Page 17 of A Way Out (Rock Star #2)

Chapter Sixteen

F irst order of business: manicures, pedicures, and facials at a spa in Branson. All the ladies—including Kerry, the wife of Panic Station’s guitarist, who had been around since their college days—were treated to the pampering, courtesy of the bride.

Even Riley was set up in a massage chair, although she was offered a lollipop instead of a mimosa. And she was utterly thrilled to be considered “a big girl.”

Maria, for her part, was happy to finally be able to relax for the first time in close to a year, although, realistically, this morning had topped the high-stress list. Specifically, the part where Oz had said they needed to keep their relationship professional.

“True confession,” she said while her chair vibrated and her feet soaked in delightfully scented hot water. “The importance of having beautiful hands and feet is about the only piece of advice our mother gave us that I actually take to heart.”

Holly snorted, leaning back in her chair, her eyes closed. “You and me both.”

“Nothing else?” Lacey asked from Holly’s other side.

Holly cracked one eye and peered at her soon-to-be sister-in-law. “Have you not listened to any of the crazy stories I’ve told you? Maria, back me up here.”

Maria laughed. “Obviously, I’m backing you up. I’m the one who brought it up. I don’t even know what stories she’s told you, Lacey, but I can guarantee they are all true.”

Lacey said to her mother, “I am so glad you’re my mom.”

Stephanie gave her an indulgent smile. “So am I.”

“Will you adopt me?” Holly asked.

Stephanie chuckled. “Well, since you’re marrying my son tomorrow, I’d say the adoption papers are already in process. Maria, since you’re Holly’s sister, I’m happy to add your name to the papers.”

Everybody laughed.

Stephanie’s and Oz’s mom were very different—Cat was a no-nonsense Hispanic woman raising her own grandchildren, while Stephanie was a grunge-loving white chick whose heyday had been in the ’90s—and Maria would have been happy to be adopted by either of them.

She shouldn’t be thinking that way about Oz’s mom. Since he’d made it clear this morning that they were nothing but business associates, that did not leave room for her to develop a relationship with his mother. Or, no doubt, his kids.

She smiled back at Stephanie. “I’d like that. Although you’ll have to give me lessons on how living with an actual family works. I don’t believe I have any real-life experience.”

Except for the brief time she’d spent with Oz and his family.

“Oh, hey, Maria.” Holly touched her arm. “Would you be interested in a working vacation this weekend?”

“This feels like a loaded question,” Maria said warily.

Her sister laughed. “It’s not that bad, I promise. It’s just that our publicist is AWOL and there are going to be so many picture opportunities with the two bands together. It’ll be great publicity, especially for Demigoddess Revival.”

“I thought this wedding was top secret.”

“Oh, it is. For now. Once it’s official, we’ll announce it all over our socials. And we have a single we’re planning to surprise release on Tuesday, which, no, isn’t a coincidence.”

Holly pointed at Lacey. “Demigoddess Revival should do the same. Especially now that you all are doing that show on Sunday.”

Lacey was nodding before Holly even finished talking. “Excellent idea. I’ll get with the guys and see which one we want to release next. It’s been a minute since we released ‘A Way Out,’ and we need to keep ourselves relevant.”

Maria began making mental notes. She wasn’t sure precisely what a sponsor was supposed to do other than provide the cash backing, but it seemed to her that if she wanted to ensure her investment paid off, she needed to be involved.

“Lacey, if you give me that booking agent’s number, I’ll reach out, make sure there are no loose ends for the Sunday show,” she offered.

“That would be great,” Lacey enthused. “And also remind her that she said she had other potential bookings for next weekend.”

“Consider it done,” Maria promised. And then she pulled out her phone and snapped a few pictures of Holly and Lacey in their massage chairs, grinning and holding their champagne glasses.

“If you want, I can give you admin access to our socials,” Lacey said. “You can post whatever you want, so long as you don’t post our location.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Maria said, flipping through the pictures, deciding which she liked best. “I’ll tease about the upcoming show, too.”

“I’m texting you the pictures I took this morning before the guys went on their run,” Holly said. “Use those, too, as you see fit.”

A moment later, Maria’s phone buzzed with an incoming text. She opened it to a slew of shots of five guys, all half-dressed, all grinning. “These are great,” she murmured as she continued swiping through them, zoning in on Oz each time. And then she came to the butt shots and?—

“Holy wow!”

Holly cackled. “They do look glorious from the back, don’t they?”

“I’ll say,” Maria said, her eyes glued to that damn phone.

“Here you go,” Lacey announced. “You should have notification that you are now an admin on the half dozen sites we use to stay in touch with fans.”

“Okay, let’s see if I can do this without screwing it up,” Maria said. She chose Instagram to make her first post, since it was the platform she was most familiar with.

She used one of the butt pics, with the caption:

Now here’s a view you don’t see every day. Can you name everyone in this shot?

She added a bunch of hashtags, then pressed “share.”

Ping! Lacey grabbed her phone, tapped the screen, and cracked up laughing. “This is brilliant! Oh my God, there are already a dozen likes. Two dozen. Wow. Oh, you tagged Panic Station, no wonder.”

“I figured that would add to the mystery and excitement,” Maria admitted.

“Brilliant,” Lacey repeated.

While the attendants made their nails pretty, the ladies whiled away the time tracking the comments on that single post.

“Wow, our fans sure have studied these guys, haven’t they?” Holly noted at one point. “Look how many have guessed right, with nothing but an ass shot.”

“I’m going to grab this video of ‘A Way Out’ and repost it,” Maria said as she did just that. “And hint at a new song coming soon.”

“You’re a natural,” Holly said. “If Dahlia ever leaves us, we’ll have to hire you as our publicist too.”

“You can handle both bands, right?” Lacey asked, winking.

As far as Maria was concerned, the busier she was, the less time she’d have to think about the fact that she’d never get a repeat of last night.

“Definitely,” she said.

The group was collectively beautified and ready to head to their lunch destination when Holly got a call from Sam. Based on her huge eyes and the shriek she let out, the news was definitely positive.

She tucked her phone into her purse, a secret little smile on her lips.

“What was that about?” Maria asked.

“Nothing,” Holly said, still smiling. “Just bride and groom stuff.”

“They don’t sext like normal people,” Lacey quipped, “they have actual phone sex.”

The group roared, and Stephanie cupped her hands over Riley’s ears while admonishing her daughter, which only made them all giggle louder.

As they started to pile into their vehicle, Holly snagged Maria’s arm and held her back.

“It’s going to be a double wedding. Parker is going to surprise Lacey at the rehearsal tonight.

And then they are going to get married with us tomorrow.

You have to help me keep it a secret until then.

I’m going to sneak off at some point and call the florist to see if they can whip up a second bride’s bouquet.

And I want to run to a bridal shop here in town to grab a dress she’ll hopefully like. Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!”

Maria agreed.

It was even more positive publicity for the band.