“I don’t want your pity job, Blake.” Michelle bitched over the crackling cell connection.

After a week of waiting for one of his contacts to pull through, he’d finally got the call. The part wasn’t much, a small stint in an upcoming paranormal sitcom, but it was a job. A paying job, and something that would get Michelle’s foot in the door…and out of his ass.

“We made a deal, and I’m sick to death of waiting. I’ve got nothing. Nothing, Blake! No money. No job. No social life. Either be here the day after your last concert—and yes, I do know when that is—or the deal is off.”

Blake clutched the hotel balcony railing and ground his molars until his jaw threatened to pop. “Don’t push me, Michelle. You seem to forget, I’m not the only one that’ll be publicly shamed with those images.”

Her threat had shadowed him for too long, making him edgy. It didn’t help that he was already falling apart from being away from Gabi. He found it hard to breathe when he wasn’t around her and he didn’t want to break her heart by postponing their catch up at the end of the tour. “Take the fucking job.”

“You take the fucking job!” she screeched.

How the hell had he ever been attracted to this woman? She was bat-shit crazy.

He closed his eyes and silently counted to ten, letting the slight Adelaide breeze ease his anger. Reckless Beat was flying to their final tour destination of Perth tomorrow for a week of performances. That gave him seven days to find a way to calm the wicked bitch of the West and get his happily ever after. Call it intuition, but whenever he thought about Michelle, and in return Gabi, a deep unrelenting ache settled behind his ribs.

“Fine. I’ll keep looking for something else,” he snarled.

“No, you won’t. That wasn’t the deal. I will find the acting position I want. Your job is to get my face back in the magazines.”

He couldn’t allow that. He needed to appease her before it got that far. Giving her money and dealing with her ranting was one thing. Hurting Gabi with images of him with his ex wasn’t acceptable. He wouldn’t be able to stand seeing the woman he loved with another man, no matter how innocent it was. So he wouldn’t do it to her.

“And if I can’t do that? What then?” Blake held his breath waiting for the inevitable answer.

“Then you leave me no choice.”

He scoffed. “I’ve had no choice from the start. Why can’t you take the job? Yes, it’s a small part, but at least it’s something. It’ll make a better news story than seeing us talking at social events.”

She laughed, and the maniacal sound gave him goose bumps of the shit-scared variety. “We won’t be talking, Blake. We’ll be making headlines, drawing attention, and doing whatever’s necessary to land me a big role in an upcoming movie. Not a piddly little snap shot in a no-name sitcom. So stop wasting time phoning friends.”

Padded footsteps sounded behind him, and he turned to see Alana’s worried gaze staring back at him from the other side of the sliding screen door.

“I’ve gotta go,” he muttered and ended the call. As he placed his cell back in his shorts’ pocket, Alana stepped onto the balcony, a coffee in her hands.

“Everything OK?” Her hair was ruffled from sleep, her body covered in a pink silk bathrobe.

“Fine, Allie.” He smiled and leaned back against the second story railing, feigning a calm he didn’t feel.

She broke eye contact and sat down on one of the wooden chairs lining the window, staring into her coffee. “It didn’t sound fine.” She shot him a quick glance from under her lashes, and then looked back at her mug.

He shrugged. “It’s nothing.” He wanted to follow up with “please quit asking,” but she didn’t deserve his anger. “Just an old acquaintance causing a few minor problems. I’ve got it sorted.”

She sipped her coffee and focused on him over the rim. When the mug came back down to rest in her hands, she continued to stare. “I lack a lot of life experience, Blake, but I’m not stupid. I can tell you’re in trouble. I only hope you’ll come to me or Mitchell for help if you need it.”

Blake worked his jaw and bit the inside of his mouth until he tasted the coppery tang of blood. Gabi had always been the one to share his burdens with. The one he relied on to lighten the weight of his problems. Going to Mitch or Alana would feel like a betrayal to the woman who had stood by him through the hardest times.

“Thank you.” He pushed from the railing and stood tall. “Everything will work itself out. I’m not worried.” Again with the lies. Every time he uttered mistruths the weight of guilt became heavier.

She took another sip of her coffee and nodded, focusing her attention through the balcony posts to the nature park below. “How’s Gabi?”

Direct hit.

