She really did.
But she’d never taken well to being insulted, even if the person doing it tried to be subtle, wearing a cute little smile, as if she was too much of asweetheartto be held accountable for being shady.
Actually,especiallythen.
“You know, Miles, I’m not sure how much I’d want to brag about not being able to work well with others, but – hey, that’s her prerogative, right?”
She felt Emerson completely stiffen at her side.
Darcy angled her chin up in the direction of the closest camera, the one diagonally across from her.
She’d watchedThe Stanton Showmore than enough to know the angle at which the guest was usually shown. She hoped Juliet would get a great view of her, now, the way Darcy had been forced to see and hear Juliet’s comment ad nauseum.
Miles took in a comically sharp intake of breath. “Ouch.” But he clearly loved it, and zoomed in. “Is there anything else you’d like to air out, while we’re on the topic?”
“Not really.” She bit out, looking at Miles. “It really is all preference, I guess. See, I love having my best friend and my sister around all of the time.” Truth. “I genuinely think that I work best when we’re together. Being able to give one another feedback, being able to bounce ideas off of each other helps us make the best possible music.”
She felt alight inside, turning to aim a look back at the camera.
“I’d argue that the three of us working together certainly safeguards against putting out anything that might be called… formulaic or – god, imagine –boring. I’d be really mortified if that happened to me.”
Both comments had been notoriously made aboutBackyard StarsandEchoes, Juliet’s second and third albums.
And Darcy hoped Juliet would hear it loud and clear.
Chapter Three
Juliet had a love/haterelationship with being on tour.
She loved her music and loved to be able to perform it. She loved working with her team to create the show, learning the dances and routines, even if it was labor-intensive.
More than anything, she loved not being immediately available to her stepfather to roll out like some sort of show horse. Usually.
But she despised how demanding it was. How she barely ever knew what state she was even in. The demand for perfection in every step, because there were thousands of people watching, every night.
Presently, she was in the liminal space between soundcheck and the start of her performance, and there was a ruthless, demanding, throbbing pain that stabbed at the back of Juliet’s left eye, shooting into the back of her head that wouldn’t quit.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t abnormal, especially when she was touring. The lack of sleep, changing of time zones, and high-energy, high-frequency performances were undoubtedly the worst combination to trigger her migraines.
The only thing that made this one worse was that she wasn’t even at a stop for her own fucking tour today; she was at one ofher stepfather’s galas. Which was also why she didn’t have her medication readily on hand, as it had been packed and sent to North Carolina, where she’d be flying later tonight, after she did her stint here in Texas.
She was lying on the couch in the second-floor powder room that she’d commandeered as Harrison’s party played on downstairs. Her arm was slung over her eyes, willing not only the pain away, but also the nausea.
When the door opened, she didn’t move an inch, knowing without looking that it was her assistant, Laura. Unless she was running late – which she wasn’t – no one else would think to come looking.
“After a lengthy conversation with the pharmacist, I’m victorious,” Laura announced, shutting the door behind her.
“Thank god,” she breathed.
Gritting her teeth and clamping her lips tightly to ward off the urge to expel anything, she sat up, already holding out her hand for the injection pen.
Laura placed it in her hand, the top already off. Juliet immediately hiked up her skirt and injected the medication into her thigh.
After holding for several seconds, waiting for the quietclickto signal it was done, she let out a small sigh of relief. No, it hadn’t kicked in yet but just knowing that it would soon was enough.
She didn’t have time to take a break. The beginning of her tour was a lot more packed than the final few months would be later this year andtodaywas supposed to be the final break in her schedule before jumping into her next set of shows on the east coast.
Unfortunately, Harrison didn’t really take her rest and relaxation into account.