“Why?”
“Because I’m going to call him.”
I glared. “What, so the two of you can start a Maia’s rejected fiancés club? Or so you can pat him on the back for also kicking me while I’m down?”
The muscle in his jaw worked furiously. “Does it make you feel better to blame me for your problems? I’m trying to help.”
All the anger I wanted to direct at Nate diverted towards Zane. “You donotget to act like you care. Youhope it haunts me still when I try to move on. You got your wish, asshole. Can’t move on from anything because my exes won’t let me.”
He blinked and for just a second I had a flash of the old Zane, the earnest kid who genuinely would’ve wanted to help. But then he smirked and the illusion was gone.
I called Ophelia back and took a deep breath as I waited for her to answer. “Can I do anything to stop him from giving more interviews?”
Zane leaned forward. “You could give me your phone like I asked.”
I gave him a look that should’ve caused him to spontaneously combust, but all he did was pick up his own phone.
Ophelia sighed. “Unfortunately, there isn’t really anything you can do to stop him unless something he’s saying is demonstrably untrue and harming your reputation. We check the latter box, but not the former.”
“He’s blatantly just doing it for the attention. He’s always loved being recognized and acting like he was a celebrity.”
“Yup.”
I covered my face, wondering when the nightmare would end. “Can we do anything about the reviews?”
Random strangers on the internet trying to destroy my life because I’d dared to have an involuntary reaction to a marriage proposal I had no idea was coming.
“I’ve got some calls out,” she said. “But really, you should think about staying there for a little while. No one is going to recognize you outside of LA and it’s not a good idea to show your face at work right now anyway. It’ll just fuel the fire. Take a break. Even if it’s not with him.”
My foot was tapping erratically on the ground, giving away just how far from relaxed I was.
When I hung up, two flight attendants appeared and started shuffling around the cabin. I’d lost all sense of time, so when they opened the shades and revealed how dark it was outside, reality sunk in. I’d be spending the night here either way.
I was still only wearing Zane’s shirt and would need to wear my sky-high platform heels to get to a hotel.
“Where’s my dress?” I asked him.
“Why?”
I summoned the last of my patience. “Because I’d prefer not to be trying to check in to a hotel wearing your undershirt. Or better yet, do you have extra clothes I could borrow?”
“You don’t need them. They’ll have a car waiting for us on the tarmac and my people will already have us checked in.”
“You’re fucking delusional if you think I’m staying with you.”
He sat forward, not backing down. “And you’re delusional if you think I’m letting you leave. Your phone doesn’t work here once you’re away from Wi-Fi. I don’t know if you have a wallet. You have no plan. No coat. And from what I can tell, you’ve been doing a piss-poor job of taking care of yourself without any of those things working against you. You’re coming to the hotel with me and you can leave once you get a decent night of sleep.”
His bandmate appeared from the back of the plane and took a seat next to Zane, avoiding eye contact like he hadn’t just overheard that exchange.
I turned my ire to him. “Ohnowyou want to be exempt from the kidnapping? You couldn’t have grabbed some clothes for me when youbroke in to my house?”
He met my eyes. “I wasn’t about to rake through your panty drawer, sugar. Your friend said she had it under control.”
I tried to focus on the subject at hand and not on his impossibly long lashes. Or the fact he’d just referred to my panty drawer. “So you do have a bag of clothes for me then.”
I glared at Zane for not saying something sooner as Kelly reached under the bench seat and pulled out a familiar duffel bag. He slid it across to me.
The plane was parked, so I took my seat belt off and opened the bag, excited to pull some real clothes on.
