Page 31 of Joey

“Ethan?”

The moment he heard Joey’s voice, Ethan’s entire body released its tension, and he had to lean against a nearby wall to stop from sinking to the ground.

“Ethan?” Joey asked again. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he whispered and then cleared his throat. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I don’t know…” He couldn’t finish the sentence because he didn’t want Joey to think he couldn’t cope without him.Hedidn’t want to think he couldn’t cope without Joey, especially as Ethan was fiercely independent and decisive in his own right.

“You’re not interrupting. I’m just feeding Joelle.”

Ethan frowned and straightened. “You have company. Sorry. I’ll go.”

“No! There’s no one here.”

Ethan squeezed his eyes closed, confused. “Joelle?” he reminded him.

Joey’s deep chuckle filtered through the line. “Joelle is my cat.”

“You have a cat?” He didn’t mean for his voice to sound so surprised.

“I do.” Joey sighed. “Elliott and I picked her out. She was both of ours.”

“What does she look like?” Ethan headed home once more, a lightness in his steps now he had Joey’s voice in his ear.

“She’s a British Longhair. A deep grey fluff ball is what she is,” Joey crooned. “Aren’t you? Yes, you are.”

Ethan’s smile widened. “She sounds beautiful. You’ll have to send me a picture.”

“Hold on.”

There was a bit of noise and then silence, and Ethan glanced at his phone; they were still connected. He put it back to his ear.

“Okay. I’ve sent you a photo,” Joey said suddenly.

Ethan pulled the phone away from his ear again. He clicked on the photo Joey had sent, and his heart pounded when a gorgeous grey cat appeared. Ethan had to keep his eyes on the cat, but it was difficult because Joey had the cat cuddled up to his face, and the man’s eye colour stood out—it was the same colour as the cat.

“She’s gorgeous.”

“She is.”

They fell into silence, and the cool air bit into Ethan’s skin, but he didn’t care. As much as he could deny being wound up in someone enough that he struggled to function, it was startlingly obvious to him now that it was the case. In the few short days they’d had together, Ethan had fallen hard. But where did that leave him now? He had always been stubborn and insisted on standing on his own, but somewhere along the line, those days had changed things. Changed him.

“Are you okay, Ethan?” Joey asked.

“I should be asking you that.” He crossed the road.

“I’m fine. I’m not looking forward to tomorrow, but it’ll be what it’ll be. I can’t change things.”

Ethan’s heart broke for him. “I wish I could be there to help you through it.” The moment he said it, he wished he could call it back. Joey didn’t need that from him. He needed him to give him—

“I wish you were here, too.” The words were so softly spoken that Ethan hadn’t been sure they were truly said until Joey continued. “I’m sorry I left how I did. Have they left you alone?”

Ethan allowed the change of subject. “They have, for the most part. I still have people visiting the hotel and asking me questions, but I think they’re mainly fans rather than reporters.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to be. I wish they’d leave you alone,” he admitted, crossing another road and finally reaching his street.

“It’s how they earn their money. I can’t begrudge them it, but yeah, I wish they would, too.”

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