Forever His (Book 2)

Chapter 9

I was a little nervous about walking the red carpet today but mostly because I never knew how crazy they were going to be and it's been a minute since I've walked one. Chris got out of the car first and insisted I stay so he could get the door for me. He opened the door and extended his hand for me to help me out of the car and suddenly the roar of the crowd increased. I was met with Kevin standing outside the car and instructing me to greet fans lined up behind the metal barriers. Chris kept a tight hold on my waist as I signed things for the crowd and tried to interact with as many as possible. As I reached the start of the red carpet I heard Kevin behind me talking to Chris just before I was ushered onto the carpet. Chris had his hand on the small of my back as we walked down the carpet but pulled me close to his side as we stopped for photos. His hand landed on my hip as I put one hand behind his back and the other on his chest. He was much better at all of these types of things and kept changing our poses and directions. I had no idea what was going on, I just knew I had Chris with me to keep me from looking dumb. "Hey, baby."

"Yes, love?" I looked up at him with a smile as the cameras continued to flash

"I'm going to step away and let you pose by yourself for a few then I'll be right back to continue walking. Don't panic, just act smile and pose sweetheart."

"Okay, just don't go too far. I don't want to lose you."

"I won't, I'm just going to watch you work the cameras from down there. Don't fret about it Cassie, you're going to do amazing." he kissed my temple sweetly as he started to pull away.

"Wait."

I pulled him back to me and kissed him hard as he instinctually grabbed my waist. We pulled back from our kiss and he smiled softly at me before walking down the carpet to pose for other photos. I did my best to act natural and tried to just focus on one camera at a time while I posed and slowly walked. After a few minutes of posing by myself, Chris came back and offered me a hand so we could continue to walk further down the carpet. We finally reached the end of the carpet and were led inside to our seats. I remember being greeted by so many people I didn't recognize and showered with compliments and congratulations on our marriage. Chris held me tightly as we mingled, planting the occasional soft kiss on my head as he chuckled at things people said to me. There were tons of big names in music here and it was making me question why I was even here. I leaned closer to Chris. "I don't think I belong here, why am I even here?"

"What are you talking about baby?" he asked as he cradled my face, letting his thumb stroke my cheek

"Look at everyone who's here, I am not even close to the same level as these people. I shouldn't be here."

"You should be here, you belong here with all the rest of these people."

"All I've done is release two albums, they've all done tours and a ton of shit."

"Cassie, you've made two amazing albums, done plenty of performances, made music videos, and even written for other artists. You're just as much of an artist as the rest of them and I hope you prepared your acceptance speeches."

"I did not, because I'm not going to win. I'm just happy to be nominated at all, you know I make music because I love it and not for the fame or anything."

"I seem to remember someone telling me they weren't going to win a Golden Globe either but now there's one on a shelf in our house."

"A fluke."

"And the two other awards you've won since?"

"Will you let me just worry in peace?"

"Never."

I sat there nervously bouncing my knee with Chris' hand in both of mine on my lap. The first category that they got to that I was nominated in was New Artist of the Year. Since award shows typically functioned a little behind schedule, they were going off my first album which still made me eligible for this award. They read off the nominees while I squeezed Chris' hand, it wasn't even that I wanted it that badly but I knew it was a rather big deal. "And the winner for New Artist of the Year goes to...Cas Evans."