“No. I mean, why did you comehere?” I point my fingers toward my lap. “To Cupid City.”
Her mouth tugs to one side, then she stares off into the distance for a moment. “Just because.”
I chuckle. “Uh-uh. Nobody comes to Cupid City just because. I need to understand this situation fully in order to protect you.”
She’s silent, still looking away.
“You have my word that any secrets you share are safe with me. I’ll take them to the grave if I have to. But you’d betterbe straight with me, right now, or we’re gonna have a serious problem on our hands.”
She nibbles her bottom lip. I can tell she’s not sure whether she can trust me, so I soften my tone further.
“Why don’t you tell me the truth.”
She blinks a few times before she finally whispers, “I grew up here.”
What? Harper Slade grew up in Cupid City? How did I not know? Wouldn’t it be a local claim to fame?
But she looks sincere, and it’s catching me off guard.
In fact, something about this whole scene is throwing me off. I wasn’t expecting her to be vulnerable.
“All right, fine. So why come back? And why keep it a secret? Does this have something to do with the scandal with your boyfriend?”
Her head pivots toward me. “You know about that?”
I shrug. “No. Not really.”
She sighs. “Maybe it does.” She’s still acting cagey, and that’s not gonna fly.
“What kind of trouble are you in, Harper?”
She stares at me for a good long while, then her shoulders droop. “I know it sounds stupid, but I thought if I came back here, I might be able to…”
There’s a long pause. “To what?” I say quietly.
She takes a shaky breath in through her nose. “To find myself again.”
Oh.
She came here tofindherself. That right there is some top-shelf celebrity bullshit if I’ve ever heard any.
“Gotcha.”
Not a total mental breakdown. No dangerous extortion situation or criminal blackmail scheme. Just your regular oldrun-of-the-mill celebrity vanity retreat. “So why is it important nobody knows you’re here? Even your own team?”
“They’d make me go back.”
I squint. “But you’re an adult.”
She nods. “I’m twenty-five.”
Huh.
She’s Lexie’s age. Something about that makes my heart hurt. Even if she is a full-of-herself megastar, she shouldn’t be out here alone given her iconic status and complete lack of understanding about how the world works.
Why isn’t someone looking out for her? Besides me.
“You realize you don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to, right? If they tried to take you against your will, that would be kidnapping.”
