Chapter Twenty-Four
The first set was nearly over and Ava was starting to hope that they might end up with the suite to themselves. She knew that David had chipped in for it and that someone else was arranging things, but it was getting late and, if there were others coming, they were cutting it pretty close.
Right on cue, she heard boisterous voices at the doorway and her heart sank. Three couples blew into the suite like a hurricane, clearly already having done a bit of pre-drinking. They were laughing and talking loudly, practically drowning out the music being piped in.
Ava glanced at her friends, who were down in the front-row seats of the suite. They had turned around to see what all the ruckus was about. Ava shrugged her shoulders. Fredi frowned at the unruly bunch, Celia turned back to look at the stage, while Bonni rose, coming up to stand beside Ava.
“Somehow, I don’t think they’re here solely for the music,” Bonni said in a quiet voice. Ava shook her head in agreement and they watched as the new arrivals got settled in.
Ava thought she should go over and say hello. It was the polite thing to do, especially since she didn’t know how these people were connected to David.
“Hi, I am Ava. I’m with Enbridge?” She held out her hand to shake but no one took it so she let it drop.
One of the guests, a tall red-headed man, looked disinterestedly over his shoulder. “Never heard of the company. Are you based in Nashville?”
Holding on to her civility with an iron grip, Ava replied, “No, we’re not. My friends and I are just in town for CMA Fest.”
The brunette woman with a pixie cut sneered, “Oh, tourists. Do have a delightful time. Over there.”
She made a little shooing motion and Ava counted her blessings that Fredi or Celia weren’t standing here because, otherwise, she was sure security would be escorting them out after an epic brawl. The food arrived at the perfect time, proof that there was a deity and he/she was quite fond of Ava.
“Celia, Fredi, food’s here.” Ava was starving and filled up half her plate before her friends could even stand up.
Fredi and Celia strolled back to the lounge area as if they didn’t have a care in the world. They grabbed plates and got in line behind Ava.
“There you go, Aves, you shouldn’t go hungry now,” Celia joked. “Oh, that looks yummy. Let me try a bite.” Celia reached out as if to pick something off Ava’s plate and she turned her shoulder to her.
“Back off my food. You know the deal.” Ava continued to shield her plate from Celia as she loaded it up with more food.
Celia laughed. “Just bugging you, chickie. We know how you are about your food. I’m surprised you don’t mantle over it like an eagle.”
“Mantle over it?” Fredi asked, popping a spring roll into her mouth. “That sounds like a kinky sex position.”
“Eagles, especially the eaglets defending their food, spread their wings out and hunch over their meal so nobody else can get it. If you watch those live eagle cameras, you’ll see. Anyway, that’s like Ava. She has food issues.”
“I do not. I just don’t like people picking off my plate.” She took a step back from the girls, out of arm’s reach.
Fredi burst out laughing. “What’s that, then? Look how you’re backing away. We’ve got our own food. Why would we take yours?”
“Because you always do.” Ava looked down at her plate, trying to decide which tasty morsel she would eat first.
Big mistake. She dropped her guard for a second and Celia swooped in to snatch a meatball from right under her nose.
“Hey!” Ava reached out to try and grab the meatball back, knocked Celia’s hand and the meatball went sailing. They all watched it bounce off the seat backs like a freaking golf ball, heading straight for Bonni. She ducked and it landed with a splat against the wall.
Silence filled the suite and they all looked at each other. From over to their left, a snide voice drawled, “Are we having food fights now? Did we wind up back in middle school again?”
“It was an accident,” Ava burst out, even though she knew she was playing right into his mean-boy narrative. The ever-efficient Karen was already cleaning off the wall, the scent of cleaner filling the air as Ava fought against a wave of embarrassment.
“Okay, guys, just ignore them and eat. We came here for some awesome country music performers, not second-rate extras from Gossip Girl.” Fredi nudged Ava toward a seat. “Here, we need to feed the beast. Eat, Ava. And you,” Fredi said, pointing her finger at Celia. “Behave yourself.”
“Wow, are you going to put her in time-out?” Pixie Haircut said.
Well, that just took the cake. Mess with her all you want, but go after her friends and the gloves were off. “I didn’t get your name.” Her voice was sweet but held a don’t-mess-with-me edge. Fredi let out a low whistle.
