Page 116 of Beautiful Distraction

“In the beginning, it was,” he says, his lips twitching butnot with humor. “I grew sick of it pretty fast. However, the easy sex rubbedoff on me. I thought every woman was the same.”

I think of Mandy mentioning the groupies. I remember thebanners at tonight’s gig and can’t help but feel jealous of all the women Kellanmust have met—and fucked.

As if sensing my thoughts, he touches my cheek gently. “Noneof them mattered, Ava.”

I know that, otherwise he wouldn’t be here with me, andyet—

“It’s your life. What you do is none of my business,” I say.His grip tightens around my waist. I can feel his gaze on me. He’s looking atme. Through me. His eyes are penetrating every layer of my soul, settling somewheredeep inside me.

“You asked what made me quit,” he says softly. “It was mysister’s death. It was a wake-up call. If it weren’t for that damn tour, Iwould have seen her before she died. I might have changed her mind about goingback.” A shaky breath escapes his lips. I reach out to touch his cheek the wayhe touched me a few minutes ago.

“I’m sorry.”

His eyes shimmer in the weak light of the moon. “She wasalways worried about me. Yes, it was just a job, but if it weren’t for her, Ithink I would have fallen into the usual drug crap. But she made sure to callwhenever she could. And she always listened. I still remember the last time weSkyped. She begged me to quit.”

Which couldn’t have been easy. A contract with a label spansyears and countless albums. It’s hard to break out of, and even more so when alot of money is involved.

“How did you get out?” I ask.

“It wasn’t so hard,” Kellan says, as though reading mythoughts. “The contract was for five albums. I just told them that I wouldn’tdo another. Countless lawyers were involved, but in the end, they realized theycouldn’t force me to stay.”

“How did they take it?”

“Not well.” His dark expression lights up. “But anyone canwear a mask, right? My manager found a replacement, so it’s all final. The newswill be out next month, as soon as the PR department’s done coming up withwhatever bullshit story they think will sell best. Until then, this is one hugesecret no one’s supposed to know about. Except my team, my family, and…” Hepoints his thumb at me. “You.”

“So… officially, you’re still the lead singer of Mile High.”He nods. “And privately, you’re—”

“Only a cowboy.”

I nod gravely and tilt my head back.

Only a cowboy.

I like the sound of that.

A soft smile tugs at his lips as his hands cup my face. “I’mgetting older, Ava. In eighteen months, I’ll be thirty. That’s like a dinosaurin music years. It was about time I retired and went back to my roots. To atime when things were simple. To the things I once took for granted.” He drawsa deep breath, hesitating. “Of course, it’s scary to leave everything behind,but you know, it’s another reason why I wanted you to get to know the real me,not the image that I’ve been feeding to the public. To most people out there,I’ll always be K. Taylor. But to you, I want to be Kellan Boyd.”

“I think I like the real Kellan Boyd,” I whisper so low Idoubt he can hear me.

“Come with me.” Before I know what’s happening, he leads meaway from the street, through the meadow, to an old wooden fence.

Away from the lights, the stars are more prominent.

He takes my hand and helps me climb up the fence until I siton top of it, then he joins me. We’re sitting so close our arms almost brush,but his proximity feels right.

Everything about him feels right.

Except the fact that he’s famous, and I’m just some ordinarygirl from NYC.

“I love it here.” My low voice sounds surprisingly alien,surreal.

In the silence around us, I can’t stop thinking about hissister, about the dream of a real cowboy to support his family, and the riskshe took to get there.

Kellan has an amazing voice, and music is his passion.

People out there deserve to hear his songs.

I want to hear his songs, but I also feel sad for the manwho wanted to quit all along, and yet didn’t, until it was too late and hissister had already died serving her country.

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