Keeping the Beat Read online

  It didn’t really matter, Lucy told herself. Robyn would manage. It wasn’t as though Lucy would be much help anyway. She wasn’t like Harper. She hadn’t even had the guts to stand up to Debra for her own sake; why did she think she could help Robyn? Robyn would be just fine on her own, once she was off camera. Wouldn’t she?

  Robyn dutifully followed Debra Z to her sleek, ultra- modern office. A pale boy about her age with hair so blond it was nearly white was sprawled on the sleek gray sofa, playing some sort of game on his iPhone.

  “Tomas, darling,” Debra Z called. “This is the lovely young lady I wanted you to meet.”

  Tomas’s phone mooed as he finished his game. He took his time closing the program then locking the screen before languidly transferring his attention to Robyn.

  His gray eyes were nearly as pale as his skin and hair. Dressed in white linen and soft, flesh-toned leather boat shoes, he was unsettlingly monochromatic.

  There was something quite creepy about him, but Robyn couldn’t decide if that was due to his eerie appearance or the look in his pale eyes. He was studying her so closely, she could almost feel his gaze, like light fingers running over her skin.

  She stuck out her hand. “Robyn Miller. Nice to meet you. Your name is Tomas, right? I …”

  Her greeting trailed off as Tomas took her hand and, instead of shaking it, raised it to his lips to kiss. Her stomach did a hard flip. Her brain couldn’t decide if it was turned on or terrified. Who was this boy?

  In a light Swedish accent that flowed like warm milk he said, “Tomas Angerman. It’s awesome to meet you, Robyn.”

  “Robyn, darling,” Debra Z continued, “Tomas here is a friend of my daughter’s from Beverly Hills High. He’s about your age, actually, but he’s simply my favorite person to introduce to clients who need a little help … pharmaceutically speaking. So discreet. And he has the very best diet pills in town. His mother brings them home from business trips in Korea, doesn’t she, dear?”

  Diet pills? Of course. Robyn had almost forgotten why she was there.

  Debra Z must have noticed Robyn’s falling face because she threw an arm around her and gave her a squeeze. “No, no. Don’t take it that way, dear. You’re gorgeous. I’m simply helping you attain your full potential. Isn’t she lovely, Tomas?”

  “Beautiful.” He almost purred the word. “That hair. That skin. You’re quite right, Debra, a little CZ92 and she’ll be irresistible.”

  Debra Z pulled a roll of cash from a desk drawer and began to count out bills. “CZ92 is the most amazing stuff, Robyn. You’ll see. Of course they’re not available here, only in Asia, which is why we get them from Tomas. You’ll figure out how much she needs?”

  Tomas nodded, and with a flurry of air kisses, Debra was gone.

  “I meant it, you know,” the pale boy said, smiling at her.

  For a moment, Robyn seriously considered running away. Was she really going to take dodgy diet pills from Asia?

  “You’re going to be something extraordinary,” he continued, scooping up the cash Debra had left behind. Then he pulled a bottle of pills from his coat pocket and held it out to her. “Especially after you’re done with these.”

  Robyn looked at the bottle for a long time. Debra Z thought they were safe, obviously, or she wouldn’t suggest them. She didn’t want Debra to think she wasn’t willing to do what it took to make Crush a success.

  “You do want to be extraordinary, don’t you?” Tomas asked gently, clearly sensing her hesitation. “You can’t be afraid to be your best self, Robyn.”

  He was right. She’d never been able to lose weight on her own, and she didn’t want everyone to think of her as the sad, chubby girl who held the band back. She needed help, and if they were going to win Project Next, she needed it now. Before she could think better of it, Robyn reached out and took the bottle.

  “How many do I take at a time?”

  “One pill, four times daily,” he said, reaching out to massage her shoulder. “You’ll see, they’re perfectly safe and they work. It’s just like magic.”

  It was too good to be true, Robyn was sure, but it was also too good a chance to pass up.

  “No time like the present,” she said. She shook a pill into her hand and gulped it down.

  “See,” Tomas said, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “That wasn’t hard at all.”

