“What’s wrong?”
My stomach lurches as he rises from his stool and walks through the arch leading into the living room beyond. I follow after with a perplexed look until he flicks on the TV, and his agitation begins to make sense.
News reporters converse as images of Dave pop up between them, and my knees weaken when the live feed flashes to cameras outside Ataraxia, where the media swarm to get a glimpse of me.
“The story fucking leaked. It’s all over the news, Emmy.”
“Oh my God…How? I thought it was handled?—”
My panic-filled eyes find Ford’s, and he quickly crosses the space between us, cupping my cheek in one big hand. The pad of his thumb dusts over my skin as his brow knits in concern.
“You’re safe with me. No one can get to you here. We can?—”
Ford’s cell rings again, and he swears under his breath as he yanks it out of his pocket. He checks the caller, frowning slightly before answering. “What’s up, Hayley?”
For a beat, I wonder why she didn’t call my cell, but then I recall Ford powering it off following Beckham’s demands last night.
My heart stalls as I strain to hear what she’s saying until Ford pops the call on speakerphone, and my sister’s voice fills the living area.
“…and interviews scheduled for every day after that, Ford. It’s too much for her to handle right now, but what do Ido?—”
“I’ll handle it, Hayley. Thanks for the heads up.”
Without a single word exchanged, I know exactly what’s going on, and I pluck Ford’s cell from his grasp as a deep-seated rage, unlike anything I’ve felt before, rises in my chest.
I dial Beck’s cell number from memory, unsurprised when he answers on the first ring. “I’ve been trying to reach you all fucking morning, Emerson?—”
“I’ll keep this brief. Cancel every single event between now and theBreaking Uspremiere?—”
“What? I can’t?—”
His outraged exclamation is cut off when I hiss, “And if you don’t get the media under control, I’ll find an agent who can.”
Silence greets me as I drive my point home. “You’d be wise not to mistake my kindness for weakness, Beck.Youwork forme, you got that?”
Then I hang up and pass the cell back to Ford, who’s watching with a proud gleam in his eyes. He takes the proffered cell with a smirk, shooting me a wink that makes me stand taller beneath his praise as he nods.
“Atta girl, Tink.”
CHAPTER 22
FORD
Having agreedto Emmy’s insistence that I shower while she tidied up the breakfast dishes, I sigh with pleasure as I duck beneath the rain shower spray.
My emotions have been roiling just beneath the surface since Emmy’s disclosure last night, and I let my head hang forward as I try to get a handle on the enormity of the guilt churning inside me now.
Leaving her the way I did has never sat well with me, though I know there was no other way I could have gone. She’d never have stepped back and accepted me leaving.
She’d have sacrificed her dream for me, which would have eventually come between us…
Or could you have had it all?
Self-doubt creeps in, and I slam my palm against the shower tiles as anguish makes my chest tighten painfully. While I desperately try to make sense of everything, the water streams down my back until the sound of the shower door opening behind me makes me stiffen.
I glance over my shoulder to find Emmy standing on the tiled bathroom floor with the door handle in her grasp. Her long blonde hair flows over her shoulders, and her eyes are filled witha compassion that lessens the almost unbearable ache I can feel down to my fucking soul.
We stare at one another unblinkingly, and I clench my jaw, trying my hardest to control my emotions. But whatever she sees on my face makes her step inside the space, closing the door behind her before her feet erase the distance between us.
