Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
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CALUM
It’s after midday when Hannah gets what feels like the three-millionth text from Oz.
“The meeting with Rush is over,” she says, frowning at her phone. “Oz is on his way out of the city now. He has to work this afternoon.”
I turn my head on the arm of the couch and grab my phone from the coffee table. Nothing from Johnny. “Is the tour going ahead?” I ask, not bothering to sit up.
Hannah taps at her phone for a bit and then waits.
“He’s responding,” she murmurs, right before letting out an infuriated shriek.
“It’s going ahead as planned, but this is a good thing.
Trust me.” Jamming a finger on the phone, she puts it to her ear as she storms out of the room.
“Tell me how this is a good thing for my bro—” The slam of her bedroom door cuts the end from her sentence.
Taking a deep breath, I release it with a slow, shuddering exhale. “This is a good thing,” I say to the empty room. It’s good for Fifth Circle. This is what I want for them.
The acknowledgment does nothing to remove the crushing weight from my chest. The last two days have been a maelstrom of phone calls and emails.
I’ve contacted every management company in Brisbane and its surrounds, touched base with my contacts in the industry, and introduced myself to job recruiters.
When that was done, I spent hours trawling through multiple job websites, applying for anything that seemed even vaguely promising.
Now, I’m stuck in the limbo that is waiting.
I figure, if I’m ever going to take some time out to feel sorry for myself, it’s best to squeeze it in now.
Lifting my still silent phone from my chest, I wonder if I should call Johnny.
He might be pissed with me, considering I’ve ghosted him for the past two days.
It’s not that I don’t want to talk to him.
I do. But I don’t see how the two of us will work in the long-term and I’m struggling to come to terms with the possibility of a future without him.
I’ve lost my job, possibly my career. In a few weeks Johnny will leave the pharmacy behind for good and go on tour.
He’ll be thriving, both as a person and a musician, while I’m stuck here figuring out how to make ends meet.
By the time he returns, who knows how he’ll feel about us.
People change their minds about what they want all the time.
A familiar pounding starts up on the front door, and I jump up from the couch.
My fingers try to tunnel through my hair, but they get caught in knots.
Glancing around, I see the mess scattered around my apartment.
Multiple scrawled to-do lists. An empty pizza box. Coffee cups and my discarded hoodie.
“Calum,” Johnny’s muffled voice comes from outside the door. “Please, let me in.”
Sighing, I turn away from the evidence of my anxiety and try to school my features into something less than despairing. Johnny’s future has been saved from the broken remains of my career. It’s something to be grateful for, even if I’m not actively feeling it.
Once my smile is firmly in place, I open the door. “Hey—”
It’s as far as I get before his arms are around me.
His face lowers into the curve of my neck and the scent of him invades my nostrils.
All my good intentions collapse. My body sags against his.
Clawed fingers clutch at his jacket and my eyes burn.
Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it. Please, please, please. Don’t let me lose him.
After a long moment, he pulls back enough to press his mouth against mine with a low hum of satisfaction. “I have good news,” he says against my lips. “You can quit your job search. At least for now.”
I stiffen, my gaze narrowing as I straighten my arms against his chest. I can feel his heart pounding, even beneath the layers of his suit. “Tell me you didn’t make a deal with them about coming out to get my job back.”
“No,” he’s quick to assure me. “I know you don’t want that. This is…” he pauses to huff out a laugh, his smile wide, “this is so much better.”
“Johnny?” We both turn to see Hannah coming out of her bedroom, shoes on and a bulging backpack over her shoulder. With a short squeal she rushes over to give him a hug. “I can’t believe what you did.”
I’m still reeling from the sight of my sister hugging anyone other than me, and recently Oz, when her words register. I meet Johnny’s gaze. “What the hell did you do?”
Hannah releases Johnny. “You haven’t told him?”
“I just got here,” he says with a smile.
“Oh, right.” She backs up towards the door. “I’m gonna go to the library for the afternoon and then I’m meeting Oz for dinner and staying at his place. So, you guys will have the whole night to, you know, talk. Or whatever. See ya.” The door slams shut before I manage to get a word in.
