Page 29 of Her Rock Star's Dark Secret

“I don’t want Maisy to be forgotten in the hustle.”

“She won’t be. I can promise you that.”

Lauren wanted to believe him, but she was really struggling to achieve that. She’d been let down so many times in the past. It was hard to believe that someone who wasn’t family could come through for her.

And the idea of Chase performing on stage with the lights and the loud music just reminded her of her ex playing his loud music all the time. He was always blasting it from his car even after Penny came, and he didn’t care if it made her cry. Lauren had heard him blasting it once when he’d strapped her into the car, and Penny had burst into tears immediately. But he didn’t bother turning it down. He didn’t care if it scared Penny. He wanted his music, and he wanted the songs he preferred. When they were together, Lauren wasn’t allowed to choose the music, or he would complain heavily. Eventually, she learned to stop voicing her opinions. It wasn’t worth it to fight him all the time for what she wanted. It was too exhausting. So she just let him have his way.

But she was a phoenix reborn now, and she wasn’t ever going to put up with a man bossing her around again. She worked hard to provide for her daughter, and she was proud of that.

“How can you promise Maisy won’t be forgotten, Chase?”

Chase got quiet for a moment. “Can you just trust me on this?”

Trust. He had no idea how hard that was for her. But she would try. “Okay. I’ll try to trust you.”

“Thank you. I appreciate your willingness to try.”

“I’m not usually this much of a control freak, I promise. This memorial just means a lot to me. Maisy was my best friend. I feel responsible, you know? I feel like I should have done a better job of being there for her. But I was all wrapped up in my student council position and Brandon. Maisy was left on the back burner in my life. You have no idea how guilty that makes me feel.”

“I’m so sorry, Lauren. I know you would have done something if you realized how bad off she was.”

“I know you’re right. But I’ve still been beating myself up for this all these years. It really had a huge impact on me.”

“I can understand that.”

Lauren’s heart warmed in her chest. It felt so good to talk to Chase about this. He really did seem to get it. It made her wonder if he’d lost someone close to him as well. “Do you have your band on board with you?”

“Oh yeah. I just explained the situation, and they’re all excited to be a part of it. I had a conference call with them the other day, and we talked at length about Maisy and the memorial.”

“That’s a relief. I’ve been worried about that. There are just so many small pieces to this that I’m worried something will be overlooked.”

“You don’t need to be so stressed out about that now. Aaron and I will take care of everything. And we’re getting Aubrey on board too. All you have to worry about now is getting the reunion finished up.”

“Thank you, Chase. That really means a lot.”

“And you have Josie and the other student council members to help you with the reunion. Don’t forget to ask them for help.”

“I really thought I’d be better at this delegation thing. I feel like everything is a control issue. I’m really struggling to let go and let others help me. I’ve just been let down so much; it’s hard to trust that others are actually going to do what they say.”

“Part of being in a band is working together as a team,” Chase said. “If one of us stops doing our part during a performance, the entire show would fall apart.”

“I guess I need to think of my fellow student council members as my team. I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

“Well, now you know what to do. And that doesn’t mean you don’t have to check up with them to make sure they’re doing their part. It just means you need to consider that as part of the job description.”

“I struggle with asking people to do things because when I was married to Brandon, he would get so angry if I ever asked him to help out around the house. We couldn’t be a team as husband and wife. I just ended up doing everything alone.”

“I can guarantee you if I ever get married, I will think of my wife as my teammate.”

A strange feeling flitted through Lauren’s belly as she thought about Chase being married. “Whoever marries you will be one lucky girl.” She didn’t know why it bothered her when she thought about him being married to some random girl. Chase deserved happiness just like anyone else. Just like her. She just wasn’t sure that was her future. And she was okay with that.

“I don’t see marriage ever happening for me, to be honest,” Chase admitted.

For some reason, that bothered her even more. She didn’t understand why she should care. It wasn’t like Chase would like her that way. Just because he thought she was beautiful didn’t mean he saw her as anything else. Normally, these thoughts wouldn’t have even crossed her mind. But for some reason, they were now.

Chapter 10

Chase pulled his rental car up to the Whitmore House and stepped out onto the pavement. Aaron opened the passenger door and stepped out as well.

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