Audrina seemed to have lost the power of speech. She just stood and stared at Donovan. I could hardly blame her; the man looked like he’d just stepped off a catwalk.
His eyes flashed. “This is the one you called the Chosen. The one you sent us to?—”
I shushed him. “Uh, yes. This is the lovely Audrina, the songbird of Nob Hill.” I frowned. “Okay, don’t put that on an album cover, it sounds weird.”
Just then, I noticed she had her guitar slung on her back, and two large duffel bags over each shoulder. I frowned. “Where are you going?”
She still stared at Donovan.
I clapped my hands, and she flinched. “Audrina, where are you going?”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Mom took the boys for ice cream in the park today. They saw me singing.”
Oh, no.
“I didn’t spot them until it was too late. I was in the middle of a song, and I had my eyes closed. Something cold smacked me in the face, and when I opened them, I saw my brothers laughing like hyenas. One of them tossed his ice cream at me. They thought it was the funniest thing they’dever seen, but Mom went ballistic.” The tears spilled down her cheeks. “She dragged me home. I’m grounded. Forever, apparently. Mom said she’d never been more humiliated in her life. Apparently, me busking is the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to her.”
“You’re running away, aren’t you?”
She nodded.
“Audrina,” I sighed. “You can’t run away. Anything might seem better than living with those bullies, but you have to be practical. You’ll get eaten alive on the streets.”
“I can’t go back there.” She let out a sob. “I can’t, Susan. Everyone thinks I’ve got such a privileged life. Yeah, we’re so rich, Mom and Dad were famous, but it’shell. My brothers think that bullying me is a sport. They actually compete to see who can be the first to make me cry every day. Mom tells me to suck it up, and I just have to get thicker skin, and nobody can make me feel anything I don’t want to feel. But I can’t. It hurts so much.” Audrina’s face turned blotchy as tears poured down her cheeks. “I can’t take it anymore. I even told my mom I was thinking of ending it all. And she… she…”
Nausea lurched up in my gut. I knew what Audrina was going to say. Her mother was fucking awful. Jessica was the kind of person that saw everything in her life as an object to be used. She used her talented and handsome sons as trophies, and she used her husband for his money and status. But to her, Audrina was worthless.
“Mom’s eyes lit up when I said that,” Audrina whispered, her voice hitching. “She was actually excited about the idea of me committing suicide. She’d get everything she wanted. I’d be gone, I wouldn’t be around to embarrass her anymore, and she’d get more attention and lots of sympathy. I could see the thoughts ticking in her brain.”
I sighed sadly. Audrina wasn’t being dramatic. Jessicawas probably already planning the name of the mental health charity she would set up once her daughter was gone.
“Chosen…” Donovan was suddenly standing too close. My thoughts scattered.
Oh, yeah. We were already late. “Please, Donovan. Just wait a moment. I can’t leave her out here like this.”
He let out a soft grunt, then turned, and whistled a low note.
Suddenly, Nate was standing next to us. Audrina froze, mid-sob. Donovan spoke to him. “Take this young woman upstairs to Violet House. Theguestquarters,” he said pointedly. “Keep Cecil away from her, but inform him that she will need…” He frowned. “All the things that young mortal women need to keep her occupied.”
Audrina’s eyes widened again. “You’ll let me stay with you?”
“Of course,” I said. “Just until we can figure out a plan. You need to let your family know you’re safe, though. But don’t tell them you’re staying with me,” I added hastily. The last thing I needed was to get arrested for kidnapping.
She nodded frantically. “I will. I’ll do anything, Susan. Oh, thank you!” She threw herself forward, but instead of hugging me, she veered away at the last second and wrapped her arms around Donovan’s waist and squeezed him around the middle, pushing her face into his hard stomach. He froze. She rubbed her cheek against him like a cat, desperate for affection.
I held back a laugh; Donovan looked almost alarmed. After a moment, he patted her on top of her head once, then again. “There, there.”
Gently, Nate untangled her and led her away. Just in time, too. My phone buzzed in my hand. Our ride was here. “Let’s go,” I said to Donovan. I walked up to the red hatchbackthat had just pulled up, swinging my hips and relishing how the silk brushed over my skin as I walked.
Somehow, Donovan got there before me. He opened the back door, looked inside, then hesitated. “This is not your carriage.”
“Yes, it is,” I said brightly, shuffling past him. I stuck my head inside. “Hello, Amir,” I said to the driver.
The driver turned and gave me a huge smile. He had a thick pelt of black hair and the most impressive black handlebar mustache I’d ever seen in my life. “You are Miss Susan? Yes?”
“Yes, I am! How are you this evening?”
“Good, good. Haight-Ashbury, yes?”
