Blue-Eyed Soul by Fae Sutherland, Chelsea James Page A

sit."
    Aleks did, watching as Remey sat, folding his legs under him in the large chair beside the couch. He looked so small there, and in his loose track pants and a clingy long sleeved T-shirt, he looked so young, too. Vulnerable, almost. All of Aleks's protective instincts reared up, making it even harder to convince himself this was going to be a good thing, not getting involved.
    "You're not the only one who had a bad breakup get dragged through the mud by the media, you know." Remey let out a breath and met Aleks's gaze. "Maybe I didn't have a child to worry about, but believe me when I say it didn't make it hurt any less when my boyfriend--very nearly fiancé, I thought--and I broke up right before the start of my last tour."
    "What happened?" Aleks asked, his voice quiet, and Remey sighed, taking his glasses off and setting them on the side table.
    "Theo was one of the studio musicians who worked on my first two albums. When the second album came out, it was crazy how well it did. My management and label were so thrilled, and they threw this party for everyone who had worked on it.
    "One thing led to another and Theo ended up coming home with me. I was worried it'd be awkward, but it never was. He moved in pretty quickly, flew out to see me sometimes when I was touring, and I thought everything was going great."
    Remey paused, and Aleks frowned, sympathetic, but a little confused. "Did he... did he cheat on you? I mean, it sounds like that's where this is heading, but I can't see why he would."
    Remey shook his head, letting out a soft laugh. "No, he didn't cheat on me, as far as I know, anyway. When I got back from the tour, I started work right away on my third album, and I wanted Theo to work on it with me, but he said he had other things going on. I was disappointed, but I figured it was probably better, since we were involved. I was so happy with him, I could hardly keep my mind on anything but him or music for more than ten minutes straight.
    "So, when some of my new lyrics and sheet music started disappearing, I didn't think a whole lot of it. I put it down to my head being in the clouds and re-wrote everything as best I could. When I was finished with the album, I brought Theo to the wrap party, even though he'd seemed distant. I figured I'd been wrapped up in my own stuff and hadn't been paying enough attention to him. I was planning to propose, since we'd been together for over a year and I thought things were going well. Anyway, at the release party, half the music industry was there, and this producer came up to us and started raving to Theo about all these songs he'd written and done demos of."
    The light bulb began to go on, and Aleks grimaced. "Shit. He never wrote any songs, did he?"
    "No. He'd taken mine and used them to try to get himself a record deal. This jackass producer was going on and on, quoting the songs, and as soon as I realized it, I lost it. I've never been so mad in my life, and it turned into a yelling match right there." Remey looked mortified remembering it. "Needless to say, we were over. I broke up with Theo then and there, and kicked him out of the house. I had to get the label's lawyers to lean on the producer to get back the music, and once everything was settled, I went right out on tour to get away from everything because, of course, the media was all over the wrap party and the whole story of what happened was plastered from Perez to People to Entertainment Tonight. "
    Aleks let out a breath, shaking his head. "Damn. And then there you are on tour and you see the postcard... and Haven sounded like the perfect place to get back to yourself, didn't it? To remember who you are and what you love."
    Remey lifted his incredulous gaze, nodding. "Yeah... how'd you know?"
    Aleks chuckled wryly. "Because it's pretty much why I came back three years ago."
    They had so much more in common than Aleks wanted to admit. It frustrated him, mostly because a large part of him wished Remey wasn't