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“You didn’t do anything to me. The asshole that wrote me that note did this.” Emmy fired out, her eyes still closed.
“Emmy? Tell me you’re okay. Did they hurt you? Why didn’t you call me?” I questioned, pushing her hair gently back from her face.
“He didn’t hurt me,” she replied softly, as if to calm my fear, but then her voice grew louder as her obvious anger at what had happened took over. “I didn’t give him a chance to. We crashed because I smashed his head against the side window. I think I knocked him out, and the car came off the road into a wall. My phone broke and I have no idea the name of the hotel we’re staying in, so I didn’t know where to call. I knew you’d find me, eventually.” She tried to smile at me, but it looked like it was too painful, and she closed her eyes again.
“Emmy, tell me what happened. I told you not to go anywhere without Matt,” Addi asked.
I took her hand, kissing it, before pulling it to my chest, tethering her to me. I nodded at her to tell us what happened. “I got a note delivered to my room from Tan telling me he’d changed his mind about shopping and wanted to come with me. He said he’d given Matt the afternoon off, but he would meet me out the front of the hotel in one of the band’s cars and his security team. Matt took me downstairs, and I saw Tanner. Or I thought I did. His tattooed hand opened the back door of the car from inside. He had his black skull ring on. When I climbed inside, the car was empty. Seconds later, the driver got in and drove off, telling me that Tanner would meet us later and he wanted where we were going to be a surprise. The driver wore gloves, but I could see the outline of Tan’s skeleton ring under it. I mean, that ring is huge. There’s no hiding it. I knew something was off. Tanner would never leave me with a stranger. Neither would Matt.”
I imagined she’d cry about her ordeal, but her face was set like stone, anger bouncing off her.
“I leaned forward and slammed his head against the glass. It made the loudest crunch and then he just kind of slumped to the side. I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, so when he crashed, I went flying and I don’t really remember much else until I woke up here. The policeman who spoke English told me by the time they arrived, the driver was gone. I’m so sorry, Tan. I put myself in danger again.” She looked up at me through her long dark lashes, as if she was expecting me to tell her off.
I shook my head. “Fuck that, angel. You did nothing wrong. You fought off the bad guy. You saved yourself. You should be feeling powerful and fucking proud of yourself. Can I see the note?”
“It’s in my bag.”
I dug it out and laid it on the bed. “Shit, Addi, this is my writing. I’d believe this was from me. What the fuck is going on?”
“Rob?” Addi shouted. He entered the room. “There has to be someone from the staff or crew that’s helping Tanner’s mum do this. I only want you and Matt on the band. I also want you to start feeding fake information to the rest of the staff. Keep a record of who you tell what and let’s flush out who is out to hurt the people we care about.”
Rob glared at her. “The two of us can’t watch all of you. It’s impossible. We’re already overworked and exhausted. You can’t expect any more from us,” he argued.
“I’m not discussing this now, Rob. We will talk about how to make this work when we get back to the hotel. And you will remember that you get paid a shit ton of money to be overworked while we’re on tour. If you have a problem with it, then it might be time for a career move.”
As I watched the look of disgust forming on Rob’s face while he stared at Addi, taking in her threat, I remembered why we’d brought Matt in as our head of security and not given the job to Rob like we’d planned. The man was a liability who seemed to hate working for us.
Emmy
IwoketoTannerkissing my bruises, skimming his lips over my swollen cheekbone. His voice whispered as he pulled me against him, stroking his fingers over my bruised arm, the warmth of his touch spreading through me.
“Hey, rock star. I’m okay. I’ll be okay,” I promised him, my voice croaky with sleep.
“But not because of me. I left you alone. My anger at Mum and that photo of me made me leave you to get in that car on your own.”
“Enough, Tanner. You did nothing wrong,” I reassured, placing my hand against his chest.
“I didnothing!” he spat out angrily before his face softened as he stared down at my bruised face.
“Did you find me? Did you fill me with enough confidence that I could attack a grown man? You changed my life, you made me believe in myself. I love you for that.”
I froze, realizing what I’d said. Closing my eyes so I didn’t have to look at him or deal with the words that just fell out of my mouth, I knew he wouldn’t let it go.
“And do you, Em? Do you love me?” I heard him whisper.
I opened my eyes, keeping them focused on the bedsheets covering my legs. I was terrified to tell him how I felt, because of the enormity of those words, but also because I knew he wouldn’t feel the same way about me. “I mean, it’s too soon. We’ve just met. You’re… you’re a famous rock god and I’m just me…”
“Not an answer, angel.” He reached over, tilting my face up to his with the tips of his fingers, forcing me to look at him, his eyes searching mine for my answer.
“I do,” I replied, not able to say any more. The words getting lodged in my throat.
“Do what?” His hand moved to cup my cheek, still staring at me, waiting for more. I took a deep breath and let the words free.
“I love you, Tanner. I know it’s—” He silenced me with a kiss, swallowing down the moan that slipped from my lips.
“Thank fuck for that, Em, because I’ve felt like that for weeks.” The look of relief on his face was instant, his whole body relaxing as if he’d been holding his breath for a lifetime. “I was so afraid to tell you. I didn’t want to freak you out and send you running. But I do, I love you. I’m in love with you. And today scared the hell out of me. It hurts to think about not having you here with us. I promised myself all the way here that if you were okay, I would tell you how I feel. I needed you to hear it, even if you didn’t feel the same.”
Hearing his words caused my heart to flutter in my chest as if it was celebrating that this beautiful, amazing rock star loved me.Me.
