“You should go to bed and shleep,” I suggest.

“Baby, it’s the morning here, and we’ve got a day of interviews scheduled.” His voice still sounds off to me but I ignore it. “How are you getting home? Please don’t tell me the two lawyers are taking you home.”

My brain kicks into gear and I finally figure out what the off sounding tone of his voice is. “Jett, I’m not going home with them if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Fuck, Presley, I’m not worried about that. I’m just concerned for your safety. You’re off your fucking face, out with strangers, and I think I have every right to be worried about you. And on top of all that, I’m so fucking far away and feel helpless, so please do me a favour and go outside and find a taxi while I’m on the phone to you. I need to be focused today for these interviews and I know I won’t be if I don’t know you are home safe.”

Oh.

Shit.

I click my fingers in the air to get Erin’s attention. “We have to go. Now.” I stand and wait for her to follow. She must sense the urgency in my voice because she stands straight away and says goodbye to the lawyers, of which I have forgotten their names so I just wave and say, “Bye,” before stumbling towards the front door of the club.

“Presley, are you still there?” Jett says into the phone.

“Sorry, yes I’m still here and we’re leaving now so I’ll let you go. I’m shorry I made you worry.”

“Wait, no, don’t go yet. I want you to stay on the phone until you get home.”

My mind is an alcoholic mess and all I can think is that I have already held him up when he’s got much more important things to do than worry about me getting home so I say, “Jett, you should go so you can get ready for your insherviews. I’ll call you later.” And then I hang up so he can go and do his work. When he calls my phone back a second later, I silence it and slip it into my bag. I don’t want to waste anymore of his time. Better to let him go and deal with his interviews.

Erin slips her arm into mine as we walk out to the taxi. “Did you just hang up on Jett?”

“Yeah.”

She tsks me and says, “You do realise he’ll be in a mad panic right about now, don’t you?”

I frown. “No, he’s busy with interviews so he’ll be focusing on that now.”

“Good God, woman, you are fucking clueless when it comes to that man. He fucking worships you, and I bet you, he’ll be over there in LA running around like a madman trying to get in contact with you.”

I wave her away. “No, he won’t. He’ll be grateshful I did what he said and caught a taxi home, and he’ll be busy with his band, you’ll shee.” A sudden wave of tiredness hits me and I yawn. I’m so glad to be going home. It’s been a great night but I need my bed now.

Erin’s voice sounds distant to me when she says, “You’re gonna wake up to hell tomorrow.”

I vaguely understand she’s saying something about hell, but all I can think about is how my pillow is going to feel like heaven very soon.

11

Jett

“For fuck’s sake, where is your head today?” Tom rants at me as we leave our third interview for the day. “You’re moody and coming off like an asshole. I know you’ve just had a long flight but that has never stopped you from getting the job done before.”

Fuck.

My head is with Presley today, and Tom’s right, it’s affecting my work. She hung up on me this morning and I haven’t been able to get back in touch with her. Rationally, I know she would have gotten home safe, but my irrational side has kicked in and I’m all over the place because of it.

And what the fuck was she doing out with two lawyers?

Fuck.

I shove my fingers through my hair. “Sorry, man, I’m worried about Presley, and I can’t think straight because of it.” I look at him in hope. “Tell me this shit gets easier the further into a relationship you get, ‘cause I’m not enjoying this a helluva lot at the moment.”

He shakes his head at me. “Jesus, this is because of her? I never thought I’d see the day where Jett Vaughn was this hung up on a woman. And no, I don’t think it gets easier so you need to get your shit together and find a way to cope with being so far away from her.”

“Shit,” I mutter as I check the time on my phone again. It’s just after four am in Brisbane so she’ll still be asleep. I’m desperate to talk to her but I don’t want to wake her up so I put my phone away. Thankfully, we’ve got another interview straight away so that should help take my mind off her.

Fuck, who the hell am I kidding? The only thing that will take my mind off her is her.

Tom leaves me to talk to Van, and West slaps his hand on my back. “Sorry to do this to you,” he murmurs, and I have no idea what he’s talking about.

Frowning, I ask, “Do what to me?”

“Dragging you away from Presley when you two are just getting started. I fucking hope we won’t have to be here for too long.”

“Shit, West, we’ve discussed this. This is not your fault, so you’ve got nothing to apologise for. And speaking of whose fault it is, do you know if Tom has found anything on that woman?”

“Nothing yet.” He sounds so down and it pisses me off, yet again, that she’s done this to him. West is usually the most upbeat one of our band, but at the moment, he’s so far down I don’t know what will bring him back up, short of her recanting her accusation. And I’m guessing that’s highly unlikely to happen. The woman contacted Tom just before we flew out of Brisbane to ask for money. If we pay her, she’ll do another interview and say it wasn’t true, but West is adamant he doesn’t want to pay her off.