Page 46 of Sweet Oblivion

I considered it a moment. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that. Can…can we time it so I play close to Boston?”

“Damn straight. How about Madison Square Garden? That’s in a little over a month. Call up your girl. Get her to fly out for the show.”

I swallowed, all my emotions about Aya bombarding me once again. “What about you? Have you—”

He waved his hand. “I don’t talk about my past. Because that’s all it is.”

I nodded, unsure how to respond.

“Well, go on, then,” he said.

But his face didn’t seem as relaxed as his voice. I’d struck a nerve with my attempted question.

He pulled another Werther’s from his pocket and popped it in his mouth. “Pick out your favorite and get to practicing.”

When Aya called that night, her tension and sadness permeated the screen. This morning, she’d looked nervous as we left, but excited. Tonight—so late it was already morning again—she was different.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Her lower lip quivered, and she looked away. “Nothing.”

“Aya…”

She closed her eyes. “It’s just… I’m not sure I made the right choice, coming here. Li’s been…” She blew out a breath, opened her eyes, and smiled. But I could see the strain. “I miss you.”

“Yeah. Today sucked without you here,” I said. I flopped down on the bed, shifting pillows to get comfortable. “Tell me about your day.”

And then she did, eyes alight with purpose. Fuck. How could I have missed how important this was to her? Like she’d said, STEM for her was like music to me. A solid weight pressed against my chest.

“What did you do?” she asked when she finished telling me about Li and their project and came up for air.

“We’re getting ready for the show tomorrow.”

“Right.” She bathed that lower lip with her tongue. That drove me nuts. “That’s all?”

I opened my mouth, but she was so into her program… Was it fair of me to pull her attention away from her passion? Just to get her to share mine?

“Not much else to tell,” I said, managing a smile. “You’re well aware that tours aren’t as glamorous as people think.”

We clicked off soon after, and I felt restless, unhappy. Steve was in his room, so I sought out Cam.

Chuck intercepted me on the way to Cam’s suite and shook his head. “Cam’s entertaining.”

I rolled my eyes. Sure, sex was easy, and I’d jerked myself into nirvana enough to know orgasms felt good. But Cam, like my father, used sex to cover other pain.

“Let’s head downstairs,” Chuck said, probably watching the play of emotions across my face. “To the gym. You can punch the bag or run on the treadmill. Get rid of the pent-up emotion Aya brought out in you.”

I reared back, away from the heavy hand on my shoulder. “Why does everyone think Aya’s bad for me?”

Chuck resettled his large paw on my neck and steered me toward the elevator. “I like Aya just fine—better than I’ve liked any of the gals you boys bring around.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and shot daggers into the silver elevator doors, making sure Chuck caught my look. “But?”

“But nothing.” He shrugged.

“My dad fucks around instead of dealing with his grief about my brother. That’s caused his marriage to fall apart.” I frowned, knowing that wasn’t quite right even as I said it. There had been women during the last tour, before Lev was gone. That’s when Lev had pulled away from Dad, from me.

Chuck grunted. “And you’re getting an altogether different lesson, aren’t you, son?”

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