a fleeing felon.
Finding a bathing suit for Lily took no time at all. She was a simple shopper who knew her size and taste. The turquoise and gold two-piece suit she grabbed was on one of the first racks they saw.
Aria didn’t stop there, though. She insisted that Lily needed a proper cover-up and hat to protect her fair skin, and mentioned that she and Sydney had just been talking about how they wanted something new to wear to the private event The Void was playing the next night. Didn’t Lily need something new, too?
“Aria,” Lily griped as they finished their second walk-through of their third store. “I’m not getting all of this stuff.”
Aria gave her an incredulous look. “But this dress is sixty-percent off. And those matching shoes are seventy-percent off. They’re perfect for you.”
“Even so, I didn’t budget for this.”
Throughout the different stores, Archer had been keeping his distance and doing his best to avoid being seen so he didn’t draw any attention. He had also been holding his tongue. He wanted to buy the clothes for Lily, but she had always refused his money. He knew she didn’t want to be like his other friends and family who turned to him when they got in a financial pinch. How could he convince her to let him buy the things for her?
After a moment of consideration, he pulled her aside. “Lily, I’d really like to buy these for you.” Even as she started shaking her head, he added, “Please. It would make me happy.”
Her mouth closed, cutting off her instinctive refusal. She studied him carefully and must have read how he felt.
“That was low,” she replied.
“Well it’s true. I had intended to buy you a gift at Great America but we left before I could. This will just take the place of that.”
She sighed. “You and your gifts. Fine. But only these things.”
He wished he didn’t have to push so hard for her to accept things from him. Still, he would take what he could get.
“If you can convince Aria of that,” he said, “it’s fine by me.”
In the end, he picked up the tab for all of the outfits Lily and her friends selected. He did it to please Lily and help her feel less singled out by his generosity. Part of him also hoped Sydney might be appreciative enough about his gesture that she’d cut him some slack.
She didn’t seem overly impressed, though. She did thank him but it was less than effusive.
He pushed it to the back of his mind on the drive back to the hotel. There were certainly bigger things to deal with right then. He wanted to see how his band mates were doing after all of the hoopla that afternoon and Christopher had texted him requesting that he let him know when he and Lily got to the hotel. Archer was sure his manager had a few things to say about how the day had gone.
“We should probably chat with Christopher before you get changed for the pool,” Archer said to Lily as they walked into the hotel. “Barney will make sure the things we bought
are brought to your room. Christopher texted that he’s coming down to the lobby in a few minutes.”
“Sure,” Lily said with a shrug.
“We’ll see you at the pool in a bit then,” Aria said. “Thanks again, Archer.”
She gave him a friendly pat on the arm and then strolled with Sydney over to the elevators. Archer didn’t fail to notice Sydney’s lack of a goodbye. Before he could say something to Lily about it, he spotted Elijah heading towards them at a rapid pace. His face was red and perspiration gleamed on his balding head. Behind him were a camera operator and a woman in a business suit holding a manila folder.
This couldn’t be good.
“Uh-oh,” Lily murmured, her gaze also on the producer.
Archer shifted closer to her, not liking the highly agitated look on Elijah’s face.
“We need to talk,” Elijah greeted them when he stopped a few feet away. “Right now.”
The scent of his sweat reached Archer. There was enough of an odor to tell him that the producer had been drinking heavily in the recent past. A few people stopped to stare at them, either overhearing Elijah’s demand, recognizing Archer, or wondering about the filming currently taking place.
Of more concern to Archer was Lily, whose face had paled enough that the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose now stood out. He saw her put a hand on her stomach, a sure sign she was stressing. Knowing that Elijah was causing that stress set Archer’s temper on edge.
“Okay,” he said to Elijah, keeping his tone level. “Where?”
Elijah looked around as though he hadn’t considered that. Eventually he waved them after him and trudged off in the direction of the hotel bar. He walked through the part of the bar visible from the lobby and ended up at a table in the back. It was still early enough in the day that the area was nearly empty.
Elijah, Archer, and Lily all sat at the table. The woman with the folder stood near Elijah and the camera operator positioned himself at a neighboring table. Beneath the table, Archer took Lily’s hand.
“First things first,” Elijah said, snapping his fingers at the woman in the suit. “You have some releases to sign, Miss Montgomery.”
Lily stiffened before saying, “Okay.”
She let go of Archer’s hand to take the manila folder and ballpoint pen that Elijah pushed at her. The folder shook a little as she opened it. She blinked a couple of times as she looked at the sizeable stack awaiting her signature.
“Relax, would you?” Elijah said after seeing Lily’s hesitation. “These are all standard releases. Everyone participating in the show signed them.”
Lily looked at Elijah and then at Archer. Archer knew she didn’t want to sign the releases. By doing so, she was giving up the quiet privacy that she preferred and allowing her life to fall under public scrutiny.
He should be the stand-up guy who told her to refuse to sign. Surely he could find another way to help House of Archer succeed.
Couldn’t he?
Before he could finish waging his internal war, Lily nodded resolutely to herself and started signing the releases. His chest tightened as he studied her intent profile and fully absorbed what she was doing for him. He could have bought her closets full of clothes and it still wouldn’t repay her for this.
She had barely lifted her pen from the last release before Elijah snatched the folder, straightened the documents with a loud tap on the wooden table, and handed the entire thing to the woman, who left without a word. The look he gave Archer and Lily when he turned back to them could have frozen water.
