“Don’t even say it. Just don’t.” Trihn sighed. “I love you, Mom, but I’m not going to come back to New York again unless it’s to introduce you to Damon or for work. I just can’t handle this, and I don’t need the stress in my life.”
She hugged her mom and then hurried out of the house. It wasn’t until she had made it back to her hotel that she felt the weight lift off her chest. She was miserable about how Preston had acted, but in some way, it just proved what she’d already known. Preston was an asshole, and she couldn’t pretend otherwise for Lydia.
Trihn curled into bed and was falling asleep when her phone started ringing. She reached for it and saw Damon’s name on the screen.
“Hey,” she said with a sigh.
“Hey, love. Oh, how I have missed that voice.”
She laughed softly. “I miss you. How was the show?”
“Orlando was incredible, and now, we’re on our way to Atlanta. How was dinner with your parents?”
“Lydia and Preston showed up, and he was a total asshole.”
Damon was silent for a full minute.
“Are you still there?” she asked.
“Yeah, just reining in my anger.”
“Join the club.”
“Well, I have a long drive ahead of me,” he said into the phone.
She imagined him lying back on a bunk in a van driving them up the interstate toward Atlanta.
“Are you about to go to bed?” he asked.
She nodded. “Mmhmm.”
“Early flight, right?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. Just close your eyes, love, and forget all about what happened at your dinner. Just pretend I’m sitting in front of you, strumming on my acoustic guitar.”
And then he started singing. The words were slow and soft, almost like a lullaby. Before she knew it, she drifted off to the sound of his voice, which proved to be a much better ending to a tiring day.
“SHIT. FUCK. FUCK. FUCKING HELL!” Trihn jolted out of bed and started running around the hotel room like a maniac.
While falling asleep to Damon singing had been the most epic night, not setting her alarm and subsequently sleeping through her flight had not been as awesome.
She quickly stuffed everything back into her bag and was on her way to JFK within ten minutes. She was so late. There was absolutely no way she could make it now, but hopefully, the airline would take pity on her and let her board a later flight.
She jotted out a text to Damon while sitting impatiently in the backseat of a cab.
Missed my flight. Fuck.
That sucks. Are they going to let you switch flights?
I don’t know. I’ll have to see when I get there.
Come here instead.
To Atlanta?
Yeah. The show isn’t until later, and we don’t leave for Charlotte right away. You could stay the night. I’d pay for you to fly back to Vegas.
Trihn stared down at her phone in shock. Is this for real? That sounded like a much better option than returning to Las Vegas.
That would be amazing! I’ll see if the airline will go for it.
Let me know. I’d love to see you. It’s been too long!
The rest of the ride to JFK was a lesson in self-restraint. Now that she had a better destination, she was so anxious to get to the airport that she couldn’t stop the jitters.
Once she finally paid the cab and wheeled her suitcase up to the airline counter, she was practically bouncing with excitement. A ten-minute conversation with the airline proved even better than expected, and soon, she was clutching a one-way ticket to Atlanta.
A couple of hours later, Trihn was standing outside of Damon’s hotel in Atlanta. She couldn’t believe she had just flown there instead of going home.
She’d texted him that she had gotten a flight to Atlanta, and he’d sent over the hotel information. He’d said they had a morning rehearsal, and then he was just going to be chilling in his room. When she landed, she was supposed to text him, but she’d thought she’d surprise him at the door.
Trihn knocked twice. When no one answered, she knocked again.
“Fuck, I’m coming, Chloe. Give me a minute. Jesus.”
The door swung open and revealed Damon without a shirt and in a pair of dark jeans that were unbuttoned at the waist. His hair was perfectly messy, and stubble had grown in across his jawline. He looked like a sexy fucking mess.
“I hope you don’t always answer the door for Chloe like this,” Trihn said, arching an eyebrow.
“Bloody hell,” he breathed. “You’re the best fucking sight of my life.”
Trihn laughed right before he crushed his mouth down onto hers. He grabbed her bag and dragged her into his hotel room. Before the door was even closed all the way, Damon was peeling the layers of her clothes off her body. She was actually quite happy at the state of his undress because it made it easier just to slide those pesky jeans and boxers off his legs.
He hoisted her legs up around her waist and carried her over to the king-size bed.
“I missed everything about you,” he murmured, crawling onto the bed and rocking forward on top of her. “Your beautiful body.” His hands ran down her sides. “Your amazing lips. That voice. Say my name.”
“Damon,” she purred into his ear.