“Can’t be late for that meeting, Mrs. Monroe,” Graham says to Laney, whom he treats with absolute kid gloves while he ushers her into the SUV first.
I’m second.
Actually, I feel like anafterthought.
“They’ll think she’s more important,” Graham murmurs to me while the alarm blares in the café behind us, fire truck sirens blare down the street, and my heart slams into my throat.
And then I’m tucked safely into the car with tinted windows and one of my BFFs beside me while Graham hustles around and hops into the driver’s seat.
“Was that a reporter?” Laney asks him as we pull away.
He’s grim-faced.
I hope that means he needs a Snickers bar.
But his answer puts that hope to rest. “The first of many.”
43
Jonas
They know.
The reporters know.
And I meaneverything.
They know I’ve been here for weeks. They know Hayes bought a house and exactly where it is. They know about Fiji. They know about Emma.
They know where her house is.
They know about Bash.
They fucking know about my son.
I can’t hug Emma tight enough once we’re all together again at Theo and Laney’s house. “Are you okay?”
“Getting there.”
I’m glad she trusts me enough to give me an honest answer and pissed that there’s any reason for her tonotbe okay. “I’ll find the leak,” I tell her. “I’ll find a way to make them go away.”
“Sabrina already did half of that,” Laney says, holding out her phone for me to see three words in a text message.
It was Chandler.
Bubbles appear on the screen, telling me Sabrina’s not done with whatever she’s texting, and a second later—No doubt. No question. I’d swear on my grandma’s scone recipe in a court of law.
I nod to Laney. “Tell her I’ll handle it.”
Theo’s looking over Laney’s shoulder. “Get in line,” he tells me.
“I am in line. I’m first.”
Emma sighs. “Stop. All of you. Fighting over who deals with it won’t actually solve it.”
It’ll solve a lot for me, and I’m gonna guess based on the way Theo’s jaw’s working that he’s in full agreement.
Laney too.
