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Voice tinny, Tab’s response is immediate. “Is this really Micah Freeman?”
“It is, and I’m asking for your friend’s number, but she’s doing that mute thing again. Any chance you’d give it to me? I’d really like to take her out when we get back to Nashville.”
I try to grab my phone, but all he really has to do is angle away. “Hold, please.”
I already know what Tab is doing. She’s going to the emergency phone number list on the fridge and is going to read my number off to him. “Don’t?—”
Micah presses his hand over my mouth, rendering me speechless. My stomach tugs. For a moment, fear douses me, but then it lifts when he smiles back and shushes me. “It’s inevitable, Raeann.”
Next, Tab’s voice says my number, followed by, “Will you remember that?”
“I have hundreds of plays memorized, and I would replace all of them with this girl’s number.”
Why did that sound so sinful coming from his mouth?
4
Micah
After going back to my own dressing room and meeting a bunch of Wildcats fans who work for the studio, I finally get out of the building. I pull my phone out, putting in the number that Raeann’s friend read off to me. The same number I’d been repeating in my head since I reluctantly left her dumbstruck in her dressing room. It may as well be tattooed on my brain now.
Then, I call Joey. He answers, and I launch right in. “Hey, I need you to find out where Raeann is staying, then I need you to upgrade her to the penthouse and put it on my credit card. If there’s someone else staying in the penthouse, offer them money to move and a free stay on me in a better hotel. Then I want you to do some research on anxiety and send it to me.”
Joey takes notes—at least, I think he does. He must have some way of remembering what I tell him to do because he’s been the best assistant I’ve ever had.
“Was it the humping?” he asks.
I quirk a smile as I get into the limo waiting for me at the curb. The driver closes the door behind me. “And get a gift bag for dogs and have it sent to her room.” I’m trying to think what it is about her that attracts me to her like astronomers to space. It’s not just her looks. There are plenty of gorgeous girls out there. It’s a deadly combination of a few things. Like she’s my own personal drug.
“Anything for her?”
I think on that for a second. “No. I don’t want to come on too strong.”
“But the penthouse is okay?”
A smile overtakes my face. “It’s perfect. Tell me where she’s staying when you find out. Preferably within the next five minutes.”
I hang up so he can get to work, then I tell the driver to hold where we are until I get Joey’s response. I keep picturing Raeann’s shocked face when she realizes she’s been upgraded, and I decide I need to see it in real life.
Just before five minutes is up, Joey texts me.
“Grand New York Hotel,” I tell the driver and hope that I haven’t missed her returning.
Aimlessly, I stare out the window on the drive there. New York used to hold appeal. So many people. So many things. The older I get, though, the more I realize I don’t need to know hundreds of people. I just need a few really close ones. The ones I would bare my soul to. The ones who keep me going when I don’t want to anymore.
I’m so in my head that I almost miss when we drive past Raeann and Athena. It’s Athena who really sticks out in her emerald-green dress.
“Can you pull over up ahead?” I ask the driver.
He does with no question. “See that woman and her dog coming down the street? I’m going to walk the rest of the wayto the hotel. Can you drive them there? I’ll slip out this side. Just tell them you’re from the studio and they left without their transportation.”
“Yes, sir.”
I wait for a lull in traffic and then step out, watching while the driver approaches Raeann as I blend into the crowd.
Though she smiles at him, she ultimately shakes her head no. Kudos to the driver because he keeps trying, but she finally says something that makes him return to the limo. I follow, meeting him outside the back door.
“Sorry, sir. She said she wanted to walk.”