What You Don't Know (Sequel to "Secret Love")(Hunter Hayes/James Marsden)

Too Close

Hunter stared at the woman in disbelief. She was adjusting her mini skirt and flipping a dyed-purple curl back from her forehead. She pushed her microphone further into his face, awaiting his reply to her question. She was either oblivious to how invasive she was being, or too lacking in empathy to care.

He glared at her long enough that she eventually put the microphone back to her own mouth and repeated the query.

"I don't think he understood the question!" She addressed the camera with a phony presence that made Hunter grind his teeth together. "I said, 'Hunter, did you cheat on her again?' Is that why she refused to marry you? Or was it something else? Did she cheat on you? Was she just terrible in bed or what? Come on, Hunter. Give us the details! Bring on the gore; we want to know everything!"

"No comment," he finally replied. He flashed a tight smile at the camera, but cared not a jot about the pouting woman and her ravenous, drama-crazed audience. He got up to leave, slamming the door behind him. It was none of their business why Bethany had left him! They neither needed to know, nor did they need to keep reminding him that she was off in New York, schmoozing a man who had once attempted to rape her.

He pulled out his phone for the thousandth time that day and saw that there were still no messages from her. Of course, there would not be. She was not allowed to contact him until she returned from her personal CSI special.

When he was back on his tour bus, he regretted his behavior in the interview. He had managed to keep his anger under wraps, yes, but he had never once left so rudely before. He sighed, scratching his neck. He should probably call and apologize to her.

Just as he was reaching for his favorite Martin guitar, his phone rang from inside his pocket. He grabbed at it frantically, hoping beyond hope that it was Bethany on the other end. His face fell when he saw the caller ID, but he answered anyway, glad, at least, to have a distraction from his anger.

"Hi, Amanda," he greeted her, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "What's up?"

Amanda chuckled. "You sound pretty rough, Hunt."

He laughed, too, simply because she was right. He was already in bad shape, and it had been barely a week since Beth had left.

"I've been better," he admitted.

Amanda nodded on the other end, biting her lip.

"Do you know where she is, Hunter? Why have you not gone after her?"

He sighed. Everybody wanted to talk about Beth today.

"I don't really want to talk about her, Amanda."

"Okay. We'll talk about you, then. How is your tour going?"

He smiled. That was something he could talk about easily.

"It's phenomenal, Amanda. You have no idea. The fans are so into it. I've never experienced such a super-charged audience before. It's insane!" It was true: both the attendance and the excitement at his concerts had nearly tripled. A few of his more brazen fans had mentioned that the augmentation could be due to his recent breakup, and suggested that he was much more popular now that he was back "on the market".

Little did they know. She was his forever, and he was hers, and he could tangibly feel her absence in his tour bus, on the stage...everywhere. He had a picture on his phone of Bethany, kissing his cheek while he smiled like an idiot, with her engagement ring on the hand that was cupping his chin. Sometimes it was all he could do to keep from shoving that picture under the noses of some of his more outrageous and rude fans.

Amanda laughed. "Well, I'm glad you're having fun!"

Silence stretched over the line, before Hunter returned the question.