Page 21 of The Rockstar

Vivian turns around, fidgets with the zipper of her backpack. Then, she stops and straightens, her gaze focusing on my shirt. That’s when something fluffy moves inside the bag.

“Is that from my st?—”

“Edgar Allan Purr?”

We speak at the same time, and our gazes snap to each other. It takes one second for the tension to break, and we both laugh.

I crouch in front of the bag, and yep, it is THAT cat. The orange ball sneers at me through the little mesh circle.

“Hey, Edgar. I’m Ryder. Nice to meet you.”

Edgar’s head tilts sideways, and he stares, clearly unimpressed. And in a total act of assholery, or you know just a cat being a cat, he turns his back on me and curls into a loaf.

We lapse into silence again, but it’s different this time.

I stand and shove my hands into my pockets, curbing the urge to reach for her and take her into my arms. Suddenly, the room is hot and stifling, and my throat is hella dry. “What are you doing here, Vi?”

Vivian looks at everything but me. Her hands tighten around the bag, and she clears her throat. “I, um, I got Vroomance, and I’ve been meaning to thank you since I g?—”

“Vroomance? What’s that?”

Flush creeps her cheeks, and she purses her lips. “I forgot to tell you it’s what I named the van.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, I came here to thank you for helping it get fixed and even had it delivered to my store.”

“You’re welcome.” I dig my hands deeper into my pockets as my control slips even further. The urge to touch her, even just graze her skin with mine, is almost overwhelming. “You didn’t need to come all this way just to— wait, how did you know where to find me?”

“I contacted Jensen. I Googled the organizers, found his photo, and contacted him.”

My heart hammers. “Why did you contact him, Vi?”

Vivian blinks rapidly, and she sniffles. “Because I realized I didn’t have your number, and you didn’t have mine, and there was no way to contact you if I wanted to talk.”

Something lodges in my throat. “Why did you want to talk?”

The dam breaks, and tears spill down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Ryder. I haven’t been the same since I left you.”

I’m about to bridge the gap between us when she holds out a trembling hand. “Wait. Please let me finish. I need to get this off my chest.”

I stop breathing, and my pulse sounds so loud in my ears. I can’t form the words, so I just nod.

“You scared me. Not because of who you are, but because of what it meant to be part of your world. The press, the fans, the chaos. I didn’t think I could handle any of it,” she says. “But then I realized, living without you felt worse. I spent day after day going through the motions, but I couldn’t enjoy what I did for a living anymore. I haven’t picked up a book in days. If I did, my thoughts always strayed to you.”

Vivian wipes her cheek with the back of her hand and puts down the bag on the sofa beside her. “So maybe I’ll never love the attention, but I want to learn how to live with it. Because the alternative? Living without you? I can’t do it, Ryder. I just can’t.”

I can’t take it anymore, so I pull her to me, and she buries her face in my chest, her shoulders shaking. “Vi, I’ll protect you. You don’t need to learn to live with any of that. You came back to me. That’s all I need.”

Before she can even take the next breath, I kiss her. It’s neither soft nor gentle. It’s two weeks of longing and silent nights. I cradle her face in my hands, tracing her jaw with my thumb.

When we finally come up for air, I rest my forehead against hers. “I love you, Vi. I’ll never let you go.”

She smiles at me. “I love you, too, Ryder, and you really better not.”

EPILOGUE

VIVIAN

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