Page 52 of Lovestruck at Sundown
Naomi looked disconcerted when she turned around to face him. “I … don’t know? Maybe you ran out of battery. The screen was already black when you gave it to me.”
“Aaron,” I warned softly. I didn’t appreciate his tone to address her with such familiarity. He was always the formal and collected one.
“It was working just fine,” Aaron insisted. “My battery was at 72%.”
“Well, maybe it’s time to put the BlackBerry to rest,” Naomi said, turning around and walking toward the apartment’s entrance. Liam followed her.
“Little witch,” Aaron mumbled.
“Aaron!” I was mortified at this point, but Naomi laughed. The elevator’s long alarm sounded, and I could see Aaron fighting to keep the doors open, but he was stronger.
“As I mentioned the other day, I’ve been called worse, Agent Hirsch!” she shouted, but didn’t bother to turn around. “You want my attention? You gotta get more creative than that!”
“Meet me at my apartment tomorrow at noon,” I said through my teeth. “We need to talk.”
Aaron nodded once and slipped his dead phone inside his jacket pocket as he finally allowed the doors to shut before him.
November 3, 2010
The sky wassmeared in burnt orange, bright yellow and pink, the colors vying for the spotlight as the last rays of light faded into a breathtaking sundown. Caleb was leaning against the rooftop railing, looking out into the horizon. He turned around as I approached him. His expression was serene as he extended his hand before him, trying to reach out for mine.
“Caleb?” I whispered, my voice trembling with a mix of fear and hope. I took a hesitant step forward, but my feet betrayed me, feeling as heavy as bricks. It was as if an invisible force was holding me back, leaving me stuck in place, unable to bridge the distance between us.
He furrowed his brow, and his expression grew dark, the air crackling with the unspoken words that created a palpable tension in our chance encounter.
The rooftop’s door closed with a heavy thud, and his gaze filled with panic as he stared at the space above my shoulders. But before I could even turn around, a gunshot echoed through the air.
And I screamed.
Panting, I shot up to a seated position as tears streamed down my face. I threw my head back on the pillow andstared at the ceiling.
“Guille!” William rushed in through the door embedded in the wall between our rooms. He was soaking wet and wearing a towel loosely fastened around his waist. “I’m here. It’s okay.” He sat on the bed next to me and pulled me into a warm embrace. His skin was hot, and tiny drops of water trickled from his hair and slid down the back of my neck.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly against his chest. “Caleb.” I held on tightly to him as a sob escaped my throat. “I couldn’t … and then he …”
“Shhh.” He kissed my hair and rocked me in a soothing rhythm from side to side. “It was just a dream, baby. It’s over.”
It’d been a while since I last had a nightmare. I even teased William, telling him he was my lucky charm and how sleeping next to him scared the bad dreams away. And in a way, that had been true. But the pain would always be there—the trauma left behind by that day when Caleb gave his life for mine.
I looked up at William, cheeks drenched with tears, and I tried to put on a brave face because he was leaving for Vancouver for six weeks today. And I needed to reassure him that I was okay, that he could focus on his work while he was gone. It’d been nothing but a nightmare, and I’d had enough by now to know the eerie feeling of terror would wither as the day progressed and I went about my business.
All I needed was to get out of bed, shower, go to school, go to work. Following my routine was the safest bet to dissolve the dread.
William cupped my cheeks between his warm hands and kissed me. It was soft, tender, healing even. The kind of kiss he knew I needed, with an edge of passionate despair that could quickly turn into something else if I allowed it.
And I did.
William fed me a cream cheese bagel as I tied my tennis shoe laces. I was running late for school, as expected, and he needed to be at the airport around noon.
I hated that I had to say goodbye to him. We’d been enjoying our relationship in an almost idyllic way, given the circumstances and his level of fame. We hadn’t made an official statement to the media because keeping it private had been manageable so far.
He’d be gone for six weeks, so even if various news outlets kept speculating and insisting, William preferred to be here when official news broke out of us being together. Naomi agreed. There was no way to know how the media would react, or his fans, for that matter. Maybe they’d report on the relationship and move on, or it could trigger an uncontrollable wave of curiosity and harassment, as he said it’d happened in the past.
There was no way to be sure. Knowing we could keep our relationship under wraps for a while longer brought me a sense of peace that I didn’t know if I was ready to forfeit. But having Naomi in our corner was a relief. We trusted her, and she promised to ensure things went smoothly. I liked Naomi and got to know her more the few days she spent in New York.
Aaron … not so much.
After grabbing my things, I ate what was left of my bagel as we made our way downstairs to the lobby.
