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“Because it would be…weird,” he replied haltingly.
“How?” Nikki and Zara asked at the same time.
Johnny snorted.
Asa pointed between Nikki and Zara. “Not loving this dynamic.”
Zara’s lips quirked and her eyes sparkled.
She looked less sad than she had the other day, which eased something in his chest. But there was still a tightness around her eyes he didn’t like. And he absolutely could not ask about.
“You’ve been sleeping on the sofa in control room X, haven’t you?” Johnny asked, entering the conversation.
Asa slowly slid his eyes over to his boss. Johnny was trying to hide his smile behind his coffee cup.
“You have not,” Nikki said, whacking Asa in the bicep.
He glared at Johnny before turning the glare on his best friend.
“First,ow.Second, it’s fine.” Even if it was causing a pinch in his neck that probably added to his dour mood. “It’s just sleep. I still shower and everything at the house. For now.”
Zara moved further into the lounge and opened the fridge. The ease with which she moved around his place of employment was unnerving. She moved like she belonged there.
He didn’t like that he liked it so much.
She got out the half and half and poured herself a cup of coffee, using the last of it. Without saying anything, she rinsed thecarafe, tossed the used filter, and made a fresh pot. Perfect coffee etiquette.
“I have a place in East Lincoln Park. It’s enormous. Already furnished. Which gives you time to save money and buy a new bed without having to sleep on a couch.” She faced him and leaned a hip against the counter.
It took him a second to process what she’d said.
“I have so many questions.” He ran a hand through his hair and stared at the floor.
What about her release? Wasn’t she supposed to be announcing a single any day now?Why was she still here?
“Let me see if I can guess what those questions are.” Zara squinted one eye and looked upward. “What about the album that’s supposed to be dropping soon? Don’t you have obligations? Aren’t you supposed to be planning a tour to support the new album? What about the three-year schedule? Are you crazy? What does your manager think? What did your dad say? Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”
She took a drink of her coffee and flattened her mouth. “Did that cover it?”
Asa grimaced. Because those were a lot of the questions he had. But not all of them.
“Well,” Zara went on. “I can tell all of you because you’re my inner circle at this point.”
Asa and Johnny exchanged a look.
“The album is…” Zara made a slicing motion with her hand near her neck accompanied with a clicking sound. “Done. I pulled theplug months ago. I’ve canceled everything. All of it. The release, the tour, any and all appearances. I wiped the calendar clean. Actually, I threw away the calendar. No more anything for a while.”
“You put so much into it though,” Nikki said gently.
Zara’s expression flickered with sadness but she blinked it away. “It had to be done. Sometimes we have to kill our darlings.”
She said it with such certainty that Asa found himself leaning in. To ask her to expound. They had spent one night talking to each other and he had spent six months wanting more. Missing her voice and ideas and energy.
Six months had done nothing to curb his curiosity.
But maybe it was okay for a moment. As long as he didn’t get carried away and stay too long, he could enjoy her presence.
“How do you do that?” he asked, turning his body and sinking into the pull of her gravity.
