Page 261 of Fame & Chaos

Then, just like every other time, she said no… I’ve stopped taking it personally. Because one day she will say yes. I know she will.

She’s still scared.

If I’m honest, so am I.

Nothing about our relationship has ever been easy, but when it’s just the two of us, everything feels effortless. It’s the rest of the world that’s complicated.

She still isn’t ready for anyone to know we’re back together.

I wish she were.

I want to tell my family.

I want to stop pretending she’s just another nurse working ridiculous shifts while secretly coming home to me every night.

But I also understand why she’s hesitant.

The media tore her life apart once before, and she is terrified they’ll do it again.

Since we’ve been back together, she’s transferred back into emergency. Seeing her happy there again has been worth every compromise I’ve had to make. She comes home exhausted most nights, but she’s smiling again, and I’d forgotten how much I’d missed seeing that.

I just hope that when the day finally comes to tell the world about us, she’s ready for everything that follows.

Until then…

I’ll wait.

She’s worth waiting for.

This morning, I kiss her forehead before slipping quietly out of bed, careful not to wake her. She murmurs in her sleep, curling further beneath the blankets, and I can’t help smiling.

God, I love this woman.

I leave her a note on the kitchen bench explaining I’ve been called to Oxfordshire for an emergency meeting, then grab my phone and head outside.

As I’m walking to the car, I open Instagram.

The first thing that appears on my screen makes my stomach drop—a photo of Annie.

Half naked.

Unconscious on a couch.

An open pill bottle sits on the table beside her, and the headline beneath it reads…

Lead guitarist of Staked, Annie Slade,

follows in her father’s footsteps.

High and wasted after another wild night out.

“Fuck.”

I sprint to my car.

Now I know why we’ve been called in.

The drive to Oxfordshire feels twice as long as it actually is. My Mercedes eats up the motorway, and I’m grateful there isn’t a police car in sight because I probably would’ve lost my license today. Again. By the time I pull through the gates of the manor, Chad is right behind me.