Page 86 of 4-Ever

He shook his head, his smile so wide it made my breath catch.

“I’m a bit sore but it’s the good kind,” I explained to him. “Besides, isn’t having more sex the cure all?”

Faise rolled his eyes at my bad joke, turned off the water, and reached for a bath towel. Once he was dried off, he checked my wound and changed my bandage.

With that done, I headed back out to my closet to grab sweatpants and t-shirts. It was only then that I remembered Faise’s suitcases. He’d packed up his favorite clothes and his bathroom toiletries yesterday. I loved the fact that his stuff would soon mix in with mine. It made what was happening real.

We quickly got changed and headed downstairs to find my mom and Ciara sitting down with Elias and Zoe, chatting away. All four sets of eyes turned to us, and the conversation in the room ceased.

“What's going on?” I asked.

Zoe cleared her throat. “We heard from Ailey. The good news is that all the evidence and witnesses support your claims that Dallas assaulted you and that you and your security team acted in self defense. There won’t be any charges laid against you, or Faisel. The bad news is that Dallas was released on bail and he and his lawyer are talking to the press. He's denying he did anything wrong, and according to my source at Entertainment News One, he's accusing you and the band of abusing your celebrity status. Of course, it's bullshit, but at this point, there's nothing that we can do to stop him. Unless he slanders you. To counter this, we need to have our own strategy. I’d like to set up interviews with major news sites so that you can get your side of the story out there.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Not only is Ciara abused by this asshat, and we’re assaulted, but now we have to defend ourselves? Can't we just let the lawyers take care of this? Why do we need to say anything?”

“We don't have the luxury of sitting on this,” Zoe continued. “You know how quickly public opinion can shift. It's best to get ahead of this type of thing rather than let someone else control it.”

“I agree with Zoe,” Elias added. “She’s monitoring all the social channels and entertainment sites to see if Dallas steps over the line. If he does, you can guarantee we’ll sue him. In the meantime, get your faces out there and show that you’re the injured party in this whole thing. You might also want to consider having your sister take part in some of these interviews.”

“I don't think she’s ready for that,” I replied, my gut tightening. “Ci?”

“I'm not,” she replied and my mom put an arm around Ciara’s shoulders. “It took me a while to face what was happening. And if not for coming down here, I don’t know that I would’ve admitted what was really going on until much later. I just can’t talk to the media about this right now. If you want me to give a statement, I can do that. But no interviews. I'm just not ready. I'm sorry.”

“Of course, you're not ready. And I don't expect you to do this.” I glanced at Elias and Zoe and then my mother. “I'm the one the press want to talk to and I'm the one whose face is splashed all over the news. And I've dealt with difficult interviews before. This is nothing that I can’t handle. Leave my sister out of it.”

“All right,” Zoe replied with a nod. “That’s fine. I had a talk with Averell this morning and he's fully supportive of my plan to get ahead of this story. I'll set up the interviews and make sure that Elias and I are with you. That way if there's any questions that you're unsure about answering, we're there to assist. We're not going to let you go through this by yourself.”

“Can't the reverse be true?” Faisel asked. “I mean, Dallas has been charged, not found guilty yet. Are we allowed to comment on what happened or will we be accused of slander?”

“The arrest is public knowledge,” Elias assured us. “Like I said, I'll be there with you to help answer any questions and to monitor what's being asked and how you should respond.”

“We've still got rehearsals and recording to do,” I added. “And then we're heading out on tour again. So, we're going to have to schedule these interviews as soon as possible.”

“I’m on it,” Zoe replied, and picked up her phone, typing away.

“And I want to be with Ronin. For every interview,” Faise stated, and took hold of my hand. “That’s not a suggestion, but a demand.”

“Understood.” Elias’s phone buzzed. “Excuse me, I have to take this.”

“If you need privacy, you can use the music room. Last door on the right.”

Elias nodded and headed down the hallway. Faise and I finally took a seat on the sectional. My mom and my sister smiled at us, and I was wondering why. Until I remembered that Faise was holding my hand. My face heated but I made no move to let go of him.

“And we’ll also have to have a plan for this,” Zoe pointed to our interlocked hands. “Or am I jumping ahead?”

I glanced at Faise and the smile on his face had me reaching over to taste it.

“Nope, you’re right on time.”

CHAPTER 27

FAISE

While Ronin took his sister to her first therapy appointment, I stayed behind at his place and unpacked.

Wait. I guess it was our place now.

Things were moving at lightning speed and yet, this wasn’t much different than our day-to-day life or living with him on the road. He was always in my personal space anyway.

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