Page 15 of Stars and Scars

“I can’t believe this. I’m not even allowed to be in my own house. What did I do wrong?”

Seeing her upset stabs me in the heart. I give her shoulder a squeeze.

“Everyone who gets into these types of situations feels the exact same way. You didn’t do anything wrong. This is something that’s happening to you, and it sucks, but it’s not your fault.”

I guess I’m a little better at this psychotherapy thing than I thought. She perks up a little, nods, even graces me with a weak smile. If her tiny smile is this dazzling, I can’t imagine what a full blown expression of happiness would do to me.

“Thank you. I guess anyone in the public eye has this sort of thing coming.”

“Nobody deserves this, no matter what they do for a living. The Order is playing the propaganda game, and using your fame to draw attention to their cause. It could have been anyone in your position that they chose to pick on.”

“Yeah, well, I wish they had chosen someone else. Does that make me a terrible person?”

“It makes you a human being.”

I put the Jeep in drive and pull back onto the highway. I keep a careful watch both ahead and behind. Near as I can tell, no one is following us or trying to keep watch on our route. Just in case, I take a wildly illogical path to her place, going about ten miles out of the way.

“Hey, can we stop for something to drink?”

I glance over at Charlotte, and notice the sweat glistening on her skin. I’m used to the jungles of Colombia, where it’s a hundred degrees in the shade with nearly one hundred percent humidity. But Charlotte is probably used to cars with things like air conditioning.

I pull into one of those gigantic gas stations with showers for truck drivers and a restaurant built in. I tail Charlotte inside, keeping watch for danger. She picks up a bottle of some green chunky shit that looks like vomit and probably tastes worse. I go with plain old bottled water, something you can rely on.

I spring for the drinks, using the Platinum Security stipend card. We get back into the Jeep and I start digging the keys out of my pocket. Charlotte digs out her phone and then holds it out in the air in front of her.

“Heeeey! Hello to all my peeps in Charlottesville! I just want to thank you all for being worried about me. It really means a lot. I have some good news, though. Meet my new bodyguard, Grayson!”

My jaw drops as she turns the camera toward me.

“Are you seriously filming this?” I sputter.

“Don’t mind Grayson, he’s a little camera shy. But don’t worry, what he lacks in camera presence he more than makes up for in credentials. Grayson used to work for the CIA, and he’s a certified badass!”

“Knock it off!”

I grab the phone out of her hand and toss it into the center console. Charlotte looks at her empty hand, then looks at the phone, and finally turns her incendiary gaze on me.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m stopping you from making a terrible mistake! The Order is hunting you, Charlotte. You can’t just go and broadcast your location to the entire world.”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t live streaming. I have to send the vid to my team for edits before it’s fit to post, anyway.”

I grind my teeth in frustration, but when I speak I manage to sound calm.

“Charlotte, you’re going to have to stop posting content.”

Her dark eyes shine with bristling dissent.

“For how long?”

“I don’t know…until this mess with the Order is cleared up.”

“And how long is that going to take?”

I open my mouth, close it, and then sigh.

“I don’t know, Charlotte.”

---