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If I take my eyes off the prize, how quickly will I fall?
But what is the prize? A company that stresses me out? A high-rise apartment, cold and stark?
Or a blue-eyed woman who makes me laugh? Who I want to spend all my time with?
I don’t know. I just don’t know.
I wake from dreams of Evie to find her hair nestled just beneath my nose. I inhale slowly and let her fill me up before reluctantly breathing her back out again.
Then I untangle myself gently from her sleepy embrace and leave the bedroom, closing the door softly behind me.
Evie and I haven’t really spoken since the plane yesterday. Last night, Kara announced that it was girls night and spirited Evie away along with the rest of her female friends to enjoy the one evening she didn’t have to perform.
I’d elected to skip “boy’s night” and settled for brooding on the beach and a relatively early bedtime.
Now it’s close to nine and I’m just looking for a quiet place to work. I don’t want to hang out in the suite. I wouldn’t be able to get anything done knowing that Evie could wake up at any moment.
A hotel this big must have a business center, right? I grab my bag and head out into the hall.
I immediately run into Dax coming out of a room a couple doors down.
The basketball player, normally suave and confident, now freezes under my gaze. He covers it well, relaxing back into nonchalance in a blink, but it’s too late. I caught him doing something.
It doesn’t take long to realize what.
Kara’s room is on the other side of the hall.
I raise an eyebrow. He scowls and, after a beat, stalks past me.
A word hasn’t passed between us, and I expect it to stay that way. But then Dax’s voice sounds behind me, low and angry.
“I wouldn’t breathe a word about this.”
I turn very slowly on my heel, face impassive. I cock my head to the side and ask, simply, “Or what?”
His scowl only deepens and he disappears into Kara’s room, presumably to take a shower.
Wow. A low opinion of Dax has only sunk lower. And who the heck is behind that door? Someone who’s not going to be part of the Krew for much longer.
I don’t dwell on the issue long. I have more pressing, personal issues to sort out. Before I get to the quiet business center, I give Jack a call.
It’s the seventh time this week. I call every day and leave increasingly annoyed voicemails each time. None of them have prompted him to call me back.
At this point I don’t expect him to answer and he doesn’t. When the message beeps, I say, “Listen, I’ve apologized. I don’t know what else you want from me. You’re acting like a fucking child. Call me.”
I hit end and squeeze my eyes shut. Who am I kidding? Jack’s probably happy for the break from his overbearing older brother. I should be more patient. At least my earlier messages were nicer. Unfortunately with everything going on with Evie, my tolerance is wearing thin. The last thing I need is time spent wondering just how bad my homecoming is going to be.
The business center is an island oasis. In contrast to the miserable hungover people typing away at computers, I’m practically beaming as I’m able to wipe all my problematic personal life away with a steady stream of work problems. Fixable problems. Problems that require me to be an overbearing asshole.
I clear my mind and get to work. Before long I’ve settled into the comfort of my routine, checking and sending emails, approving specs for new developments my team is working on, and, of course, dealing with the quickly bloating whale-corpse that is the Seafarer. The renovations for the ship are costing an arm and a leg, plummeting me even deeper into the hole I’d originally dug. But as they say, you need to spend money to make money, and no one can ever accuse me of being a pussy. This trip with Kara will be worth it if I can officially get the DJ on board. Evie has given me a light to get through this tunnel and once I’m on the other side, I’ll wonder what I’d ever been so concerned about.
I hope.
It feels like only a couple of hours have passed when my eyes suddenly land on the time. It’s 4 o’clock. Holy shit. Where has the day gone? Kara had an early show today — a rave on the beach — and I’ve missed most of it.
I check my phone and see half a dozen messages. I immediately check Evie’s.
Evie: Hey, what time are you coming back?
