Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(76)

Trihn started reading the article with shaking hands.

CHLOE AVANA’S ROMANCE WITH DJ DAMON STONE WAS STRICTLY OFF-LIMITS.

Add another guy to the increasingly long list of people Chloe Avana has been photographed with during the last couple of months. Even before their single “We Never Met” rocked the charts, the two had been spicing it up behind the scenes.

Relatively unknown Damon Stone supposedly rose to fame after playing a remixed version of Avana’s hit single “Heartbreaker” at a Las Vegas nightclub. But an anonymous source close to the couple says that they’d known each other long before that moment, and no doubt, things had been hot offstage long before the couple came out as the sizzling new duo.

Trihn stopped reading after that. Her heart rate leveled out, and she very carefully replaced the magazine in the stand.

What rubbish!

These tabloids always made something out of nothing. Whoever this anonymous source close to the couple was clearly didn’t actually know Chloe or Damon.

Trihn had been the one to introduce them in the first place. He’d never come close to meeting Chloe, and in fact, he’d been a total unknown, not relatively unknown, before that moment.

The one incriminating picture with his arm around Chloe was probably because she had been freaking the f*ck out about the crowds. The press didn’t know about her fear of crowds and the panic attacks she suffered from. But Trihn and Damon both knew that happened, and he had likely just been protecting Chloe and trying to calm her down. All the other photographs looked as if they had been taken on tour or during promotions. It was probably a fact of life that if he was going to be around Chloe, then Damon was going to be photographed.

Trihn reached for her phone and sent a text to Damon.

I love you.

He responded almost instantly.

I love you too.

How is Orlando?

Don’t know. I haven’t seen anything other than the airport, hotel, and arena.

No Disney World then? Harry Potter world? Platform 9 ?? Butterbeer?

Nope. Chloe said we’d have to get a backstage pass to the park to even go. No standing in lines. No wandering around and taking in the scenery.

That sounds awesome. Well, the lines part.

I’d rather go with you.

Maybe once you’re off the tour we could go.

I’d like that. How’s NYC?

The same.

Have you seen your family?

Lydia picked me up at the airport unannounced.

Sounds like her.

Yeah. She was fine I guess. Didn’t wave her ring in my face or mention the wedding at all actually.

Well, I hope it stays like that. I have to get in for a sound check. I’ll try to call you after the show. I love you.

I love you too.

Trihn pocketed her phone, feeling better about the stupid tabloid that she’d read. She hadn’t doubted Damon. She’d always figured that 99.9% of everything in those things was fake, but it was surreal to see her boyfriend in there and the ridiculous things it’d said about him and Chloe. What’s next? Chloe was going to be pregnant, but she wouldn’t know who the father was? They’d both end up on cocaine and in rehab and have a secret wedding? Because…everyone had secret weddings.

Trihn felt like she’d made so much progress since she and Damon had started dating. In the grand scheme of things, it hadn’t been that much time, but she’d been feeling stronger and stronger in their relationship. A few months ago, she wouldn’t have been able to take the sight of that tabloid, even knowing it was false. Now, she just shrugged it off, texted her boyfriend, and daydreamed about going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios with him.





TRIHN STOOD OUTSIDE of her parents’ townhouse in Brooklyn, contemplating whether or not she wanted to walk inside. She had promised her dad that she would stop by for dinner one night while she was in town. And since she had finally completed everything she needed for the fashion show, as listed on her itinerary, and she would be flying back to Las Vegas tomorrow, she figured tonight was the night.

She was actually excited to see her dad. And while she wanted to see her mom, she wasn’t looking forward to the inevitable wedding conversation.

So far, Trihn had avoided talking about it. She wouldn’t mind avoiding it altogether—or at least waiting to have Damon’s support.

But she pushed her shoulders back and entered the house anyway. “Mom! Dad!” she called, nudging the door closed behind her.

“Trihn!” her mother said. She rushed from the kitchen into the foyer and tightly hugged her daughter. “It’s so good to see you. I have missed you so much.” She held Trihn at arm’s length and examined her. “Did you get taller? Skinnier? Are you eating?”

Trihn laughed. “Yes, Mom, I’m eating. And God forbid, I get any taller.”

“It feels as if I haven’t seen you in ages. I don’t think I could go another six months. You have to come back before Christmas.”

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be back when Damon is in town for his show and for the fashion show.”

“Maybe you should just stay here until the fashion show.”

Trihn blanched. “I can’t. I have a lot of work left to do for it.”

“Of course you do.” Her mother, Linh, walked them into the living room. “You’re a Hamilton. We’re all strong and independent. Now, tell me more about everything. Your boyfriend, Damon, is a musician, right? And the fashion show—well, I know all about that since Glitz is a sponsor this year. Let me get you a drink.”