WRIGHT THAT GOT AWAY (Wright Vineyard #4)

1 BLAIRE The number one song in the world was written about me. And no one knew but me and the asshole who wrote it. The same asshole who was about to sing it right now. “Thanks so much for coming out to Wright Vineyard tonight to celebrate the Best in Class Abbey Vintage,” Campbell Abbey said into the microphone. He was seated on a stool with an acoustic guitar in his lap. His big blue eyes penetrated the dense crowd packed into the barn at his brother’s winery. His dark hair was artfully messy. For once, he’d ditched his signature leather jacket and was in a plain black tee and ripped black jeans. He made rock god look effortless. “Before I go, I have one more song for you.” The crowd went wild. Including my friends Piper, Jennifer, and Annie. Even my assistant, Honey, was screaming her head off for the lead singer of Cosmere to perform his last song. His most popular song. The one we all knew was coming. “This song goes out to every person who has ever felt invisible. To the girl in the back of the class, just trying to get by. To the guy on the bench. To you out there. Every one of you. This is ‘I See the Real You.’ ” Somehow, the audience roared even louder as the opening riff drifted through the speakers. Then Campbell closed his eyes, and his honey-smooth voice filled the room. It was a serenade, an anthem, a f*****g spell that he cast on every person who heard this song. And I’d been ensorcelled first. If I closed my eyes, I could remember that night so long ago. The nervous butterflies in my stomach as I waited for the tap, tap at my window. Campbell climbing inside my bedroom with his guitar strapped to his back. The quick kisses as we fumbled for one another and the strum of his guitar in the afterglow of his affection. This song brushed across my lips. I was the girl he had seen. Until I wasn’t. “I love this one so much!” Honey yelled over the crowd. “Me too,” Annie said. She flipped her red hair, held her hands overhead, and swayed to the music. “I third this,” Jennifer agreed. She had her giant camera up to her face and was taking photos of the crowd. My best friend, Piper, shot me a look. She didn’t know about what Campbell and I had been through. She was three years older than me, and we hadn’t known each other in high school. We’d become inseparable in college. Even though she, like everyone else, had no idea we’d been together, Piper suspected. She had been dropping subtle hints ever since Campbell had come back to Lubbock to reunite with his family. I’d repeated the same thing that I’d been saying since high school—nothing happened. It was a lie. A huge f*****g lie. But I’d been saying it long enough that I could almost believe it was true. That I’d never met him. That he’d never seen me. That I’d never fallen hopelessly in love. That he hadn’t ruined my entire life. The only thing I could believe was one undeniable truth: he’d left. The second we’d graduated high school, he’d taken his beat-up truck and driven straight to LA. One big dream propelling him out to the unknown. He’d been determined to succeed. And he had. That didn’t mean I had to like it. If I heard “I See the Real You” one more time, I was going to scream. Blissfully, the final notes of the song faded. Campbell opened his eyes and stared out at the crowd beyond. For a split second, it was as if he saw me again. As if, despite the hundreds of people crammed together in this barn, he found my eyes. Just me. Probably every other person in attendance felt the same way. He’d probably done it on purpose. Maybe the music industry had taught him how to make it feel like he was eye-f*****g the entire room. He’d always had charisma. That special something that said he couldn’t be ignored. Even before he was that good of a guitar player with scratchy vocals and piss-poor lyrics, he had it. And you couldn’t train anyone in how to have it. You did, or you didn’t. But it had ballooned in the intervening years. He’d taken it from sultry high school heartthrob to the next level of panty-melting rockstar. Campbell broke eye contact and shot a smile to his adoring crowd. “Thank you and have a good night.” The lights came back up as he disappeared into the small backstage area. Wright Vineyard was the newest addition to the Wright family royalty. The Wrights owned Wright Construction, a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest construction companies in the country. Their cousins, Jordan and Julian, had moved here from Vancouver, and with the help of Hollin Abbey, they had opened the vineyard. Jordan had gotten it on its feet, Julian kept it running, and Hollin did everything else. It sure helped that his brother was famous and could show up every now and again to draw in a crowd. Honey swooned next to me. “That was incredible. He gets better every time.” “Every time,” Jennifer agreed, dropping her camera around her neck. “Should we go find the guys?” “Definitely,” Annie said. “Like…backstage?” Honey whispered in awe. Honey hadn’t been around when the winery started and Campbell performed. She hadn’t gotten any of the inside scoop yet. She was still too new in our circle. It wasn’t weird for the rest of us. Annie was engaged to Jordan. Jennifer and Julian were talking about moving in together. And despite all of our shock, Hollin and Piper were actually happy. They were still at each other’s throats, but I was starting to suspect that it was foreplay. “Yeah, like