Page 108 of Not Another Love Song

“Okay. Um, is there another door? Or someone who would have—”

“Miss Jackson,” she heard bellowed behind her.

Gwen spun, and just beyond the barricades there was a black sedan. The driver was stepping out of it, buttoning his suit jacket. He wasn’t familiar, but she retraced her steps back to him when he beckoned her. He pulled open the door to the back seat.

It was ominous, but he knew her name. He expected her. He was going to take her to Alex.

She slid into the back seat and found another person sitting next to her. Following long legs in a designer suit up to a worn face, she felt her heart stop when Calvin Lorenz gave her that smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Miss Jackson.”

All hope she had for this insane spur-of-the-moment trip evaporated. “Mr. Lorenz.”

“I hear you flew all the way here just to see Xander,” he said, his voice lilting. “That’s very sweet.”

Dom ratted her out. Accidentally? Who knows. She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to be in the way. I just want to talk to him.”

“Unfortunately, you are in the way. Quite often.”

The car started to drive. Gwen reached for the door handle in a panic and jerked it a few times. Locked.

“Where are we going?”

“Back to LAX,” Lorenz said. “I want to see you safely back on a plane, Miss Jackson.” He pulled from his inside pocket an envelope and handed it to her. Inside was a ticket for the red-eye back to JFK.

“Pull over,” she yelled to the driver. “I’d like to get out of the car.”

He ignored her and pulled out of the parking lot onto the street.

“Here’s the problem, Miss Jackson. Xander doesn’t want to see you. He asked me to personally take care of this.”

Gwen didn’t believe that for one second. “I don’t need to distract him before the concert. I can see him after. Just for an hour—”

“Miss Jackson,” he said, a condescending grin on his face, “I told him to choose. I told him it was you or the band. He didn’t choose you.”

Her chest tightened. She felt something cold slithering down her spine. It was the first time Lorenz had said something that sounded familiar enough to be the truth. Would Alex give up his career for her? Would he let go of Xander Thorne and the entire career he’d built with the Roses if given the ultimatum? She remembered the wounded look on his face when she’d told him Xander Thorne was just a persona.

Gwen turned away from Lorenz’s knowing eyes and stared out the window as they entered the freeway.

“I want to be very clear, Miss Jackson,” he said. He tapped a rhythmless beat against his knee. “If you continue to harass Xander or any member of this band, I will be forced to serve you a restraining order, like I do for his other crazed fans.”

There was a rock lodged in her throat. She kept her gaze out the window, knowing that fighting him would be pointless.

“Do you understand?”

She blinked back tears and said, “Yes.”

Lorenz tapped away at his phone for the rest of the ride, ignoring her.

At the airport, she blocked Alex’s number. She needed to cut out whatever traces of him were left in order to move on.

On the plane, she watched the same penguin movie. The flight attendant checked on her more than once, and it wasn’t until halfway through the flight that Gwen realized she’d been crying.

The U2 tour kicked off to rave reviews. She found pictures online of Xander Thorne and the Roses opening. The clips of the performance there looked remarkable. The lighting and the venue were better than she could have imagined.

And Xander Thorne played magnificently.

Dom had messaged her back several times, asking if she’d made it, if she needed help getting inside, what hotel she was staying at. He claimed he hadn’t told anyone, in case it was a surprise, but Gwen didn’t know how else Lorenz could have found out.

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