The Winner Takes It All (Love in L.A. Book 3) by Audrey Harte Page A

the lobby where the results had been posted as she tugged on Annie’s arm. “We made it into the next round!”
    “Yay, go us!” Annie squealed along with Erin as she felt the goose bumps forming on her arms. She could hardly believe that this was really happening to her. Less than a year ago, she’d been a nobody, stuck in a dead-end job with no immediate hope of doing something more interesting with her life, and now look where she was—in New York, progressing to the first round of performances that would be nationally televised. It was almost too good to be true.
    “Where’s your man?” Erin asked as she grabbed Annie’s elbow and skillfully steered her to the side, out of the way of the other contestants who were trying to get closer to see the results. “It looks like Pure Flow made the cut as well!”
    Annie rolled her eyes and sighed. “We got into a fight last night, so he slept in Chris’ room. I haven’t spoken to him since he stormed off.”
    “Uh oh, what happened?”
    “Long story, but I had dinner with someone he doesn’t like, and unfortunately, he happened to get off the elevator on our floor and see us just as this someone tried to kiss me.”
    “What?” Erin’s eyes bulged. “Are you serious?”
    “Yeah, wish I wasn’t. At first I was happy and maybe felt a little smug that this extremely attractive man was keeping me company since Casey bailed on me to have dinner with his crew and Trisha, but I quickly regretted my decision when he tried to shove his tongue down my throat at the hotel after dinner.”
    “Wait, who the hell is Trisha?”
    Annie couldn’t help smirking. “You know, that’s exactly what I said when I first heard of her.”
    “And?” Erin prompted.
    “And her brother Austin is one of the members in Casey’s crew. I guess they’ve all been friends for a long time. Think their families go way back.”
    “Oh, I see. So is there something going on between Trisha and Casey?”
    “Funny you should ask. According to him, she’s had a crush on him for years, but he’s never been interested. Just sees her as a family friend, so she’s pretty much a sister to him.”
    “But he ditched you to have dinner with her instead of you.”
    “Well, it’s not one hundred percent his fault. I was sightseeing around the city all day, and my cell battery finally died, so he couldn’t reach me to find out if I could join them for dinner.”
    “So how’d you end up having dinner with this other guy? What’s his name anyway?”
    “Trey.”
    “Ooh, I like it.”
    “Ha, yeah, the name and the guy are pretty cute, but trust me. You don’t want any part of that. He’s one of the other back-up dancers for Kayla Miles, so I met him in San Francisco a few months ago when I flew up to spend the weekend with Casey and catch the show.”
    “So what’s he doing here in New York? Is he here to audition himself, or did he just come to cause trouble for Casey?”
    “No. Apparently he’s been seeing Trisha for a while, but won’t commit to her. But he flew with her to New York because she was coming to show support for her brother and the rest of Pure Flow. I guess they got into an argument right before dinner, so she ended up going out with the guys and left Trey at the hotel to fend for himself. I bumped into him, and he asked me to join him for dinner. Anyways, she was with Casey when they came back to the hotel from dinner and saw Trey trying to kiss me. She and Casey were both upset.”
    “Uh, understandably so. Did she try to claw your eyes out?”
    “Ha, no, but I’m sure she wanted to.”
    “Well, that’s good at least. She should be clawing Trey’s eyes out instead. Not your fault he doesn’t want to commit to her.”
    “I know… I kind of feel bad for her, though.”
    “Even though she wants your man, too?” Erin teased.
    “Fuck that. She can have Trey, but like hell if I’ll let her have Casey. He is mine. End of story.”
    “Speaking of the devil,” Erin