My phone chirped with an address and room number; I was not surprised to see it was the building I was looking at. I stormed up the stairs into the lift to her floor. I banged loudly on the door, so loudly I was almost concerned that security would fetch me out of the building. That would be fun to explain to Shelly if I got arrested. “Lily let me in please. I just want to talk.” I shouted through the door.
There was a deathly silence behind the door, maybe she wasn’t in there or maybe she was just ignoring me. Then the door crept open revealing her in pj’s, eyes puffy from crying and looking like she was on the way to being nicely drunk. “Can I help you?” she asked coldly.
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
“Please, Lil, I am sorry for earlier. I am just so stressed out with the tour and everything. I didn’t mean to take it out on youse.”
“That isn’t my problem. I’m just the hooker you paid off.”
“No, you are fucking well are not! I would never, I could never! How can ye even think that of me? I care for you. More than a little,” I stammered.
“Yeah, sure that’s why you paid me off and told me to leave.”
She went to close the door, but I slammed my foot in it, using the motion to grab her face and kiss her. She tried to push away; I would have let her if she wanted to go. Then, she kissed me back just as passionately as I was. I found myself stumbling into the room with her, as she pulled me in, slamming me against the wall as we kissed. Before breaking away, she demanded, “Is this what you want, is this what you have paid me for?”
“Gods no, I want ye so fucking much, but only if you want me to. I’m not that kind of guy. I will not sleep with the unwilling. Nor will I ever pay for sex,” I assured her.
“Then why all the money?” she demanded.
“Because you needed it and I had it to give.”
“How can it be so simple? No one just hands people millions of euros for no reason!”
“I have a reason; I want youse to be okay. If that money is a way to help me be that, so be it.”
“I don’t need your money, I always survive.” She commented, “Somehow.”
“I don’t want youse to survive, I want ye to thrive. To be everything you could possibly be, and I hope youse will let me be there while ye become who you always should have been.”
Lily pulled him closer, kissing him. “I don’t think I can be what you need. There is so little left of me.”
“I can wait for ye, as long as you need,” I promised, holding her.
“Do you want to tell me what you are so stressed about? Is it work?”
“I don’t want to dump all my shit on youse.”
“I’m asking you to.”
And so, I did, I sat up with her half the night pouring out everything that was wrong in my tour life and career. All the things that were going wrong. How concerned I was if the tour should even go ahead. And, mostly, stressing over the perfect song. Bless her heart, she just listened to all of it and comforted me through it until we both fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Chapter 13
Adrian’s POV
I woke up alone in the hotel room, on the king size bed, my phone ringing nonstop. As soon as it went to voicemail it cut off to be followed by yet another call. “Fucks sake,” I snapped, grabbing the phone. “What the hell do ye want? It had better be the fucking world ending because I am busy as fuck moron!”
“Mr Sparks, you are an hour late for your interview,” Rose answered primly, “Shelly says to inform you that if you are not here in twenty minutes, she will call off the entire tour.”
“Fuck me, woman, can you not get me a reschedule? I have personal shit I am trying to deal with,” I objected. Staring around, looking to see if Lily was in the bathroom, but she was gone. No note, no nothing.
“Get here, Sparks!” a scream came from over the phone.
“Crap, okay.” I cut the call off grabbing a fast strip wash before falling into a taxi. Where the hell was that girl? Hadn’t we sorted everything out last night?
Rose was waiting for me at the door, a change of clothing in her arms in a suit bag. “Shelly says shower and be there in ten minutes, she can’t stall any longer than that.”
“Have you seen or heard from English?” I asked.
“Lily is waiting for you inside, I believe,” Rose replied. “Now move!”
“Inside? How long has she been here?”
“An hour or so, she turned up when your interview was due to start.”
“What the hell!” I couldn’t get my head around why she would leave only to be waiting at the studio.
A fast shower and change and I found myself thrown into the deep end of another dull interview after a slap on the back of the head from Shelly, for being nearly a full foot shorter than me, she had a damn good aim. “Lily’s waiting for you, so behave,” she hissed.
“How did she get here?” I hissed back.
“She stole your phone to call me, I agreed with what she needed. She’s been here half the morning making you a gift which, personally, I
