Page 43 of Gabriel's Album

Instead, I repeat, “Don’t leave. If you do, at least this is how you’ll remember me.”

It’s the truth. The thought of her leaving is scary as shit, but that would be a hell of a kiss for her to leave on. She doesn’t say anything, and we just stare at each other. I’m fascinated by her expression; it’s strange, and she looks like she wants to say something, but she doesn’t.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I have no doubt that it’s a text from Harrison, so I turn away from Ariana and leave her standing in the middle of the room. I resent having to leave her behind today, but I have a job to do.

I pull out my phone to see a message from Harrison on the screen, just as I had expected.

Where are you?

I grin to myself as I press the button to call the elevator and text him back while I’m getting in it.

I got hungry, so I’m sitting at Starbucks having a coffee and a bagel. Why?

As the elevator doors open to the lobby, I’m greeted with a view of the guys standing in a group and waiting for me with Kendall, who works for the record label and has been organizing all of our interviews on the tour.

“He had better be joking, because—” Harrison bites out.

“—Who had better be joking?” I cut him off and give him an innocent smile as he spins to glare at me.

Sebastian bursts out laughing, but Harrison shakes his head at me. “You’re not funny. We’re meant to be there by seven.”

“Well, I’m here now, so we can leave. Iamhungry, though,” I shrug.

“Me too. Tell me again why we have to get up at the buttcrack of dawn,” Sebastian yawns.

We start making our way through the hotel to the back entrance. A few hotel guests and staff members look at us as we pass them. I’ve gotten used to this. Whenever we’re in public, people stare, a lot, even more than when I’m on my own.

“The people of New York are desperate to hear your voice, Seb,” Hayden jokes. “You couldn’t possibly expect them to wait until after breakfast to hear your dulcet tones, could you?”

“Well, you do make a good point,” Sebastian agrees with a grin.

We reach the back of the hotel and all start piling into a minivan with blacked-out windows, but Sebastian waves at us.

“I’ll see you there,” he calls.

“What does he mean?” Harrison asks Kendall, looking confused.

Kendall doesn’t roll her eyes, but she sounds slightly annoyed as she closes the van door while she responds. “Mr. Fox made a change to his rider. He has alternative transportation to get him around New York City today.”

As she’s finishing her sentence, we hear the loud revving of a Harley Davidson motorcycle. It’s being ridden by a woman with long blonde hair who is wearing nothing but a tiny bikini.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Hayden says and shakes his head while chuckling.

I burst into laughter as Sebastian puts a helmet on, then climbs on the back of the bike. Okay, Sebastian riding around NYC with a bikini-clad biker chick is probably going to further my own shitty reputation, but it’s still pretty funny that he made our record label do this for him.

I smirk at Kendall. “Just to be clear, Sierra basically can’t refuse anything we put on our rider, can they?”

“Not really,” she sighs, and I get the feeling Sebastian’s request might’ve caused some trouble. “What would you like, Mr. Knight? A bald eagle to hold while you perform onThe Today Show, or something?”

Harrison and Hayden both laugh as I grin back at her. “Could you manage that for me? I think it would make me look pretty tough, don’t you?”

“I probably could if you were serious, but I do hope you’re not. Working out the insurances alone would be a nightmare.”

I take pity on her as I look at Sebastian on the damn motorcycle in front of us in traffic, and say, “No, I don’t want a bald eagle. Any chance I could get an Egg McMuffin and a coffee while we’re doing the radio interview, though?”

“Totally doable.” She smiles at me, and her relief is evident in her expression.

We reach the radio station, and I’m unsurprised when Sebastian starts hitting on the motorcycle rider as soon as she parks the bike and they get off it.

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