  Jason Darrow stepped through the brushed steel doors of the elevator in Debra Z’s Beverly Hills high-rise and jabbed the button marked Fifteen in cursive letters. He was reaching out to press the Door Close button when Ash burst into the lobby.

  “Wait!” his assistant called. Jason’s finger hovered over the button for just a moment before relenting and pressing the Door Open button instead. He couldn’t avoid being alone with his assistant forever. He knew Ash would take the opportunity to ask for a promotion. He’d been assuming that he was about to make junior manager very loudly to anyone who would listen, so of course it had got back to Jason. Discretion was high on the list of things Ash still needed to practice before he would be ready to stop answering phones and buying coffee.

  “Sorry!” his over-styled assistant gasped, slipping into the elevator beside him. He brandished a large paper bag brimming with tubs of frozen yogurt. “I went to get snacks for the girls, but Debra Z said pastries have too many carbs, so I had to run out to Pinkberry instead.”

  “Great,” Jason said, pulling out his iPhone. Maybe if he looked busy, Ash would take the hint and not start a conversation that was only going to end in humiliation.

  No such luck.

  “I’m glad I caught you, actually,” Ash said, too casually. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”

  Jason sighed, just a little too loudly.

  “It’s not a big thing,” Ash assured him. “I just would love to be more involved with Crush, that’s all. Like, I could set some gigs for them and stuff. I mean I’ve been with you eleven months, and it wouldn’t have to be an official promotion or anything. I just feel like I’ve learned so much —”

  “Everything you need to know to nurture a band?” Jason snorted. “In eleven months? Unlikely.”

  “What?” Ash said, clearly jaw-dropped. “I mean … you … I thought I was doing a good job.”

  The kid looked both shocked and hurt at the idea that he wasn’t ready to build an international hit band after less than a year of answering Jason’s phone. Jason sighed. He should have known better than to hire a Hollywood dynasty brat. Not that he could really have said no when Sir Peter asked him to mentor a friend’s son.

  “Look,” Jason said. “Do you know how long I was Sir Peter’s assistant before I got promoted?”

  “No,” Ash said.

  “Well, you should,” Jason said. “First of all, a good manager does his homework on anyone he deals with. Always. And second of all, I was his assistant for three years. I only got promoted because I discovered Electric in a rest-stop dive bar on the way to Las Vegas. You want to get promoted? You’ve got to show me why you deserve it. You want to do that by getting more involved in Crush, then great — but that doesn’t mean you’re not still going to be the guy picking up the Pinkberry order. You read me?”

  The doors slid open onto a massive room that looked, at the moment, like a teenage girl’s closet on steroids. Clothes, makeup and shoes that looked more like they belonged in an art installation than on someone’s feet were everywhere.

  “Jason —” Ash began.

  “Hey, boys,” a bright, feminine voice cut in. “Check it out!”

  Jason turned to find Toni walking toward them. Or at least, he thought it was Toni. She was almost unrecognizable as the pretty but overly made-up teenage girl he’d met the day before. Heavy, blunt-cut bangs and just the right hint of makeup had transformed her into an unspeakably gorgeous young woman.

>   “Not bad, huh?” she said, eyes dancing.

  “Toni,” Ash said, “Jason and I were just —”

  “Bringing Crush some frozen yogurt,” Jason said. “Now, I left a bunch of hungover teenage girls here a couple hours ago, and they seem to have been replaced by supermodels. You have any ideas what happened to my band?”

  Toni giggled, tossing her long hair over her shoulder into an exaggerated swimsuit model pose. “What can I say? Debra Z does good work.”

  “I’ll say,” Jason said, shaking his head. Maybe he’d underestimated Toni. They’d have to make sure the episode producers paid special attention to her. She was going to be a star.

  “I still need to talk to you,” Ash objected.

  “No,” Jason said, firmly. He didn’t mind a little ambition, but Ash had to know when enough was enough. “You don’t. You need to deliver these yogurts before they melt.”

  He could tell Toni was clocking the barbed exchange. Covering, he turned a bright smile on her. “So, Toni, what do you think of all of this? Do you feel like Cinderella yet?”

  She broke into a blinding, unrehearsed grin. “It’s brilliant!”

