Chapter 26
CONOR
I strummed the last chord and raised my fist. “Brilliant, bro.”
TJ leveled a finger at me. “I like it, I like it. Infusing that country twang with an Irish lilt. Whatever’s going on in your life right now, you got it down in this song.”
I felt it, too, but TJ’s acknowledgement made it real.
“Who are we going to get to mix it?” I drained my beer and checked my phone. We had the day off today, but I wanted to find out what happened at Noelle’s meeting.
The pictures of Ashley and Tomo absolved me of any guilt or responsibility. I didn’t care how they fixed it as long as they left me...and the fake relationship...out of it. And as long as the solution allowed Noelle to keep her job and get the promotion she deserved.
“I’ve been working with Brock Huntley. I’ll have him listen to it. He’s going to be working on that Charlie Beck-Devon Craig song.”
“Sounds great, TJ. Thanks for having me out here. The session was next level.” I stood up to pack my music and guitar.
“Looks like you’re not gonna take me up on my offer for some Texas barbecue.”
“We’re hitting the road to Dallas tomorrow morning, so I want to rest up and get ready.” I brushed off the toe of my cowboy boot, which was required footwear for a session with TJ Wallace.
“Those tour buses are brutal for sleep.”
Maybe brutal for sleep, but pretty fucking great for...fucking. Not that Noelle and I would have a chance on the daytime trip tomorrow—but we had tonight.
She shut me down last night but today would be different. She’d solve the Ashley problem, be back in Dina’s good graces, and be ready to party—a party for two.
TJ ordered me a car from his service for the 40-minute drive from Austin Lake to the hotel just outside downtown. I texted Noelle as soon as I climbed into the back seat.
The meeting should be over, but I stared at my phone—not even a bubble of response appearing. On the off chance the meeting was still in progress, I didn’t want to interrupt with a phone call, but the consummate professional, Noelle would have her phone on silent.
I took the risk and called her. It went straight to voicemail, but I didn’t bother leaving a message. She’d call once the meeting ended.
I noticed a voicemail from Gordo, but I didn’t want to deal with him right now.
That session with TJ totally elevated my mood. We really dug in, and the song lyrics reflected so much of what I’d been feeling since Noelle came back into my life.
Later, as we rolled into the hotel parking lot, I directed the driver around the side entrance. I grabbed my gear from the back and slipped inside, the AC hitting me all at once, giving me chills.
I texted Noelle again on the way up to my room. Nothing. I didn’t remember where she and Ashley were going for the Zoom meeting, and I didn’t want to barge in anyway, although I should, to make sure the team PR wasn’t setting me up for any more garbage stunts. Noelle wouldn’t do that to me—again.
I reached my room without running into anyone from the tour. I leaned over my balcony, peering at a crowd at the pool. Was there a barbeque someone forgot to mention?
My gaze stumbled across Ashley in a bikini holding court with a bunch of dancers, Tomo front and center. The meeting ended? I studied each group of people but didn’t see Noelle.
I glanced at my phone again, and it almost slipped from my clammy hands. Noelle still hadn’t responded. Maybe she had to stay on to sort out the details of the new PR direction.
I took a quick shower and slipped on a pair of board shorts and a white T. I glanced at my phone before shoving it into my pocket.
On my way down to the pool, I stopped at Noelle’s room and tapped on the door. I pressed my ear against the heavy slab, listening for the slightest sound.
As I turned, I almost bumped into the housekeeping cart rolling down the hallway. I jumped back. “Sorry.”
The housekeeper smiled and nodded. Then she pointed at Noelle’s door. “No está aquí.”
“Uh...como?”
She reached past me and tapped the door with her fingernail. “Ella no está.”
I understood no, anyway. “Oh, sí, she’s not in her room.”
“Sí, sí, senor.”
I stared after her as she wheeled the cart away, my mouth dry. How would she know Noelle wasn’t in her room? Maybe she was just trying to get a crazy gringo to stop pounding on the door.
I jogged toward the elevator, my heart pounding in my chest. Noelle was at the pool with everyone else. She was probably in the water when I looked outside earlier.
Eyeing my phone in the elevator, I willed Noelle to answer my texts. Jaysus, I felt like I was back in Australia on that bloody tour when she wouldn’t respond to my messages.
I careened through the lobby and shoved through the gate to the pool, my gaze sweeping the patio. I made a beeline to the water and stood on the edge, my eyes aching from peering through the glassy surface.
The group of people lounging on the pool steps stopped talking.
I spun around and practically shouted, “Where’s Noelle?”
Not one of them would look me in the eye.
