Page 10 of Major Love

I blink patiently at my brother, tucking my legs in closer as I wait for him to get it.

He closes his eyes… and I know that he’s got it.

“Jesus Christ,” he murmurs, rubbing his palm down his jaw. “They’re framing you, aren’t they? They’re going to make some huge story out of you. The best bar owner in Nashville having a… relationship with the biggest country music singer.”

I tuck a blonde curl behind my ear and toy with my little ponytail.

“Okay, here’s the thing,” I rasp, getting to the facts. “They have photos that I don’t know how they got, plus some secret mystery source who can apparently fill in all the blanks. Nothing is incriminating, but it’s all total horseshit. Like, Riley and I hung out as business partners and they’re trying to say that we were dating.” I laugh with disbelief. “I wouldneverdate a guy who only wears cowboy boots for the aesthetic.”

“Sunday,” Case says sternly. “Not the time for joking.”

I level him with a look. “Casey, I’m not joking.”

Case shakes his head. “So, what’s the fallout if they run the story?”

“All seven million of Riley’s fans hunting my ass out of Nashville.”

Casey watches me closely, and then says, “They ran the story, didn’t they?”

“TheNashville Timesdidn’t,” I admit.

He lifts his brow. “They didn’t?”

I shake my head. “…But theNashville Observerdid.”

Casey releases a gruff sound, his chest heaving on a deep inhale. “I can’t believe that this happened to you,” he murmurs, the weight of the world on his shoulders.

And I couldn’t believe it either when I read the headline.

Sunday Wells: The Most Wanted Woman in Nashville.

“It’s fine,” I say gently. “It’ll blow over eventually.”

It’s just going to take a little bit more time than usual, considering the fact that Riley’s new album is about to be released.

He literally could not be more famous right now if he tried.

Friends or not, our communication is definitely going to have to pause, but that’s fine by me, especially seeing as I have some important stuff to do at Casey’s.

I peek over at my brother, wondering what on earth he spent all that money on.

“It’ll blow over,” Casey says gruffly, “but we can still sue their city asses, if you want.”

“For what?” I laugh, grinning at his murderous expression.

Like, yes, I hate the idea of having my name in theObserverfor anything other than the beautiful bar that I ran for almost half of my life – but being written as Riley’s arm candy isn’t the worst headline in the world. In six months’ time no-one is going to care, because he’ll have been linked to another twenty different women by then. And if they’re anything like his usual type, they might actually enjoy being in the press.

And good for them. But that isn’t the life for me.

“Are you kidding?” Casey asks, and then he lifts a large hand so that he can tick off each point as he states them. “False allegations. Defamation. Malicious intent.” His eyebrow lifts a millimetre. “Need I go on?”

“Well, you are on a roll,” I say, a little tauntingly.

Casey grunts and drops his eyes to the palms resting in his lap.

“You better have deleted that fucker out of your contacts list,” he mumbles.

“Casey,” I laugh, “it’s really not his fault. He can’t help being famous, and I can’t regret being his business partner. We both made lots of money in Nashville. Plus, his music is really fun.”

---