Page 141 of Major Love

He searches my face frantically, not understanding what I’ve just picked up on.

And my breathing hitches in my chest.

Oh my God.

“What is it?” he rasps quietly, mistaking my silence for something good, but I’m too numb to shake off his hands, my eyes unblinking as I stare up at him.

“Riley,” I say slowly, my voice so quiet that I barely hear it. “They never printed the article inThe Nashville Times.”

Riley’s chest pauses on an inhale, his brow flickering in confusion.

“The Nashville Timescontacted me before they ran the piece,” I rasp slowly, “and when I told them that it wasn’t true,they dropped the article. The headline was only printed inThe Nashville Observer.”

But if Riley thought thatThe Nashville Timeshad printed the article…

I stumble back a step, away from Riley, my heart hammering in my chest.

Betrayal spreads like ice in my veins as I look up at the guy who I thought was my friend.

Because if Riley knew that theTimesalmost printed the article, then there’s only one reason why.

Riley was the leak.

He moves toward me to grab my hands the second that he realises what I’ve finally worked out, but Jason instantly intercepts, placing his large body in front of mine.

“Not gonna happen,” Jason grunts.

And I grip my fists in the back of Jason’s shirt, tears stinging in my eyes but I refuse to let them fall.

Because I freakingtrustedRiley and, in his own words, we were friends for over adecade.

And he sold private photos to the press so that he could make up a headline about anaffair?

What was even the point? Why the hell would he sell me out like that?

He was already in the press, because his new album was just about to come out, so why would he bother making up a fake story?

And then my jaw is dropping open as I suddenly realise why.

His new album was just about to come out.

His new album was about to come out so he–

I move around Jason but he locks me firmly against his side with his forearm, clearly sensing the fact that I’m about to slap Riley all the way to South Dakota.

“Your album was about to drop, so you decided to use me asclick-bait?!” I exclaim, no longer buying that innocent boy-next-door look on Riley’s face as he tries to move toward me.

“I didn’t want you to get hate,” he says desperately. “We just needed the PR and, you know, you’d just sold the bar for a fuck-tonne so–”

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

“You used the sale of my bar,” I rasp, my voice breathless with shock, “the bar that I bought in memory of my step-father… as a way to drive sales for yourfuckingcountry album?!”

An album that already had over a hundred thousand pre-orders, considering the fact that Riley has millions of fans who have been anticipating this release for the past two years.

And then the tears slip out without me meaning for them to, falling silently down my cheeks as I stare up at him in shock.

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