"I'm gonna fucking murder you. MURDER. You hear me?" I try to keep up the pace with Nate, but these heels aren't having it.  Elliott is right on my tail too. After Nate's huge announcement, he dismissed himself from the meeting before it was over.

He thinks he's some hot shit right now, doesn't he? I can't even think of what's going through Elliott's head right now. Never mind the fact Richard is going to have all of our heads. 

Yet Nate walks with his head held high and that stupid grin on his fucking face I want to slap right off. Why does he do these things to me?? Why does he create these messes for me to clean up!?

"Murder. YOU HEAR ME HOLLAN?"

"Keep your voice down, Trisha."  Nate smiles brightly at me while hustling down the stairs to the studio. I can't keep up with him while holding my laptop and bag and all the shit we needed for the meeting he just skipped out of halfway through. Nate makes it to his studio room before me and Elliott do and is already sitting on the couch.

We storm into the room and Elliott closes the door behind us. Paul looks up from his phone having no idea what is going on.

"Are you trying to sabotage your life, Nate? Are you trying to make my job difficult?" Elliott sits down and puts his head in his hands. I begin to pace the studio.

"You couldn't have warned me first?" I glare at Nate.

"Why? You were never on board with my decision to bring Julia. You have been making that VERY clear, Banks."

"Not just that. Publicly announcing your engagement. Technically you still have ties to Mila Giovanni. She went back home to give you time to detox...remember? That's what the general public thinks. You were supposed to keep your engagement with-

"Wait...you KNEW about his engagement to Julia Moretti?" Elliott's eyes widen at me now, and I begin to fumble with my words.

"Well... I mean... Things have been rocky... I didn't even think they were still -"

"Together, right?? That's what you were about to say." Nate cocks a brow at me. "Cuz, I fucked my imaginary Italian girlfriend for real, just like Richard wanted. But then I fucked up again with my relapse, forcing Mila back to Italy to stay away from negative media attention. You're right. We shouldn't even be together, me and Jules. But she forgave me. And she's wearing that one and a half million-dollar engagement ring as we speak. For the whole world to see. No more keeping it in the safe. I shouldn't have to hide SHIT."

"Nate..." Elliott breathes out in frustration. "There were other ways to go about this. You should have talked to me first. I would have-"

"Helped me go public? Bullshit. You would have tried to talk me out of it. Saying it would be career suicide. Announcing my engagement right before my world tour. Breaking hearts of adorning fans who thought they had a chance. You know what?? Fuck you, Elliott." Nate's British accent gets stronger as he gets more heated.

"I have fans who want to see me happy. Not FAKE. Happy. They are the ones I want to stick around. The tour is sold out. No money will be lost. The only fans I will lose are the haters. My true fans? They are the genuine ones. You know..the ones who pay money and come to my concert for the performance. For the music. Because it moves them in some way. Connects with them. Makes them feel something. Not in a fake way. I'm done being Richard's puppet. I'm done being fake. I'm done lying to my people. The people who made me who I am. The fans who helped me make it this far. It certainly wasn't RICHARD who got me to where I am. All Richard makes me want to do is drink ten bottles of whiskey and die somewhere. He does nothing for me. He sees me as a walking paycheck." He stands up.

"For once I would love for everyone to see me as an ARTIST. A songwriter. A fucking person, not a paycheck." Nate storms out of yet another room, slamming the door shut.

I don't bother trying to catch up with him now and neither does Elliott.

"Shit!" I hold my forehead and sit down right where Nate once was on the couch. "I don't know how to clean this up."

"It's public now. Telling Richard...telling everyone in that meeting. Nate just made it public." Elliott reminds me. No fuck Sherlock.  "Now we need to move forward with the announcement."

"He's making a huge mistake." I purposely keep my eyes down I know Paul is looking at me. He knows this is about more than just some motherfucking world tour. Marrying Julia. All of it. It's all one big mistake!

"How about we let everyone cool down for today. I won't make any formal announcement to the press. I'll talk to Nate personally tomorrow. Until then, go home Miss Banks. Let me think and figure it out, ok?"  Elliott also has his work cut out for him, coming up with some spectacular speech for Nate so he can announce his engagement the right way, word for word.

