Page 244 of Fame & Chaos

And then there’s Indi.

God… when she finds out how close I came to killing someone, what will she think? The thought twists something deep inside my chest.

Dad places a hand on my shoulder. “Listen to me. We’ll deal with one problem at a time.”

I shake my head. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“You start by breathing.”

I let out a slow, shaky breath, but it does nothing to ease the ache hollowing out my chest.

Somewhere in London, Indi is sitting alone, convinced I’ve broken her trust… again.

She doesn’t know the truth.

She doesn’t know that everything she had believed about that night was a lie.

A tear slips free before I can stop it.

Then another.

Dad slides an arm around my shoulders. “I hate seeing you like this.”

I swipe at my face with the heel of my hand and laugh bitterly. “Everyone thinks I’m strong.”

“You are.”

I shake my head. “Not where Indi’s concerned.” The words scrape their way out of me. “That woman has always been my weakness.” I swallow hard against the lump in my throat. “And this time, I think I’ve finally lost her.” Saying it aloud makes the pain almost unbearable. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

Dad doesn’t try to tell me everything will be okay.

He doesn’t make promises he can’t keep.

He simply sits beside me, his arm still around my shoulders, while the silence settles between us and I mourn the possibility that, after everything we had survived to find our way back to each other, I might have lost the only woman I’ve ever truly loved.

***

Whatever Dad did to silence Sasha worked.

We never heard another word about what happened that night, and I stayed in Germany until it was time to continue the tour.

For two weeks, I lived in limbo.

I tried reaching Indi every way I could think of. I called, texted, emailed, messaged her on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, you name it, and even rang her at work, but no one would put me through. Desperation eventually got the better of me, and I even spoke to her from the stage during one of our shows, hoping she’d be watching the livestream and somehow understand that every word was meant for her.

Instead, I copped an earful from both Dad and Rob about declaring my love on stage and sending not-so-subtle messages for her to contact me.

None of it mattered.

She never replied.

The silence has been eating me alive, and I don’t know what else to do except go to her. The moment I step off this plane, I’m heading straight to her house. If she won’t answer the phone, then I’ll stand on her doorstep until she listens to me.

We’ve been on the ground for ten minutes, yet the cabin doors still haven’t opened.

“For fuck’s sake.”

“Caleb,” Dad calls from a few rows behind me. I glance back. “Just stay calm when you see her, okay?”