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“Sure. I mean, I’ve been to some pretty good shows, you know, rock concerts. But, I’ve never seen anything like that. It was so… I don’t know… physical. You never stop moving. And you sing while you’re moving. I can barely talk when I’m pumping weights, so I can’t imagine how you do it all.”
My throat dries up as the vision of Isaac pumping iron flits across my eyelids. “You don’t have to say this, you know. Just a simple ‘yes’ is fine,” I laugh.
“A simple ‘yes’ wouldn’t do it justice,” he frowns. “It really was amazing. I mean it. I feel very privileged just to have been in the audience.”
“Well, you’re going to be in the audience a hell of a lot more. You’ll be so bored of me by the end of this residency.” I look away, smiling.
He pauses before answering. “I doubt it.” I feel his eyes on my face and I can’t bring myself to face him.
The flutter in my chest has quickened, and I swallow hard, my mind going blank. I only felt this way once before, when I first met my ex-boyfriend. At the time I put it down to the fact he was a member of Jinxed, the boyband I’d had a crush on since I was twelve, and I was simply starstruck. But Isaac is not a star, so this feeling doesn’t make any sense.
“Some new shows have been added to my schedule,” I say, changing the subject.
“Where?” Isaac asks, understandably confused.
“They’re private gigs, up in Miami. Chuck put them in.”
“Are you sure about doing them? I mean, watching your performance this evening, you already have a lot on your plate. Aren’t you going to be exhausted?”
I laugh under my breath, almost bitterly. “I will have all the time in the world to rest in a couple years, according to Chuck. I need to capitalize on my popularity now.”
“Do you agree?” Isaac doesn’t sound so sure.
“Not really, but he’s family. It’s—it’s hard.”
“You don’t have to do them if you don’t want to,” he says, slowly.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll manage. And it makes more money for my sisters, you know, for when they’re older and want to go to good schools and have nice homes. I just… sometimes I wish I could have more of a say in my career. They won’t even let me speak to my record company. I’m not suspicious, but… I sometimes feel like Chuck isn’t telling me everything.”
Isaac gives me a lop-sided grin. “That’s kind of the definition of suspicion.”
I laugh, realizing he’s right. “I guess.”
“Listen,” Isaac says, leaning forward and resting his weight on his knees. “I don’t know you very well, but I know this much. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. If something doesn’t feel right to you, chances are good that something isn’t right. I won’t say anymore, just that if you want me to help in any way, I will.”
I don’t say anything but I roll his words around in my head. The fact he believes me and doesn’t think I’m some stupid teenager with anxiety, ungrateful for a stepfather who wants the best for me, is more than I could have hoped for.
“I’m glad you enjoyed the show,” I say, forcing out the words. “I’m going to go to bed now. Thanks for… bringing me here.”
He stands when I do. “Sleep well, Aurelia,” he says, smoothly.
I nod and give him a brief smile before forcing myself to turn and walk back inside the villa, towards my own suite, where I lock the door behind me and let out the longest breath. I hope it takes the flutter with it, but it doesn’t.
* * *
I wakeat eight and I shower and throw on a short beach dress that Tawny must have put in my closet. I actually prefer the unbranded, non-showy clothes she has provided and I wonder if they are her own. I make a note to ask her where she shops.
I have most of the day off before tonight’s show, and I want to explore the island. I walk out of my suite into the living area and see Isaac sitting at the kitchen island with a laptop open, his head buried in it. Until he hears me, then he turns and gives me a brief nod.
“Hey. Did you sleep ok?”
I walk around the island to face him. “Yeah, like a baby. The peace and quiet here really helps.”
“Good.” He looks up, his face all business, in contrast to the more relaxed and casual demeanor he exhibited last night. “What’s on your agenda today?”
“I’d like you to show me around the island.” I help myself to juice from the fridge, and a banana.
“Didn’t you see it all the first time you came here?”
