Page 64 of Indescribable Love

It was everything she wanted to hear and yet it was terrifying at the same time. She’d never told anyone—except her grandparents—that she loved them. And as much as she felt like she should tell him she felt the same way, the words lodged in her throat.

“Tell me we’re okay,” he quietly urged her. “Tell me I didn’t mess everything up.”

She shook her head. “You…you didn’t,” she forced herself to say, before swallowing hard. “Nick’s running with the footage, though. There’s nothing I can do about that.”

“I don’t care about that. Let him have it. If he wants to ask any questions about it in our next interview segment, I won’t answer.”

She laughed softly. “I told him I didn’t give my consent, but he believes you wanted that footage and will be eager to talk.”

“Then he’s seriously mistaken.” His arms slowly wrapped around her waist. “We’re in this together. If you don’t want us to talk about this, then we won’t.”

She studied him hard for a moment. “But…?”

“But…I’m not ashamed of this, Juliette, and I don’t care who knows. Hell, if you’d let me, I’d shout it out to the crowds every night and I’d write a song about you and sit you on a stool in the middle of the stage and serenade you.”

The strangled laughter was out before she could stop it. “Oh my God! No! That would be crazy!”

Shaking his head, he grinned. “I would do it over and over again every night to prove to you how I feel. And I’d let the entire world know how much I love you.”

Damn. She was practically a puddle at his feet with that admission.

“Simon…”

He silenced her with a kiss.

So there was no need to go and see Nikki or use that spare hotel room. She was perfectly content right there.

Sure enough, Nick tried to get him to talk about his relationship with Juliette, but Simon held firm. Most of the time, he didn’t even respond, but just to keep things interesting, he’d occasionally say, “I have no comment.” It made him feel better, but it was clear that Nick wasn’t amused.

Things were getting tense, but he hoped that they’d have enough concert footage by the time the shows wrapped in Chicago that this whole thing would end and he could get back to simply being on tour. Juliette was on edge every time they left their suite and she kept her distance at the venue for fear of them being caught on tape again. He didn’t take it personally, but he certainly wasn’t thrilled with the situation. This wasn’t how he lived his life, and it was taking all the joy out of the things he always loved doing.

When they arrived at the venue in Milwaukee, Simon felt a sense of impending doom. He couldn’t explain it and it wasn’t something he’d ever experienced before, but it was so…so real and heavy that he wasn’t exactly sure what to do.

He stepped out onto the stage with the band for their initial sound check and was met with the opening chords of “Uptown Funk” and it was the perfect upbeat song to bolster his mood. He sang, he danced, and he laughed. When the song ended, they went right into his song, “The Power of You,” and from there, the entire playlist.

They wrapped up on a high note, and he was looking forward to going back to the hotel and relaxing for a bit. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Juliette and was thrilled that she came for today’s sound check. She’d been skipping them, but Nick had mentioned wanting her input on some footage they were hoping to get today. It seemed weird that he actually wanted her there, or her opinion at all, but Simon didn’t question it. Anything they could do to wrap this up would be great.

But as soon as he walked backstage, the sense of doom was back. People were watching him with funny looks and there seemed to be far more cameras around than normal.

“Um…”

“Simon! You sounded great!” Max Yearsley said as he came strolling out of the shadows. “Jacob and I think we got some amazing footage for this project, but it’s a little…generic, if you know what I mean.”

The urge to pinch his nose and silently count to ten was strong, but he just smiled, nodded, and waited for him to say whatever it was he was going to say.

“Nick got us some really interesting shots, but you haven’t been too cooperative about it, so…I happened to luck out and I think we have the perfect…you know…wow factor now.”

His stomach roiled and he quickly looked around because he knew whatever was about to happen, it wasn’t going to be good.

“We’ve had some conversations with your brothers when they were here,” Max was saying, “and your band and assistant have been a lot of fun. But your publicist gave us the most help, so be sure to thank her for this one.”

Simon’s glance darted around, but Juliette wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Simon!” Someone jovially called out, and he knew that voice. He heard it in his head and in his darkest dreams.

Greg Wylder.

Fuck.

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