Page 259 of Fame & Chaos

We still have things to work through.

Trust, surprisingly, isn’t one of them.

It’s everything else…

His fame.

My anonymity.

The media.

The constant scrutiny that comes with loving someone the whole world thinks they know.

When the newspapers exposed my identity and strangers began turning up outside my house, something inside me changed that I’ve never truly recovered from. So I’ve asked Caleb to keep us a secret for now.

Just for a little while.

I’ve asked him to tell Aston too, because I don’t want the world finding out before I’m ready. I need time for this to belong to us again before it belongs to everyone else.

Caleb would happily climb onto the nearest rooftop and announce to the world that we’re back together.

I smile every time he says it.

But he understands why I need this.

Besides…

The last thing I want is for Mick to open Instagram or the news tomorrow morning and discover his ex-girlfriend is back with the lead singer of Staked less than twenty-four hours after ending their relationship. The man deserves better than that, and Caleb agrees.

For now, this is ours.

And that’s enough.

The hours slip by without either of us noticing. Conversation comes as easily as breathing. It’s as though the last seven months never happened.

We laugh.

We tease each other.

We talk until dinner grows cold.

Somewhere along the way, we simply find each other again.

Later, curled safely in Caleb’s arms, I realize just how much I’d forgotten what peace felt like.

Everything between us fits.

It always has.

So why did I keep running?

Every time things became difficult, I convinced myself that leaving was the answer.

But leaving never solved anything.

It only left two broken people trying to survive without the other.

Not this time.