With every word, something inside of me snaps.
“What is it?” Lily asks with alarm.
“KillerPlotTwist,” I growl. “He messaged Rachel again.”
Lily gets up from the couch, leaving Rachel, to read the message. Her brown eyes slide up to mine from the screen after a few seconds with simmering anger in them, and then she says, “I’m going to murder the guy.”
Rachel’s eyes are wide. “Is it bad?”
Lily sits back down on the couch beside Rachel. She tucks Rachel’s unruly red frizz behind her ears with both hands, and I realize how the interaction is sisterly. “Okay, listen. Melanie is going to make sure security is tight, but we all have to agree on two things. One, Rachel isn’t allowed to go anywhere by herself until this guy is caught. Buddy system always. And two, if I’m the one who catches that guy, I will kick him in the groin, and no one will try to stop me.”
Rachel lets out a small, surprised laugh. It’s the first sound of oxygen since this all started, but it also feeds my fire. I wantthis guy caught.
“Fair enough,” I say. “But only if I don’t get to him first. A groin kick would be merciful, so he better hope you find him before I do.”
Chapter 17
Evan
LilytookRachelbackto the hotel. She told Rachel she just bought a jasmine-and-grapefruit bubble bath that would be soothing to the soul and that she could use the tub in my room, because apparently, it’s some kind of cathartic experience, and Rachel’s hotel tub isn’t capable of that kind of potential.
So, now I’m busy signing books at the event because ‘the show must go on’ while Rachel is in my bathtub, and I’m trying to focus on the fans and not the fact thatRachel is in my bathtub.
My hand is beginning to cramp from so many signatures, and my cheeks hurt from the snug smile I’ve put in place as I thank each fan for buying my books, preordering my new one, and loving Barrett as much as I do.
“Is she okay?” a woman asks.
I look up at her. She’s young, brunette, and her blue eyes are bright but concerned.
“Excuse me?” I question.
“Is Rachel okay? That man was a next-level creep,” she says.
“Oh,” I reply. “Yeah. She’ll be okay. Security has taken care of it.”
I repeat the line that Melanie told me to say to anyone who asked.
Security has taken care of it.
But it really bothers me that security has not taken care of it, that the guy is still out there plotting his next move, whatever that may be.
“That’s good,” the woman says with a smile. “I really love her fanfiction. I love your books, too. I’m so glad you both are touring together, showing that there can be more sides to a story than just the ones we tell.”
I smile politely back. “Oh, yeah. Rachel is great.”
I hand her book back.
“And you two are adorable together,” she adds.
“We aren’t together,” I say quickly.
“Yet,” she remarks before she walks away.
I don’t have time to think about sides to the story or being with Rachel because the next book is handed over to me from another woman that is going on and on about Barrett’s sharp jaw and steely eyes.
“He’s just such a handsome character, and Rachel is such a doll for writing the softer side of him,” she mumbles.
Andwhat is this with sides?!
