45
Simon
While Harlow left to confront Justin about what had happened, Simon wheeled the suitcases back to his apartment and closed the door behind him. Delicately, he placed them against the wall, then turned to face Evie, who’d been waiting for them to come back.
She looked at the suitcases and furrowed her brow. “Um… those are supposed to be in the car, right? What’s going on?”
“There was an incident,” Simon said simply. “Your father has rebooked your flight to tomorrow while he takes care of it. Everything is fine now—you don’t have to worry.”
A moment passed. Simon’s shock wore off, and, like a dried elastic stretched too far, his composure snapped. Everything that had happened, all of the fear, the injustice, and the pain, hit him at once. He’d almostdied—fallen four stories to hit the cement landing in an apartment he hated that had never felt like home. Alone, hurt, and hopeless.
Before he could help it, he sobbed.
“Whoa! Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Evie closed the space between them and set a hand on Simon’s shoulder. “I don’t know what happened, but if you’re here, you’re safe, right?”
“I d-don’t know wh-what’s going on.” Simon covered his face with his hand, embarrassed to be crying in front of Harlow’s daughter. He was supposed to be the strong one—the one who looked after his family first and foremost. It was selfish to draw attention to himself like this—to make Evie feel frightened and uncertain. He was bigger than that. But as reality set in, Simon couldn’t hold back.
He couldn’t be strong all the time.
“We were… we were t-taking the luggage downstairs, and… and someone… someone g-grabbed me.”
“That’s not cool.” Evie squeezed his shoulder, reminiscent of her father. “Did they touch you? Dad’ll whoop their ass, you know. Non-consensual touching iswrong,and I bet that he’s gone extra crazy because it’s you. It’s okay to be sad, but don’t let it eat at you forever, okay? You’ve got us. We’re all here to help.”
“N-No.” Simon took a few gulps of air to calm himself down, but his attempts were only partially effective. “He grabbed me and threw me over the railing of the stairwell. He was trying to k-kill me. I don’t even know who he was, but your dad said…” Should he tell her? He had to. If Evie was working with that lunatic, she had to know to keep herself safe. “Your dad said it was someone you work with.”
“What?” Evie paled. “Who tried to throw you over the railing in the stairwell?”
“I don’t know what his name is.”
“What did he look like?”
All of it had happened so fast, but certain details stuck in Simon’s mind. A flash of blond, a sneer, blue eyes… when he told Evie as much, she pressed a hand over her mouth and said nothing.
“Who is it?” Simon asked.
Evie shook her head, then tugged Simon close and held him tight. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “It’s my fault. I didn’t think that he would take it this far.”
Simon froze, then let go of his pain and hugged her back. Over her shoulder, he spotted Jayne coming down the hall, Parker in his arms.
“What’s going on here?” Jayne asked. “Simon? I heard you crying. Why is the luggage still here?”
“One of my ‘friends’ just tried to murder Simon,” Evie lamented. “Everything is okay, I think, but Dad and I are going to have to stay here an extra day. Dad’s taking care of business, and we’re going to miss our flight.”
Jayne stopped just short of the living room doorway. “What?”
“He threw me over the railing,” Simon admitted, ducking his gaze. His wrists throbbed from where Harlow had gripped him and pulled him up, and he figured they would bruise later. “I stepped through the door and he just… he just attacked. I didn’t know what was happening until I fell. If I hadn’t grabbed on at the last second, and if Harlow hadn’t been there to pull me back up, I would have fallen four stories.”
“Holyfuck.” Jayne looked to Evie for answers. “Who are we talking about? Tristan Ainsfield? Kevin Lopp?”
“Justin Outerbridge.”
“Oh,fuck him!” Jayne glanced murderously at the door. “Fucking Brent threw you over the stairs, Simon? Where did he go? Where is Harlow? I’m going to go help him beat his scrawny little ass into paste. Someone take Parker—he’s not old enough to kick ass yet.”
Out of habit, Simon wiggled out of Evie’s arms, approached Jayne, and took Parker from him. Parker, testy, made a grab at Simon’s broken nose. Simon turned his head to the side.
“Don’t even give Justin the time of day,” Evie said with a withering sigh. “He’s such a sleazy jerk. He’s been my ‘BFF’ for like, as long as he’s been on the show, because he won’t stop sucking up to me, and he does it in this like… ugh, it’s so awful I can’t even describe it right. It’s like he knows how to make you like him the first time you meet, so you think he’s cool and then you hang out all the time, but slowly, the nice guy mask starts to slip off, but by that time, you’re too invested to break things off without causing a big scene, you know? Iknowthat he’s using me to try to advance his career and that he’s mostly a stuck-up, whinybitch,but if I do anything to distance myself, it’s going to be huge drama. I hate it. I hate how fake it is, and that I know it’s fake, but I thought he was harmless apart from his temper tantrums. I didn’t think that he’d be evil enough to go out and do something likethis.”
“Well, I need to do something.” Jayne rolled his shoulders, ready for a fight. Since Simon had left the apartment, he’d changed into loose-fitting pajamas. “I’m either going to strategically break each bone in Justin’s body, then carefully skin him alive and pour salt all over his exposed muscles to watch them twitch, or I’m going to lose myself in something. Maybe baking. Who wants rage cookies? I figure while the butter softens, I can take care of calling the police.”
