Part 5
560 Words
FIVE
Jay lost count of the number of times he tried to call Audra again after the first call disconnected, but he just couldn't reach her. He couldn't quite bring himself to believe it. One moment, he'd been thrilled to finally speak to her again, and the next, he was all at sea. She wanted to work in a frozen wasteland and she didn't want him? What was wrong with her?
He'd have to talk to her in person, that was all. He'd find a plane or charter one to take him out there and...
Two hours later, he'd managed to find a cargo plane leaving New Zealand in a fortnight's time that would take him. Too late, if Audra had been telling the truth, because she'd already be on the ship home. Maybe he could track her down in Melbourne, but he wouldn't know where to start looking. Besides, he wasn't a stalker – he stood out and was proud of it.
And who was Audra, anyway? Just a hotel maid turned weathergirl, who'd saved his life and helped him and...aw, f**k. He'd messed up again. Done something wrong and lost her for good this time. And there wasn't a thing he could do about it. At least, not yet.
He needed to work out what he'd done wrong, so it wouldn't happen again. Rock gods didn't get dumped – not even retired ones.
Time to head back to the library. He'd get as many books as he could carry, and this time he'd pay attention. He'd get this romance thing sorted so no woman could resist him. So when the right one came along...she'd be his, no question. And no f**k-ups.
The library was closed by the time he reached it, but he'd persuaded the security manager to give him access to more than what the regular guests got. He was the owner, after all. After-hours access to the library? Easy.
He headed straight for the shelf where the rock star romances were kept. No matter what Audra said, he'd gotten some of his best ideas from these. As if someone had been expecting him, he found three new ones he'd never seen before – recognisable because of the absence of shirtless dudes on the cover, of course. He checked the bit on the back and they seemed sufficiently similar to the shirtless books to suit him.
What else had she said? Something about marrying strangers. Those were the mail-order brides, weren't they? Funny, she'd admitted that she liked those books, and he'd even seen her reading a couple. He grabbed those, too, figuring they might help.
Five books should do him for a couple of days, he decided, so he tucked them under his arm and left the library, whistling as he walked around the lagoon, back to his villa.
Three books and a lot of bourbon later, he discovered that he'd missed the first book in the series, so he staggered back there to find it. It figured – had a shirtless dude on the cover. No wonder he'd ignored it the first time. May as well get some more of the mail-order bride books, too, to cover up the shirtless dude.
He'd read it as soon as he got another bottle of bourbon. The last one had somehow emptied itself and he couldn't be f****d finding another one. Yeah. But now, he'd just rest his head on the rug for a moment. Because...because...
Jason's head touched the rug and he fell into a deep, whisky-soaked sleep where he was a rock star again, and everything was rosy. f**k yeah.
- Writer
