Chapter 8: Stadium

The stadium in Inglewood holds seventy thousand people, and every one of them was screaming.

I stood at the edge of the stage in a borrowed headset and a laminated pass that said GUEST OF ASH.

Dottie stood next to me with her mouth open.

"Is that normal?" she said, loud over the noise.

"I don't know what normal is anymore."

Out on the stage, Ashton stood alone under a white spotlight with an acoustic guitar.

The crowd sang every word of the song back to him.

I hadn't known he could do that.

I knew the man who burned toast and laughed with his whole face.

This was a different man.

He was bigger and quieter, with his eyes closed, and every phone in the stadium lit up.

"He's good," Dottie yelled.

"Yeah," I said.

"Like, really good."

"I know."

"Do you want to marry him?"

"Dottie."

"I'm just asking."

When the last song ended, the roar went on for two full minutes.

He bowed once and started to say goodnight.

Then a different light hit the stage.

It was pink and glittery, and a hundred dancers in white came out of the wings behind him.

Lila Ardmore walked down the center ramp in a sparkling white jumpsuit, waving at the crowd.

Her smile was the one from the garden party.

"What is she doing?" I said.

A stagehand beside me, a kid with a clipboard, went pale.

"She's not on the schedule," he said. "The label added her an hour ago."

"Rex."

"I think so."

On stage, Ashton's shoulders went still.

He did not look surprised, only tired.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Fake Boyfriend Is a Global Superstar from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.