I’ll go. I’m not scared.” Mostly. “I just want to write.”
The front door opens, and I startle. Brix’s and Gideon’s concern worsens. I’m guessing I wasn’t supposed to flinch at a normal, everyday sound.
Okay, so maybe I’m not exactly thrilled to go today, but I don’t think not going means I’m avoiding it or some shit. It’s not like I’m scared he’s going to come back. Not with Brix here. I just don’t want to see him or face him.
I’ll go. It’ll be fine. Then this whole thing will be over.
And then the interviews will start.
Ugh. I didn’t think about that part. I’ve been happily hiding away from the world. It’s rare I get to. The only time I can make excuses is when I’m writing and cutting a new album, but even then I can’t disappear completely like I have since my tour ended.
I’m going to need to start appearing in public again.
Jamie enters with my dry cleaning over her shoulder. The garment bags are almost as tall as she is, and Iris, ever the gentleman, steps in to take them from her.
“Why do you all look like someone died?” she asks.
I shake off the nervous anxiety and force a smile. Then I remember Brix knows when I’m faking it, so I angle my body away from him and toward her to try to hide it. “They’re worried I’m going to freak out.”
“Are you going to freak out?” she asks, her voice sweet like it always is.
“Nope.”
“Go you! Well, I know you have heaps of suits in your closet, but then I remembered your favorite was sent to be dry-cleaned after the tour, and I hadn’t picked it up yet. I thought you might want to wear it today.”
“Thank you. You’re the best.”
She nods. “Okay, I only have a few days left of my ‘vacation,’ and I left Raffy in the car, so—”
“You left your boyfriend who has the name of a dog in the car? Did you crack a window?” I joke.
“Oh, he was dying to come in, but I figured leaving him there was a better idea than him blubbering all over you like he did when he met you. He’s so embarrassing. You wonder why you’ve only met him once.”
It was hilarious. She was so excited for me to meet her new boyfriend, nonstop talking about him in that enthusiastic babble she does. But she didn’t realize he was a closeted Eleven fan. He’d gushed all over me, and she was shook.
“Aww, it was cute how he told me I was his biggest fan.”
She facepalms. “Embarrassing. Anyway, unless you guys need me for anything else, I better go.” The pleading in her eyes makes me dismiss her immediately.
“Go for it. Thank you for going above and beyond.”
Jamie works for me around the clock when I’m on tour, doing press for an album, or recording, so I try to give her as much time off as I can when I’m in my writing cave.
It’s really the only vacation she gets, and even then, she’s on call. Like if I need egg whites or a suit dry-cleaned. I try to make it a point not to annoy her so she can enjoy her time off, though.
Iris hands me the suit.
“When do we have to leave?” I ask.
“Go shower and get dressed. I’ll make you breakfast,” Brix says.
“Let me guess. Breakfast burrito. So delicious.”
Iris and Gideon both hide smiles as Brix simply stares at me.
“Breakfast burrito is fine,” I mutter and turn on my heel.
As I leave the room, I hear Gideon ask, “Is Brix magic? Harley never backs down that easily.”
Hmm, yeah, let’s go with magic. It’s not that he’s so fuckable I can barely control myself around him now I’ve had a taste. Nope.
And I don’t think about that while I’m in the shower. I don’t imagine Brix’s giant cock in my mouth or him coming all over my skin.
Not. At. All.
After I don’t orgasm while thinking of him, I get out and change into my crisp white shirt and royal blue suit that make my dull bluish-gray eyes a little brighter.
All heads turn in my direction as I make my way back to the kitchen to find my breakfast waiting for me. With a bite taken out of it.
“Question,” Gideon says. “Why did Brix cook you breakfast and then eat some of it?”
We laugh.
“I might’ve given Brix a list of protocols he needs to follow as a joke, and even though I’ve told him he can