“I’d had to go to court many times because the men who were stalking me were getting worse. The last incident that made me leave it all behind, someone found out how to get into the backyard of my home. I’ve never been more scared in my life. They had never gotten that far before. I called the police and the person even left something behind, so I knew they had been there.”
“Where the fuck were your people, sweets? Who was protecting you?” Duke asked, clearly frustrated.
“I’m an orphan. I’ve never known my father and my mother died when I was young. I didn’t have any family who would take me in, so I spent the rest of my life in different homes. Until I was eighteen and given a check as a good luck in the real world.”
“This system is so fucked up, Man.”
“Trust me, I know. Anyway, that final time I knew it had to be the last time or I would be dead. I couldn’t allow this to become my normal. Over the months prior to me leaving, I’d stashed a large lump sum of cash in my closet for that very moment. I knew when I left, I would leave it all. It wasn’t like I ever really wanted to be an actress, anyway. It was the thing I fell in to, to take care of myself.”
Duke pinched the bridge of his nose, then rubbed his forehead. “How the hell did you get here, of all places?”
A smile tugged at my lips at the memory of the kind cop who’d given me directions to my safe haven.
“That night, I had a police cruiser outside my place, watching over me. He gave me a ride to the bus station. I grabbed everything I needed, then sent a text to my manager before disconnecting from that life. Before all of that, I cut my hair off and dyed it black. I just hoped no one would recognize me without that iconic red hair. I’m honestly shocked no one here knew.”
“Baby, these folks are not getting out to the movies as much as you think. We don’t even have a movie theater. All we have is movie in the square and all they play are the oldies. Not to mention, this town just isn’t into all that new age shit. I get we need social media and things, but we keep our town afloat.”
I nodded. That was one of the things I loved about Rose Haven—they truly cared about their people.
“It was a culture shock when I got here. It was the reason I tried to be lowkey when I first moved here. I wanted to avoid all chances that someone would recognize me.”
“I would’ve been on the same thing.”
I continued to tell him about the cop who told me to come here. Then how lucky I was to find Jessa and Miss Lottie.
“I thought things were good in my old life. I told them not to look for me and leave me alone. It was all in the letter and the text message. So when I bought the old donut shop, that was my dream before acting. It had an apartment above it, so I could just go right downstairs and get started on baking. It was perfect.”
“Until?” he asked.
“Until the day of the opening, I checked social media. I hadn’t been on it in such a long time. But for some reason I needed to check and see if all talks of me had slowed down. But, no, I came across a video of my old manager standing on a podium hosting a press conference.”
I paused for a moment to get my bearings.
“I couldn’t believe he did that. I told him in that letter why I wanted to be left alone. I didn’t have anymore obligations at the time, so I didn’t owe anyone else more of my time or life. I just wanted an out, and I deserved it.”
Duke reached out and gripped my chin lightly, turning me to face him.
“You still deserve it, sweets. Nobody is entitled to your time if you don’t want them to have it.”
I leaned in and kissed him, needing to feel him close to me. I wanted more. But I knew I had to finish the story. So I pulled back and finished.
“He was on that podium getting those people going. Telling them I was missing and how the police department had something to do with it. Encouraging my fans to find me at all costs. Which is probably why those girls took pictures of me. I know they’re going to find me in no time and then my life will become a shit show again.”
“Nah, not if I got anything to say about it. Thank you for trusting me with this piece of you. Now that I know, I can move correctly when it comes to you.”
I didn’t want him changing to cater to my crazed past. I also didn’t want to go back to living a guarded life.
“I don’t want you to change to fit into my life of nonsense.”
Duke tilted his head and glanced in my direction. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.
I shrugged. I didn’t have the answers to everything but I knew that I wanted to keep experiencing the life I had been building.
“I just want to live at least for the time that I have before it all comes crumbling down.”
Duke pulled me into his chest, his arms tightening around me as the weight of my words settled between us
“We gone figure it out. As long as you allow me to be there for you,” he whispered.