“Now, what the hell are you two doing?” he barked. “Are you trying to sabotage this show?”
Archer’s hand tightened into a fist on this thigh. Lily covered it with her own, helping him rethink the initial words he wanted to spew at the angry producer.
“What are you talking about?” Archer replied. “We got you some great footage today.”
“No,” Elijah argued, folding his hands on top of the table tight enough for his thick knuckles to turn white. “What you did was air the only good footage from the day on social media so it’s useless for the show.”
Lily’s grip tightened, telling Archer that she was just as surprised and dismayed over Elijah’s accusation as he was.
“I didn’t think about that,” Archer confessed.
“We didn’t,” Lily clarified.
Elijah grunted humorlessly. “No shit. At the rate we’re going, we’ll have absolutely nothing to air for the pilot. At least, nothing featuring you or The Void.”
Archer frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that while you two were groping each other earlier with no camera around that we got some excellent footage of the confrontation between Malcolm O’Dell and Brandon Evans. That is what we’ll be airing from today.”
Beside Archer, Lily flinched enough that he felt it. The crew had obviously listened to the audio footage from the Delta Flyer and passed it along to Elijah.
Temper threatened to lash out of Archer like a viper strike. It was one thing for Elijah to threaten giving Brandon and Suddenly Something spotlights on his own reality show, but it was quite another for the producer to make what he and Lily had shared sound cheap and insignificant.
“That’s enough,” he warned in a low, dangerous voice. “We made a mistake. We won’t do it again.”
“No, you won’t,” Elijah agreed with a satisfied smirk. “Because the releases Lily just signed allow us to film her whenever and wherever we wish, and she now has to get approval for the posts she puts on social media to make sure they don’t conflict with the show’s best interests.”
“What?” Archer shouted, shoving to his feet. “You can’t do that.”
“I can and I did,” Elijah said without apology. “My job is to make this show succeed and I’m doing my damn job. You’ve held things back and ignored my requests, so we’re moving on to doing things my way.”
“You son of a—”
“Stop,” Lily said, reaching over to touch Archer’s arm.
Her quiet tone did more to curtail his outrage than if she had shouted at him. He turned to her, determined to tell her that he was going to handle this. The words lodged on his tongue when he met her gaze. He had seen that unwavering look way too many times over the years.
“You want this show to succeed, don’t you?” she asked.
“Yes, but—”
“There are no ‘buts’ here,” she interrupted, now looking at Elijah. “We all know what it takes to create successful reality TV. Hiding from the cameras is the surest way to kill the show.”
Elijah’s eyebrows lifted in apparent surprise. “That’s exactly right.”
“Lily, he tricked you into agreeing to do more than you intended,” Archer insisted, staring holes into Elijah.
“I’m a big girl. I could have and should have read those releases before I signed them. Now I have to live with it,” Lily said, her tone matter-of-fact.
“Now that that’s settled,” Elijah said, “I need you for some interview footage, Miss Montgomery. I have a room set up for filming. I assume you’re free now since you were supposed to be at the park this evening?”
“Sure.” Lily rose from her chair.
“Remove any makeup,” Elijah instructed her as he also rose. “We want to see the bruise during the interview.”
If possible, Lily lost more color. “Okay.”
“No,” Archer snapped. “Damn it, Lily. Listen to me. You don’t have to do this.”
“Of course I do,” she said simply. “You’re my best friend.”
Her best friend.
Not her boyfriend. Not her lover.
Her friend.
Sharp pain struck him in the center of his chest. Was this what he wanted? How could he live with putting Lily in this position, even if she insisted?
She had always put him first. He was only just coming to understand how much he depended on that, how much he needed it since n
o one else had ever done the same. He knew she wanted to do this even though it would be unbearable for her. As she always did, Lily was sacrificing herself for him.
But for the first time he realized what he’d likely lose by letting her.
Somehow he managed to say, “Lily, let’s talk about this. Screw the cameras.”
“You’ve done enough of that,” Elijah objected, moving around the table to guide Lily out of the bar. “You signed an agreement and it’s time to fulfill your obligations.”
“Please don’t argue with him,” Lily implored as she stepped around his chair. “It’ll be okay, Archer. Let me do this.”
Her use of his stage name made his pain that much more profound. Before he could say anything else, Christopher approached from the direction of the lobby with Trey on his heels. They passed Lily and Elijah as they walked out. Christopher must have noted Archer’s expression because he walked up to him and placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.
“You can’t go after her, Archer,” he said. “We both know that we need Lily.”
Christopher was right. Archer needed Lily. But not for the reasons he initially believed.
He shrugged his manager off and hurried out to the lobby. He saw the elevator doors close on Lily, looking so small and fragile beside Elijah and the camera operator. He stood there with dozens of objections racing through his mind, treacherously unvoiced.
And he knew there was no turning back.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The wireless mic Lily now had to wear whenever the show was being filmed—which was apparently 24/7—wasn’t as uncomfortable as she expected it to be. The interviews Elijah wanted her to do, however, most certainly were.
She learned on her way to the filming room that everyone else who had signed releases, including all of the bands and even a number of the road crew members, had already participated in these interviews. All of them would be obligated to submit to recap interviews almost every day from there on out. It was the only way the show’s team would have enough footage for the episodes within the timeframe they had set for the show.