Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(51)
“Is he okay?” she whispered.
He pulled the phone back and pressed the speaker feature. “Hey, Jimmy, slow down, and say all of that one more time.”
“Fuck, Damon. Just listen to me already. Cadence posted a video of you on YouTube. It’s of you performing with Chloe last night at Posse. It’s all over the Internet. Get online right now. You’re f*cking trending on Facebook and Twitter.”
Trihn’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my God!”
“I have to see this,” Damon said.
She opened the Facebook app on her phone, and sure enough, there was the headline.
CHLOE AVANA, GRAMMY-NOMINATED ACTRESS, PERFORMS WITH DJ AT NIGHTCLUB
She clicked on the link, and the video started playing automatically.
Trihn couldn’t believe it. Cadence had gotten a great shot of Damon and Chloe singing, and the vocals were perfect. Even though the booth was dark, it was clear who was singing. It even looked like it was just the two of them with no one else there.
“Damon! Fuck, are you still there? Everyone is asking who you are and where you came from. Your name is starting to show up online. I saw an article with it in there. Hold on. Let me send it.”
A second later, Damon’s phone dinged, and he opened up the link to reveal a picture of himself with Chloe beneath another headline.
CHLOE AVANA PERFORMS A REMIX OF “HEARTBREAKER” WITH UP-AND-COMING DJ DAMON STONE
“Up-and-coming,” Damon whispered.
“You’ve hit the jackpot!” Jimmy cried. “Can I get your autograph?”
“Fuck off, Jimmy. It’s nothing. This is about Chloe. It’ll blow over.”
“I f*cking hope not!”
“It will, but thanks, man. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Congrats. Later.”
Damon hung up, and Trihn and Damon silently sat there as the rest of “Heartbreaker” played on Trihn’s phone. When the song finally ended, she closed out of the video and then refreshed the page. Her eyes bulged when she checked the stats on the video.
“One point two million views, and it’s only been up for a few hours,” Trihn said.
“This is Chloe’s life.”
“But you’re in it,” she said.
She started scrolling through the comments. Every fifth one mentioned Damon in some capacity. It was variable on whether it was favorable or not, but he was as much a part of this as Chloe was.
Trihn didn’t think Damon even realized it until his phone started ringing again.
“It’s a blocked number,” he said.
She shrugged. “Just answer it.”
“Hello?”
Damon straightened immediately and stood up. “Uh, hey, Chloe.”
He took a few steps into the other room and chatted on the phone. He even laughed a few times at whatever she was saying.
Trihn pulled her knees up to her chest. Her stomach was in knots. She wanted to know what Chloe was saying on the other line, but some part of her didn’t want to know. At some point, she knew that whatever Chloe said had something to do with the 1.2 million views on their now viral video.
It wasn’t often that a person could point to one specific moment in time and say, This changed everything. But here, right now, was Damon’s moment. And it was about to change everything.
He walked back into the room as he hung up the phone and turned to face Trihn with clear shock and exhilaration on his face. “I’m performing ‘Heartbreaker’ tonight at Chloe’s concert at the MGM.”
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, the moment you have all been waiting for,” the announcer called out into the stadium. “Chloe Avana.”
The crowd erupted with deafening applause.
From backstage, Trihn watched as Chloe rose from an underground platform onto the stage. It was insane to think that, just last night, she’d had front-row seats to this show with her best friends, and now, she was watching it live with her boyfriend, who would be performing the final number with Chloe.
Her life had flipped upside down in the span of one day.
Damon laced their fingers together and rubbed his thumb up and down her hand. “Breathe,” he told her.
She turned away from Chloe’s show and stared at him, taking in his chiseled strong jawline, sharp cheekbones, long dark lashes framing even darker eyes, and perfect kissable lips. His messy hair was tucked up under his signature flat-brim baseball cap, and he’d gone with an all black ensemble. Chloe’s people had said they would dress him if he wanted, but he’d wanted to be comfortable and confident out there. Trihn was biased, but she thought he was strikingly handsome tonight.
“Why are you comforting me? You’re the one about to go out in front of seventeen-thousand people.”
“And you’re the one who looks like you’re going to hyperventilate.”
“I do not,” she said. She took a few even breaths and reminded herself to calm down. She was supposed to be here for moral support, not freaking out herself.
“I did a sound check already. Chloe and I practiced the song a dozen times today. It’s going to be fine.” His fingers grazed her chin. His dark orbs bore into hers, and it was as if he could see right through her. “We’re going to be fine, too, love.” He raised their laced fingers to his lips and pressed a kiss there.