"You sloped off early last night?" Jules asks, grabbing himself a brioche roll from off a plate that's sat on the large coffee table in the living area of the premier suite at The Hyde.

Up early for me, looking and feeling like total shit, I rub both of my cheeks with my hands in an attempt to make myself feel more human. "I was tired." Is my gruff reply.

Will then breezes into the suite, looking fresh-faced and annoyingly cheerful. "Ah, it's finally up!" He too, grabs a brioche roll, hungrily biting into it with a smile. "I'm all packed and ready to go!" He chorally announces.

Pouring myself a strong black coffee, I still don't feel human. "Where's Cam?" I ask, plopping a sugar cube into my mug.

"I've not seen him yet." Will says with a big piece of brioche still being chewed around in his mouth.

"Have you seen him, Jules?" I stare across at him, probably looking just as sleepy as I still feel. Anger and too many thoughts before bedtime will do that to you.

"Nah, I haven't." Jules answers, now grabbing a banana to quickly devour. "Probably packing as well, I expect." Carefully peeling back the curved fruit, my long-standing assistant then carries on chatting. "All of our things are being collected from here at five this evening, to then be taken to the airport. Our flight is at seven, so we'll leave here not long after our stuff has been taken."

"Cancel the flight. I also want you to sort out us staying on here for another day." My order is glumly but firmly given just before I take a comfy seat on the couch and a careful sip of my hot and sweetened coffee.

At the same time, both Jules and Will ask the same stunned question. "Why?"

Concentrating on the swirling steam rising in front of my face, I don't even look at them. "Because I don't want to leave until tomorrow night." My reply is quietly blunt.

"But why?" Jules asks, sounding totally peeved. "Everything's booked, Rhys." He's now standing just to the side of me.

My eyes lazily lift to his. "Then unbook everything." Is my stubborn answer. I don't know what I'm actually doing at the moment. I only know that when I got up this morning, I had decided that I couldn't leave without seeing Clara before I do. I just need more time to get things sorted out between us before I head back home. "Those who don't need to be here can leave, but you guys, you're staying on with me." Those are my bloody-minded orders.

Jules knows me well, when I say I want something done...I want it done. There's no talking about it, no negotiations—it just gets done. My payroll. My rules.

"Shitting hell." Jules huffs loudly, grabbing his mobile phone and stomping out of the room like a spoilt little brat. Undoubtedly about to do exactly what I've asked him to do.

Bringing my coffee back up to my lips, I try to ignore the overbearing presence of Will. He's staring at me, trying to figure out what exactly to say to me. "Are you actually going to talk or are you just gonna stare?" I ask, growing more annoyed by the second.

"What's going on, dude?" Will makes his voice sound non confrontational, it's clear yet soft. "Has this got something to do with Clara?"

My fingers grip tighter around my mug, reacting to her name being mentioned. "What if it is?" I ask, now turning my head to look at my really concerned friend.

"Then, I'd say that you're losing it, dude." His dark green eyes darken more on me, framed with furrowed brows. "I'm not sure what is happening, but you need to get your shit together, my friend. Get it all sorted...but you really should be getting on that plane tonight, Rhys."

"I will get on a plane, just not that plane."

"What about all the shit that's going down with your sister? You need to be back in LA."

Shaking my head with a deliberate smile tugging up the left side of my mouth, I sound stubbornly stern. "For once in my life, I'm thinking of myself and not of Maci. The same old shit that's happening right now with her, will continue to happen whether I'm there or not." Angrily setting the mug back down on the coffee table, I sit boldly straight in my seat. "Something is going on between me and Clara, Will. I just need some time to get my head together, before I figure out what I need to do. She's scared of what is happening, so I need to give her some time, too. I know it sounds crazy. It is crazy. But it's a crazy that I'm willing to take a chance on." In my mind, there's no plan as yet. All I've done is bided myself a little more time. What I am going to do with that time, I have no damn clue.

Will sits himself down beside me. "Why don't you just do what I did last night, have some little bed-rocking fun?" His dirty green eyes start to sparkle as his mouth erupts into a crude and wide grin. "She was British, an actress, size ten, with an ass and rack that you could easily balance that coffee mug on." Looking at the mug, he laughs hard before lightly punching my arm and crudely going on. "What's happened to my best buddy, huh? Where's the whole woo and screw thing gone? What happens on tour, stays on tour, riiiiight?"

Shaking away my straining smirk, I become a lot more serious. "Clara means more to me than just sex, Will." It's a new concept for me, but one that I'm totally happy to go along with.

Boisterously bumping into my shoulder, Will is keen to talk more with me. "Well as British babes go, Clara is pretty h...h...hot!" Using his carefully shaped hands, he's outlining the hour glass figure of a sexy woman in the air.

My face tightens with a possessive frown. "Don't you start! I have Cam hovering around her like a bad fucking smell."

Will laughs again, not taking what I've just said as serious as he really should be. "He obviously has good taste, too." He chuckles, throwing me an amused sideways glance.

"He needs to back off or I'll be firing his ass."

Now, I do seem to have acquired Will's very serious attention. "You wouldn't?"

My reply is just as direct as the look I now have from his highly alert direction. "I would." Is all I grunt out. Beginning to feel just a little hungry now, I reach over for one of the appetising fresh brioche rolls, ripping small chunks off it, imagining that it's Cam's arm that was wrapped around Clara's shoulder last night. "He's pushing my buttons, Will." There's anger in the way that I eat and in the way that I speak. "He's trying to get in the way of me and Clara, and I don't like it."

Will is thinking, thinking hard. "Do you think Clara could be just stringing you both along?"

Shaking my head strongly, I quickly disagree. "No way! It's me that she wants. She's just friends with Cam, even though he'd love it to be something more."

My friend now looks very confused. "So what's the problem, then?"

"She's running scared." I say it like it suddenly all makes sense. Clara is running scared. I am who I am. We've only just met. I'm literally about to hop onto a plane back to LA. That's a whole bunch of shit to be scared about. With no clear plan of how I'm going to get what I want, I just tell Will what I intend my end game to be. "I'm not leaving London until I've got my girl." I probably sound overly confident, but I'm really not.

I'm tired.

Unbelievably tired.

I don't really know what I'm doing.

First things first—I need to have some really strong words with Cam. Once he decides to show his smarmy face around here, that is.

The dudes got some balls, I'll give him that.

Then I'll figure out how I'll get in touch with Clara.

I don't know her number.

I don't know where she lives.

Oh wait, Slam does, he took her home the other night, so he's also someone that I will need to have a little talk with today. Get your head straight before even thinking about contacting Clara, Rhys. Are what my own thoughts so sensibly tell me to do. And those thoughts of mine are so damn right. I think I'll have a shower, do most of my packing, re-jig a few things that will be affected by my sudden change of plan, call mom, find Cam, find Slam...then decide how to go about approaching Clara.

I need a plan.

A plan of action.

What will I say to her?

How will I say it?

Whatever I do say to her, and whatever way I say it, I just hope she'll listen to me.
I have everything, I'm just hoping that my everything will be enough for Clara.

**OOOOOOOO, RHYS MEANS BUSINESS!!!! 😡
THOUGHTS? LIKE? HOLDING ONTO YOUR KNICKERS AND YOUR BREATH??
TELL ME, LOVELIES 💋**