Paper Parachute | Celebrity Romance

7.

This wasn't so bad. She was focusing on the music which was rare in these things, specifically for a network that seemed to thrive on gossip and drama.

"So are there any love interests in your life?" She asked the whole group but focused solely on Blake as she leaned forward, literally on the edge of her seat.

There it was.

He huffed in annoyance and fought the immense urge to roll his eyes or curse her out. Growth, Blake. We're working on Growth. He thought to himself.

"I don't do love, not anymore." He replied, biting his tongue on what he wished he could reply.

"Well, there is a picture circulating this morning from the Halsey album release. Have you seen it?"

"No. I haven't." He said coldly, wanting to avoid this entire conversation, wishing he had just blacklisted this entire line of questioning like he should have.

The lady gestured to someone behind the camera and suddenly a screen behind him showed the picture. It wasn't as bad as he had feared it would be. Blair clearly looked drunk, but so did he, so at least it wasn't the "sad asshole singer takes drunk unsuspecting girl home to ruin her" angle he had expected.

"So, who is she?"

"Her name is Blair and she's new to Tidal Records." He said flatly, trying not to sensationalize anything. If he wanted this to go away, he had to treat it like no big deal.

"She a long term thing or just convenient for the night?"

Fire erupted within him at the inappropriate nature of her comment and it took every ounce of his restraint to keep himself in his chair. He felt Rian lean forward behind him and place his hand on his shoulder.

"She's just a girl who happens to be at the same label. I was ready to go home, she wasn't feeling well so I got her home too." He left out the fact that he got her to his home.

"She was seen leaving your house this morning."

Fuck.

"Screw it, you want the real story?" He was exasperated and ready to be done with this. "She's a nice girl. She had never been to an industry party and someone slipped something in her drink. I didn't want to leave an inebriated girl at a party where she didn't know anyone so I let her crash at my place to sleep it off. I sent her home this morning unscathed. I know that's apparently hard to believe since I'm such an assh- a jerk, but that's what happened." It all came out in a rush.

He didn't give a single fuck that he had admitted she had been drugged at a Tidal party. At the moment all he cared about was getting the fuck out of the interview. He ripped at the microphones attached to him and stormed off the set, hearing the sound of the other's footsteps behind him.

"Blake! Blake!" Dex yelled behind him and finally Blake turned to face him.

"Don't fucking lecture me about this Dex, you know that was bullshit."

"I wasn't going to." He said defensively. " I just wanted to see if you were all right." Dex's voice and eyes softened as he looked at his friend. "It was just a shitty question, why'd you get so upset? Usually you would just ignore it."

"I don't know." Blake said, knowing that wasn't the whole truth.

"I think the girl got to you. You cared about her."

"I do not." He said quickly, almost like a reflex.

"It's not an accusation Blake, just an observation. You listens to her at the studio, you watched out for her last night, you got defensive over her in that interview. It's a good thing, Blake. You need to let someone in, you can't keep blocking everyone out of your life with sky high walls because you're terrified they are going to hurt you. Maybe she could be good for you if you got to know her. Anyone who can get you so bothered in such a short amount of time is worth getting to know."