Billion Dollar Boyfriend (Celebrity Love)

Chapter Sixteen

Searching online for Aiden Montgomery had only given Shelby his business website for his songwriting work, a few band and music sites that credited his name for songs he'd written, a mention in an obituary for a deceased relative in Minnesota, and two images.

The first was a photo of a high school yearbook page that accompanied a Throwback Thursday post made by someone who must have been Aiden's classmate. In it, a teenage Aiden sat on a hallway floor, holding a guitar, with his back against a yellow locker.

He really did have frosted tips and a wallet chain, Shelby thought. She would have laughed out loud if she had come across this picture of him for other reasons.

A teenage Raine sat next to Aiden, and Raine had been the reason for the post. The description stated: High school days—can you believe I went to school with Raine Kingston? #raineking #rainekingston #famous #hollywood #actor #throwbackthursday #tbt. It had come up in a search for Aiden's name since someone else had commented, "What ever happened to the other guy, Aiden Montgomery? I'm surprised he didn't make it big playing that guitar all the time plus being Raine's friend."

The second photo was of Aiden with a band he'd worked with. It looked as though it was from some time in the last couple of years. The photo had been taken outside of a recording studio in L.A., and Aiden wore sunglasses and a hat, which obscured most of his face.

It wasn't much, but it was enough to confirm Aiden Montgomery existed, had gone to school with Raine, did work as a songwriter, and had family in the Midwest.

Searching for Tristan Thornbury turned up a whole lot more.

Shelby already knew from what she'd read yesterday that he was a billionaire heir and orphan. Today's search made it clear he was famous in the UK for more than just that, since he was also a rock star. Or he had been, anyway. Photo after video after article revealed he was the singer in a band called London's Lost Son. Shelby hadn't ever heard of the band, but what she found told her Tristan and his bandmates had been rising celebrities in the UK.

She wasn't sure if the band's name was something playful they had chosen, since "London's lost son" was the title the media had bestowed upon Tristan, or if the name choice had been driven purely by ego. Although he physically mirrored the Aiden she knew—since he was, in fact, the same person—this Tristan guy came across as somebody completely different in the photos and interviews she uncovered.

There was his smile to start with, which never seemed to reach his eyes—when Shelby could see his eyes, that was. Tristan Thornbury wore aviator sunglasses a lot, and that included during interviews and when he was on stage. Then there were his carefully considered answers to the media's questions and his overall demeanor. His laughter and words came across in a way that made Shelby question if he was laughing at the journalist or at the world in general. He seemed like someone who knew a joke no one else was in on.

Finally, there was his accent. What was the deal with that? Aiden's accent sounded much more southern California than anything else, with the occasional Midwest inflection that crept out once in a while, but Tristan sounded like a young Hugh Grant in the video clips of interviews and performances she watched.

What bothered Shelby more than any of this, though, was that everything she found out about Tristan betrayed what Aiden had told her the night she'd met him at Raine's house. I'm not really one for the spotlight or for being in front of a crowd, he had said. She remembered his admission because it had been one of the things she'd found so attractive about him. Tristan, on the other hand, appeared to embrace his celebrity status, both as the long-lost Londoner who had turned up out of nowhere and as the frontman of London's Lost Son.