“You were thinking about Gabe, weren’t you?”
I swallowed the lump that appeared in my throat. But I couldn’t lie. Even with all of my performance training, I was a terrible liar.
“Yes. He took me on a hot air balloon ride a few weeks ago.”
Jodi’s face wrinkled. “I thought you didn’t like heights.”
“I don’t. But it was the best day I’ve had in a long time.”
“You like him, huh?”
Shaking my head, I held up my hands. “No, not like that. We’re just … you know. He’s helping me gain inspiration to write.”
Jodi gave me a sideways glance. “Inspiration?”
“Yes,” I said a little too quickly. “He offered to be my muse.”
“Yeah, you already told me that.” She slapped my knee and laughed. “That man called you his future wife the first time he saw you.”
“That wasn’t the first time we met.” I explained to Jodi that we’d had an encounter months prior, in Los Angeles. “Nate hated him.” I laughed, remembering how Nate spent that night, once we got home, ranting aboutthat fucking fighter turned manager who didn’t know shit.
“When I pointed out that Gabe knew way more about that other fighter than he had, Nate blew a gasket.”
We argued half the night over that. Nate talked about how Gabe had tried to make him look bad in front of everyone and how I let it happen. I’d forgotten all about that until sitting on the couch with Jodi. It’d just been one of the many arguments between my ex and myself.
“I basically moved out of the apartment we shared after that night.” However, the video and the fire weren’t until a couple of months later.
Staring down at the couch, I shook my head. My fingers toiled with the delicate fabric, picking at nothing.
“What’s wrong?” Jodi asked.
I lifted my gaze to meet hers. “I told Gabe that we should keep our relationship purely physical, with some friendship and good times but nothing more.”
She huffed. “Girl, I could’ve told you how that one was going to work out. But, go ahead, tell me. How did he take it?”
“He said no.”
She cackled. “And?”
“He said he wants all of me and won’t settle for anything less.”
“I knew it.” She pointed at me. “He’s like his brother like that. They go after what they want and are relentless to a damn fault.”
My frown deepened.
“That scares you?”
“Hell yeah,” I blurted out.
“Why?”
“Because no one in my life has ever wantedallof me,” I spoke my truth for the first time out loud. “My parents were always so caught up in their own drama that they rarely bothered to check-in on me.” I thought about the few moments of attention they gave to me throughout my childhood.
“When they realized I could sing, they cared more about me performing and writing to make money, than taking time to stop and get to know me. My first boyfriend dumped me as soon as he got a record deal through a connection I got for him. And then there’s Nate. Do we even need to get into that one?”
“No,” Jodi said, shaking her head, “we don’t.”
“Good.” Especially since he continued making money off of me, and I still had this unwritten album that I owed his label hanging over my head.
