Drew cracked a smile. “Chris Hemsworth, huh? That’s who does it for you?”
No. You do it for me.
Since I couldn’t tell him out loud, I said, “All I want in a man is strength and a big-”
“Ellie, stop!”
“Heart!” I finished, laughing. “What did you think I was going to say?”
Drew grinned. “I never know with you.”
Unsure what he meant and afraid to ask, I snuggled into him. Everything around us was alien, changing all the time. But in the moment, none of it mattered because we had each other. Safe in our own little cocoon.
The first thing that happened when I turned my phone on after I stepped off the flight from Glasgow was the arrival of a text message from my sister, Lucy:
Don’t panic, but buy a newspaper.
So obviously, I panicked.
I dragged my bag behind me, fighting my way through the unusually busy shopping area to get to the news stand. I knew something would be in the papers after the incident at the club but I didn’t want to see it. The fact Lucy had told me to buy a paper meant only one thing. I was in the paper.
When I reached the newspaper stand, I was pleased to see we hadn’t made the front page of Britain’s best loved tabloids. I grabbed one from the shelf, and flicked to the entertainment section. The top of the page displayed a full colour photo of me running off stage, under the headline ‘Mystery Woman Razes Hell At Scottish Gig.’
My eyes scanned the text; mostly it was a mini review of the gig, but the journalist had also posed the question of who I was, and if Jason and I were “just friends” based on him calling me beautiful.
Is that all it takes to make a headline?
I flipped through a couple of different newspapers to check what else had been said about me, but it was only more of the same. Nothing about Jason’s drunken pratfall off the bar at the club.
As much as I loathed Derek, I’d never been able to fault his ability to quickly clean up a potential shit storm, though why he would when the shit storm was exactly what he wanted, I had no idea.
From inside my jeans pocket, my phone rang.
Jason.
He had taken an earlier flight, and Drew and Mack had gotten up earlier than the ass-crack of dawn to drive the van and equipment home, and I’d flown back with Joey.
“Hey, Ellie. Okay, don’t freak out -”
“I’ve seen the paper.” I ducked my head, in case some eagle-eyed music fan recognised me from my debut as tabloid fodder. The picture of me wasn’t a close-up, but even the small possibility of being spotted made me a little paranoid.
“Yeah, about that. I need to talk to you. Are you at home yet?”
His uneasy tone made me nervous. Of all people, I’d expected him to be the one making jokes and telling me it was no big deal.
“I’m at the airport. What’s going on?”
“Derek called. Everyone’s gone nuts about this story. He’s kind of encouraged the idea that you… you’re… part of the fight between Drew and me.”
Sickness swirled in my gut. “What do you mean?”
“Some people think you might be a factor in why Drew suddenly hates me, and Derek said he’ll make an official statement later.”
That explained why Derek had halted the drunken bar story. Two brothers fighting? Interesting. Two brothers fighting over a woman? Priceless.
I knew only too well how the media could spin an innocent situation into something scandalous; you can’t open a magazine or go online without the newest sensationalised celebrity story hitting you in the face, but it had never been a problem for me before. I stayed under the radar because, firstly, I never wanted to be in the spotlight, and secondly, I didn’t want my career tangled up with the band’s. I wanted to sell my work on my own merits, not because I had connections with famous people. Becoming successful by association would be tantamount to cheating.
“Tell him from me if he encourages this rumour any further, he can expect to find himself in court.”