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“That’s not what I want to do,” he said. “We do need to figure something out, though. Ellie is about ready to rip my head off, Luce. She made Drew go out for a walk before he hit me. I’m surprised you didn’t hear the shouting.”
“I heard nothing until Ellie shoved her iPad in my face.” I looked up at him. “What did they say to you?”
“Nothing I haven’t heard before. I’m selfish, inconsiderate, reckless. An all-round asshole.”
I wanted to tell him he was none of those things. That they didn’t know anything and didn’t understand. But I didn’t want to sound like a cheesy song written by a teenybopper. Instead, I placed my hand on his, hoping he knew how I felt. When he squeezed my hand, I knew he did.
“What did you tell them about us?” I asked.
“I tried to tell them that we’d like some privacy to find our way through this. And that’s what Derek should tell the press. That right now, we’re only just starting something, and we’d appreciate less intrusion. Drew and Ellie think we need to end this now.”
“Maybe we should wait and see what the reaction is. I can handle Ellie and Drew and even Mum and Dad. They know and love us and they will come around. Hopefully. But the rest of the world? That is a lot of people saying bad things. And I’m sure my priorities should be the other way around, but there’s a lot of hate out there, just waiting to be thrown at someone. That’s hard to get over, and it could kill the band if it gets out of control,” I said.
His face paled, and that scared me more than anything. I knew he hadn’t thought that far ahead, even though he probably should have. I might have meant something to him but compared to his career? Nope. I couldn’t compete with that and wouldn’t. I didn’t want to lose him when I barely got him, but I wouldn’t let him sacrifice his career for me either.
“You’re right,” he said. “I’ll talk to Derek, and I’ll tell him the truth, but let’s leave any announcements until we’ve got a better grip on what people are saying.”
“I should call my parents too. Now. Ellie and Drew can wait since you’ve already given them an explanation.”
Jason nodded. “We’ll sort this, Luce. We will.”
“I know.”
What I didn’t know was whether it would have a good outcome.
Jason’s lips began to curve upward as he looked at me, and for a few moments, the drama disappeared. I raised my head, and my lips were so ready for his. His mouth brushed against mine in a kiss that stirred all my senses again.
I will not let this go. I will fight with everything I have to make the bad stuff go away.
“Lucy.” Ellie’s voice broke the moment, and I tried hard not to glare at her as I turned around. “We really need to talk.”
Without a word, I rose to my feet but placed another kiss on Jason’s cheek before I followed Ellie down toward the front of the bus. She still buzzed with anger, but somewhere in the depths of her eyes, I saw the tiniest hint of understanding.
“I hate this, Lucy,” she said with a sigh. “I hate it. I know Jason is what you want, and I want you to be happy, but…” she trailed off, shaking her head. “I want to throttle him right now.”
“This isn’t his fault, Ellie. It’s not about fault. It’s about two people who like each other. That’s it. That’s all. It’s not for the world to go nuts about. It’s not their business. It’s not even your business, or Drew’s, or Mum and Dad’s. This is about me. It’s about Jason. And everyone else needs to back off.”
Ellie ran her hands through her hair and shook her head. “Mum and Dad are going to flip.”
“Why? Oh God, please tell me you didn’t discuss this with them too.”
“Of course I didn’t, but you know what Mum’s like. You can’t hide anything from her. She knows how you feel about Jason, and yeah, I’m sure that was one of her concerns before you left.”
“Why are you all so down on him? For people who are supposed to be his friends, you act like he’s the worst person in the world.”
“It’s not that, Lucy. Come on, you know how much I love Jason, but I love you more. And this scares me. You and him. I just… I’m scared for you.”
“Why? What about it scares you so much? You think I haven’t seen him at his worst?”
“Youhaven’tseen him at his worst. When he was at his worst, he wasn’t allowed in our house because you were too young to—”
I held my hands up. “Just stop! I’m sorry for what you went through back then, but that was a long time ago. Things aren’t the same as they were then, and if you can’t see that, I don’t have anything else to say to you.”
I pushed past her and headed back to my bunk—literally the only place I could be on my own since I didn’t trust that the paparazzi weren’t already outside waiting.
My heart thudded furiously, and I was a little lightheaded from all that had happened in the short space of time since I’d woken up. This was a gigantic screwup. Perhaps Ellie and I were cursed when it came to relationships. Particularly relationships with the Brooks brothers.
Just over a year ago when she got with Drew, there was another media storm, not because they were dating, but because of the way it came about. My hopefully-soon-to-be relationship with Jason was equally as dramatically revealed, if not more so because of the fact he was ten years older than me.
