Page 100 of The Romance Line
Everly sighs sympathetically. “And that’s when it began. It became a full-on feeding frenzy.”
In retrospect, how could it not? “Yep. They thought I was fighting him because I was jealous. They all thought I was pissed that she didn’t pick me. Nobody knew what had really happened, and the gossip rags becameobsessed. They kept pressing me all the time, and I wouldn’t give an inch. They wanted to know if I was really over her.” I huff out a breath. “But it’s honestly amazing how quickly you can get over somebody when they fuck someone else in front of you.”
Everly’s smile is understanding as she says, “I imagine so.”
“But they kept pressing me and pushing me and they wanted to know what happened. Why it ended. I never said she screwed my rival. I never said she cheated on me. What would be the point? It would make me look like a whiny child. I didn’t need that.”
“I understand. It sucks but I do understand.”
I thread my fingers more tightly through hers. “A week or so after the fight, the press was going at it. Trying to get to the bottom of the story. One night after a game, I left to go to Sophie’s house to get away from it all. I just needed a break. She was living in an apartment building then, and as soon as I got there, they were all waiting outside. So many paps. Everywhere, like flies at a picnic. This is America’s sweetheart, after all. All my protective instincts kicked in. Sure, they weren’t trespassing technically. They couldn’t actually be tossed off the lawn, but I wanted to throw them the hell out.” The memory rears up, along with it the residual anger over the invasion of my sister’s personal space.
Everly waits patiently for me to keep going.
“Sophie comes down to let me in and she’s holding Kade, and the photogs all start pestering her and rushing over to her. Kade was crying. More like bawling.”
I clench my teeth at the memory of my little nephew, and how scared he was in his mother’s arms. With no remorse for my actions, I shrug. “And I snapped, Everly. Isnapped and shouted, ‘Get the fuck away from my family. Get the fuck off her property, you vultures. Leave my sister alone.’”
She presses her lips together, perhaps reining in her emotions, her reactions. But holding my hand and not letting me go. It feels like a metaphor or maybe I just want her hand in mine to feel like one.
“And it was all caught on camera. Every shitty word I said. The next day the reports were everywhere that I was so mad about Bane and Lyra that I made my nephew cry. I became the monster who scared his own nephew. That’s how they spun it.” I scrub a hand across the back of my neck, latent irritation rising up in me, but also…acceptance. Maybe the acceptance I didn’t have then. My gaze drifts to our fingers, twined together, then back to her warm, accepting eyes. “And there was nothing I could do or say. Because all the neighbors had cameras and had captured me swearing at the press. All the press caught was me telling them toget the fuck off her property,and they had Kade bawling as I did it,” I say, my jaw ticking, hurt coursing through me over my little nephew’s reaction. “No one caught me going inside and hugging the kid and comforting him. Didn’t show my sister giving me a hug. It just showed me looking like?—”
It’s ironic we were watching that movie after all.
“A beast,” she says softly, with no irony this time, even though she squeezes my hand harder.
“And then a month or so later, Lyra goes on and she releases that song, and I’m the angry asshole ex who broke her heart. That was it. I shut down. I went from being somebody who had a fun comment now and then for the media to someone who was rude and standoffish. Her song made it seem like I’d hurt her, like I’d left her,and she’d sought solace in Bane’s arms. She has always spun everything to be good for her.”
Something seems to flicker in Everly’s pretty eyes—like she’s adding up details. I’m not sure what to make of that look. I’m not sure what to expect next either. But I know what I didn’t expect—Everly to climb into my lap, wrap her arms around me, and give me a big hug.
“I get it,” she says softly. “All of it.”
I band my arms around her too, holding her close. Neither one of us lets go.
She holds me tight like I matter to her, like she needed tonight as much as I did. Everly isn’t an open book. She doesn’t let you in right away. You have to earn trust with her, and I want to earn everything with her.
When she lets go, I cup her cheek. “I want your stories someday, too, sunshine.”
She smiles tenderly with real affection in those eyes that are my undoing. “I had a crush on you when I was a reporter. Before all of this.”
This is news to me. “You did?”
“You were charming and funny, and you always talked to me, and you were just so…” She nibbles on the corner of her lip. “So hot.” Then she adds, “Still are.”
My heart thunders, then kicks in my chest when she comes in for a long, slow kiss that feels like more than a kiss. It feels like she’s telling me something. I don’t know what, but maybe it’s that she’s learning to trust me too.
Or maybe that’s just what I want it to mean. I don’t really know, but I want to find out.
When I let her go, the story’s done. It’s been told. But there’s one part I just don’t get. “What I don’t understand is why she was there today though. I really don’t get it. Just to come in and wreak havoc?”
Everly’s eyes twinkle darkly. “I think I know,” she says in a bit of a whisper.
“Enlighten me.”
“The other morning when I was doing my online media rounds, I realized that shortly after you started posting on social media again, Lyra and Bane started liking your posts. After a few more posts, I think they realized this was real. You weren’t quiet anymore. And that scared her. So she reached out to you. She’s clearly all about image, and I think she’s afraid you’re going to say what really happened,” Everly posits.
“Okay, that makes sense, but why show up today?”
“It’s a distraction ploy. They’re afraid she’s not going to be America’s sweetheart anymore so they’re trying to change the narrative. She came without him, but I don’t think they’re actually broken up since they’re still liking each other’s posts. But they’re letting the media believe she wants you back. They’re creating this idea that she’s trying to get back together with the man she really loves because they’re afraid you’re going to tell everyone what happened. She’s trying to take over the story again. To drown outyourvoice with her louder one.”