Page 106 of Rebooting Conor Flynn

“Very late night.” She perched on the edge of the chaise lounge, looking ready to take flight. Is Conor with TJ Wallace?”

“Recording a song with him. How’d you know that?” This tour was like PopWiz on wheels for the amount of gossip it generated.

“Rhys told me. He really admires Conor.”

“Conor thinks Rhys is a great drummer.” I closed my book, inserting my finger between the pages. Was Jade going to tell me she couldn’t do the behind the scenes recording anymore? That was the least of my worries right now.

“Noelle...” she twisted the corner of my towel into a knot “...I’m the one who took the pictures of Ashley and Tomo—and I’m the one who sent them to PopWiz.”

I took a swig of water that went down the wrong way and coughed violently for a few seconds. I wiped my eyes and studied Jade. With her gazelle-like long legs and doe eyes, she didn’t look like the devil.

“Why?”

“I...” She stopped when the waiter delivered my iced tea and asked her if she wanted anything.

“Bring me a spicy margarita, please, heavy on the tajin around the rim.”

“First, let me say I had no idea that it would affect you. I thought it would help Conor and you. "I thought she'd finally have to stop lying. I’m so sorry.”

“Why did you take the pictures?”

“I didn’t do it to catch them or anything. Most of us dancers already knew those two were hooking up.” She tapped her phone, clutched in her hand. “I was just taking pictures backstage one night, mostly of the dancers messing around. I got several of Tomo stretching—he is a beautiful man—and followed him to the back after. He went straight into Ashley’s arms. I don’t know why I did it, but I clicked several photos before sneaking away. They never noticed me.”

Running a thumb down my sweating glass, I said, “Okay, so you had incriminating photos of Tomo and Ashley. Why did you keep them? Ashley hadn’t even gone on her blame Conor rant at the time you took the pictures.”

She lifted her shoulders to her ears. “I don’t know. A little voice just told me to hang onto them.”

I wish that little voice had told her not to post them.

“What made you decide to send them to Conor?”

“You know.” She waved her arms around. “He was getting booed on stage. He didn’t deserve that after putting his all into his music and his performances.”

“Did you expect him to go public with the photos?”

“Maybe not go public but at least let Ashley know he had them. I already tried that myself. I sent them to her, and I could tell she was nervous about them, but they didn’t make her change her behavior—about anything.”

I massaged the back of my neck. Ashley wasn’t known for being kind to her dancers—unless they were built like Tomo and had dicks.

“When Conor didn’t take the bait, you decided to send them to PopWiz to...get back at Ashley.”

“It wasn’t just that. I had a lot of reasons—her behavior to everyone is trash. When I twisted my ankle at rehearsals, she looked right at me and said dancers are replaceable. But she was also hurting Conor...and you, and then there’s Rhys.”

“Rhys?” My eyebrows shot up. “What does he have to do with any of this?”

“Conor is his friend—and he’s really hoping to land a spot with the backup band for the Five2Go reunion tour. He was getting worried that Conor’s sinking image might affect the tour—but he also didn’t like seeing Conor take the fall. They’re bros.”

I sat back against my chaise lounge and took a long sip of my tea.

“I didn’t realize until Ashley mentioned it that the pictures were going to mess up your job, Noelle.” She put her hands together as if in prayer. “Do you believe me? I’m so sorry.”

“I believe you.” I squeezed my eyes closed.

I mean, why would you think blowing up the reputation of the concert’s headliner would negatively impact the PR person for the concert?

But at least Jade had her reasons, and for the first time in days, someone had chosen the truth over a better story.

“Thank you.” The chaise squeaked as Jade stood up to take her margarita from the waiter. She licked the rim and poured half of it down her throat. “I just wanted to let you know that nobody was out to get you by releasing those photos. A-are you going to tell Ashley?”