Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

NOAH

T he band and I were talking to some other musicians while I was waiting for Gemma to come out of the restroom. While I knew these people and I’d had a lot of fun with them at parties in the past, I couldn’t bring myself to focus on them tonight.

I was too worried about my girlfriend. While I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, she had seemed pretty upset when she’d raced off to the bathroom and she’d been in there for a while. It had all happened so fast that I couldn’t be completely sure, but I might even have seen tears glistening in her eyes before she’d practically run away from me.

Icicles of fear started forming in my blood as I thought back to that moment when we’d joined the rest of the band. At first, I’d thought that maybe she was just overwhelmed after the red carpet. Lord knew, it was pretty damn overwhelming out there, but something deep down told me this was about more than that.

For the life of me, I just couldn’t pinpoint what might’ve set her off. I’d been trying to figure it out, but other than walking the carpet itself, the only thing that stood out to me was that Tom Anthony had introduced her as my events planner.

Frankly, I was mighty confused about that myself. If that was what was bothering her, I wished she would have asked me about it because I had no clue why he’d introduced her that way either.

Obviously, she was way more than that, but no one had asked me to confirm anything. I hadn’t even given them the name of my date for this evening, and as that thought occurred to me, I realized who might be able to give me an answer.

Glancing in the direction of the corridor Gemma had rushed into, I sighed, but there was still no sign of her. Jack caught my eye as I pulled my phone out of my pocket, frowning when he saw whatever look I had on my face.

“You okay?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure. Excuse me for a minute. I need to talk to Alana.”

His frown deepened, but he nodded and turned back to the conversation while I made my way to the corridor she’d disappeared into. There were a few hallways leading off it and an exit door right at the very end, but there was no one around, what with people congregating at the bar and in the main hall.

At least it was a quiet place to make my call and I unlocked my phone, hoping to have a reasonable explanation for Gemma when she finally reappeared. Alana answered almost immediately, her voice clipped and efficient but sounding slightly worried.

“Noah? Are you okay? Why are you calling me in the middle of the party?”

“Hey. Yeah, I’m fine. Everyone is fine.” I wandered over to one of the mirrored windows that looked out over the crowd gathered outside. “I, uh, I just wanted to talk to you about why Gemma was submitted as my events planner instead of my partner. Y’all know she’s my girlfriend and it was a little embarrassing to have her introduced as my events planner instead.”

Alana sighed. “I’m sorry you were embarrassed, Noah. We submitted her that way because we thought showcasing her as an events planner who works with you would send business her way. Plus, we haven’t talked to either of you about whether you want to keep your relationship private.”

“I don’t,” I said immediately. “Not anymore. I told you she was my girlfriend and I’m pretty sure she’s upset about it, which means that we need to have a meeting about this so it doesn’t happen again.”

“Of course,” Alana agreed without hesitation. “We’ll set it up. I certainly didn’t mean to upset anyone. Please convey my apologies and find out when she’s available. We’ll get together and work it out. Are you sure you want to go public with her, though? You’ve never done that before.”

“Because I didn’t have her before.” Exasperation rippled through me. “I’ll find out when she’s available, but in the future, I want to approve what’s being submitted for these events, Alana. I didn’t appreciate being blindsided like this after I specifically told you just this morning that we’re officially dating.”

“Got it,” she said. “I’m sorry, Noah. Go find her and apologize for me. I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah.” I disconnected the call, my head shaking as I turned away from the window.

A flash of movement at the end of the corridor caught my eye and I frowned. My heart rocketed into my throat when I realized it was Gemma—and she was headed right for the exit.

“Gem!” I called, instantly jumping into action and rushing toward her. “Wait! Where are you going?”

Her spine snapped straight and her footsteps faltered, which made it clear that she’d heard me, but she didn’t turn my way. Instead, she started running faster, darting down the hall toward the glowing red exit sign.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I pushed myself to a sprint, catching up just as she reached the door but before she’d opened it. “Gemma? What’s happening? Why are you leaving?”

