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“Fuck!” He blows out a breath, probably trying to come up with a game plan. “Okay, I’m coming to get you both. Are you safe in that store?”
“Yeah. For now.”
“Alright, stay put. I’ve got Rae’s location pinned,” he tells us. “We’ll be there in twenty.”
“Okay.”
“Rae?” he asks a moment later, his voice shifting low. “You there, baby?”
I swallow over the lump in my throat, trying to sound as though I have my shit together. “Mm-hmm.”
“He can’t hurt you anymore. I’ve got you, alright?”
Tears stream down my face, and I can’t manage to keep myself from shaking. “I know.”
“Alright. I’ll be there soon,” and with that, he ends the call.
Madds lowers her hands, her eyes wide as she stares at me. “Ezra Knight is coming to get us,” she says monotone, blowing her cheeks out as though that’s going to help her current state of shock.
She squishes in beside me on the floor, hooking her arm around my shoulder and pulling me against her as we wait for the calvary to arrive, and as I do my best to zone out the screaming paparazzi coming from outside, Madds does her best to calm me. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asks hesitantly.
I shake my head. “Not right now.”
“Okay,” she says, trying to cover the hurt in her tone, probably sad that I’ve never opened up to her about this before when we’ve always strived to be honest and open with one another . . . mostly.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, not trusting my voice.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” she tells me. “I just hate that I haven’t been a good enough friend and haven’t made you feel as though you could talk to me about it.”
“It’s not that, not even close,” I tell her. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, it’s just not a period of my life I ever wish to relive.”
“Period of your life?” she questions. “So, not just a one-off occasion?”
I shake my head, and the sadness in her eyes grows. “Tonight,” I tell her, wiping at the tears on my face. “Stay with me at Ezra’s place. We’ll get really drunk, I’ll put it all out there on the table, and then we can cry.”
“Okay,” she says, her voice shaking as her bottom lip starts to quiver and her eyes fill with big, fat tears. “But I think I’m already starting.”
“Oh no.” Seeing her tears have mine coming in faster, and as we sit on the floor of the dressing room, waiting for the love of my life, the two of us turn this shopping disaster into a messy sob-fest.
The screaming outside eventually eases, but I have no doubt they’re still there, more than ready to wait me out, and after twenty minutes, when the rowdiness starts up again, I realize Ezra has arrived. The paparazzi demand comments from him, and all I can do is listen as the store attendants try to get Ezra’s team through the door without causing any more issues.
“Where is she?” I hear Ezra ask a moment later.
“Back here,” one of the shop attendants says.
It takes only a moment before the front of my little dressing room is crowded with people, and I glance up, expecting to see Ezra and a few of his security team, but instead, I find Ezra surrounded by no less than eight men in black suits, Dylan, Rock, and even a few of the guys from the label I’ve come to know over the past few weeks.
“Woah,” Madds says, echoing my thoughts.
Ezra looks down at us, taking in the train wreck on the ground before pulling me to my feet. “You okay, Rae?” he asks, gently gripping me by my arms as his dark eyes bore into mine.
I shake my head, the idea of the world knowing about the abuse I suffered at my father’s hand haunting me like never before. “I just . . . Take me home.”
Ezra nods and pulls me in against his strong chest. “Whatever you need,” he tells me, his hand roaming up and down my back. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this.”
I don’t have the strength to tell him I’ve already figured it out, that it was my father. He told the world what he did to me after seeing me on stage in Madrid. Who knows, all these years he probably assumed I was dead, and while telling the world what a monster he is wouldn’t be doing him any favors, I get the feeling he doesn’t care. As long as I’m miserable and hurting, he’s happy.
“Hey,” Dylan says, stepping in beside me and Ezra, his hand lingering on my back as he steals my attention. “I’m sorry, Rae. I had no idea any of this was going on. If we knew, we would have come home. We—”
