Chapter 7 #2
“Is…Is everyone looking at us?” I whispered to Lacey as we got near the main quad, where dozens of students were congregating, catching up before class.
Her brow wrinkled as she cast a quick glance around, taking in the very obvious stares shooting in our direction. “They are,” she murmured, her expression hardening. “I haven’t heard any rumors about what happened in town reaching campus yet. This can’t be about that.”
“Maybe about the shooting at my old college?” I suggested, my palms sweating as my breaths came out harsher. I didn’t like all this attention on me, and I was about to suggest we bail and hide out back in the house, when heavy footsteps sounded behind us and Brodie sprinted into sight.
“Evie babe!” His shout would have drawn a lot of attention, but everyone was already looking at me like I was a missing person they had to identify. “Babe, are you okay?”
I’d ground to a halt the moment his footsteps pounded the pavement, and he all but tackle-hugged me. Lacey got dragged along for a beat, before she managed to extract herself. “Brodester, what the heck?” she said with a laugh. “Eve didn’t just come back from war. You saw her a few hours ago.”
My chest warmed at the memory of our morning cuddling in bed. Lacey was right though. I couldn’t understand why Brodie clung onto me like I was in danger once more.
“Brodes,” I whispered, running my hand down his spine. “What happened?”
When he pulled away, his eyes were bloodshot and filled with concern as he studied my face. “You haven’t checked your phone this morning clearly,” he said, and I patted my pocket only to find that there was nothing there.
“Fuck, I forgot more than my pants this morning,” I said with a laugh, and Lacey snorted from my left.
Brodie looked torn, as if he wanted to delve into his memories of very thoroughly exploring my lack of pants comment but he had more pressing issues to discuss. “That call I took this morning from my publicity team—” He started slowly, right around the time Lacey let out a loud yelp.
I looked her way to find her frantically scrolling her phone, and when I turned back Brodie was still staring at me.
The intensity of his gaze and the blue of those eyes were mesmerizing.
It had me forgetting everything else in the world.
“There were some articles published this morning,” Brodie continued, and I tried not to let that bubbling in my gut spiral into a full-blown panic attack.
“Articles about what?” I asked slowly.
“About you and me.”
I blinked, unsure what exactly this meant in terms of every fucking person on campus looking at me.
“I don’t know why this is a big deal,” I said, lowering my voice now I knew that we were actually completely under surveillance.
“I’ve been living in the same house as you for months, and we hang out on campus basically every day. What are the articles saying?”
With that, Lacey thrust her phone under my nose, and I realized what her yelp before had been about. Brodie Keller’s Secret New Love.
That dread in my gut intensified as I started to read the article, only thankful that they were still using my foster parents’ last name, keeping me semi-separated from my past.
“The media is going to be all over you if you leave campus now,” Brodie explained, his face falling.
“They’re already camped out at the front fence hoping to get candid photos of us.
The security have them back as far as they can, but once they’re off college grounds, there’s no way to remove them. ”
“But why?” I repeated, shaking my head. “I know you’re famous, don’t get me wrong, but surely having a new girlfriend for five minutes isn’t grounds for this sort of attention?”
Lacey answered this time, still scrolling her phone.
“They’ve got footage of the accident,” she snarled.
“And Brodie racing through the streets to get to you. There’s a whole bunch of shit being said, most of which isn’t technically true, but they see enough smoke to know there’s fire here somewhere. ”
Fire that I really didn’t need, since my father was out there fucking up his life somehow, which in turn was fucking up mine.
“What do we do?” I asked, looking between them.
I’d never been famous before I was involved in a shooting, and then I’d just chosen to run and hide.
Maybe running and hiding again was my only option here too.
There had to be other schools offering the same protection and anonymity Meadowridge initially had.
Brodie slid his hands up to cup my face, and the frantic pattering of my pulse eased, only to be replaced with the flush of heat that occurred whenever one of the guys touched me. Was I just constantly ovulating or something?
“My agent advised the best option is to issue a statement confirming you’re my girlfriend,” he told me, expression serious as he held me so firmly I couldn’t look away from him.
Not that I wanted to. “I’ve got your back, Evie babe.
I won’t tolerate anyone overstepping your privacy in a bid to dig up dirt.
I’ve got additional security that will be with us whenever we leave the college grounds, but here, the students should know better than to approach you. ”
They sure didn’t care about staring at me though.
“Wouldn’t it be better to say nothing?” I suggested. “Just let it die down? No one would believe you’re dating a nobody like me anyway.”
Brodie's expression was fierce as he leaned closer until our lips were about to touch. “Not a fucking chance, Evie babe. You are my girlfriend. You are also the love of my fucking life and the world needs to respect that. Fate brought us together in a way that we can’t ignore, and I don’t even want to.
You’re the best damn thing that ever happened to me, and I refuse to pretend otherwise. ”
With that declaration, he crushed his lips against mine.
All the other noise faded away. This was what we’d been missing since the accident as I hid in my room. We were finally getting back to where we should have always been.
The love of my fucking life.
Brodie Kellar had claimed me in the most perfect of ways, and I felt the same way about him. Him and others.
Which was an issue for another day.