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“Beth?” I question her. Theo and Beth have been with me since the beginning, and for some reason, I feel like she’s betraying him.
“Theo will say the same thing, Ocean. It was a stupid mistake and something terrible happened.” Beth calmly pats her hand against mine.
I glance up front toward Ezra and back to Beth. It seems they’ve all already talked and I’m the last to find out. “I just don’t want to lose him.”
“This is a good lesson for everyone. Theo and the guard under Ezra’s instruction,” Beth adds, and I realize that she is right. Theo is like family to me, but he knew better. Ezra’s own people should have known better and maybe this is a time for retraining.
“Okay,” I mutter the words and my gaze falls to my lap. I’m so tired. I just want this day to be over.
“We’ll get you to your room, princess.” Ezra’s voice floats back to me. I’m already slipping into darkness though. My body sags into the seat. I’m warm. Beth, Ezra, my team, they have a plan. I don’t have to do anything tonight. My eyes flutter open and land on the back of Ezra’s head before closing again. Everything is okay. I’m safe.
Chapter Six
Ocean
16 years old…
One more piece of pizza and I’ll be done. It's what I should be saying to myself before I perform on stage at tonight's music award show, but the pizza is cheesy, greasy, and delicious.
“You’re still eating?” Ezra walks into my backstage room and eyes me sitting in my chair, holding the pizza box hostage.
I raise my brow at him. “I need to fuel up. Right after my performance I have two minutes to change then I’m up for the next award. This is all that is keeping me calm right now.” I pop the rest of the piece into my mouth. A little sauce hits my chin and I quickly dab it away with my napkin. Ezra’s eyes widen, but I can tell he’s only holding back his signature smirk. After a year of having him as my handler, and being on tour together, I know him inside and out, frontward and backward. Just as much as he knows me. I once joked that we were besties, but these days he’s become my family. Beth, Theo, Ezra and even Ezra’s right handsecurity enforcer, Kyle, and myself have created a functioning pieced together family. When Ezra swept into my life and fixed the shambles I was in, he soon became my favorite person. The only one I realized I could actually trust.
Uncle Cliff was taking every opportunity he had to trap me in a lifelong contract that belonged to him. He had been depleting my money faster than I was earning it. Once Theo was able to help, he and Ezra teamed up and discovered that most of the things that went wrong for me, the incidents that caused the most publicity, were orchestrated by my uncle or Mr. Townsend at BNE. Thankfully Ezra was able to help me get a meeting once I turned sixteen where I had legal representation present. With the updates to my contract, I was able to make some changes.
I was able to help pick my own songs and started playing with some lyrics of my own. I wasn’t collaborating with other artists yet. The rule about my uncle needing to be present for me to perform was changed as well. Surprisingly enough, Mr. Townsend understood my concerns with that as my uncle’s drinking was becoming more and more of an issue. My wardrobe was still sickly pink, but I did have some say over the styles. Ezra was in charge of vetting my security, but they now answered to me, and they were not all BNE associates. I did keep Theo and Beth as they were still under contract. Everything was done as part of Ezra’s ideas in order to keep me safe before he leaves. Because as everyone keeps reminding me, he can’t stay my handler forever, and every time it gets brought up, my heart feels like it's shattering my chest. Not only has Ezra become the most important person in my life, but I’ve also developed a hopeless crush on him.
My eyes settle on Ezra, who is sitting in the chair across from me, with his phone in his hand and a small scowl on his lips. I’ve seen that look a thousand times now. It’s the face he makes before any performance as he goes over my exits again andagain. I trace my gaze over every line of his face, the sharpness of his cheekbones, the hardness of his jaw, where every now and then the muscle clicks under his skin. He runs a hand through his messy hair that is such a rich brown it's almost black. Hair that has run through my own fingers when he fell asleep in the chair next to me on his jet. I had thought Ezra was attractive since the moment I met him. Now after a year of having him in my life, I realized how simple the word attractive is. There are no words to describe the perfection that is Ezra Hamilton.
“After your award, we need to head out.” His words distract me from ogling him. I wonder if he can feel how often my eyes are on him, observing everything he does.
“Okay,” I agree with him, before wiping my fingers off with my napkin. “Do we have any time for me to stop in at Salish’s party? I was invited this year.”
His gaze jumps to mine this time and butterflies swirl in my stomach. I could write a whole song about the color of those eyes and the expressive way they change colors depending on his moods. Right now the green is icy, almost mint in color, like my favorite ice cream flavor.
“Since when do you want to go to one of her parties?” His brow furrows and his head falls for a second. He runs a hand through his hair again. “I mean, is this something you really want to do? We didn’t plan security for it, but I can make changes.”
And he would. Ezra would do anything I really want as long as I was protected. Even if his first reaction is distaste for something and Salish's award parties usually are terrible. And not terrible as in boring but usually at least a handful of people walk away from there with a new scandal in their wake.
“No.” I smile big at him. “I was just joking to see what you would say.”
His lips turn up in a grin. “Well, I was going to come up with something before the party anyways as to why you couldn’t go.”
“Ezra!” I laugh and throw my balled-up napkin at him.
“Kidding.” He sighs before putting his phone in his pocket. “It’s time to go.”
He holds his hand out and helps me up from the chair. I quickly shed my robe and make sure the skirt on my dress is pulled down. As far down as it will go anyways. Ezra’s eyes flick down over my outfit and he pulls back, using my hand to spin me around. “You look beautiful, princess.”
I fight the urge to blush, even though his words mean everything to me. I no longer associate the nickname with him thinking I’m spoiled or that he’s here to babysit me. Mostly because Ezra hasn’t made me feel that way with how he treats me now. He’s open and honest with me, whether I like the truth or not. He allows me to be with him most of the day, so I’m learning how to run my business. He’s teaching me the ways of the industry and how to earn the respect of my employees and security just as he does.
“Thank you,” I finally manage to get out and run my free hand over the glittery material one more time. There's a knock at my door and it takes his attention off of me.
“Yeah?”
The door cracks open and Kyle’s head pokes in. “They’re ready for her.”
“On our way,” Ezra tells him, and the door clicks quietly shut again. “Ready?”