backstage,” Piper said. She nudged Honey. “That way.” Honey squeaked. She looked back at me with wide eyes and then followed my friends through the crowd. “Do you think I’ll meet Campbell?” Honey asked me. “Do you think…you could introduce me?” “Me?” I looked at her to gauge whether or not she suspected the same thing as Piper. “Why me?” “Well, you met him at the concert in Dallas. And I just thought…” Piper grinned at me. “Weren’t we so lucky to meet him backstage at the Dallas show?” I arched an eyebrow. “You were so lucky to see his tour bus.” Piper’s cheeks heated. “I sure was.” “Oh my God, backstage in Dallas,” Honey breathed. “I couldn’t imagine.” “So, Blaire, are you going to introduce Honey or what?” She was baiting me. She wanted me to decline. But I was done being freaked out by Campbell. I could do this. It wasn’t a big deal. “Sure. I’ll introduce you.” Piper’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?” “Why not?” “Why not indeed,” Piper muttered under her breath. Honey glanced between us, as if just realizing that there was some undercurrent going on. “Is it okay if I meet him? I don’t have to.” “It’s fine,” I lied. Then we marched backstage. The guys had beaten us there, lounging around a table, pouring bourbon straight from the bottle. They were selling the new award-winning wine hand over fist. The last couple years was finally paying off for them. They deserved to be celebrating. But there was no Campbell in sight. “Hey, where’s Campbell?” Piper asked as she slid onto Hollin’s lap. He nuzzled her neck and gestured behind him to the closed door. She swatted at him to stop, but it was half-hearted. She liked when he was handsy. “Changing,” he finally got out. “Why?” “Blaire’s going to introduce Honey to him.” Hollin extracted himself from Piper’s neck to look up at me. A smirk was on his lips. I didn’t want to know what he was going to say. So, I brushed right past them, dragging Honey behind me, and raised my fist to knock on the door. But the second I reached the dressing room, the door opened, and I nearly fell forward inside. Campbell reached out as swift as a viper and grabbed my waist. “Whoa there.” Time froze as we stood, nearly crushed together in that doorframe. The liminal space between two worlds. One in the past, where I had always been allowed past that door, and the present, where I couldn’t imagine speaking to him, let alone having him touch me. I cleared my throat and wrenched backward. “That was…unexpected.” “Sorry. I didn’t know you were there,” he said, leaning against the doorframe and smiling down at me. That was another thing I’d forgotten. He was so impossibly tall. Over six feet. And I’d always been a pixie of a thing. Just brushing five feet tall. I had on heels for the show, but still he towered over me. I swallowed. f**k. Was this the reason I only wanted to date giant men? “Can I…help you?” he finally asked. “No. Wait, yes. My assistant wants to meet you.” Campbell c****d his head. I hadn’t spoken to him since high school graduation, and now, I was introducing him to someone as if we were friends. Which we were not. “I’m just so lucky to have met you at the show in Dallas,” I deadpanned, arching an eye to see if he’d contradict me. “So lucky.” His lip quirked at our shared joke. “This is Honey,” I said, gesturing to the girl standing behind me. Still, he wasn’t famous for nothing. He knew how to handle fans. He turned up the charm to a hundred and looked toward my assistant. “Honey?” he asked. “Is that your real name, or are you just sweet?” I tried not to gag at the stupid question. Honey proceeded to melt into a puddle of goo at his feet. “It’s just…Honey. My friends all call me Honey.” He held out his hand, and they shook. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You’re a Cosmere fan?” “The biggest,” she gushed. And then he spent the next fifteen minutes discussing every point of interest with her. It was…genuine. He liked his fans. What guy wouldn’t? But he didn’t treat her like an annoyance he was desperate to be rid of. He was sincere about the entire interaction. It was better than I’d seen from most celebrities. As strange as it was, I had some experience with other celebs. I ran a fantastically popular wellness blog, Blaire Blush. I had a few million followers on social media, where I doled out relationship advice, preached body positivity, and helped girls all over the world love themselves. I was sponsored by ethically sourced fashion designers and constantly received boons in the mail from people who wanted my influence. It was exciting and kind of crazy that it had ballooned into this with nothing but a blog and my psychology degree. “So, are you dating anyone?” Honey asked, dropping me square back into reality. Campbell laughed and ran a hand back through his hair. “That’s a personal question.” “I know. I know. I’m sorry. There’s just speculation that you’re talking to Nini Verona,” Honey said. Just casually dropping the name of one of the hottest models around. “I know Nini,” Campbell said, “but I’m single.” Honey sighed happily. Satisfied that he was still on the market. Suddenly, his gaze drifted back to me. For those few minutes, I’d thought that he’d forgotten my existence entirely. There was something in those bright blue eyes that made me freeze like a deer caught in headlights. And I couldn’t look away even though I knew he was about to ruin my life all over again. “Unless you want to go out with me,” Campbell said.