Dom pointed to an exit behind them. Lizzy growled and looked at her watch. Bristol put her hands on her hips and turned to face the stage. “Hopefully, she’ll show up soon.” She knew Sterling had given Annie the studio tour. While Top Shelf was impressive on the outside, Bristol hoped that Annie took her advice and didn’t do anything stupid like sign with them without an agent.

“I’m sorry I’m late.” Annie jogged up behind them carrying her guitar on her back. “Traffic to get here was awful.”

“That leaves you fifteen minutes of practice time. I’d hustle up there if I were you,” Lizzy said.

Bristol didn’t like the tone Lizzy took with Annie, even though she wasn’t happy with Annie’s whereabouts today. “I can shave off a few minutes of my practice,” Bristol said. She finally met Annie’s eyes. “Make sure you’re comfortable up there and the sound techs get it right. Don’t rush. Lizzy gets anxious when we play a large crowd.”

Annie’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Thank you. I won’t take a long time up there.” She swung her guitar to her front and made her way onstage.

Bristol turned to Lizzy. “Let’s not make her feel like shit before a show, okay? Can we do that?”

Lizzy squared her shoulders and faced Bristol. “You lost sleep because of her.”

Bristol regretted confiding in Lizzy. “That’s still not a reason to make her feel bad. I can’t blame her for looking out for herself. I’d do the same. And don’t forget, you were her biggest cheerleader in Denver.” Bristol turned and marched back to her dressing room. She was so conflicted. Her heart was angry, but her head understood what Annie was doing. They’d only known each other for what? A few weeks? That wasn’t enough for any loyalty regardless of whatever sparks were happening between them. It wasn’t like Bristol had confided any of her feelings about Top Shelf with Annie. She didn’t even know that talking to Sterling was pissing Bristol off.

“Okay. We won’t talk about Annie.” Lizzy followed Bristol back to the suite.

Trying to keep her voice as casual as possible, Bristol asked the question Lizzy wasn’t going to. “I wonder how the tour at Top Shelf went?” Bristol shrugged as though it wasn’t a big deal. “Did she text anything?”

Lizzy was monitoring Bristol’s Top Shelf phone. Half an hour after she and Lizzy had hung up the night before, Clarissa had shown up with a new phone. She’d already set it up and entered the contact numbers Lizzy had given her. Lizzy hadn’t included Annie’s number.

“I left your phone on the bus, but there wasn’t anything an hour ago,” Lizzy said.