Then Rhys walked up behind me. “Noelle’s gone, mate.”
I swallowed as the Texas heat beat down on me, and a trickle of sweat beaded down my spine. “What the fuck are you talking about? Gone where? Did she go ahead to Dallas?”
“She’s gone, gone.” Ashley lowered herself to the edge of the pool and fluttered her feet in the water. “Fucked off and left.”
The humidity closed in on me like a soggy blanket, and I gasped for air. “What did you do to her?”
“Moi?” Ashley dipped her fingers in the water and sprinkled the drops on her chest. “I didn’t do anything. She did it all herself. She quit.”
“Quit?” Sweat dripped down my face and off my chin. “The tour?”
“The tour, the company...and I guess you, too.”
My hands balled into fists at my side. “What happened at that meeting?”
“Besides Noelle quitting?” Ashley fanned herself. “I got myself a new narrative—a sex addiction.”
My harsh laugh scratched my throat on its way out. “No fucking way. There’s not a chance in hell Noelle came up with that shite.”
“You’re right. She didn’t. That was my idea.” Ashley slipped into the water and splashed me as she flutter-kicked away.
I unclenched my hands and wiped them on my shorts. “What did you hear, Rhys?”
“I didn’t hear much, bro. I guess there was some crisis meeting to save Ashley’s rep. Noelle left that meeting and quit. Jermaine told us. 92 West is sending some dude named Nolan to finish the tour with us.”
“D-did you see her? Did anyone talk to her before she left?”
“Jade saw her wheeling her bags out to a waiting car, but she was too far away for Jade to catch. I imagine she spoke to Jermaine before she left.”
“Where’s Jermaine?”
Somebody from the pool steps held up his phone and whistled. “Whoa, talk about slash and burn on your way out.”
Despite the heat, my blood iced through my veins. “What happened?”
I fumbled for the phone in my pocket and called out, “What am I looking for?”
“The Instagram account for 92 West.”
I sank to the nearest chair and brought up the 92 West account. Noelle often posted updates and items from this account—and she had a new post.
I rubbed my eyes as I read her statement, lines jumping out at me.
I proposed the fabricated relationship between Ashley Bennett and Conor Flynn.
I stopped breathing.
I kept reading.
Neither artist should bear responsibility for participating in a campaign they were encouraged to accept.
My thumb shook as I scrolled for more.
As of today, I have resigned my position...
Holy shit. She really did it. She exposed it all and burned it down on her way out...including her career. She protected everyone but herself.
She walked away from her career last time because of me, and now she’d done it again.
***
I ate in my room—couldn’t take the gossip and speculation coming from the group.
I read through Noelle’s statement a few times, and she never once put the blame on anyone—not 92 West for pressuring her, not me or Ashley for agreeing to the ridiculous plan and leaning into it, not Ashley for blowing it up, not Tomo for hooking up with Ashley, not Jade for revealing the photos.
She shouldered it all.
That in itself deserved a song, and I toyed with some lyrics until the buzzing from my phone had me lunging for it. Noelle.
Two simple words: I’m home.
But she wasn’t home, not really. Her home was with me. Mine was with her.
I called, and she picked up.
“I suppose you know everything now.”
“I don’t, Noelle. Why’d you do it? Was Dina going to fire you?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe.” She sighed. “They were coming up with more and more ridiculous plans, Con. Something snapped, or maybe just broke off after weeks...years of slow bending.”
“Okay, I get that, but why’d you have to leave the hotel? Leave me.”
The silence stretched on so long, I thought she hung up on me.
“I-I thought it was for the best. I’m nothing but a distraction for you. History repeats itself.”
“You are not a distraction. You’re my...muse. You should’ve heard the song TJ and I wrote. You will hear it. It’s some of my best work, and it’s because of you. Because we rediscovered each other.”
“That’s funny because when you came back into my life, I did some of my worst work.”
The clipped voice didn’t even sound like Noelle’s, and my heart slammed against my chest, rattling my ribcage.
“I know I made it hard for you to do your job, and I’m sorry for that.
Maybe I should’ve just left things...friendly between us until the tour ended.
But I love you, Noelle, and that made it impossible for me not to take you in my arms and make you all mine.
You’ve always been mine. I never stopped loving you. ”
This time her silence broke me.
“Nollaig?”
She sniffed. It was small, but I heard it.
“You have a tour to finish. It’s not as long as the Australia tour, but you’ll move on when it’s over, just like you did after that other tour.”
Her words twisted the knots already forming in my gut.
“I’ll finish the tour, but when it’s over...”
“Goodbye, Con.”