Johnny gestures to the couch, still grinning from ear to ear. “You might want to sit down for this.”
The second my butt hits the cushion I’m staring at him. “I’m sitting. Now spill.”
“Okay,” he begins. “The four of us went into the meeting knowing Rush had more to lose than we did. If the tour got cancelled it would suck for us, but with all the resources they’ve already poured into it, it would suck way worse for them. Yeah?”
“Of course,” I say with a nod. “It wouldn’t just mean refunding all those tickets. Their reputation would suffer as well.”
“Exactly. So, the first thing we did was make it clear we were willing to take the hit and walk away. End the contract right then and there.”
“Christ, Johnny,” I cry, dropping my face into my hands. “I told you not to do that.”
He snorts a laugh. “Yeah, well, as my ex-manager at that point you weren’t the boss of me.
” He pulls my hands from my face, holding on to them as I meet his gaze once more.
“Of course, they threatened to take legal action, but Charmaine stepped in. She told them in no uncertain terms how not worth their while it would be. So, then,” he says, eagerly moving on with the story, “they tried to make out like any manager who came with us on the tour would be a temporary measure, until the contract issues were sorted.”
I roll my eyes. “When, in truth, the second you accepted someone into that spot, you’d be stuck with them.”
“Right,” he nods. “But, thanks to Charmaine, we knew that, too.”
I’m shaking my head in confusion. “How is the tour going ahead then?”
He grins, licking his lips before he continues. “We proposed a solution of our own. Fifth Circle will do the tour, exactly as planned, on the condition you’re hired on a consultant basis to act as our manager for the entirety of the tour.”
My eyes widen. “They agreed to that?”
Looking down at our joined hands, he says, “We might have offered them another incentive.”
“Like what?”
He shrugs. “They’ll be taking a bigger cut of the profits from the tour.”
I frown. “Johnny.”
“Don’t even start,” he insists, shaking his head with a smile. “I would have given up every cent if that’s what it took. The good news is, when the tour ends, so do our obligations with Rush.”
My mouth drops open. “Seriously?”
“Yes.” His smile fades a little as he looks at me.
“I know it’s not ideal for you. After the tour you’ll still be unemployed, apart from that one rock band you’ll be managing into the distant future,” he adds, his grin making a reappearance.
“But we don’t exactly make enough for your cut to cover all your living expenses. ”
“Maybe not yet,” I say, rising to kneel on the couch.
“But I’m just getting started with you four.
” Moving forwards, I lift one leg over his lap to straddle him.
“I swear to you, right now,” I continue while he drops his hands to my hips.
“I will launch your star into the heavens if I have to build a rocket ship and deliver it there myself.”
He laughs out loud. “Kind of an odd visual, but I’ll take it.” He kisses me then, his mouth lush and languid against mine.
“I can’t believe you did this,” I say between kisses. “You do realise there was a real possibility they would have told you to fuck off and cancelled everything.”
He nods. “They could have. Yeah.”
I stare at him in awe. “You risked everything. For me.”
His brows lower as he moves his head in a slow denial.
“The only risk was in the thought of losing you.” He sits up straighter, his arms coming around me to keep me secure in his lap.
“I love you, Calum,” he whispers, gazing deep into my eyes.
“I love you because I can’t stop myself from loving you.
I trust you, because you’ve earned my trust. I want to share my life with you, because being apart hurts like hell.
” We’re so close, our chests pressed tight, our breath mingling between us.
“I’m happier with you than I’ve ever been in my life. ”
I kiss him then, because how can I not? “I love you, too,” I tell him when we manage to come up for air. “The trust thing…”
“It’s harder,” he finishes for me. “I know. But trust is something we can build together. So, if you promise to give me the benefit of all your doubts, I promise to prove myself to you. Every day, with every breath. If you’ll have me, I’m here to stay.”
Grinning like a wild man, I wrap my arms around his neck and hold on tight. “I’ll have you.”
“Forever?” he asks.
I nod before touching my forehead to his. “Forever.”