He placed his hands on my shoulders and kissed me, right in front of the camera. For a second I could only stand there, so shocked by his soft lips on mine, while my mind screamed that it was all wrong.

I pushed him away and choked out, “What are you doing?”

He shot a glance at the camera crew. “What? I thought we had a great time last night.”

Wait—had I not been clear that I only wanted to be friends? I replayed our conversation in my head, and yeah, I’d been pretty damn clear. “You said it wasn’t a date! You said you have a girlfriend!”

“I do, but…” His voice dropped, like he hoped the cameras wouldn’t catch his words. “I thought if I kissed you I might get some extra attention for my band, get a few more votes, you know? And maybe make my girlfriend back home jealous at the same time. She, uh, didn’t really approve of me going on the show.”

“So you were using me? I can’t believe you!” If I had something in my hands, I’d have thrown it at him. Maybe I could find something. A glass of water. One of my shoes. His guitar.

He ruffled his sandy hair, looking embarrassed. “I guess I thought you’d be okay with it.”

“Why would you think that? Because of what everyone is saying about me?” Did he think I was a slut, too? Forget throwing something, now I wanted to punch him in the face.

“No! I don’t know. Gah, I’m really sorry.”

I shook my head and walked away without another word. Jared had been right about Sean all along. Even if the specifics had been wrong, Sean did have ulterior motives for spending time with me. Yes, technically I’d been using Sean, too, but he’d crossed the line by kissing me when I’d said I wasn’t interested. And even worse, he’d made me the other woman against my will, just like my mom had been. If people thought I was a slut before, I couldn’t imagine what they would call me now.

Jared stared at me from the other side of the revolving stage, where he must have seen everything. He disappeared into the crew unloading gear for the next performance, and I sprinted after him.

“Jared, stop!”