“Gabi’s…great.” His words lacked conviction. Hell, he didn’t even believe his tone. “I miss her.” He missed her, yearned for her, not only in his bed but in his arms, her scent in his lungs, her bright smile in his mind. Yet he’d stopped calling her as often. Every time they spoke he felt like he was betraying her. “I think I need to cancel our plans after the tour finishes. I’ve got things I have to sort out at home.”

Alana glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “Gabi has a soft heart, but I’m sure she’ll understand if you explain the reasons to her.”

He nodded. There was nothing else to do. Gabi did have a soft heart. One he knew would break if she found out about Michelle. Trust was a big thing for Gabi, and he’d broken that trust. She just didn’t know it yet. Hopefully she never would.

“Yeah. She’ll understand. It doesn’t stop me missing her, though.”

Alana gave a sad smile.

“Oh, surprise surprise,” Mitch opened the screen door and stepped onto the balcony, placing a kiss on Alana’s forehead. “Fancy finding you two alone together.”

Alana flashed her fiancé a wicked grin. “Morning, sweetheart.”

Mitch grasped her chin and kissed her lips with force. “Mornin’.”

Jealousy was a trait Blake despised, yet it clawed at him anyway. He was happy for his friends, but having the ease of their relationship shoved in his face only made him ache more for Gabi. “I’ll see you guys later,” he muttered and opened the screen door to go inside.

“What’s wrong with B?” Mitch asked softly.

“I don’t know,” Alana replied. “But I’m worried it’s something big.”

* * *

The days passed like months, the weeks like years, until Gabi contemplated putting her degree on hold to follow Blake. For the first ten days after leaving Melbourne, they’d spoken on the phone and used every other form of social media possible to keep in touch—Skype, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, you name it, they were on it. And still it hadn’t been enough. For over a week, she’d woken to heartfelt emails counting down the time until they would be together.

Then things slowed.

Blake no longer answered her Skype calls, and when he returned them, their conversations were unemotional and vague. He no longer sent her pictures. Didn’t comment on Facebook or send her tweets. When she questioned him about it, he apologized and made excuses about being tired and run down.

She got that. Really, she did. His life was filled with late nights, adrenaline filled concerts, and a never ending line of public appearances. It would be daunting, yet he’d lived like that for years, and not once had he cut her off like this. Something had changed, she just didn’t know what.

Had he met someone else? Tammy had been hinting at that outcome for a few days but even her close friend wouldn’t come out and say it.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she eyed her university lecturer before pulling it out and checking the message. Blake—We need to talk. Are you free?

Dread consumed her stomach and filtered out to her limbs. He should know she was in class today. She’d told him in another one of her emails that he hadn’t replied to.

With her throat tightening, she quietly packed up her text books, grabbed her handbag and ducked out of the classroom. She placed her things on the hallway floor and began scrolling to his number when her phone started buzzing with a silenced incoming call.

She stared at the screen while her intuition begged her not to answer. Was he calling because he thought she was in class, hoping she wouldn’t answer? Did he plan to break things off in a voice message? Well too bad, she had no intention of letting the call go through to the answering service.

She connected the call and placed the phone at her ear, jutting out her chin. “Hello.”

“Gabi? I—I didn’t know if you’d answer.”

He didn’t want her to answer, more like it.

“I stepped out of class,” she replied, withholding the hurt from her voice. “You haven’t answered my calls in so long I didn’t want to miss the opportunity that you might actually want to talk to me.” She may have hidden the hurt from her tone, but her resentment came through in technicolor. She’d been beside herself for too long, bottling up the hurt and insecurities to let it simply go unsaid.

“I know.” His voice was low, breaking her heart a little with each softly spoken word. “I’m sorry. I’ve had problems back home that kept me distracted. I was hoping they would’ve blown over by now.”

“What happened? What’s wrong?” Her heart rate increased causing her hands to tremor slightly. She could hear the hurt in his tone, could sense the inevitable bad news she knew would affect her.

“Nothing…Nothing you need to worry about, anyway. But…”

He heaved a breath and she held hers. Waiting. Panicking.

“I can’t meet up with you once the tour finishes, angel. I’m so sorry.”

She closed her eyes, wishing away the pain. The days apart had been one long and unending struggle. She felt detached from her heart. Alone and incomplete. The only thing that kept her going was the countdown to when they would be together again, when the missed calls and unanswered emails would no longer matter, because they were together.

