Billionaire Beast

“We broke up...again,” he shrugged. He and Cindi had been on again off again for the last year.

“I’m sorry.”

“I think it’s for good this time. She wanted to move in, and I didn’t think it was a good idea since we are always breaking up. I mean, you just reach a point where you have to say, 'enough is enough.' It couldn't carry on like that forever.”

I reached over to squeeze his hand, and he smiled at me.

“I’m fine, Nay, really. I really don’t know why I keep going back to her, anyway.”

“It’s called being lonely,” I told him.

He laughed. “Maybe that’s it. And, I know her, and I’m comfortable around her.”

“Exactly,” I nodded and took another bite of my burger, as well as a gulp of soda.

“Maybe I’ll find the right one, eventually,” he shrugged again. “I don’t know, there's gotta be a girl who's perfect for me out there somewhere, right? There has to be. I'm just holding out until I finally meet her.”

We ate in companionable silence for a little while until both of us were finished. Then we headed back to my brother’s car. I felt a little bad that I’d brought up Cindi, but I was glad he wasn’t still going on about what a dick Owen Young supposedly was.

I hadn’t gotten any negative vibes from Owen personally, and I considered myself to be a fairly good judge of character. I loved my big brother and valued his opinion

, but I didn’t agree with him on this. I was going to wait and make my own judgments.

Instead of me walking home, Jackson drove me to my place, chatting about other random stuff like what Grace was up to and what he was currently working on. He didn’t bring up Owen again, and I was glad that he didn't.

Chapter Eleven

Owen

“Owen, you feeling okay?” Talon asked just after we finished up a song.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said a bit defensively. “Why are you asking? Does it seem as if something’s wrong with me?” The moment the words left my mouth, I realized why he might have asked.

“You just seemed a little off on the last song. You sure everything’s all right?”

I knew he was right, but I didn’t feel like getting into it. “I’m fine, man, seriously. Why don’t we just do that song again?” I suggested. Talon nodded, but then my phone went off.

“Owen Young,” I answered.

“Mr. Young, this is Sally from Touring Unlimited. I was calling to confirm the dates you requested for the tour bus. We have you down for the first week in September.”

I let out a sigh. I had called them over a month before and set it up, and I knew I’d told them the beginning of August. I’d even double checked it. “No, that’s incorrect. We need it the beginning of August. First week of August. I'm pretty sure I specified that quite a while ago.”

“Oh…I’m sorry about that, Mr. Young. Let me see if we can change the reservation.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose as she put me on hold. The other guys watched me curiously. No one made a sound. The silence grew more and more uncomfortable with every passing moment. It took Sally over two minutes to return to the line.

“Mr. Young? If it’s okay, I’m going to call you back once we get this straightened out,” she assured me. “I'll do my best to sort this out.”

“Fine,” I sighed, shook my head, and then hung up and watched Jeremiah place his guitar on its stand.

“How’s the search for an assistant going?” he asked, clearly aware of the frustration I was currently experiencing. “You any closer to finding someone who’s gonna fit the bill?”

“Actually, man, I met a really good candidate yesterday. Her name’s Nalia. She’s supposed to be stopping by today to meet you guys, to get a feel for the band and how we operate. So, instead of asking me about her, you’ll get to meet her for yourselves and then you guys can ask her whatever questions you might have.”

I looked down at my watch. It was only fifteen minutes later than the time I’d told my secretary to give her. It was no big deal. I figured she should be arriving any minute.

“Did you still want to run back through that first song?” Talon asked. I nodded and we started over.