Page 57 of Hey Girl
“Well, you’ll love England,” I tell her, releasing her hand and putting both arms around her as we sway. “It’s got a slower pace to it, in my opinion. And then you can meet Leo, and you’ll love Dean and Sadie. And the press is less aggressive there; they're too busy ruining the Royals' lives.”
She frowns at my quip but goes back to her thoughtful smile as her fingers softly stroke the back of my neck. Ahhh… so relaxing.
“Okay,” she finally whispers and I barely hear her.
“Really?” I dip my head, widening my eyes at what I just heard. I thought it would take a lot more convincing than that. Like two weeks at least.
“Really,” she nods, pressing her lips together. “But only the UK,” she adds sternly.
“You sure? Because I have faith you can handle a little bit longer than that.”
“With you, I probably could,” she agrees. “But…” she releases me and walks off to the other room.
“Um… what’s going on?” I ask, feeling abandoned in the middle of my makeshift dance floor but my ass tightens up and a gasp of joy gets lodged in my throat when I see her walk back in with a Dudley Boy in each hand.
“What?” I hold my arms out for the adorable little ferret boys. “I thought they got adopted.”
“They did,” she assures me, looking a mite shy. “By us.” she finishes and I feel my jaw drop through the linoleum.
“What? Are you serious?”
She nods excitedly. “But I can only get a pet sitter for so long, so the UK tour it is. Then I’ll come back and keep these little guys warm for you.”
18
REBECCA
I’m spending the day wrapping up projects so that I can have the next month or so free to be with my man. For the first time, I’m going to get on an airplane and visit another country! While I don’t feel quite ready to join the band on the US tour - not to mention it’s longer, and I need to work sometime - I’m going along on their short stint in the UK for two weeks. And I’ve never been excited to meet people in my life, but I’m looking forward to meeting Leo and the rest of the Wishbone peeps. Even through emails, Leo and Sadie are so friendly and make me feel just so damn good. Like my drummer man, they put me in a good mood.
Chris and the rest of the band are rehearsing their setlist for the tour while I try to get everything in order with pet care and all my design jobs wrapped up.
I’ve cleaned the house from top to bottom and am now just relaxing with the design app on my computer, when a message alert pops up. I don’t recognize the sender, but it’s not uncommon for me to get messages from Reddit Randos, so Iclick on it, expecting it to be another sugar baby request or a foot fetish freak.
From: TTDiva99
Subject: You’re famous
What?
I wonder if they figured out I’m dating a rockstar - no, I’m not tired of saying that yet.
The message quickly loads with an image of some kind of gossip rag headline… with my photo underneath.
“Gibbering Groupie is Secret Goodtime Girl” it reads, and the photos beneath are of me. The ones I sent to Chris. The sexy mirror selfie and one of the boudoir shots. The ones meant just for him; that he made me feel empowered enough to have taken.
I’m frozen, in shock, I think. I feel the blood drain from my face and my stomach tighten up as my heart starts to gallop, pounding so hard it’s difficult for my lungs to take in air.
How did this happen? I don’t understand…
I try to read the words in the article, even though I know better.
Not as innocent as she seems - Risqué photos uncovered. It’s unclear what the sexy poses are for but clearly not to promote family values or Disney.
I don’t get any farther than that. It will crush me, I’m sure of it.
I slam my laptop shut, and I’m not sure why, but I pull all of the plugs out of it. I’ve switched over to some kind of robotic mode, my psyche trying to save my emotions for the impending meltdown headed my way.
The room is dead silent, save for my breaths that are coming out in short rasps. My eyes wander over to my phone. I should call him, I think. Oh my god, I feel so woozy. I try to focus on my phone as I reach for it, and I startle when it chirps with an alert… and then another. It’s beeping and buzzing like crazy, and I tryto ignore it, clenching every muscle in my body as I find Chris’s contact number.