The woman sized her up again then gave a small shrug, turning her attention to the food on the buffet. “It’s quaint that you don’t know who I am. Donna Evans. The E of E&R Records.” Nodding toward the stage, she said, “That’s one of our acts on stage. Perhaps you’ve heard of him?”
The condescension was so thick in her voice, Ava could’ve cut it with a knife. Before she could come up with a suitably scathing response, Donna the E put two pieces of lettuce and a slice of tomato on her plate before flouncing away. God, what a bunch of stuck-up snobs.
Before she could shake off her anger, her phone vibrated in her back pocket. As she pulled it out, she was anxiously hoping it would be Chase, but it wasn’t. It was David.
She quickly typed back to him:
“Who is that? Loverboy?” Fredi asked around the mushroom she’d just stuffed into her mouth.
Ava shook head. “No, it was David, you know, my boss, the man responsible for getting us into this suite.” Sending a final glare to the awful people on the other side of the room, she resolved to take the high road. She didn’t want to do anything that would reflect badly on David or the company.
Settling back into her seat, she rescued her plate and started eating. Halfway through the first headliner, and right as she was finishing a delectable chocolate mousse, her phone vibrated in the pattern she had set for incoming FaceTime calls. This time, it had to be Chase.
“Here, hold this.” She shoved her plate at Fredi, who didn’t have time to juggle hers and Ava’s properly so the plates tilted precariously, nearly spilling all the food down the front of her top. Bonni came to her rescue as Ava answered the call.
“Hey, superstar. How are tricks?”
“Exhausting, that’s what they are. I tell ya, Boots, I’m looking forward to chilling at the party with you. I swear that last interviewer would have been all over me if I’d given the slightest hint I’d be open to it.” Chase looked so adorable when he was this grumpy.
“Aww, is that why you FaceTimed instead of texted? You wanted to remind yourself you were taken?” The words just fell out of Ava’s mouth. Celia gave her big eyes as Ava’s brain began to scramble for ways to deflect.
Fortunately, Chase didn’t even seem to notice that Ava had staked a claim on him after less than forty-eight hours. “Yeah. And to see when you wanted to be picked up.”
She breathed a sigh of relief over her narrow escape. “Well, Luke Combs is finishing up now, so Little Big Town is up next. Another hour, maybe? We can meet you downstairs?”
Chase stared off into the distance for a moment, like he was checking the time, before he looked into the camera and nodded. “Sounds like a plan, Boots. Ask the suite’s hostess to show you where. See ya soon.”
Ava said goodbye and clicked off the phone with a silly grin on her face. The grin died quickly when a voice said from behind her, “Was that Chase Hudson? You know Chase Hudson?”
Folding her arms across her chest, Ava stared down Donna the E and her band of misfits, who were gathered in behind her with curious expressions on their faces.
“I do know Chase, rather well, actually. I also know CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, a couple of A-list entertainers, a bestselling novelist or two, and many, many members of the idle rich. But why should that matter to you now? You didn’t give a rat’s ass a minute ago.”
Donna the E gave her the brightest, fakest smile Ava had ever seen. “Oh well, it was all in good fun. Perhaps we can arrange—”
“Why don’t you go have your ‘good fun’ over there?” Ava echoed the insulting brush-off gesture the snobs had made earlier then turned back to her friends, completely ignoring the other group.
“Where did that lioness come from?” Celia asked her.
“I knew you had that roar in you,” Fredi said as they did a round of high-fives.
“I guess it takes a certain kind of something for that roar to come out loud and proud,” Ava said, feeling wonderful. Chase was eager to see her and she had put those arrogant jerks in their places! She was flying higher than a kite right now.
The lights dimmed and the music from the stage got louder. Cheers echoed around the stadium and the crowd surged to their feet, heralding the beginning of the final set of the night, Little Big Town.
“Oh my God!” Celia screamed, her voice mixing in with the rest of the thousands of concert-goers. “It’s Miranda Lambert! She’s crashing into their set!”
Ava quickly tapped out a text to Chase:
He replied back almost instantaneously:
She pumped her fist in the air and did the loudest “Yeehaw!” she could muster. If only Chase could hear that. How could he ever say she wasn’t country when she could holler with the best of ’em?
She trembled with anticipation of what was going to come after the concert: time spent with her superstar and likely between his sheets. Now how could a night end up any better than that?