Page 114 of Between Never and Forever
When we got up there, I told them about how cooped up I’d been, how the fame felt stifling half the time, and I divulged that Dex made me feel safer, calmer, maybe like I could be a little more reckless and a little more myself.
“Yeah, and you should be yourself. Even if you’re under contract right now,” Clara, Dom’s wife, added as she pushed back her reddish hair. When I eyed her suspiciously, she admitted, “We all talk in the family. We know the engagement was fake, but he’s not faking now.”
I opened my mouth to try to evade the topic but Pink jumped right in to tell them, “So, here’s the story…”
And off she and Olive went. There wasn’t really a way to stop them either. Not when I was drinking and enjoying the sun that day. When Pink explained the extreme lengths Bane, Dex, and Dimitri were going to in order to track down my stalker, I sighed. “I really think it’s nothing. This happens sometimes.”
“Yeah,” Clara agreed. “Have you seen the news?”
“I try not to look.” I shrugged as we sat around a table in loungers while a few guys ogled us from the pool. “The news is normally bad for me.”
“Right. I sift through it for her,” Olive added.
“It’s all good right now. People are in love with you. It means more stalkers, I’m sure. But plus side is people love your new sound,” Clara explained and they all nodded.
Pink jumped in to add, “And they love your outfits.” She winked at me.
“Honestly, Ihadto come see you in concert.” Lilah smiled at me. “I know we didn’t hang out much in school, but I’m so proud to see you being a badass woman in the industry.”
“I’m proud of the fact that you’ve lived with Dex for so longandput up with Dimitri,” Izzy added in. “Both my brothers are annoying as hell when they want to be.”
I laughed and thought about everyone saying that to me. That they wereso proud…but would my mother be? She’d always wanted my real sound to be out there, the real me. Had I given the world that? I’d held back for so long, let the label shift my career to and fro, and obeyed when I shouldn’t have.
It wasn’t pride I felt when I looked back. I took another sip of the Flirtini we’d had delivered. “Yeah, I was a much different person back then.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” Lilah recalled. “I heard the stories.”
We all chuckled.
Pink squinted at me in disbelief, wanting the full story. “Wait. You were the bad one?”
Izzy hummed. “You streaked the football field when you were a freshman, didn’t you?”
“Yep.” I winced at that memory. “My dad was so mad. My mom said to let me live.”
“When you were fifteen?” Olive squeaked out.
“I was trouble, but my mom didn’t really believe in disciplining me for acting out. She wanted me to be me.” I shrugged. “Then I got my record deal and shaped up quick.”
“But Dex was already in love with you back then. He couldn’t hide that shit from anyone,” Izzy blurted out, and I bit my cheek. It didn’t feel right disclosing our secret relationship.
“We all knew they were dating,” Lilah told Olive, Pink, Clara, and Evie. Izzy confirmed.
“Oh, whatever.” I stood up and stretched. “Who’s going in the pool?”
“Me.” Izzy stood too and then her smile turned devilish. “Who’s skinny dipping in the pool?”
“How much have you had to drink?” Lilah chuckled.
“More than you, obviously,” Izzy retorted.
“Oh no.” Lilah shook her head. “I’ve had just as much.”
“You guys.” Olive’s voice was just above a whisper as they started to peel off their tops. “We’re on a rooftop, and Dex is concerned about the stalker—”
The alcohol had been flowing, and suddenly, I wondered what the hell was I so afraid of. Why weren’t we able to just be ourselves like my mother had always wanted? Fitting into a box wasn’t supposed to be a calling. We were supposed to be different. Each and every one of us. If we all fit perfectly into tidy boxes, it would make us all the same in the end. I felt liberated by the idea suddenly and frustrated with her comment. “So what? A stalker is going to keep us from having fun? One guy?”
“He could have drones!” She pointed toward the sky.
