CHAPTER 28

JARED

“This burger is fucking awesome,” Caleb told me, swallowing a huge bite of his lunch. We decided to hit up a burger joint at the beach. It was out of the way, quiet, and somewhere we could blend in with minimum effort.

I usually didn’t mind the fans. We’d worked our butts off to get to the point where people recognized us, so I wasn’t going to start complaining now that they did. Caleb wasn’t in the mood, though, and insisted we go somewhere we could just be us, no muss, no fuss.

The sky was robin’s egg blue with the sun sitting high over the umbrella above our heads. No one looked twice at us here, just two guys wearing dark sunglasses sitting at an outside table with our feet in the sand.

I dragged a fry through the ketchup in my takeout burger container and jabbed it at Caleb. “Told you this was a good idea.”

“You weren’t wrong.” He conceded, lifting his plastic cup and sipping his soda. A half smile crept onto the side of his mouth. “This time.”

“I’m never wrong.” Not true. I’d been dead wrong about Alicia and her understanding of our relationship, but now wasn’t the time to think about that. We' had two days to go until we left for New York, and it was our main point of focus, getting ready for that interview. “Speaking of which, what do you think about New York?”

“You were pretty against it. You feeling better about it yet?” He slammed the ball solidly back into my court, pausing to tilt his head at me before stuffing the rest of his burger into his mouth.

“It’s no big deal.” Lifting my shoulder in a shrug, I popped another fry into my mouth and washed it down with almost sickly sweet, ice-cold orange soda. “We go, do the interview, come back home, and put the finishing touches on the album. Wham bam, thank you, ma’am.”

Caleb laughed. “Glad you changed your mind. I thought you were gonna punch someone that day.”

“Wasn’t far off,” I admitted.

“Admirable self-control in that case.” He replied sarcastically. Pausing to finish his fries, he seemed to lose himself for a minute or two before pointing his last fry at me. “You want to spend some time up there after the interview? We’re taking a break anyway. Might as well make it worthwhile.”

“Not come back right after?” I hadn’t considered that, assuming the others were as eager as I was to get back to recording. Though, I was the only one throwing myself into the music as deeply as I ever had.

It was an escape for me now as much as it’d ever been.

Almost another whole week had passed, and while Alicia and I had managed some polite conversation at times, things were still strained between us. I wasn’t expecting that to change anytime soon. I also still couldn’t get the damn woman off my mind, and fucking someone else still wasn’t happening for me.

Thank the gods of music for giving me the talent. It was the only thing keeping me sane.

Churning out songs faster than I had in the years since we’d taken off, I was on fire. The guys didn’t know where my seemingly random newfound burst of energy and dedication came from, but they weren’t complaining about the material coming out of it.

Apparently, they weren’t as eager as I was to get back to recording it, though. Caleb pushed his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose, my own eyes only several shades darker staring out at me as he dropped his chin.

“We could come right back, but we’ll already be there. A break will be good for us, all of us. We’ve been going full steam practically since the second we came off our last tour, and we’re already gearing up for the next one. We’re not machines, man. I know you’re on a roll, but you can keep writing while we’re away if you want.”

Two women walked past our table, slowing and whispering to one another as they glanced at us. Caleb sighed and pushed his sunglasses back up over his eyes, only continuing when the women were gone. “We need to take some time off. More than an afternoon. Why not combine a break with a trip we already gotta take?”

“I hear you.” A seagull cried out overhead, and I watched it dip and soar, thinking over what Caleb was saying. I didn’t want to stop now, not while lyrics were pouring out of me like blood from an open wound—not that I was hurt by Alicia leaving. It just seemed to have caused a musical hemorrhage of some kind.

There were only a few people on the beach, some kids running to and fro from the surf and some guys throwing around a football a little way down from where we were seated. Soft sand scrunched under my toes as I wiggled them, watching the beachgoers unwind.

I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been this close to the ocean, never mind the last time I relaxed on a beach. For a guy who prided myself on my ability to have fun with my chosen career and to enjoy the fruits of the years of labor we’d put in to get to where we were, it’d been too long since I’d actually relaxed and kicked back.

Midday binges and weekends scribbling in my notepad with my feet dangling in my pool didn’t count. It was time I got back to doing what I did, which was chill the fuck out about everything. I still didn’t understand the tailspin Alicia walking out had launched me into, or why it’d happened at all, but taking it out on the guys wasn’t going to work anymore.

Sighing, I tore my eyes away from an elderly couple taking a stroll along the shore and crushed my empty food containers, placing them on my tray to be thrown in the trash. “You’re right. We need a break. Maybe go sightseeing or something.”

Caleb chuckled and crushed up his own containers. “Looks like I’m the one who’s never wrong.”

