A New Song [mxm]

26. Oceans

Alex arrive home in the middle of the night and sunk into the couch, letting the lights from the city illuminate his living room.  He didn't move from this spot, not even when the sun broke through the horizon.

As he was lost in thought, he heard someone at the door. He jumped from his chair and looked expectantly at the door. "Jax-"

The words were caught in his throat as he saw Chen walk through.

Chen sighed. "You look terrible. Did you get any sleep?"

Alex sat down despondently and shook his head.

"Jaxon asked me to check on you. Did Remy affect you that bad?  Alex, we know the truth of your skills. You shouldn't let him get to you or Jaxon."

"Did Jaxon land safely?"  Alex asked quietly.

"Just a little bit ago." Chen said with a nod.  Chen rested a hand on Alex's shoulder. "Did you guys fight or something? Marc mentioned that Jaxon didn't look great either."

Alex shuddered a little. "Will he be ok for his film?"

Chen chuckled. "He's good at what he does. He'll pull through. When he's done, you guys can sort this out... Are you ready to face the world?"

Alex snapped his head up. "The world?"

Chen frowned. "Did you not see any of my messages?"

When Alex shook his head, Chen groaned. "Remy started a storm. The paparazzi are waiting at Aura and social media is blowing up."

Alex pursed his lips. "He always had impeccable timing." He murmured.

Unfortunately, Chen wasn't lying about the paparazzi. They lined the entrance of Aura. Chen suggested parking around the back but Alex refused. He told Jaxon he could handle it, so he had to face this somehow.

He got out of the car with sunglasses on and was suddenly swarmed. He forced a small smile on his face as he tried to make his way through the crowd.  Questions were thrown at him from every direction.

"Where's Jaxon?"

"Did Aura let you in the backdoor?"

"Is what Remy said true? Are you using your friendship with Jaxon to better your career?"

"Don't you think Remy has every right to question it?"

Alex scoffed at the last question. "The only value Remy had was his relationship with Preston Green. Yet he has the audacity to use the death of his so-called friend to promote his own album. What right does he have to ask about the sincerity of anyone's relationship?"

The silence was deafening. However, some of the journalists were grinning madly. They smelled a rivalry—the veteran versus the fresh face.

He used the surprise garnered from his bold words to slip through the crowd and made his way to the building where the security guards were trying to create order.

Remy had played these games before, but now he made a mistake to target him.  His fear of Remy was being replaced with unbridled anger. 

The words "Fuck Remy" pulsed inside of him.

Chen rushed up behind him with a pale face. "Alex... did you just declare war against Remy? The Remy?"

Alex let out an angry breath and walked off without answering.

His hatred and anger suddenly buzzed his mind with new ideas and lyrics. He wasn't planning on competing with Remy. Instead he was going to contend with himself.  As Alex, he wanted to eclipse the songs he wrote as Preston.  He would pour everything he had into his music and rise above everything he was from the past.