was thick with the smell of expen

t the lights of Nashville, a city that had promised me

t full of songs about the Appalachian mountains I called home. Now, I was jus

get ove

dy drunk, his arm slung around some record executive. I t

when I

n Le

s hand, talking to a blonde in a dress that cost m

e in the back of his pickup truck, promis

, leaving a hole in my life that I' d been try

second, the noise

, maybe regret. Then it was gone, replaced by a cold

dress and the way Ryan' s hand was possessively o

ver was now looking at me like I was

ed, pulling me closer. "Sing that

enough like to be a convenient, living ghost. The crowd quieted,

ging into my arm. "Get on your knees and sing it

r going to sign me. I was

hat look, that cold smirk, broke something inside me. Fine.

almost touching his ear. I whispered, loud enough for those nearby to h

ocked on Ethan' s. I saw his jaw tight

bed my face and kissed me, hard and sloppy. It

as I was trying to get a moment of peace on the balc

as E

ailing, his body trapping me. The detachment

at?" he hissed, his v

lking about," I said, my voice

"Letting him touch you like that. Selling yourself for a r

ere a punch

tter, ugly sound. "That'

he said, as if that explained everythi

you show up four years later, engaged to the daughter

ack, needing s

in line. Ryan Scott pays my bills. He pays for my mother' s doctors. What can you offer me,

s if he expected me

, his voice strained. "I had to lea

engagement ring on another woman' s finger?" I scof

He was a monster, but he was a predictable monster. Ethan... Ethan was a ghost who

around his neck and gave him a kiss that was all for show, a pub

ing a wad of cash from his pocket and st

This was my reality. This was