Bernie seems concerned. “How did she take it?”
“She’ll miss me, but she’s cool. My Aunt doesn’t live far from her, so that’s something.”
“Good. You know Liz can call the office if she needs anything at all.” There’s that look in his eyes again. The one he always has when he refers to my mum.
“Yeah, thanks Bern. I’ll let her know.”
Bernie raises a brow, “You’ve got some grovelling to do. Not just with me, but the rest of the band, so you better get your arse in gear. You’ve got a personal appearance tonight. Brace yourself for questions about the photographs. It’s unavoidable now,” he says with a double brow raise this time followed by a tight-lipped smirk. “Then we fly back to New York at midnight.”
“So soon?”
“We’ve scheduled the tour rehearsals for the day after tomorrow so get yourself in shape Ash,” Bernie says firmly.
“I will.” I’m a man of my word, but what I wouldn’t do right now to spend a few more hours with Cal. More time to mend what my manager’s assistant—or daughter as she’s otherwise known—has destroyed.
When I get back to the hotel, the boys are far from pissed off.
“Don’t sweat it, man. Lead singers always get attention. It was good publicity if nothing else, although Dani? Really?” Brett laughs.
“I told you she jumped me.”
“Yeah, okay,” he smirks.
“Fuck off, I’m not in the mood.” I snap.
“How is Cal?” Tommy asks.
“Not good.”
“You want to talk about it?”
I rub the back of neck, attempting to ease the tension. “Not now, Tom.”
He nods like he gets it. “She was pissed off, right?” He pushes a little more for an answer, but Brett muscles in.
“This is why dating is not worth the hassle. I never date. I want to be free to do what I want.”
Then Max adds, “Yeah right. I bet if that little piece from Pink Shimmer showed any interest, you’d be on it.”
“Beautiful way to put it, man.” Tommy laughs.
Max drapes his arm around my shoulder. “Look Ash, Brett’s not far off the mark. You honestly think you can be in this game and keep it in your pants?”
“You think I can’t?”
“Just saying you’ll be tested, that’s all. The girl in New York was just a sweetener. Things are about to get intense on another level and I’m not sure it’s right to keep Cal hanging on. I’m only saying this to save you heartache down the line. I like Cal. She’s a good girl. You wouldn’t want to hurt her.”
“Too late,” I confess.
“Didn’t you explain?” Tommy adds.
“She wouldn’t listen. She saw the photos and just lost it.”
“Look, we were all there doing the same thing. Some of us took it further.” He winks and Max interrupts.
“All of us took it further, Tom, apart from the blue-eyed boy here.”
“Exactly. We don’t have women waiting for us, but Ash does, which is why we did what we did, and he sat talking to Bernie all night.” Then Tommy turns to me. “Look man, Calla is wrong on this score; we know it and so do you but take a step back and look at it from her point of view. You’reaway, she doesn’t see you for months, and then these images appear of you covered in women. Right or wrong, she’s gonna be hurting.”
