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I was silent.
“He gave me an interview in New York, did you know that?” Sienna asked. “Just him and me, one on one. He talked about his addiction and his rehab. I guess you should know that I know.”
That just made me ache all over again. Axel was so freaking brave. “You know why I never said anything to you, right?” I asked Sienna.
“Of course. And it’ll be in the interview when it’s published. There’s no shame in it, Brit. This is the music business. It’s almost easier to count the musicians whohaven’tbeen addicted at one point or another.”
“Yeah, well, Axel isn’t just any musician,” I said defensively. “What he went through doesn’t define him. He’s so much more than that. He’s a thousand other wonderful things. You should write about that, too.”
“Sure. Want to go on the record and talk to me about it?” Her tone was amused.
“No, and you know it. I’ve got my eye on you, Maplethorpe. Watch what you write.”
Sienna laughed. She’d loosened up a lot. “Can I give you some advice? I know you have business in L.A. to finish, but you’re in the wrong city. Come back to Portland once you have your money and hook up with your hot drummer and start living your real life.”
“What about you?” I asked her. “Where’s your real life? You’re almost thirty and you’re living with your parents.”
“Because it’s cheap!” Sienna was defensive about the fact that she hadn’t moved out yet. “I’m not rolling in money over here, Brit. Have you seen Portland rent? Journalism doesn’t pay what it used to. And my parents are nice people. You should come over for dinner sometime and see.”
“Wait. If you live with your parents and Stone lives with his mom, where do the two of you hook up?”
“He doesn’t live with his mom. He has his own apartment.”
I couldn’t believe she’d walked into that one. “So you hook up at his place?”
“We donothook up.” Her tone was kind of wistful, though.
“Okay, you don’t hook up. But you’d like to.”
“Stone doesn’t even like me, so it isn’t going to happen.”
She hadn’t denied it. There was something there, I was sure of it. I was going to have to work on Sienna.
In order to do that, I had to go back to Portland.
“Look,” I said to her. “The tour is over, so I take back what I said to you before. You should definitely sleep with Stone. He has his own apartment and everything. Go over there and seduce the hell out of him. Just show up and strip. I bet he’d like it. There’s no way he’d say no.”
“I’m hanging up now, Brit.”
“I gave you a great haircut, and you look hot. Buy some nice underwear and stock up on condoms.”
“I’mhanging up.” But she hadn’t.
We teased each other a little more, then we really did hang up. The second I put my phone down, I felt lonely again.
I could call Ellen, but we’d already talked today. She’d looked out her window at Axel doing yoga on his back deck and told me, in specific detail, what he was wearing. It was a short description, because he wasn’t wearing a shirt. For a woman who had never been married, my great-aunt was a hopeless romantic.
Maybe I could call her again, get an update. Or maybe that was stupid, and I should just call Axel. Just tap my thumb on his number and call him.
As I held my phone, contemplating this, a series of texts popped up.
Pierre: Brit, this is stupid. There’s no need for lawyers. Let’s have coffee and talk.
Pierre: Or are you too busy giving head to rock stars now that you’re a groupie? You know he’s going to dump you, right?
Pierre: Everyone is laughing at you, bitch.
Pierre: I want to meet.
