Page 112 of From Me to You

“I hate this city.” I turned and locked my gaze with his. “I hate this city,” I repeated.

Jay squeezed my hand that he was holding. “If it’s bothering you, we don’t have to stay here. I know you will be at Yale soon. I can move with you there. I only have to stay here for the album or any promotions. Hell, I am sure I can travel back and forth for you. If you don’t want to stay here, we won’t.” Jay smiled, placing a kiss on my wrist.

Yale. I had forgotten all about college. He didn’t know I had decided to go to UCLA. Maybe I should go to Yale after all of this was over. It would be a great distraction, something to look forward to at least.

I nodded just as we touched down in the city of angels. No angel was about to save me from my imminent demise.

We made our way through the airport terminal when I heard a loud shriek.

“OMG, OMG. You are J.J. from The Four Foxes. I am a huge fan. Can I take a picture with you?” Two girls in very tiny shorts were jumping up and down, trying to maul my man.

Jay kept a healthy distance from them and thanked them for their support in the kind voice he reserved for all his fans.

“Here, you take the picture.” The tall redhead shoved her phone at my face. I guess they were only nice to him. I sighed, taking the phone from her hand.

I took about a dozen pictures, but they just wouldn’t stop posing or talking to him. Soon, a small crowd gathered, and everyone wanted pictures.

About twenty minutes and what seemed like one hundred pictures later, Jay politely told all of them that he had to go and thanked them one last time.

My finger hurt from taking all those pictures—apparently, since I took the first picture, I became the photographer of the day.

Jay put on a baseball hat and pulled it low. He slung his arm around my shoulder as we exited the airport.

“I am sorry about that,” he mumbled.

“You don’t have to apologize for spending time with your fans, Jay.”

I was glad that he was getting recognized—it meant his fan base was increasing, which was good because he needed that more than anything to make it big.

<<>><<>><<>>

A couple of days later, I was sipping coffee in the kitchen when Katy walked in. I hardly saw her these days—she was either very busy promoting the band or hanging out with White. She invited me every single time, but I refused.

“Evy, good morning.” She nodded.

“Morning,” I mumbled.

Things were too clinical between us, and I hated it. I hated losing her and Lily. I sighed. I completely ghosted Lily and haven’t replied to her in months. She still tried.

I knew everyone was breaking their heads trying to figure me out. But I had a role to play, so all of this came together in the end. Soon they will all find out why I had been carefully weaving the web of lies for months now. But they would never know that I was just an actress and the screenplay was written by someone else.

Every night I googled for loopholes that would get me out of this situation. I had collected all my evidence of her blackmail. But she had power and money. She could just make it all disappear. I didn’t want to risk it because Jay’s dream was in her hands.

“Evy, the pre-release album party is this weekend. You are coming, right?” she asked

Jay asked me to go with him, and I had to. Although staying in a room full of L.A. suits and White made me want to sprint the other way. I had to, for him, or I knew he would be very upset.

They were going to reveal the album name at the party, and Jay had been pretty hush-hush about it—he wouldn’t even tell me what it was called.

“Yeah, I am coming.”

Her warm hand touched my arm. “Evy, I won’t ask you what is wrong because I know you won’t tell me. But know that we are all here for you. We all love you, and honestly, we forgive you for being mean to us.” Katy gave me a small smile.

I just exhaled and stared at my coffee as I nodded. I was too tired to even speak.

“You are not depressed or anything, are you?” she asked, her voice concerned.

I had to be alive to be depressed, so I was not depressed. Or maybe I was. I didn’t know at this point. I wanted to find a wayout. I wanted to tell them everything, but it scared me so much. So, I just waited for my death, or what would feel like my death, at least. Losing him forever.