out of the room and I can tell something is off. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just nervous.” She wrings her hands. “Everyone knows about the stalking and now they are going to ask me about it in the interview.”
“Just breathe. You haven’t done anything wrong. You’re the victim here. Want me to threaten to kick his ass if he does anything shitty?”
She laughs. “I needed that.” We walk toward the studio hand in hand, when someone steps in front of us.
“Samantha, I’m Tommy, Mr. Morgan’s assistant.” She shakes his hand and his eyes focus in on our joined hands.
“Nice to meet you, this is Hunter Stone; he is my security so he’ll be following me backstage.”
Tommy nods at me and then instructs us to follow him. He shows Sam where to stand and what her cue is to come out on stage, then disappears.
In a few minutes the music plays, signaling Sam to go out. When the audience sees her they all cheer, and she waves to them as she makes her way to the chair. Her and the host exchange greetings before she sits down. He begins by asking her about the tour, and her music, then it comes up. I feel helpless having to watch it all go down.
“So, I have to say I was surprised because I haven’t heard anything about this, but do you now have a man in your life?”
The audience cheers as Sam’s face shows the shock that I’m experiencing. “Who told you that?” she plasters on the fake smile but I can see past it and can tell she is panicking.
“My assistant actually saw the two of you backstage.” Shit.
“Um, I guess the cat is out of the bag now.” Everyone starts to clap as she squirms in her seat.
“He’s your security, right?” A picture of us taken by the paparazzi a couple days ago appears on the screen. We are holding hands and I am helping her into the car. The audience starts to clap again and yell their approval.
“Uh yeah.” I can tell that all she wants to do is run away.
The interview awkwardly continues, the topic stays on us for a little while, although Sam doesn’t say much. They never ask about the stalker. I guess breaking this story was better for them. When her interview is over, she all but runs off the stage to me.
“Get me out of here please.” I don’t say anything, I just lead her back to the dressing room, waiting while she changes. She reappears a few minutes later, her huge sunglasses already on.
We walk outside and a new slew of questions are being thrown at her. About us, our relationship, my motives. It is really pissing me off and if I didn’t know it was what they wanted, I would punch one of these assholes in the face.
We head back to the hotel instead of going to dinner, deciding to order room service. Tomorrow we go to a different city for one of her shows, and I can tell what happened tonight really shook her. I’m in the room getting changed when I hear the door open; considering no one else’s rude enough to not knock, I know it must be her mother.
“Samantha Baker, how could you decide to reveal this infatuation to millions of people? Do you realize how irresponsible that was?”
“It’s not like I had a choice, Mom. His assistant saw us backstage.”
“And whose fault is that? You know I bet that’s what he wanted.” She points her finger at me accusingly. “Being with you wasn’t enough, he needed a slice of your celebrity. What have I always told you? No one will ever be there for you except me. Remember that.” I move to go out there and defend her, but as I emerge, the door is already slamming shut.
Sam has her head in her hands. A knock at the door draws my attention away from her. I tip the room service attendant and roll the cart into the room. We eat in almost silence and I can tell how badly her mother gets to her. She wants her approval so badly.
I walk into the room after eating and put my earlier plan into action.
This could go one of two ways.
She’ll either hate it or love it.
Chapter Fourteen
Samantha
“Sam!” I hear Hunter call me. “Come here for a minute.”
I stand up, moving even though all I want to do is lie down on the couch and feel sorry for myself. When I open