Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Being back in New York feels strange. I know I’m familiar with the lumpy roads and the constant beeping of horns, but it feels like I left this place a long time ago. It doesn’t feel like home anymore.
I’ve got nothing in the schedule now until lunchtime tomorrow. I have a melody in my head that I want to play around with and then I just want to go to bed with some popcorn and a movie.
Betty’s hovering by my door when I come out of my room. “It was so good. You came across so excited about the new album, it was palpable. And they didn’t even mention…you know,” Betty says as I come out of my bedroom. I’ve just finished the first day’s publicity. I smile at her. She’s being kind, but I don’t really have the energy to get into it. “Do you want me to run over to your apartment and pick up some stuff for you?”
“Uhhh…” I think about it. “Like what were you thinking?” There was no way I could go back to my apartment without getting papped, but that’s not why I don’t want to go back. I want to keep moving forward, and the apartment feels like part of my past.
“I don’t know. You’ve been separated from your things for so long now, I thought there might be bits you were missing. I can go and get them for you. Photographs. Trinkets. Clothes even.”
The only photographs in the apartment are ones of me and Matt and I’m one hundred percent sure that I don’t want those back. “Not today, but I’ll have a think about it. Thanks, Betty. That’s a thoughtful offer.”
The phone to the suite starts to ring and before I can reach it, Tommy grabs it.
His face turns bright red as he listens to the person on the end of the phone. “Absolutely fucking not. Are you kidding me?” he yells. “Tell him to wait there. I’ll be down in a minute.” He slams the receiver down.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Fucking Matt is downstairs, the little shitbag. No doubt, coming to beg for attention or a snippet he can sell to the press. Can you believe it?”
It’s almost like the air in the hotel suite has been sucked out, and I grab the back of a nearby chair to keep my balance.
Matt? We’re in a city of eight million people. Why does the one person I don’t want to see have to turn up on my doorstep?
“What’s Matt doing here?” I ask. “How does he know where we are?” I glance at Betty and Tommy. Betty shrugs her shoulders and Tommy is thrusting his arms back into the jacket he just took off.
“Wait, Tommy. I want to know what he’s doing here.” Why would he think he can just turn up here? Why does he want to see me?
“I’ll ask him. Just before I punch him in the face.”
I roll my eyes. I’m pretty sure Tommy’s never thrown a punch in his life and if he did, I doubt it would have the desired effect.
I stalk over to the phone and dial reception.
“What are you doing?” Tommy asks.
“I’m sending him up.”
“What?” Tommy and Betty say in unison.
“I want to see what he’s got to say for himself. I want to know why he’s here and how he found me. Is he stalking me? Do I need to call the police? That kind of thing.”
“He’s a monster,” Betty says.
“No telling what he’s here for,” Tommy says. “You’ve got to think of your safety.”
“Right. And I have a security guy on the door. He can step into the suite while Matt’s here. Plus, you and Betty will be here.”
I tell reception to send him up and then I pop my head out of the door of the suite and ask my security guy to escort Matt into the suite when he appears and stay for the duration of his short visit.
“He doesn’t deserve five minutes of your time,” Tommy says.
“If you don’t want to see him, I understand that,” I say. “You can go into the study or you can leave. Same goes for you, Betty. But I’m doing this for me. Not him. I’m very aware he doesn’t deserve anything from me.”
Tommy sulks but takes a seat on the sofa. I sit in the chair at the head of the dining table.
Betty glances between me and Tommy, and then heads toward Tommy.
“Betty, can you arrange to move me to the Mandarin Oriental after this? I heard the Oriental Suite has a gold leaf ceiling. I’d like to try that.” I sound calm, and my breathing is normal, but I’m about to come face-to-face with the man who slept in my bed for twelve years and betrayed me. I should feel murderous.
The door to the suite opens and a familiar figure appears. He looks just as handsome as he ever did. He’s wearing his favorite blue suit—one I never particularly liked because of the sheen of the material. When he sees me, he breaks into a smile.