Page 108 of The Sounds of Her

Guess she thinks that is a loaded answer, because she goes quiet. I clear my throat. I even think about telling her Nick knows about the baby but only because I’m panicking over the silence.

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Brooke finally says. “I’ve heard you guys moaning that you miss being on tour. There is no pleasing you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that.” My voice dips.

She laughs and my heart soars at the sound. I slap a hand over my eyes and cringe.

“Archer, I have to go, Steve needs me for a sec before my phone meeting.”

Hiding my disappointment is easy enough, especially as I’m more worried about her meeting with Roman. “Let me know how it goes with Campbell?”

“He won’t know what hit him. Say hi to everyone for me.”

I hang up feeling uneasy. If he lays so much as a finger on her, I will kill him. Brooke knows what she is doing. It doesn’t stop the concern gripping me, taking over my every thought.

She may be right about us always saying we miss being on tour.

Right now this is the last place on earth I want to be.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The last thing I want to do is admit I miss him. I don’t miss people. I enjoy my solitude, even if I am a social person. These last few days, being back in New York are slowly changing my perspective.

Talking to him hasn’t helped. Now I miss him even more. It’s a foreign concept I’m not used to.

I met Meg for drinks last night, to try to take my mind off Archer, but she didn’t stay out anywhere near long enough. Joey is training for a fight, when that happens, he goes into the zone and sex is off the table. She blushed like crazy when she said they have to make the most of their last night.

I’ve been to Raine’s since I got back, after all my careful planning on the flight home of what to say to my parents, they aren’t even in New York. I danced until the empty feeling went away.

Get your head in the game, I take a deep breath in and blow it out. I have important shit to do today and the last thing I need is thoughts of Archer filling my head.

There is a short knock at the door, before it opens, and Millie hurries in.

“Roman Campbell is your four o’clock?” she whisper-shouts.

“He is.” I set my pen down. I purposely left his name out of the block in my diary. I’m not surprised Millie knows who Roman is. His reputation precedes him.

“Are you representing him?”

“I’ll only be meeting with him once.”

“Brooke, he is one of those men that is hot as hell, but you have no idea where he’s been.” Her nose wrinkles.

A laugh bursts out of me. She nailed it. “Why don’t you take a seat, I want to leave him to stew but you don’t have to suffer through his attempts at flirting.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s already slipped me his number,” she grimaces.

“Let’s give him ten minutes to wonder if we’re talking about how hot he is.”

“When we’re actually talking about the other hot guy in your life,” she lifts a brow.

I’ve not told her a lot about Archer even though I was asked questions when I got back. Millie kicks back in my visitor seat and I tell her about the crazed fan getting into Jordan’s hotel room. We chat longer than ten minutes, but my fun has to come to an end at some point.

She goes to let him in, without offering him a drink and giving him the stink eye as he passes her.

Roman looks good in his Armani suit, his five-hundred-dollar haircut and Tag Heuer watch.

“Nice to see you again, Brooke, you look rested.”