Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
Boyfriend. I still couldn’t believe it. If the ring website I’d spied Jack looking at the other night meant anything, it wouldn’t be a word I could use much longer.
I couldn’t lie, calling him my husband would mean everything. I’d never had a family, not a real one. But I was going to make my own with Jack.
Although Jack wasn’t with me in a professional capacity tonight, none of us were under the delusion that he wouldn’t step into security mode if needed.
After the incident at the fundraiser, my bandmates and Jack had insisted on introducing several more measures.
All our guards now carried concealed weapons, and at public events there was always someone from Phoenix on duty in addition to our own details.
When I was on tour, that person was automatically Jack.
While we’d agreed it wasn’t good for our relationship for him to guard me full-time, we didn’t want to be separated for long periods of time.
This solution worked best as Jack was able to travel with me, and when he was home he focused on running the business side of things over at Phoenix.
Tonight, Will would be there too. It made sense, given the press attention on us all recently. With Kai and Silas eloping and my stalker hitting the headlines, things had been wild for a few months now.
No one knew the truth of what had happened that day in the cabin, even my bandmates.
Sebastian had apparently done a convincing job of creating a fake death scene for Smith.
Jack and I had waited on tenterhooks for the police to knock on our door to ask questions, or for some journalist to start picking holes in the story.
But there’d been nothing. It was like the whole incident had been put behind a filter, stopping anyone from looking too closely.
Which suited us perfectly. Occasionally I worried that it might rear up to find us, but the more time passed, the more relaxed I became.
Jack’s friends knew the whole truth. We’d confessed everything as they’d combed over my belongings, trying to figure out how Smith had found us.
The answer turned out to be in my coat pocket, of all places.
Alex had located a tiny tracking device, so small I could’ve brushed my fingers against it and thought nothing of it.
It wasn’t even a coat I’d been wearing the night of the fundraiser. However, it was one I’d worn in an earlier meeting with Smith to discuss the arrangements. The consensus was that he’d slipped it in there then and had been tracking me the whole time.
That knowledge had had me running to the bathroom to throw up.
The threat of Smith was long gone, but the memories lingered.
Jack had ended up moving in with me almost immediately.
Turned out neither of us was able to sleep without the other in the bed.
Jack needed to know I was safe. And me? I just needed him there, to hold me close when the nightmares woke me.
That on top of my usual bouts of depression had me worried that I’d be too much for Jack to deal with.
I should’ve known better though. He’d stood by me before I’d had my diagnosis, before my medication and healthy coping mechanisms. And now he stood by me just the same.
We both knew my depression would never fully go away, and that was okay.
I knew now that I could get through it alone, but the reality was that I didn’t need to.
Jack was there for me. Luca, Kai, Silas, Ollie and Louis were there.
Even Simon helped me during the dark days.
It made them all extra protective of me, even if they’d never admit it.
It was why I didn’t say anything about the new precautions that the others insisted on.
They’d been rattled by the Smith situation as much as I had.
Even though he was no longer a threat, our eyes had been opened to the possibilities of what could happen.
None of us wanted to take any risks.
Tonight wasn’t about that though.
Tonight was about celebrating what we’d achieved together. Four kids from a council estate who’d risen to the top of the charts and the height of stardom.
And as I sat at the table that night, Jack’s hand in mine, I looked around at Luca, Ollie, Kai and Silas. At the way Silas was whispering in Kai’s ear. The secret smile tilting Kai’s lips. The kiss Ollie pressed to Luca’s neck. The smirk he got in return.
I realised then that we’d found so much more. We’d set out on a path to fame and fortune, but along the way we’d each lost our hearts. Thank fuck the men we’d lost them to had picked them up for us.
Even if some of them took longer than others.
Leaning my head on Jack’s shoulder, I exchanged a knowing smile with Kai. We’d both spent a long time thinking our love would be forever unrequited. But now our partners were as sickeningly obsessed with us as we were with them.
None of this was a future I could’ve imagined for myself. I’d started this journey as a disillusioned teenager, clinging to his sanity by his fingertips.
Now, I sat surrounded by my friends and Jack, certain of how much happiness lay ahead.
And that was a pretty fucking awesome place to be.