Page 16 of The Music of Love

“Just a few minutes,” he says with that tone he always puts on when he wants pity. Justin is the world’s biggest asshole, but has a baby-face and knows how to get sympathy from people. “I promise.”

“Your promises are worth precisely jack shit, Justin,” I chime in before he can work his bullshit-magic on Sarah. “Now Sarah and I are in the middle of our geometry homework, okay? So we’re gonna need you to get out of here.”

Justin looks at me. I can see the hatred in his eyes, but he’s doing his best to tone it down for Sarah. “Geometry homework, huh?”

“That’s right.” I smile, pulling out my phone. “And if you don’t leavenow, I’m gonna call the cops and tell them there’s a strange man here threatening my friend and me. Sound good?”

“You wouldn’t,” Justin replies.

“Oh, no?” I respond, entering in 9-1-1 into my phone. I raise it up and show it to him, hovering my finger over the send button. “Test me, motherfucker.”

Beside me, Sarah snickers just loudly enough for me to hear.

Justin holds my gaze just long enough that I don’t call. Honestly, I’d actually love to. I despise the son of a bitch after seeing what he put my friend through over the years. He turns around and walks out, glancing back as he does so. “Love you, Sarah. And fuck you, Reese.”

“Feeling’s mutual, Justin!” I slam and lock the door behind him and barely have time to turn around before Sarah is throwing her arms around me.

“Thank you,” she says over and over. I hug her back until she chooses to let go. When she does, I see her wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I just don’t know what it is with him…”

“It’s okay. I’ve got your back.” I smile.

She smiles back. “You know what? This guy Cal…if youreallythink he’s a good guy…if you feel it in your heart, you should go for it. You should be with him. So you don’t end up making mistakes like me and ending up with horrible guys like Justin. You think he’s a good guy, Reese?”

Her question doesn’t quite shock me, but at the same time, this is the first time since I accepted Cal’s date invitation that I’ve actually been forced to confront my thoughts and feelings for the man. But as I do, a smile that I can’t control comes over my face, and I nod.

“Yes,” I say. “I do.”

“So he’s not the arrogant asshole you thought he was?” Sarah asks.

“No.” I shake my head. “I was wrong about him. And now, I’m falling in love with him.”

11

Cal

The trip is over,the show is done. It went better than anybody could have hoped. I should be ready to get out of here, head home, and get back to my life. But that’s not how I’m feeling right now—at all. My mind is on other things at the moment.

It’s a running joke among guys about how different they feel after climaxing with the girl they’re with. How one second they’re super into her, and then the next, they just want her to go away. Post-nut clarity, we call it.

That never happened to me with Reese.

If anything, sharing a climax with her only brought us closer together. I wanted to stay there and hold her forever, but I had business to take care of today, and she said she had a shift to get ready for later in the day. Of course the last thing I wanted to do after spending such a magical night with her was deal with Kathleen and Josh. I don’t know specifically what they want, but I can imagine. I’m eating breakfast when they show up.

“The jet’s ready to go when you are,” Josh says, taking a seat in front of me at the table. He looks tired and annoyed.

Kathleen takes a seat beside him. She looks annoyed too, but like someone took Josh’s annoyance slider and slid it all the way to the max. “Where do you see this going, Cal?”

“This?” I ask, pointing my fork at my delicious scrambled eggs. “I see these going into my mouth. They taste great, by the way.”

This seems to really piss her off, and she frowns back at me. “Your current public image, Cal.”

“Ah.” I nod. “That. Yeah, you two showing upright aftermy show like that to try and get me to stage a photo—can you not do that again? Ever? Thanks.”

“Youneeda suitable girlfriend, Cal,” Kathleen replies. “This playboy-womanizer thing can only go on for so long before your female fans start to turn on you.”

“I’m not going to manufacture a relationship, Kathleen,” I reply. I can feel the anger growing inside me. She may mean well, but this is the part of stardom that I absolutely despise. “I’m not going to lie to my fans for the sake of publicity.”

“You’re notlyingto your fans, Cal,” Kathleen says in that manager-tone she always has when she’s trying to convince me of something. “It’s just a few pictures with Jenni that we carefully stage to generate interest among the press.”

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