The longer I wait to hear from him, the harder my chest aches. This isn’t the kind of relationship I wanted. What if Dex does what my ex Adam did to me? What if he decides to move his life to California? What if he wants to bring Pippa Grace into our relationship? What if he’s already in a relationship with Pippa?
What if I’m going insane?
God, what the hell is happening to me?
I type out another message.
Jane:Maybe I should take a long weekend and catch a flight to see you?
I readover the text and delete it.
I type out five more texts along the same lines and delete those too.
I’ve turned into one of those girls I write articles about—the wishy-washy ones that can’t make decisions and waste all their time pining for men whoDick and Dash.
I’m wound so tight I can’t see straight. I pace to try to calm my nerves, and as I do, I pull out a small bag and drop a few items of clothing in every time I walk past. Then some toiletries and the book we’re reading together.
Well, now that I have a packed bag, maybe Ishouldtake a little trip.
I drum my fingers on my phone and they, all by themselves, search up and purchase roundtrip airfare to exactly the same city Dex is staying.
What a small world.
I am the worst creeper in the known universe. Andthat’smy exact thought as my plane lifts off and I’m hurtling through the air in a westward direction. I hope this isn’t a mistake.
I hope Damian doesn’t burn down my apartment in a blaze of drug-fueled stupidity. I laugh out loud thinking about how that would be the best kind of ending to the Damian Miles mysterious disappearance. That ending, or the one where I throw my iron in the bath with him because I found him using my toothbrush again, even though I bought him one of his own.
At ten o’clock, I get a rental and plug Dex’s hotel address into my phone’s GPS. My emotions are wreaking havoc on my stomach and my head is spinning out of control.
I’m confused and terrified.
Mostly I’m shocked at my very questionable behavior when I find the hotel easily and park in the farthest part of the lot to stare at the entrance like the tried-and-true stalker I have now become.
I flip down the visor and see a lunatic looking back at me.
I swallow the lump in my throat and take a deep breath. If it’s over, let it be over. If it’s not, then this should be a nice surprise.
Jane:I’m outside your hotel.
Nothing.
Well, there’s a few tears honestly. I just spent a lot of fucking money to fly out here to surprise my boyfriend who won’t answer my texts.
Ten minutes pass, then twenty, thirty.
Then my phone chimes on the seat next to me, making my heart thud sickly against my chest.
Dex:And, I’m inside your apartment. My phone died. My flight was delayed and then I had a layover in Nebraska. Your birthday is in a few days, was not going to miss seeing you on it. And there’s a naked rock star smoking a bong on your couch. Surprise.
Chapter 9
I’m pulled over for speeding on the way back to the airport. When I tell the police officer my name, all he wants to do it sit on the hood of my car and talk about Damian Miles and his great departure into the unknown. It seems while I was about 35,000 feet above the ground,UPCLOSEwent live with my first article about Simply Sinister and Damian’s last days on tour.
The article is currently trending in the number-one spot;UPCLOSE’s reads and clicks must be astronomical. Gail must be a walking orgasm of happiness right now.
Of course there were non-believers and naysayers to the authentication of my words. All of whom got shot down in a blaze ofgo fuck yourselveswhen the hospital released the surveillance video of a bare-assed Damian Miles climbing out of a window and running down the block, with me running right behind him.
I’m kind of famous right now.
