Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
“I’m not going anywhere,” I tell him as I nuzzle into his shoulder.
“Even when I was packing, I knew those bags weren’t going anywhere.
” It’s true. I may have cried over every shirt and pair of jeans I put in there, but packing was all I managed.
I didn’t call my parents. I sure as hell didn’t book plane tickets.
“I wouldn’t have been able to let you go anyway,” he says, his grip on me tightening. I smile, but it wavers when the next words out of his mouth are, “It’s not safe.”
ASHER
“Not safe?” she repeats the words to herself. “What do you mean?”
Talk to her, I tell myself. Before you lose her.
I swallow a bundle of nerves and take her hand, guiding us to the bed. I need to sit down if we’re going to have this conversation.
Her worried gaze meets mine as she turns toward me and waits for me to speak.
She’s so damn beautiful. Her long chestnut-brown hair is piled on top of her head in a messy bun, with tiny tendrils framing her heart-shaped face.
Those sapphire eyes of hers watch me as I take a deep breath and try to suppress the rising panic and irrational thoughts that threaten to take over.
What if she decides I’m not worth it?
What if she’s scared and I can’t be enough for her?
I take a deep breath. “A few weeks ago, I received a text from an unknown caller. It was a vague threat, and I dismissed it as nothing.”
Her brows furrow. “That’s when you got a new phone, right?”
I nod. “I’ve had to change my number many times over the years because the wrong person got hold of it. So I didn’t think much of it when it happened again.”
“But I’m guessing from the serious tone of this conversation that it did happen again?”
I simply nod.
“When?” she asks.
“The first text came the day after we got home from the cottage in the Highlands,” I tell her, hesitating before I go on. “There were pictures.”
Her eyes widen. “Like the ones your agent leaked?”
“No. These were photos of us.” Her eyes start to panic. I know where her mind is headed. “Nothing intimate, Merc.”
She visibly relaxes. “Then what? We are photographed all the time. What could be so bad?”
“These were photos of us at the cottage. Someplace that was supposed to be private.”
I watch her process the information, then she asks, “Are you sure it’s not an overzealous reporter who just followed us?”
“Maybe. But these weren’t your typical paparazzi photos. These were…closer. The kind you could take with a camera phone.”
“The person who was spying on us was that close?” Her face looks ashen.
“Yes, but Merc, that’s not the part I’m worried about.”
“What could be worse than someone spying on us?”
I take her hand in mine. “They made threats. About you.”
“Me?”
“Whoever this person is,” I explain. “They seem to have a personal vendetta against me, and the way they want to exact their revenge is by taking the one thing that means the most to me.”
Her face softens slightly. “And that’s me?”
Christ, I’ve made a mess of this. “Yes, Merc.” I cup her face with my palm.
“I’m sorry I ever caused any doubt. I’ve just been so damn scared.
And to think you believed I was pulling away because I was getting tired of you?
When in truth, the thought of living without you seems impossible.
My heart nearly stopped when I saw those suitcases by the door. ”
“I’m sorry. I panicked. The things Isobel said…
” Her voice trails off as she nervously licks her lips.
“All those old insecurities I used to have came rushing back, and suddenly everything she said made a little sense.
I was just that scared little girl from the red carpet again, and you were this world-famous rock star.
Why in the world would you ever want to be with someone like me?
“So I made an excuse about having a headache and needing to end the night early, then I ran back here, cried, and started packing. I don’t even know why.”
“Because I made you feel isolated and alone this week. Because I let my own insecurities get the best of me, and rather than talking to you, I tried to handle it on my own, thinking I was being noble and protecting you,” I confess.
“But really, I was just terrified you’d decide I wasn’t worth the hassle and run scared the second you found out. ”
“So I was worried you wouldn’t want me to stay, and you were scared I would leave?”
“It seems so.”
She smiles, and it’s sweet and full of promise. “We are quite the pair, aren’t we?”
“I think we are both new to this,” I tell her, gripping her hand again.
“Neither of us has been in a relationship, and our situation is, to say the least, unique. Not every relationship begins as a PR stunt and then turns into something real before the whole world. But there is no one I’d rather take this journey with than you. ”
“I love you, Asher,” she says, kissing me.
“I love you too. More than you know.” And when I kiss her back, I don’t stop.
Not until hours later, when we’ve spent hours reminding each other just how real and possible a love like ours can be.