Falling Like The Stars (Book 3)

Chapter 3 - What's A Man To Do?

" I wanna tell you it's over, that I ain't thinking of her
I wanna really mean it, that I want you to see it
That I'm really trying to leave her behind
And I'm trying not to make you cry
I wanna tell you that I ain't playing games
And I'm dedicated to receive a change
But when I look in the mirror, it's the same old man. "

'What's A Man To Do?' - Usher
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**James**

It had been a long time since James had seen or had anything to do with Emily, and whilst he was with Lacey, he still couldn't get thoughts of Emily out of his head.

He'd tried to move on, and whilst Lacey was a good laugh and looked good on his arm for press photos at events, she wasn't Emily. But Emily had moved on.

It had been a while since they had talked properly, and he'd secretly seen from articles at how happy she was with Shannon; they were now about to have a baby together for godsake!

As creepy as it could have seemed to others, he'd got his PA, Jess, to discreetly keep an eye on Emily. Not for sinister purposes, but he was still somewhat in love with her and couldn't let her go. He wanted to make sure that Emily was safe and secure and, more importantly; away from Jason.

That was all that James wanted for her. To be safe.

He was in his home studio doing some songwriting. Words seemed to come to him easily these days. Even if he did find that absent-mindly, most of the songs seemed to revolve around one theme. Her. Emily.

Lacey, not bring quite the brightest crayon in the box, thought that he was lovesick for her and, of course, lapped up every second she could get from it.

James knew she was only with him really for the fame and exposure. Anything to boost her influencer status. And like the mug he was, he just went along with it.

He hated being alone, even if it meant that Lacey was only in love with him for the materialistic things.

Everyone in his life at some point, somewhere, somehow abandoned him. His father, mother, and even his sisters were old enough now to have flown the nest, although his youngest sister Neve made sure to keep in contact, calling him every Wednesday.

They had always been the closest of all of his sisters, even though there was a significant age gap between the two of them, with Neve being 13 years younger than he was.

Neve had constantly nagged at James to bring Emily back with him to the UK, as she'd wanted to meet the girl who had captured her brothers heart and turned his personality from one of lonely night, into vibrant day. But sadly, he had never managed to make that happen for her.

As far as he was aware, Emily had moved on with Shannon, and it was almost as though she had completely erased him from her life. It had made his heart wrench in pain to think that was the case, but he had never had any contact from her in the months that had gradually crept by since their split.

They had talked a little still at first, after Emily had left him, but he had been touring, tired, and still hurt. So words had been spoken that shouldn't have, or the wrong tone of voice was used in a way that it shouldn't have been, and eventually they had lost touch.

James could have dropped her a text, but he hadn't wanted to interfere with her new life, which had so clearly come to show that he had no part in. And, it had seemed upon trying to call his Manager that he had somehow managed to delete Emily's number!

How he had managed to do that, he hadn't a clue, but he had scrolled through the entirety of his contacts list at least five times seemingly, inevitably, to be searching for something that was clearly devoid of being found.