I was about to flip him off when my phone rang, an old classic from one of my favorite bands blaring from the pocket of my shorts. Gerry’s face scowled at me from the screen when I pulled my phone out, a picture I’d snapped of him once during a rant about how irresponsible we all were.

Of course, taking that picture at that exact moment had only pissed him off more, and we’d ended up having to listen to him yell for thirty extra minutes. Sliding my thumb across the green bar, I pressed the phone to my ear.

“Manager, mighty manager,” I answered. “What can I do you for?”

“Not a single thing in the world, Jared.” Gerry joked laughingly. “There’s nothing you have that could ever convince me to let you do me.”

“Fair enough.” I cracked a grin. Surprisingly, everyone seemed to be getting along well for a change, and with even Gerry still cheery after the dinner fiasco the other night, it was hard not to get caught up in the good vibes all around. “What’s up, then?”

“You ready for the trip?”

“Getting there,” I told him honestly. “I’m almost packed. Rest of the guys are probably already at the airport waiting ‘cause they’re that excited.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised.” Papers ruffled at his end, followed by faint mumbling I couldn’t make out, and then he was back. “Listen, I’d love to chat but don’t have the time right now. I wanted to ask you if you could come by the office to sign a couple of things later.”

“Can do.” I didn’t have plans, and Caleb and I were done with lunch. Besides, I was riding those good vibes, and doing what he asked without arguing for once felt like the right thing to do. “What time?”

“Soon as you can would be good.”

“I’ll be there in an hour,” I promised.

“Good.” Gerry hung up without waiting for another word from me.

“I gotta go,” I told Caleb, standing up and ducking my head so I didn’t hit it against the umbrella over our table. “Gerry needs me to sign shit at the office.”

“Want me to drop you off?” Caleb offered, walking with me to the plastic trash cans beside an opening in the wooden fence that separated the sidewalk from the restaurant.

“Nah, you wanted to stop by the studio on the way back, and I don’t know how long this is gonna take. I’ll just call for a car.” I preferred to drive myself, but I’d caught a lift to the beach with Caleb since we’d both been at my place this morning.

Texting our driver with one hand, I slid my trash away with the other and said goodbye to Caleb. I pulled the baseball cap I was wearing down over my forehead and headed out to wait for the driver.

Less than hour after taking Gerry’s call, I strode into his office building. Early for once. Who would’ve thought?

People here were used to us coming and going in whatever we happened to be wearing, so my shorts and slops didn’t draw too much attention. My shoes slapped against the marble floor of the lobby as I made my way to the floating staircase, almost turning toward Alicia’s office when I reached the top instead of Gerry’s.

Making a hard turn, I corrected my course. I wasn’t here to see Alicia. We didn’t have a meeting scheduled, and the last time I went to her office without one, she made it clear to me she didn’t want to see me there unless we did.

Gerry was behind his desk when I entered without knocking, barking into the phone. He rummaged through a stack of papers on his desk, pulling out a sheaf of paper and pushing it across to me. Offering me a pen from the holder he had on his desk, he held out a finger to show me he’d be a minute.

I nodded and sank into the leather chair across from his. Scanning through the paperwork before I signed it, I saw it was a bunch of legal crap from the network who would be airing the New York interview.

Ted, our lawyer, had already signed it. I still didn’t really understand how I’d gotten stuck being the one who had to co-sign this kind of stuff with him, but I’d been doing it for years. Adding my signature on the lines next to his, I made sure I didn’t miss a spot. Once I was done, I gathered the stack back up and returned it to Gerry just as he dropped his phone back onto his desk.

“Things are looking up for the band, Jared. That was a contact of mine at Billboard. He assures me your name is being mentioned there almost daily, which is great news. I just hope this trip to New York doesn’t screw it all up.”

“You and me both.” I smirked, but then I saw how serious Gerry’s expression was and dropped it. “It shouldn’t. Things are great. I don’t see this trip changing that.”

Gerry’s phone rang again, and he sighed, giving me a small smile. “I hope you’re right. I have to take this. That was all I needed you to sign for now. See you on the plane.”

“See you on the plane.” I pushed up out of my chair and left his office, shutting his door and cutting off the rant he was launching into with whoever was at the other end of the line.

The driver was waiting for me downstairs. Sliding onto the buttery soft leather seats of the limo, I leaned back and relaxed. The engine was completely silent as the driver navigated us out of the covered parking structure, a feat considering the weight the thing carted around.

My pointless thoughts of the limo’s engine and weight disappeared when we entered the open parking in front of the building. Caleb and I had grabbed a late lunch, and the sun was already sinking low, but there was enough light to see Alicia standing next to her car at the side of the road.

Punching my index finger down on the intercom button, I spoke to the driver. “Pull over, would you?”