The Contest Read online

  In the distance, Madi saw a man in a black suit and hat holding a sign that said “Madison Ryan” on it. She giggled to herself. She felt like she was in a scene from a movie.

  Madi waved at him excitedly and rushed over to him with her hand out. “Hi, I’m Madi, so nice to meet you!”

  The driver looked down at her outstretched hand as if she had offered him a tuna sandwich and slowly asked, “Madi... as in Madison?”

  Madi quickly pulled her hand back and said, “That’s me.”

  “Follow me,” he said in a sigh, as he took her bag and led her to a limo waiting outside.

  The limo was just as she thought it would be: big, long and shiny. Madi reminded herself what Kendra had said and took in everything around her, enjoying the whole experience. She had never been to LA. Heck, she’d never been anywhere. She decided right then and there that no matter what happened, she would have a good time. No books, no school, no worries.

  She sat in the limo and as the door closed, she started to feel her hands shake. Under her breath she said, “Ready or not Jake Morgan, here I come.”

  Jake

  He’d been there for three hours already and was still feeling restless. They’d been trying to get the sound right all morning, but something was missing. He started to pace as he listened to the previous take, trying to put a finger on what was wrong. Ang walked in the room and gave him a reassuring glance.

  “It sounds beautiful, Jake, almost haunting.” She smiled and Jake half-smiled back.

  “Uh huh. The only thing it’s haunting right now is me.”

  “You’re way too hard on yourself. By the way, are you ready?” she asked.

  “Hmm, for what?” Jake mumbled obviously distracted and not really listening.

  “Your date will be here any minute now,” Ang said excitedly.

  “Oh man… I forgot. Shoot, is that today? Can we cancel it?”

  Ang’s face turned red and she looked like she might explode when Jake started to laugh.

  “Jake so help me, I will bend you over my knee and…”

  “I didn’t know you felt that way about me. That’s kind of twisted.”

  Ang let out a sigh and smacked him on the arm. “You almost gave me a heart attack. Just remember to be nice and smile. This fan won out over 675,000 entries to get to date you for the weekend.”

  “Only 675,000? Man, I’m slipping. I’ll be nice and sweet and fuzzy.”

  “You’re always fuzzy. Speaking of that, did you comb your hair today?”

  Jake ran his fingers through his thick, dark curls and smiled at Ang, “Better?”

  “We both know you always look handsome,” Ang said with a smile.

  “You really need to stop hitting on me.”

  Ang rolled her eyes and walked away. She was right, though. He hadn’t combed his hair this morning. He got home late, took a hot shower and went straight to bed last night. He got up and couldn’t stop thinking about work. He was here before everyone else, just trying to find the final touches he was searching for.

  He had kind of forgotten about the “date” thing. He was secretly dreading it for days. He just wanted to be his usual smart ass self and not smiley, sweet Jake that fans thought they knew and loved. Ang had told him she was young, but she hadn’t said much else. He had no idea what to expect from her. Jake reminded himself that he always enjoyed meeting people and tried to be open-minded. He had learned at a young age, especially in this business, that you never know what you can learn from someone and that you should never take any opportunities for granted.

  Jake went back to reading his notes and didn’t give her, or the contest, another thought.

  Chapter 3

  Madi

  Madi stepped out of the limo and took a deep breath. The driver walked her to the door and handed her bag to a security guard standing outside the building.

  “This is Madison Ryan, the contest winner. Angela Tyler is expecting her.”

  The guard checked the list, smiled and opened the door.

  The bright sunshine outside made it hard to see when she entered the dark, dimly lit hallway. Madi had to blink a few times to adjust her eyes. She walked through another set of doors and another security guard took her bag. He was big, boisterous, and happy. Madi liked him immediately.

  “I’m Dave,” he said as he held out his hand to Madi.

  Madi smiled and shook his hand. “Madison Ryan, but my friends call me Madi.”

  “Well, can I be your friend then?” he said with a joyful grin.

  “You bet!” Madi said as they both beamed at each other. She noticed a woman standing in the doorway watching her.

  “Hi,” Madi said with a smile as she turned and put her hand out to the woman. “I’m Madi Ryan, nice to meet you.”

  The woman had a genuine look about her that affected Madi right away. She reminded her of her mom. Madi made a mental note that she still needed to call her.

  “I’m Angela Tyler, but you can call me Ang. It’s nice to meet you too. We’ve been talking about you for days now.”

  Madi’s hands clenched and unclenched as she bit her lip. “Good things I hope…” she said with a nervous grin. “Were you expecting an older fan perhaps?”

  Ang laughed out loud. “Actually, I think we wondered about that for a while. You were quite unexpected.”

  “I like being unexpected,” Madi said with a sarcastic smirk.

  “Come on. You need to meet Jake.”

