“Was anyone out there?” I ask nervously.
“Our elevator is fixed.”
I narrow my eyes at him.
“Yeah, I thought the same thing,” he says as he closes the space between us.
“Last night was a setup.”
59
COLE
The confidence with which she makes that statement makes my stomach knot painfully tight.
She’s right. I know she is. But if anything, that makes all of this worse.
We’ve barely embarked on this relationship, and I already feel like I’m failing her.
All I want to do is keep her safe and protected, and already, the internet is full of stories and photos of her, and there is an entire crowd of paps outside ready to rip a few more pieces from her.
I refuse to let that happen. I don’t know yet how I’m going to make it happen, but I’m going to protect her. One way or another, I’ll do it.
She deserves to have a man who fights for her, not one who throws her under the bus at any possible opportunity to ensure the limelight is on him.
One look at the stories doing the rounds on socials this morning confirmed what I already knew about Rowan Conaway. He is the lowest of the low, and he had no right being anywhere near someone as pure and as good as Freya.
My Freya.
“Don’t tell me, he’s got an album dropping soon,” Freya muses as she pulls a bagel from the bag and unwraps it.
“What makes you say that?”
“A big publicity stunt before a release is classic Rowan. They’ve probably been searching for the perfect thing to boost his presence in the media for a while.”
“But…” My words die as I hear them before I say them.
“What?” she asks, ignoring her bagel and focusing on me.
I cringe. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but…why do they think you’re going to bring him all the extra coverage?”
I’m not sure how I expect Freya to react, but I don’t expect her to burst out laughing like I’m missing the punchline of my own joke.
“It’s not me, Cole. It’s you they want.”
I release a heavy breath.
“You play multiple times a week to a sold-out arena. If he can snag a few of your fans and turn them into his, who buy or stream this new album, then he’ll take that as a win.”
It should probably make me feel better that his intended target in all this is me. But it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter which one of us he's going after; it will ultimately hurt Freya.
“Fucking hell,” I groan, dragging my hand down my face and scrubbing my rough jaw.
My stomach growls, desperate for food, but as I stare down at everything I ordered, I’m not sure I can stomach it.
Shuffling beside me, Freya sits tall and rolls her head from side to side, attempting to relieve the tension.
“The good news,” she starts as she picks a bit of melted cheese from the edge of her bagel. “The album will release, and he’ll find something more exciting to focus on.”
