He hugged his knees. “I don’t like this.”
“I know. Me neither.”
I opened TikTok. My face was everywhere. Blurry chapel photo. Me in the club. Someone had dug up an old club promo pic....me in sequins, smiling fake. Captions: “Who is Hadley Jackson?” “Cal Ember’s secret wife?” “Gold-digger or love story?” My stomach turned.
I closed the app.
Thirty minutes later...more noise. Knocking. Urgent.
I peeked. Zariah and Holland in hoodies, nose masks, baseball caps. Paps swarming. Flashes hit the second I cracked the door.
Zariah pushed inside, Holland right behind. Door slammed.
She hugged me so hard I couldn’t breathe. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault. I dragged you there.”
“No.” I pulled back. “It’s not. I got drunk. I said yes. My fault.”
Holland scanned the room. “We need to leave. Now. Before it gets worse.”
“Where?”
“Our hotel. Max security. Gated. No one gets in without clearance.”
Eli appeared in the hallway, hiding half behind me, eyes huge.
Holland crouched a little. “Hey, man. I’m Holland. Friend of Zariah’s.”
Eli didn’t answer. Just gripped my shirt.
I knelt. “Eli, we need to go stay at a hotel for a little while. Like a vacation.”
He frowned. “It’s not summer.”
“It’s… ditch week. Special vacation. Just us and Zariah and Holland. They have a big room with a TV and room service. You can watch trains all day.”
He chewed his lip. “Will there be crowds?”
“Not inside. Promise. Security keeps them out.”
He looked at the window. Curtains shaking from people banging on the glass. “They’re loud.”
“I know. That’s why we’re leaving. Quick and quiet. You ride with me in the back. Hold my hand the whole time.”
He nodded slow. “Okay. But only for a little while.”
“Okay.”
Packing took five minutes. Eli’s tablet, charger, favorite blanket, meds. My stuff, whatever was clean. We slipped out the back stairwell. Holland drove a blacked-out Escalade parked in the alley. Paps didn’t see us until we hit the street. Then chaos. Flashes. Shouts. Eli buried his face in my chest, hands over his ears.
“Too loud,” he whispered.
“I know. Almost there.”
Zariah rubbed his back from the front seat. “You’re doing great, kid.”
He didn’t answer.
The hotel was the same fancy one from last night. Underground garage. Private elevator. No one saw us.
