Page 35 of Until the End

His boyish grin brings back memories of when he was a kid. He’s always been my very best friend.

“Fiiiiiine. I’ll wait.” He goes back to the dough on the counter while I sit on a barstool across from him.

“You still haven’t told me what you’re making.”

“And I don’t plan to. You’ll have to guess.”

“Rude.”

He winks at me. Before I can ask any other questions, my phone rings with a video call. Chelsea’s and Tanya’s gorgeous faces fill my screen when I answer. “Hi!”

“Ginny! You look great. How are you?” Chelsea asks.

“I’m feeling great. I’ve been working with Henry on some new songs, and it’s been amazing.”

Chelsea’s excited squeak makes me laugh. “What a relief. I can’t wait to hear them!”

“We’ve got big news,” Tanya cuts in.

“Huge news.” Chelsea’s eyes widen.

Carson raises an eyebrow, silently asking if it’s okay if he stays. I nod. “What’s going on?”

“The Weasel has gone off the deep end,” Tanya says, her voice grave.

My forehead scrunches. “What does that mean?”

“Like lost every marble he’s ever had,” Chelsea emphasizes. “After we put out our statement a couple of weeks ago, things were pretty quiet. Then one day, Wesley posted this cryptic message about looking to his past to move toward his future.”

“And now,” Tanya charges on, “he’s ranting about how the industry is out to get him and that all he’s ever done is try to do his job to the best of his ability. He said some vile things about you, which I willnotbe repeating, and now everyone’s freaked out that he’s going to do something crazy.”

Chelsea jumps in again. “We wanted you to talk to Daren to ensure your security is tight. He said some really awful things.”

“I’ll make sure Daren is updated. What do you think is wrong with him?”

“Drugs,” they say simultaneously.

I shake my head. “No way. I barely even saw him drink alcohol.”

Chelsea’s face pinches. “You also didn’t know he’d been cheating on you the whole time you were together.”

I wince. “Fair. So what do we do? Anything?”

“Nah. Acknowledging him will only add fuel to the fire. People are pretty disgusted with his comments. I’ve been posting some of the content we banked while we were visiting you, and it’s getting great responses. If you could send me some shots of you writing, that would be even better.”

“I’ll get on it. What else has been going on?”

“I got an email you might be interested in,” Chelsea teases.

“From who?”

“Mariana Beckett.”

My jaw drops. “No way.” She’s the biggest agent in the music industry. She’s known to be an absolute shark when it comes to making deals and is very selective of who she takes on as clients.

“I thought it was a joke until I confirmed her email address.”

I’m stunned.

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