Page 53 of Blind Attraction

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and ignored the anger radiating from her direction. She jerked her head toward one of the cameras and shook her head at them in disgust.

Great. Another fucking PR nightmare.

He sat back down and glared into the camera lens in the hopes the man behind the machine would stop taping. No such luck.

“Good job, bro.”

Red flashed through his vision and with all his might, he held back from decking his best friend. He clenched his hand, bit his tongue, and ground his teeth. He’d never hit anyone in his life, probably never would, but Blake was getting pretty damn close to being on the receiving end of his fist.

Mitch had no choice but to make the hard decisions so Alana didn’t have to. He made the choice’s to better her future. To save her heartache.

And the choices were shredding his soul. Couldn’t Blake see that?

Kate had said it herself—Alana was only starting to live. She would yearn to experience other men, other heated situations. The pressure of not being enough for her would be too much. His job provided enough anxiety. He didn’t need more.

No, it was best for both of them to make a clean break. His lifestyle didn’t allow for relationships. The separation, easy women, and paparazzi always tore them apart.

They both sat in silence, the other guys speaking amongst themselves until the female interviewer stepped onto the stage platform. Middle-aged, dressed in a pants suit, and smothered in make-up, she glanced at Blake, then toward Mitch, as if calculating a plan in her mind.

He wished he didn’t have to do this shit. He lived for music. Not for never ending questions which had nothing to do with their songs. Who they screwed and where they chose to spend their spare time shouldn’t be up for discussion.

The woman introduced herself, Sarah or Sally or something. He didn’t care. He zoned out of the speech on how things were going to run and turned his thoughts to Alana and how he would say goodbye without breaking her heart. Chatter echoed around him. Mason did most of the talking as usual. Then everything became uncomfortably quiet.

“Mitchell?”

He raised his gaze from the coffee table to the woman requesting his attention. “Yeah?”

“I was just saying, I overheard a conversation between you and Blake earlier. I wanted to know—and I’m sure your female fans are dying to find out too—who is the mystery woman you’ve been seen with lately. First there was the newspaper article, then the mention on the radio. Are you officially off the market?”

Mitch sank into the role of a deer in headlights. His brain was still there, inside what felt like a puny little scull, but no helpful thoughts were bursting to break free. “Ahh...”

He glanced at Blake who had a superior smirk on his face, then to Mason whose frown deepened, then back to the interviewer. “No, not at all. My fans know I’ll never settle down. It’s not in my blood, and relationships in the music industry rarely last these days. I’m just having a good time.”

She nodded her head solemnly. “Yes, there always seems to be celebrity breakups in the news, however, Ryan’s happily married. Doesn’t his relationship give you hope that you can settle down someday?”

He held back a snort, and Sean cleared his throat beside him. First of all, he wanted to tell her “happily married” was an oxymoron, and Ryan’s “relationship” was far from wedded bliss. Instead he gave a lazy smile. “Ryan’s marriage has affected us in different ways. But hisrelationshipwith Julie isalwaysin the back of my mind when I’m with a woman I find myself caring for. Our lifestyle is hard to put up with, and temptation isn’t only around the corner, it’s in our dressing rooms, on the tour bus, and even in our hotel suites.” He shrugged. “I’ve given up a lot for the band. We all have. And being in a relationship isn’t a distraction I need.” He noted Blake shaking his head in annoyance from the corner of his eye. “At the moment anyway,” he added as an afterthought.

“Distraction, my ass,” Blake threw in.

Mitch breathed through his nose, his jaw now pounding in anger as he turned to Blake. He gave him a death stare. One that said, “Oh, no, you fucking didn’t” and “You better shut your mouth,” all in one hard squint of his eyes.

The studio fell silent, until Sean started to whisper in a barely audible tone, “dah, dah, dah, dahhhh.”

Sarah or Sally, whoever she was, cleared her throat. “What do you mean, Blake?”

Mitch’s nostrils flared, and he gave an indiscernible shake of his head. If the bastard said anything about Alana, he would find himself in a world of hurt as soon as they were alone.

Blake rubbed his chin in a lazy fashion. His chest rose with a deep breath, and he turned his focus to the woman. “I was commenting on Mitch’s choice of words.” He flashed one of his trademark bad boy grins. “Being on the road is tough. The food’s crap. Sleeping on the tour bus, and in and out of hotels is a pain in the...it’s a pain. I couldn’t think of anything better than knowing you had someone you—” Blake turned his gaze back to Mitch, “—lovedwaiting for you at home. I’d take the distraction over the loneliness any day.”

“Ohh.” The supposedly professional breakfast show interviewer melted in her seat, practically sliding to the floor in a big puddle of sympathy.

“It ain’t all bad.” Blake turned back to smirk at her. “There are a lot of lovely ladies out there.” He winked at her, and Mitch rolled his eyes. “I just think it’s time for my boy Mitch to suck it up and give it a try.”

“So, you’re looking for a relationship?” She raised a brow, now on the edge of her seat.

Mitch held his breath, his heart beating overtime as he waited to be sent back into deer-headlight mode. This shit made him nauseous.

“Not exactly looking, but if I found someone who made me happy, I wouldn’t throw it away.”

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