CHAPTER FIVE
Ian and Clay stood by their car as they watched Sasha walk up the airplane stairs ahead of her manager and her publicist.
"Man, am I glad to get to the end of that," Clay muttered. "She would run us ragged if it was a long-term assignment."
"Without question." Ian looked around, seeing a bunch of dancers in lounge wear waiting near the back door to the plane as the stairs were moved. "Politicians are more predictable, at least."
"Careful, you don't want to jinx us."
"They're tiring in a different way," Ian amended.
"There you go. Speaking of tiring, how about we call it a day? Or night." Clay glanced at his watch, prompting Ian to do the same. It was ten past midnight. "I'll drive by the HQ to leave our things, so you're free to go."
Clay's offer wasn't unusual since they tended to go back and forth with that part of an assignment, but there was something in his voice that told Ian he was holding back.
And Ian had a pretty good idea what it was that his friend wasn't saying.
Still, his mind was made up and he had places to be, so he wasn't up to hearing Clay's concerns. He readily surrendered the tech and bid his partner goodbye before pulling out the phone he'd turned off once the concert began.
He hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long for a ride, because he really, really wanted to get to Alex's hotel as soon as humanly possible.
There were a few texts waiting for him, most of them from his family, but there was one from Alex, too.
Smiling already, Ian opened it, only to lose the smile in the next second.
I'm sorry but I have to leave town tonight after all. An emergency came up and I'm on my way to the airport now. Again, I'm so sorry. I promise I'll be in touch, I still want to talk.
It was like a punch in the gut, and Ian dropped onto the nearby bench, clenching the phone in his hand as he tried to pretend his chest wasn't hurting.
An emergency. Damn, what kind of idiot was he, to have gotten his hopes up again?
Why hadn't he learned this lesson already?
Whatever pull he felt every time Alex was close and looking at him with those eyes of his that made Ian feel special and seen…
It was a fantasy, so easy in the moment and yet merciless in its wake when the reality came back around.
And Ian didn't want to go through that again, days and weeks of stupid hope, waiting for something that was never going to happen. Alex had left him behind before, literally and figuratively, and Ian should take the hint now.
He would.
Perhaps he should be glad that he'd actually gotten a message this time or that this happened before they met up. It would have been way worse to watch Alex walk away again with some bullshit excuse after another night together.
It still hurt, of course, in that aching, tender way that was void of any of the earlier hope, but Ian clung to the anger surging inside him with all his might, because anger was good.
Anger was smart.
And Ian needed to be smart about this for once.