  Jesus, she was pretty.

  “This isn’t even my best outfit,” she added with a saucy smirk, daring him to play along.

  Shake it off, Jason, he warned himself. She’s only seventeen, even if Debra Z can doll her up to look twenty-five.

  But he didn’t seem to be in the mood to listen to his own good advice.

  “Hmmm.” He shook his head, trying to contain the echo of her infectious smile that was tugging at his lips. “I think you’re wrong. You couldn’t possibly get prettier.”

  “That’s what you think!” she said, and darted away back into the racks.

  “She’s gorgeous,” Ash said with the same over-emphasized casualness that he’d attempted to ask for his promotion. “Isn’t she?”

  “I’ll say.” Jason reached for one of the tubs of Pinkberry that Ash had dumped on a side table.

  “Almost as pretty as your wife is,” Ash continued.

  Jason dipped a spoon into the frozen yogurt and ate, keeping a firm grip on his poker face.

  “Why don’t you make sure the girls get their yogurt, Ash?” he said coolly. Then he turned to follow Toni toward the cameras. He was clearly going to have to cut his assistant down to size, but this situation was just as much his fault as it was Ash’s. What was wrong with him? He was flirting like an idiot teenager, with an idiot teenager, right in front of the person who talked to his wife more than he did some days. He was clearly losing his mind.

  Across the studio, Lucy finished applying blush for the third time and stared at the results in the mirror. She looked more like a little girl playing with her mum’s makeup than a pop star.

  “Almost there!” Paulina the makeup artist wheezed through her smoker’s cough. “But do you see how Izabella has highlighted the cheekbones? You don’t quite have the angle right. Can you show her how you did it, Izabella?”

  “Huh?” Iza looked up from her phone, which she’d been staring at for the last ten minutes. “Sorry. What am I showing her?”

  “Your blusher. Why don’t you just do mine, so I can see how it’s done?” Lucy asked. Paulina nodded and fluttered over to Robyn, who was chattering at hyperspeed as she attempted to apply liquid eyeliner. She seemed happy, thought Lucy. Her conversation with Debra must have gone well.

  “Sorry,” Iza said, taking the big makeup brush from Lucy. “I got distracted.”

  “I saw.” Lucy grinned. “Important text, hmm?”

  “Remember that guy from last night? Luke?”

  “He texted already?” Lucy said as Iza swirled the brush across Lucy’s cheekbones. “That’s great!”

  “I know! But I don’t know what to write back,” Iza moaned.

  “Ladies of Crush!” They spun to find Jason standing behind them with the camera crew. “I see that Debra Z has worked her usual magic. You all look like superstars.”

  Toni curtsied, making Jason chuckle and give her knee-high boots, miniskirt and bustier an approving once-over. Toni shot him a twinkling smile back.

  Lucy stared in amazement. They couldn’t be … No, Jason had to be almost thirty, even if he didn’t look it. Toni must just be flirting on autopilot, as she did with every guy.

  “I’ve also listened to your morning session,” he continued, “and I had an interesting conversation with your producer.”

  Robyn groaned noisily. Then she clamped a hand over her mouth and giggled when she realized she’d done it out loud. Lucy shot her a covert glance. It wasn’t like Robyn to be so nutty on camera. Had Debra Z given her a drink up there? Or three?

  “Exactly, Robyn,” Jason said. “We can’t have a repeat performance of that. Alexander is a genius and we’re lucky to have him, but he’s not a patient man. I don’t mind the partying — I’ll even insist on it as we develop your publicity — but no matter what you’ve done the night before, you need to show up at the studio ready to work. Also, remember you’re all underage, so no getting caught buying drinks in any clubs and ending up with your mug shots on TMZ,” Jason continued. “If you want to go out, make sure you have a legal adult with you — like Ash. In fact, he’ll be going out with you tonight. You’ve got a table for four booked at The Ivy — and that was hard to get, ladies, so enjoy it — and after that, Ash has the password to Basement. There will be photographers at both doors, so look your best.”

  “Reservations for four?” asked Harper. “If Ash is coming along, wouldn’t there be six of us?”

