I’m going out of my mind and something tells me you are too.”
It’s not an invitation—it’s a challenge. She lifts her chin, like she knows it too. “Fine.”
Annie meets me in my black Lexus nine minutes later.
As she shifts inside, I run my gaze over her black skinny jeans, little heels, black tank. Her hair’s still wet and piled on her head, but it looks intentional, especially with the addition of the dark rims around her eyes and red lips.
Play nice.
I force my attention to the driveway.
It’s a quiet drive to the music hall, and we talk about easy subjects like who was at Jax’s party, the crazy new sponsors Beck got for his Hollywood Life vlog, and whether Haley’s new baby will be a boy or a girl.
“It’s a boy,” I tell her. “I have guy intuition.”
“Definitely a girl,” Annie decides. “Then Dad will have three and his head will literally explode.”
I grin.
So far, so good.
I pull up halfway across the parking lot as I see the line of music fans waiting to be admitted. “I’m going to get mauled.”
“You’re not that famous,” she scoffs.
“I’m pretty famous.” I say it mostly to watch her roll her eyes.
I grab a jacket out of my car and drag it on over my T-shirt and jeans.
She inspects me and frowns. “The hair…”
“What’s wrong with my hair?”
Annie dives into her little bag and comes back with something that looks like gel. She slicks back my hair. “There. No one would ever recognize you without this mess all over your face.”
“Tell me how you really feel.”
She laughs as we head for the doors. In the heels, she’s tall, almost as tall as me. She nods to security, and it takes me a second to realize she’s actually protecting me, standing between the line of people and me.
It’s oddly sweet.
There are people whose job it is to keep me safe when I’m on the road. But when Annie does it, it feels different.
Once we get in, we head to the bar.
“The real reason I brought you is the two for one drinks.”
“I see. Are you drinking tonight?”
“No. More for you.”
She laughs and we both end up ordering water.
It feels good to get out. Having Annie next to me doesn’t suck either.
No one knows me here, or her for that matter. It’s freeing in a way I haven’t felt free in months.
The headline act starts to play, and I focus on their up-tempo opening number instead of the woman at my side.
“They’re not bad,” I say to her when they pause between songs.
“They’re better than not bad. Look how much they want to be up there. It’s pouring off them.”
I study the band, their energy. “Maybe these kids need a deal. I could fire Jax’s dumbass kid and take them instead.”
“Miranda Talbot, my writing partner, always says to find someone with a voice. That the rest you can develop.”
“It’s not enough to want it. You have to put in the work.”
“Whatever your recipe, it’s effective. I’ve seen your show.”
I straighten in an instant. “Where?”
“London. Paris.” Her mouth purses. “Seattle.”
I’m speechless.
“I had to know you were okay,” she goes on as if explaining herself.
It doesn’t explain shit.
“Tell me why the woman who wanted me out of her life followed me around the world.”
Her groan has the hairs on my neck standing up. “I didn’t want you gone, Tyler. I wanted...”
“What?”
“I wanted you back. I wanted you to feel like yourself again.”
I take a drink of water, wishing it was something with a kick.
“Sometimes, I wonder what would’ve happened if you’d come on tour,” I tell her. “Or if I’d stayed in New York. If we’d still be together now.”
Annie shoots me a look. “It would’ve been a different end, that’s all. You held me at a distance. You were the one who was hurt, but I was the one who felt helpless.”
When I imagined her with me, I never considered that I wouldn’t let her be with me the way she wanted to, the way she needed to.
The reckoning I had to have with myself was steep. The work and music and touring gradually broke me down, healed me.
I couldn’t have done that with her there. I would’ve taken it out on her, used her, abused her.
We would’ve split anyway—if she hadn’t stayed in New York, if I hadn’t left.
Something loosens in my chest. I glance over at her, her face lit up in the lights as she watches the band, breathless and engrossed.
I lean in at