Page 83 of Now Their Starlet

“We won’t be talking to them, but from the sounds of things,” Everett says, glancing up from his phone, “there are some waiting outside to snap photos.”

Okay, great. Now I need to figure out a way to turn my brain back on. Maybe if I get rid of my hard-on, the blood that’s all migrated away from my brain will return.

“And we’re... letting them?” Andi murmurs softly, her expression shifting to one of wide-eyed panic.

That look cuts through the lingering stupidity clouding my mind. I reach out to her and tug her into my arms.

She clings to the lapels of my suit jacket. I can practically feel her delicate shoulders trembling under my hands.

“Yes, Andi,” Everett says. “We won’t make any statements, so you don’t have to talk to anyone, but it would be a good idea for them to snap photos of you walking out of here, looking strong.”

“I—I don’t feel very strong,” she whispers softly. “Why—why can’t we just leave through a back entrance?”

It’s Leo’s turn to step up beside me. He brushes some of her hair away from her face when she blinks up at him.

“We may have just won a big battle in the court system, but it’s important that we make sure we win the court of public opinion, too,” Leo murmurs softly.

“O—oh, that—that makes sense,” she nods, swallowing hard.

“You’ll have all of us around you. No one will be able to get to you,” Eli says, his voice low.

“And you’ll have me right next to you!” I say, grinning down at her. “I get to hold your hand and make the rest of the guys jealous.”

“Jealous, huh?” Andi’s lips quirk up in the barest hint of a smile. That shift in her expression, considering how stressed she is, is a win in my book. “I like the sound of that.”

“Brat,” Everett says, standing to his full height and straightening his suit jacket. “The car is ready for us. So whenever you’re ready, Andi, we can go.”

She worries her bottom lip between her teeth, glancing between Leo and I.

“Do I... look okay?”

“You look stunning, Starlight,” I murmur, meaning every word.

Sure, she looks different than she did last month, and every single time I see the pale pallor to her skin or how sunken her eyes are into her head, I feel this bone-deep sense of anger, but that’s because it’s a reminder of what was done to her. Not because it takes away from any of the ethereal beauty she possesses.

It may sound like a whole lot of woo-woo mumbo-jumbo, but hey, I write songs—love songs especially—for a living, and I think the beauty of her soul shines through regardless of what she physically looks like.

“The pantsuit projects the kind of vibe your wardrobe for the past month has lacked,” Leo says, his voice tight at the mention of the dresses she was paraded around in on the red carpets.

“Yeah, ‘cause half the dresses I wore basically made me look naked,” Andi snorts with a shake of her head. “Thanks for getting me this pantsuit, guys. I think I’m ready.”

“Perfect,” Everett nods, slipping his phone into his pocket. “Let’s go.”

Charles is waiting for us outside the room and leads us through the winding, windowless hallways before we return to the main floor of the courthouse. It’s emptier than when we first came in, probably because Andi’s court time-slot was the second to last of the day, meaning most people have left already.

I lace my hand in Andi’s and offer her a reassuring squeeze.

“You—you won’t let go, right?” she asks softly.

“Never.”

Just like Everett predicted, when we step out the front doors, we’re met with a series of bright flashes. We’re in the middle of summer, so even though it’s almost evening time, the sun is still out, which means the flashes aren’t as all-consuming as they would be if it were dark, but I still feel Andi’s hand jump in mine.

Questions bombard us from all sides, right alongside those flashes.

“Andromeda! Please, could we have a statement?”

“Andromeda Sterling! Your mother left the courthouse terribly upset. What do you have to say about that?”