It sounded like something my father would do. Even though I’d specifically told both my parents that I didn’t want to talk to Nate.
“Why are you calling me?” I asked impatiently.
“The hell do you mean, why am I calling you? You have an album due, and I know you got that new contract I had to send through your assistant.”
“I told you I would reach out to the label when the album was done.”
“No, Lena. You know that’s not how we do shit. What do you mean done? How are you done when you haven’t worked with any producers? No one has arranged any of the songs. No one has even seen these fucking songs.” His voice grew louder with each statement.
“I’ll call you when I’m ready.”
“No,” he said before I could hang up. “How about you come to see me now?”
I let out a laugh, but there was no humor in it. “I’m not getting on a plane to fly to New York.”
“Who said anything about New York?”
My hold on the phone tightened.
“Or Los Angeles.” Maybe my parents had flown out to LA for some reason to meet up with Nate. I wanted to believe that, but again, Nate’s following comment stopped that line of thinking before I could fully conceive it.
“Or you can bring your ass down to The Tavern in the next thirty minutes.”
My mouth fell open. If Nate knew about The Tavern, that meant he was in Harlington.
“Wh-h-how did you know?”
“I know you didn’t think I couldn’t find out where you were.” He let out a chuckle. “Hiding down here in Texas and then showing off that white boy in my fucking face.”
“I wasn’t showing off anything, and I damn sure don’t do shit for your attention.”
“Yeah, if you say so. Be down here at eleven o’clock. Unless you want me to show up at his house where you’re staying.”
Nate didn’t let me respond before he hung up the phone. So many questions ran through my mind. First of them being,How in the hell did he find out where I was?
I debated about what to do. I didn’t want to meet with him face-to-face, but I didn’t even want to try to call his bluff and have him come over to Gabe’s house. I could only imagine how that would turn out.
If Gabe came home to see Nate here, World War III was likely to break out, and I was certain Nate would end up on the losing side of that battle.
Though I despised him, I didn’t want to see him hurt. My only wish was for him to go the hell away. If making that come true meant meeting him at The Tavern, so be it.
* * *
Almost an hourafter Nate’s call, I walked into The Tavern, darting my gaze from one side to the other, searching out Nate.
He had the nerve to rise from his chair and wave at me with a massive grin on his face. My stomach rumbled with nausea as I stared across the room at him.
“How many will be dining today?” the hostess asked.
“H-He’s here already,” I told the young woman and pointed across the room.
She held out her hand for me to pass toward the table where Nate stood, but I had to talk my feet into actually moving. I reminded myself it was either this or have Nate show up at Gabe’s house. This was the better alternative.
“I started to wonder if you were going to show up,” he said as I approached.
I arrived fifteen minutes late, hoping that he’d somehow disappear before I came.
“What are you doing in Texas?” I hissed at him.