I nod, and stand up, letting Elliott do his job. Paul stands up right after me, back to bodyguard mode, and walks me behind me until we reach the car.

"Something more is going on, Paul. Nate would NEVER be so bold. Not like that." I say once we are in the vehicle and the doors are closed.  I shake my head thinking of the things Nate said.

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure yet. But the way he was so bold in front of Richard. In front of the entire room full of people.  He had this whole speech, like it was rehearsed, not just him bursting out being hot headed. Nate wouldn't do that. Not like that. Not so rehearsed. He planned this."

"I'm not following, Banks." Paul furrows his brows and starts up the engine. I stare out the window letting my brain spin around what just happened in there.

"Paul, it's like... he didn't care what they thought."

"Richard? Nate cares what he thinks. Everyone is always walking on eggshells around that man."

"EXACTLY!" My eyes widen at Paul. "All the time! But not today. Today... Nate didn't care. He wasn't concerned what Richard thought at all. It was like he didn't care about his future at all or what happens."

As I say the words out loud, I get a pit in my stomach. Nate would only.... shit. Nate would only act like this if... 

"Shit!" I blurt out while Paul is driving.

"What's happening, Trish??" Paul sees me now clearly upset and is now very confused.

"Take me somewhere. Somewhere with Wi-Fi. For my laptop. Anywhere. The café. A Starbucks... anywhere." 

"We are closer to Nate's apartment. Want to just go there?"

"Whatever. I don't care."

I realize I'm talking fast and it's concerning but I need to look something up. I need access to some online files.

I need access to Nate's medical files.

******

*James*

"What's going on?" Casey looks up as Trisha storms off the elevator. She was helping me tie my sneakers for me to take me down to the gym.

Trisha doesn't respond. Not right away. She sets all her stuff up at the dining room table across from where Jonah has his laptop set up and loads her computer.

"Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on." Paul shrugs and plops down on the couch. Maggie drops her chew toy she was playing with and lays by Trisha's feet. Something's wrong.

I feel like something big is about to happen.  From the way Nate was acting before... to the way Trisha is acting right now... even Paul feels it. He looks at me on edge with another shrug of the shoulders.

While Trisha's fingers are typing a mile a minute and her eyes are glued to her laptop she begins to talk. She apparently found whatever she was searching for on her laptop. She furrows her brows and squints her eyes like she's reading something really important. We all stay quiet and patiently wait for her to talk.

Whatever she is reading drains the color from her face but Trisha nods to herself, closes her laptop and looks right at me.

"Pack your bags, sexy. Looks like your best friend made up her mind." 

Julia made her decision. She made her decision to go on tour. And she's taking me with her.  I didn't know how I'd feel or what my reaction would be like when the decision was finally made but...  a smile creeps up on to my face and I turn my head to Casey.  Her mini- Julia features brighten right up with her smile that reaches her eyes.

"We're going on the Nate Hollan Tour." She says softly but her whole body screams of excitement. "James.... We're going on the Nate HOLLAN TOUR!" Casey jumps up, grabbing my hands and pulling me up off the couch with her. She hugs me and I can feel her little body shake. She's so happy. She'll get to tour the world, for free, and be with Jonah. Sure, she'll be working, helping me, but really- Julia does most of that.  I find myself hugging Casey back and smiling.

"We're going on the Nate Hollan Tour." I repeat back to her. 

I won't be left behind. As much as I thought I didn't care. Apparently, I did. I don't want to be left behind. I want to be with Julia wherever she goes. Do I think we are all insane? Of course I do. No one is mentally ready for this. Especially Julia.

Do I care?

No. I really don't. I'm giving it all to God now. I'm not going to worry about it. I'm gonna consider this a huge once in a lifetime experience with my friends.

 I will play the part of Bodyguard James. Paul trained me well through the years of working for the Marriott 4th floor. I know how to protect people. And know how to punch just fine. I'll be Julia's bodyguard. I'll take care of her. And she'll take care of me.

We're going on the Nate Hollan world tour!

***********************************

Be on the lookout for Book 2 of The Winner and Point of View!

"Around The World"

Coming out soon!