Page 68 of Gabriel's Album

“Sure,” I bite out.

“I hope you understand the issues you’ve caused with your disappearance. I’ve had Sierra on my ass from the moment Sebastian told us he couldn’t find you. I was about to call the police when you magically appeared.”

“Right. Are we having this conversation now, then?” I ask him hopefully, since I’d much rather have this conversation over the phone than face to face.

“No. Come see me and we’ll discuss the issue,” he says, then hangs up without saying anything else.

I begin putting my shoes on and Ariana walks out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel. I’m so tense that neither her calming presence nor the rush of arousal I get from her being almost naked is enough to distract me from my worries.

“I have to go see Cooper,” I inform her with a tight smile on my face.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. He just said he wants to talk to me before the show, and before everyone else gets here,” I paraphrase and shrug at her.

“Will you be okay?” she asks.

“There won’t be any problems; he’s pissed about this afternoon, though. From what I understand, we caused quite the drama. The record company was breathing down Cooper’s neck all afternoon. As soon as they realized we weren’t in my dressing room like they’d expected, we started a panic.” I walk over and give Ariana a quick kiss. “I’ll see you later, gorgeous.”

I make my way back to the stage with my heart pounding in my chest. Cooper is furious, I know. I don’t want to have this discussion and be treated like a child. Then again, I probably should’ve taken my phone under the stage with me so that I could deflect any questions about our whereabouts.

I look around near the stage, but I can’t see Cooper, so I make my way up the stairs onto the stage itself to see him standing in the middle of it. His body is coiled as tight as a spring and he’s looking at his watch with a frown on his face.

“Hi, Coop,” I say in as friendly a tone as I can manage, hoping to start the conversation off on the right foot.

“Don’t you ‘Hi, Coop’ me, Gabriel Knight. Where the fuck have you been?”

Well, that was a bust. I shrug my shoulders and look out at the arena in front of me. “Around. Not in my dressing room, obviously.”

“Around? You sound like a goddamn teenager.” He glares at me.

“Well, to be fair, you do treat us like we’re kids a lot of the time. So, forgive me if I act like one, but I’m actually a grown adult who doesn’t answer to you.” I meet his glare with one of my own.

I watch him seethe at my words. The truth is that he does work for us and not the other way around. A lot of the time, he seems to think that he’s our boss or something, which is very much not the case.

“Fine, but a lot of people wasted their afternoon looking for you, concerned for your safety. People whoshouldhave been getting ready for the concert tonight instead of looking for the petulant child in front of me.”

That takes the wind out of my sails, and I feel guilt wash over me at the drama I caused. “I’m truly sorry for that. I should have made sure I had my phone with me so that I could let people know where I was—” Okay, I wouldn’t have done that, so I add, “—Or at least that I was safe.”

“How wonderful your intentions are, but considering I’ve had to spend the last two hours explaining to Sierra that I lost one of their top artists hours before he’s due onstage, your apology means shit all to me. We were about to call the goddamn police to try and fucking find you.”

“I’m sorry; I really am. I didn’t want for any of that to happen.” I purse my lips as the guilt intensifies.

“Just tell me where the hell you were, Gabriel. We checked the tour buses thoroughly and you weren’t in any of those.”

I sigh and frown at him before answering truthfully, “I just needed a few hours alone with Ariana.”

That was probably the wrong thing to say because I see Cooper’s expression cloud over, and he narrows his eyes at the mention of my girlfriend.

“It was irresponsible, Gabriel,” Cooper replies in an angry voice.

“I apologized for that.” I take a slow, calming breath and continue, “I’m still entitled to do what I want with my life, though.”

“You’re not, though, Gabriel. Your job is your life; you owe it to your fans and the record company to do the right thing by them.”

“I wasn’t going to miss the concert!” I exclaim in exasperation.

“No, but a lot of people who needed to be here preparing for the concert were out looking for you instead,” Cooper growls at me.

---