think the best course of action is to keep your relationship quiet.”
“No. We can’t keep it secret forever. Sooner or later, we will get seen together. I’d rather tell the public on our
terms.”
“Or you could break up before anyone finds out.”
“Stop saying that.” I clenched my hands even tighter. “We’re not gonna break up.”
“Charlie…you’ve never had a serious relationship before. I’m sure it’s wonderful right now, but relationships take
hard work.”
“I know that.”
“Do you really?”
I stood, crossed over to the window, and took several deep breaths to calm myself. Robin was really testing my
patience. I was pretty sure he was doing it on purpose to make me question just how serious I was about Austin.
But the more he goaded me, the more the love I felt for Austin grew. The more fiercely protective I became of what
we had.
“I love Austin,” I said without turning around. “That’s not going to change just because you want it to. Call
Flannigan and do whatever else you need to do.”
I kept staring out the window as I heard a faint ring tone. Robin had to be calling Flannigan. I’d hoped he’d go
back to his own room to do it, but he was probably assuming that Flannigan would want to talk to me. I couldn’t
imagine he’d take the news any better than Robin had.
I was almost glad Austin was still in the UK. Robin’s reaction was what he’d been afraid of all along—the reason
he’d insisted we had to keep our relationship quiet. I only hoped the public, especially my fans, would be more
open-minded and accepting. Not for my sake—I could handle a bit of bad press—but for Austin’s. He didn’t
deserve to be bad-mouthed by the media for a second time. He’d done nothing wrong twenty-five years ago, and
we weren’t doing anything wrong now.
I blocked out Robin’s voice as he started talking. I doubted he’d put any kind of positive spin on the news. I really
needed to rid myself of him and get a friendlier publicist who actually listened to me. I’d talk to Flannigan about it
after my tour.
I stared down at the street several floors below me. There were scores of shifters going about their everyday
business, some roaming about in their animal forms. There was a little supermarket on the corner of the street
that had a steady stream of people going in and coming out carrying brown paper bags. I hadn’t gone into a
supermarket since my first album made me famous. It was such a small, stupid thing to miss, but in that
moment, I craved the normality. If I weren’t a celebrity, no one would give a crap about who I was seeing.
“He wants to talk to you,” Robin said.
I half jumped out of my skin. I’d been so lost in my own head that my hearing had failed to pick up on Robin
moving to stand behind me.
I swung around and grabbed the phone, taking a moment to read the expression on Robin’s face. The worry lines
on his forehead were back, and his mouth was a hard, flat line. This wasn’t going to be a happy or positive
conversation.
“Hi,” I said.
“Charlie.” Flannigan’s voice was stern. “How long have you been seeing Austin?”
“Since Jesse’s wedding.” That was when we’d first had sex anyway.
“If you’ve managed to keep it quiet that long, there’s no need to let anyone know now.”
“Flannigan—”
“I’m going to be honest with you, Charlie,” Flannigan said, interrupting me. “You’re going to be a lot less
marketable if you go public. The only silver lining is that your tour is already sold out. We don’t need to issue
refunds because people disagree with your lifestyle choices.”
I gritted my teeth. I could take the doubt from Robin, but for so many reasons, it was ten times worse coming
from Flannigan. Nine years ago, he’d believed in me enough to change my contract to work around my epilepsy,
but apparently, falling in love with Austin wasn’t something he could get on board with. His support had meant the
world to me, especially at a time when my dads hadn’t had any confidence that I could manage a career
alongside my epilepsy. It was why I’d remained loyal to Phoenix Records for the last nine years, despite being
offered better monetary deals by other labels. That was probably why Flannigan’s reaction felt like a betrayal.
“We won’t rush to record another album,” he went on. “We’ll have to wait for the
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