  Jake, oh my gosh. Jake Morgan… How could she have relaxed and forgotten so quickly why she was really there? She felt the urge to run her tongue along her teeth and flip her hair. Thank goodness she had enough foresight to check her hair and makeup in the car. She wished she still had her peppermint gum in her mouth. She had spit it out right before getting out of the limo. Peppermint made her stomach less queasy. Right now she was in desperate need of some gum.

  The door opened and Madi was led into what must have been a studio. The walls were dark gray-blue and red alternately with sconces that lit them up brightly. She walked past a room with tables of equipment with knobs, sliders, and buttons. There were too many to count. There was another room with rows of guitars and various other instruments. Her heels clicked on the wooden floors as she walked deeper into the studio. She found herself walking to a steady beat.

  She saw him before he saw her. She recognized his curly, dark brown hair, trademark t-shirt and jeans. She had to pull her eyes away from checking out his ass too long, making another mental note to slap Kendra for putting his ass in her mind to begin with. But seriously, his jeans fit him snuggly in all the right places… The faded denim on the back of his muscular thighs was, wow…

  “Jake, this is Madison Ryan, the contest winner and your date,” Ang said as she placed her hand on Madi’s back.

  Madi could feel her heart pounding in her chest like it was trying to make an escape. She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face no matter how hard she tried. She was certain she looked like an idiot, but she couldn’t help herself. Jake Morgan was standing with his back to her. It seemed like a movie in her mind. She could imagine a wind machine behind him and music playing as he seemed to turn around in slow motion. And there he was.

  He smiled at her as he held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Madison. Welcome to LA.”

  Madi hoped the small gasp that escaped her lips wasn’t as audible as she thought it was. She immediately put her hand out to take his and felt an electric current shoot through her that was a cross between goose bumps and her older brother’s hand buzzer she had mistakenly thought was an offer of an apology.

  “Please call me Madi. Thank you for having me. I’m very excited to be here.”

  “Madi it is. We’re excited to have you as well,” Jake said with a heart-stopping smile. “I hope you don’t mind hanging out here for a bit while I try to work out some kinks in my song?”

  “Do I mind? Are you kidding? This place is awesome! Just pretend I’m not even here!�
� Madi smiled as she looked around the room and suddenly felt like everyone was staring at her. She was convinced she had food in her teeth.

  Jake asked Ang to get her a seat and Ang led Madi to a row of chairs in a room behind a window with a clear view of Jake and the studio. Ang asked her if she could get her something to drink, which Madi politely declined.

  Just as Ang walked away, Madi felt the buzzing in her purse. She reached down and looked at her phone. It was a text from Kendra.

  Kendra: Where the fuck are you?

  Madi quickly pulled her hand up to her mouth to stifle her giggle.

  Madi: Just got here. I’m sitting in the recording studio. Just met Jake. I have a clear view of his ass.

  Kendra: Did you grab it yet? How does he smell?

  Madi couldn’t type fast enough. Kendra’s texts just kept coming.

  Kendra: Do you realize that I’ve been sitting here all morning waiting for you to text me? I’m pretty sure I ate an entire bag of Doritos while I paced the room. Seriously, I need details NOW.

  All caps, Kendra only texted all caps when she was freaking out.

  Madi: No, I did not grab his ass and no I was not close enough to smell him. I was lucky I was able to talk. I’m pretty sure I forgot how to breathe, smell and hear in the moment I touched his hand.

  Kendra: YOU TOUCHED HIS FUCKING HAND?

  Madi couldn’t help herself. She laughed loudly and then covered her mouth immediately. Kendra was the best.

  Madi: I shook his hand, that’s all. GTG I’ll text soon I promise. X

  As soon as Madi had pressed send, she glanced up to see deep, blue, serious eyes staring at her through the glass. She was certain she couldn’t breathe. Thinking quickly she held up her phone and made a crazy face. The responding smile that played across his face took her breath away. There must be something wrong with him, Madi reminded herself unconvincingly. If she hadn’t known it a minute ago, she knew it now. Madi Ryan was in deep trouble and that trouble’s name was Jake Morgan.

  Jake

  Jake had heard her laugh and looked to see her texting on her phone with one hand. The other hand was covering her mouth as if to stop the laugh from being heard. She wasn’t looking at him, just her phone. He wished he were close enough to see what she was reading, and writing. She was not what he had expected. Surely the contest gods had smiled down on him. He had a moment to really look at her. She had long, straight brown hair that curled slightly at the ends in a playful way. She was cute. Not too skinny, curvy in the right places and had a killer smile. Madi, huh? He thought. Madi suited her far better than Madison. How old was she again? She must have been old enough to travel alone so she had to be at least 18. She dressed like she was older than that, though. She looked like she knew how to dress. She looked good. He made a note of the black boots and skirt. Nice, he said to himself. And she was pleasant too. In their brief meeting she seemed normal. Although, it was only a few seconds and he could be wrong. He was probably wrong. She probably had tons of expectations for him and thought she knew all there was to know about him. She could probably recite the names of all the people in his entire family, all his favorite foods, and the lyrics to every song in sixty seconds or less. He shook his head at the memory of the brief shock he felt when he touched her hand. He found himself talking himself out of liking her. She was a fan, like all other fans. Just one of the cute ones that was close to his age. As he was thinking and looking at her, she looked up from her phone to see him watching her. Oh shit, she caught me, he thought. Then she held up her phone and made a ridiculous face to which he couldn’t help but laugh. Maybe she wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe.