  Jason nodded. “There would be, but Lucy isn’t going.”

  Oh no, Lucy thought. Her parents had somehow managed to get her kicked off the show. They were about to walk in and drag her off in a dramatic on-camera confrontation. She just knew it. She’d known all along this was too good to be true.

  But then Jason shot her a brilliant grin and said, “Alexander was impressed with you, Lucy. So much so that he has suggested we take you with us to the Long Road benefit tonight at the Nokia. It’s Sir Peter’s annual fundraiser for throat cancer. It’s a really big deal for Sir Peter and we’ll be with him in his personal box. You can, of course, pick a friend to accompany you.”

  Lucy couldn’t believe it. She turned to look at the other girls.

  Me! Toni mouthed. Please!

  “Toni? Will you come with us?” Lucy asked.

  “Sure, I guess,” Toni said, doing a bad job of faking casual.

  “Excellent,” Jason said.

  Was Lucy imagining the fact that he looked pleased with her choice as well? She had to be. Jason Darrow had better things to do than flirt with some seventeen-year-old. Didn’t he?

  “Let’s get a move on, ladies. We’ve got a big night ahead of us.”

  5. Emotional Bloodbath

  Harper couldn’t believe that it was already Saturday. She had thought the wait to see Rafe again would be unbearable, but the week had flown by.

  Alexander might be a relentless tyrant whose favorite word was “again,” but he knew what he was doing. He kept a sharp eye on them all. Harper and Iza couldn’t miss a note without him noticing and he’d taught Robyn and Toni the fingering for flamenco-style guitar, which sounded incredible on “Delicate.” But Lucy was the one who had really transformed since they’d begun working with Alexander. At first Harper had resented the hours that Lucy spent studying technique and practicing, both with Alexander and alone at the house. But after a while she had realized that Lucy was happier now than she had ever seen her. Even if Harper wished Lucy was around more to hang out, it was worth it to see her best friend blossom.

  And Crush … Crush was outstanding. They’d started out good, but every day with Alexander made them better. That made it easier to get up on the evil side of seven o’clock in the morning to work, despite the late-nigh
t whirlwind of parties and clubs and restaurants that often stretched past 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.

  Between rehearsing, clubbing, making sure Crush was “caught” by all the right paparazzi teams and their daily sessions with Debra Z, there hadn’t been time to even think about Rafe. Harper loved the fact that they had their own personal stylist to critique their outfits for the evening each day and restyle them if necessary. Not that Harper ever needed restyling, of course. She was always Debra’s favorite, a fact that she enjoyed almost as much as she enjoyed watching Debra force Toni to wash her face and reapply her makeup every day.

  It was mean of Harper to be secretly happy that Debra had made it her mission to embarrass Toni. She knew it was. Toni was her friend now, after all. But Harper couldn’t help it if she had a competitive streak. Besides, somebody needed to teach Toni that less was the new more when it came to eye shadow. It was for her own good.

  Lucy was a walking fashion emergency, of course. She always had been. But with Harper’s help, even she was starting to improve — and it was paying off in more ways than one. Ash clearly had a huge crush on Lucy. He was gorgeous, obviously, and a lot of fun, even if he wasn’t the brightest spark Harper had ever met. But brains were not as much of a requirement in a summer fling as a six-pack was, and Ash had a very nice one of those. With Harper’s help, Lucy could wrap Ash around her little finger if she wanted to. It could be fun, Harper thought, making a boy fall at Lucy’s feet.

  Thank God Lucy seemed to have forgiven her for lying about Rafe. She hadn’t exactly said, “I forgive you, Harper,” or anything, but at least she was still wearing her BFF charm. The matching charms dangling from each of their wrists made Harper happier than she would ever admit to anyone, especially Lucy.

  Harper threw a glance into the rearview mirror and smiled to see Lucy and Robyn with their noses practically pressed up against the window as Ash powered the SUV up the Pacific Coast Highway. She couldn’t blame them for staring. She’d seen Californian sunsets many times before, but the streaks of red, pink and gold that flared across the sky as the sun dipped into the vivid navy blue of the water still took her breath away.