Her head dipped and her gaze was locked on the floor. Her shoulders rose on a deep breath and she straightened to her full height to finally look at me. As soon as she did, I knew that she’d been crying.

Her eyes were full of tears, her lids swollen and already turning a pale shade of red. My heart tripped over itself and I reached for her, but she scoffed and took a big step back.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, maybe a little harshly since shock was taking hold. “What the hell is happening right now?”

“Just leave me alone,” she insisted with a catch in her voice that hurt my heart so damn badly. “Go back to the party, Noah.”

“No.” I planted my feet and stared into those green eyes that had never looked at me the way they were right then.

Filled with anger, accusation, and moisture, there were so many emotions there and none of them were good, but it was also like the light in them had gone out. Like she didn’t even recognize me.

My organs turned to stone. “I’ll go back to the party when you’re ready to come with me. Just tell me what’s going on, Gem.”

“I’m not going back to the party,” she seethed quietly, her nostrils flaring as she looked me right in the eyes and shook her head. “Laurel is coming to get me. I’m going to pack my things at the hotel, and then I’ll leave your room key on the table for you when I’m done.”

My head jerked back, my bones locking into place as I blinked at her. For a long moment, I was so surprised that I couldn’t speak. Shock held me captive until my heart started racing and furious disbelief broke me out of my trance.

“You’re just going to pack your shit and leave?”

She dropped her chin in a nod. “Don’t pretend to care, Noah. This never meant anything to you. Just go back to your friends. I’ll be out of your hair before you even get back to your suite tonight.”

My features contorted. “What are you even talking about right now? Will you please just tell me what the fuck happened?”

“Keep your voice down,” she hissed. “The very last thing I need is for you to make a scene here. In a very public place with half of the celebrities in the country just right over there. I’m trying to be mature and civil about this.”

“About what?” I threw my arms out to my sides, not giving a shit about making a scene. “I don’t even know why you’re leaving.”

Hurt flickered across her features, tightening them before she scoffed down a humorless laugh. “You don’t know why I’m leaving, huh? I’m sure if you think real hard, you’ll be able to figure it out. Good luck, Noah.”

As she turned to reach for the door handle, my anger turned into panic, my soul freezing over at the thought of watching her walk away. “Please don’t go. Just talk to me. If you really want to be mature about this, then at least tell me why you’re leaving. What happened, Gem? We were happy an hour ago.”

Her shoulders caved in, the tears that had been welling in her eyes spilling out and streaming down her cheeks. “What happened is that I thought we were serious. I thought we had something real. Something with a future. I was ready to give up anything and everything for you, Noah. All you would’ve needed to do was ask.”

“Okay,” I managed to grit out slowly, more confused now than ever. “I thought the same thing, so what is this?”

“This is me realizing that you’re just a dirty player. An entitled popstar kid who wouldn’t know something real if it kicked you in the nuts. It’s also goodbye, in case that still needed to be said. I’m prepared to keep handling your New Year’s event if you’d like me to. It’s the least I can do as your events planner , but if you’d like some recommendations for other companies, I can have those sent over.”

Her gaze lingered on mine for one more moment, the pain and hurt in her eyes tearing me up inside. Then she pushed the door open and walked through it. Security was stationed outside, but they were there to keep people out, not in.

Besides, if she wanted to leave, I would let her go. Chasing after her into that crowd would only make things so, so much worse. She’d asked me not to make a scene in here. It stood to reason she desperately wouldn’t want one out there.

Keeping her head down, she blew past security and the door swung shut behind her with a thud that seemed to symbolize the final end of our relationship. My lips parted, my chest feeling like it’d been cracked open and a sick feeling sinking to my stomach.

This was one of the back doors at the events center, which meant that there were fewer people out there than there were out front. Gemma should be safe enough even without my security team with her, but fuck.

I was in love with that girl and she’d just left me. Worst of all was that I still didn’t really know why. From the sound of things, I didn’t think I was ever going to find out.