The diner feels too hot suddenly. Too crowded and loud.
“I’m not answering this.”
“Willow—”
“No.”
Across the diner, whispers start rising now that everyone realizes something big is happening.
I step back from the counter.
Caitlyn softens, which somehow makes it worse. “I know this is overwhelming.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“No,” she admits. “But I know fame.”
I almost laugh at that. Fame?
This isn’t fame. This is violation.
I’ve spent my entire life being ordinary. Invisible in the best possible way. And now strangers are zooming in on my body online and debating which billionaire rockstar I sleep with.
A horrible twisting feeling crawls up my throat.
Then someone near booth seven mutters loudly enough for me to hear: “This is exactly what people were worried about.”
I turn instinctively.
Donna Mercer from the florist shop shakes her head at her friend. “All these celebrities moving here. Now look at the town.”
My chest tightens painfully.
Her friend glances toward me awkwardly. “Donna…”
“What?” Donna shrugs. “It’s true. Things were fine before all this.”
Before me.
That’s what she means. Before I became part of it.
Heat rushes into my face. Embarrassment, shame, panic. Like the entire diner is staring at me differently.
Not Willow, the girl who serves coffee. Just scandal, gossip, the girl messing around with famous men.
My vision blurs.
I grip the counter hard enough my knuckles ache, and then the diner door flies open, making the bell slam against the glass.
Nina.
My protective sister walks in looking furious. Dark curls flying everywhere, phone clenched in one hand.
Her eyes lock onto me. Then she sees Caitlyn. “Nope. Not happening.”
Caitlyn straightens. “You are?”
“The person telling you to back the hell away from my sister.”