  He turned back to his papers as his band members made their way into the large room. Jake fist bumped his guitarist and best friend Trey. Trey was about 6’3” and a strong, sturdy black man. He had met Trey when he was just starting off and the two found they worked together so well, they could almost finish each other’s sentences. Trey’s wife Annie was expecting their first child at any time over the next few weeks and Jake knew Trey would be flying out the door the minute he got the call. Time was precious and they had a lot of work to do. Before he knew it, Jake was fully immersed in his work and all thoughts of the girl behind the glass had disappeared.

  Minutes turned into hours. With Trey and Caleb’s help, Jake was able to perfect his lyrics and start laying down a better track. It was a long process and they still had a lot of work to do. Jake still felt as if something was missing. Just as he was about to listen to what they had for the tenth time, Ang walked in the room and asked to speak to him. She had that look on her face that told him it was serious business, so Jake put down his headphones and followed her unquestioningly.

  “Do you know what time it is?” she asked scoldingly.

  “Umm,” Jake looked at his watch. “It’s a little after eight. Why? Got a hot date?” Jake said with his usual charming sarcasm and wit.

  “No, but you do!”

  Crap! How could he have forgotten and been so rude? He immediately turned and looked toward the glass, but she wasn’t there. He hadn’t even acknowledged her the entire day. She must be pissed. Any female would be pissed after being ignored for so long. Some prize he was.

  “I am so sorry, Ang. I got caught up in my work. You know how I am. Is she pissed?” Jake asked, waiting to hear how she had ranted and raved about how this was supposed to be a date.

  “Not at all, surprisingly. She’s a trooper. She had a bottle of water after I begged her to have something. She offered to help me with your fan mail and has spent the last few hours in the back room with me, chatting about our families and jobs. She’s sweet. She hasn’t said a negative word all day. I feel for her, Jake. She hasn’t even been to her hotel yet and you’ve barely said two words to her!”

  Jake looked down at his shoes and then back up at Ang through the top of his eyes. “She isn’t mad?” he asked, shocked.

  “I think the girl is thrilled beyond pieces to be here. She sat watching you for almost four hours by herself in that room before I came to get her. I would be furious, but no. She’s been charming the pants off your security and I may have even developed a crush on her myself.”

  He couldn’t help but smile. He thought Ang was funny when she got mad at him, but he respected the hell out of her. If she was telling him he was a jerk, then he knew beyond a doubt, he was an ass.

  “What can I do? Where is she?”

  “She’s in the conference room with Dave and Curtis from engineering. We were mailing pictures.”

  Jake stuck his head in the recording room and told the guys to head home. There was a collective sigh of relief. Jake knew he was a workaholic, but sometimes, he needed to be reminded that his friends had lives and families to get home to.

  Jake ran his hands through his hair as he walked back toward the conference room. The closer he got, the more he could hear her laughing. Something had her in stitches and he was curious to know who at the studio could be funnier than him.

  He walked through the door and saw her boots lying in a pile by her chair. Her legs were curled up under her and she had a sharpie in her right hand and a pile of his pictures in the other. Dave was telling a fishing story and she was listening like he walked on water. She didn’t even notice him walk in the room. It gave him a chance to look at her again.

  “…and then after I pulled him out of the water I asked him if he’d had enough carp for one day,” Dave said. Jake stood in the back of the room and listened. Dave was a great guy in his late fifties. He’d just retired from the police department when Jake hired him. He was fun to be around, knew his job, and Jake really liked him. His down to earth personality was one of the reasons he’d hired him to begin with. His extraordinary knowledge was another. He efficiently ran Jake’s security team.

  Madi giggled at the end of Dave’s story. When she saw him look up at Jake, she turned around and her eyes met his.

  “Hi,” he said with an apologetic look.

&
nbsp; “Hi yourself,” she said as she stuck out her hand. "I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Madi,” she snickered.

  It was genuine and meant to take away his discomfort at knowing he had ignored her all day, but he couldn’t help but feel guilty.

  “I’m so sorry. I have a tendency to get caught up while I’m working and time passes in an instant. I didn’t mean to ignore you. I hope you can forgive me.”

  She looked at him as if she were unable to speak. Her eyes seemed to try to read him.

  “I didn’t think you were ignoring me. No biggie. Besides, I got a firsthand account of life behind the scenes at a recording studio.”