“I—I understand,” she lied.

She had no clue what she’d done wrong or what had changed between them. Were they breaking up? If so, he needed to come out and say it. She didn’t want to be dragged along for days, or weeks, or months, wondering where they stood.

“Is this the end, Blake? Just tell me if it is. Tell me now so I don’t hold on.” Her voice broke, betraying the emotion clogging her throat. Annoyance tangled with the hurt and confusion. He’d never left her in the dark before, had never kept things from her or hidden himself, even in the worst of times. Having him do it now, after they’d been together physically, hurt more than she thought he would ever realize.

“No, Gabi!” His sudden answer soothed some of the tightness restricting her chest. “This has nothing to do with us. I still want to be there with you—that’s all I want—I just can’t at the moment. As soon as I fix the mess, I’ll be on the first plane back to you.”

Silently, she let out a heavy breath and rested against the cold wall. “I hate when you keep things from me. You never did before. How bad can your problems be when you’ve told me so much in the past?”

She wished she could see his face, to read his reaction.

“Please don’t worry about me. That’s the last thing I want. For once, I’m going to sort out my own mess.” He chuckled, but the humor didn’t reach her. “I’m not used to cleaning up my mistakes. I’ve always had you to rely on.”

She nodded to herself. He continued to bring up the need to fix his own life, and she had to respect that, no matter how much it hurt to be left out.

“I want you to be proud of me,” he whispered.

Air shuddered from her lips and she stared at the ceiling, widening her eyes in the hopes the burning would fade. “I’ve always been proud of you. I wish you knew that.”

“I do. I also need to do this to feel like I actually have a set of balls. Real men fix their own shit, ya know?”

She chuckled and sniffed. “OK.”

“And I’m sorry for being distant. I’ve wanted to speak to you every day, but my mood is contagious. I don’t want to drag you down. Once I have my life under control, things will go back to normal, and I’ll be on the first flight back to you.”

“Please don’t take long.” She shouldn’t have added to his burden, yet she missed his friendship too much to let the words go unsaid. Being without him physically was something she lived with for years. His support and kindness was completely different.

“I received an email from Alana about the engagement party,” she spoke quickly, hoping to change the subject. The invitation came a week after Gabi left Melbourne, with the celebration set to take place in New York, not long after Reckless Beat arrived back from tour.

Blake was silent for a moment before asking, “Do you think you can come?”

“I wish I could.”

“Me too,” he whispered. “Hopefully by then I will be on my way back to Australia.”

“And miss their engagement party?” Was he serious? The Blake she knew would never miss an event like that. He wasn’t making sense. First he couldn’t speak to her or return her emails, now he wanted to miss a monumental event to fly back to her?

Doubt darkened the back of her mind, and she shook away her suspicions before they had time to fully form. “You can’t miss that. We’ll be together soon enough.” She spoke the words, even though she lacked the enthusiasm to back them up. Every second that passed unnerved her, making her frantic to see Blake in person.

“Yeah. But soon enough feels like forever.”

Soon enough meant nothing to Gabi. She didn’t know what problems he had to deal with at home.

“Do you forgive me for backing out of our plans?”

She sighed, long and loud. “Yeah.” She didn’t have a choice.

“I’ll make it up to you.” Cheeky flirtation accompanied his words, warming her heart.

“Don’t worry. I’ll hold you to that.”

He laughed, and she could picture him smiling on the other end, his dark eyes glistening, his muscles flexing as he reclined in a lounge chair.

“OK, angel. I’ll let you go. Sorry for interrupting you during class. Once things settle down, I’ll let you know.”

Her heart flipped, clenched, dropping to the soles of her feet. She wanted to know when she would speak to him again, and with equal measure she didn’t want to sound needy. “All right, bye.”

She waited for his farewell and ended the call. Grabbing her books and handbag off the floor, she walked to the classroom door. The lecturer spoke loud, pointing to the white board behind him with a wooden ruler. There was no way she could concentrate now. Not when her mind pinged like a pinball machine.

Stepping back, she started down the hall, heading for the car park. When she got home she would email one of her classmates for notes. Then she would email Alana. If Blake couldn’t give her any answers maybe Mitch’s fiancé could.