“Funny how you still haven’t denied the most important thing I mentioned.” She shrugged. “I mean, you wouldn’t be the first man to shirk your parental responsibilities.”

“Okay, you two, let’s just simmer down,” Ava tried, but they both ignored her. The sliding door that led to the outside patio slid open, and Eric stepped inside, eyes bouncing between them.

She was prepared to think the worst of him just because he hadn’t refuted any of it. Why did that feel like a jab right through his chest? He’d already known Cherisse didn’t think much of him, but damn, this was a lot. He was tired. He’d been gritting his teeth and holding back every time someone trotted out this rumor, but her last words obliterated the tiny bit of patience he’d been clinging to when he’d decided to walk in here.

“You wanna know the truth?”

“Keiran, you don’t have to say anything,” Eric said.

Oh, he knew that, but he wanted to wipe that self-righteous look off her face. Wanted to clear his name for once.

“My ex and I hit a rough patch. Then, she fucked around with someone else and got pregnant. So, I ended it, and of course, people thought I’d dumped my pregnant girlfriend when she started to show. We’d been drifting apart for a while, but I figured we could work it out but clearly not. I didn’t want people to vilify her, so I took the brunt of shit and just ignored it all. Not that I need to make a public statement about it. It hurt me, but fuck, I didn’t hate her, and if that makes me a fool, then whatever. Mistakes were made, and I just wanted to move on with my fucking life, okay? Happy now? There’s your truth.”

Cherisse didn’t say a word, but she looked appropriately chagrined, eyes darting everywhere except to his face, so he dropped one last parting shot. “Cat got your tongue? Convenient.” Then he turned to Eric, said, “Let’s go check on the meat,” and walked out to the patio.

Chapter 9

Keiran

HE WAS LATE FOR THE first party planning meeting with Cherisse, which, considering how they’d left things after the flower crown session, wouldn’t mend anything between them. Even more so because of who he’d been with. Cherisse wouldn’t care that he’d want no part of working with Sean Daley. She wouldn’t care that he hadn’t been pleased to be summoned to his father’s office for this meeting at King Kong Entertainment.

It was almost as if he’d jinxed himself when he’d thought about never having had to work with Sean before. He’d initially told his father “no” flat out when he’d mentioned they were bringing Sean in on this track with Sheila. There was no fucking way he was doing it. His father had claimed Sean’s vocals on the track were just what the song needed to add that extra punch. It didn’t hurt that Sean had enough fans who would be eager to listen to anything he was on, which could, in turn, help boost Sheila. He’d wanted to stick to his gut reaction and refuse but had already signed on to work with Sheila and couldn’t back out just because of Sean. Sheila was going places, and unfortunately, his father had been right about Sean’s popularity bringing his fans out to boost the track.