Page 73 of Aria

Her eyes popped. “Of course.”

Confusion settled between Julia’s dark eyebrows. “Kind of out of the loop here,” she said, raising a hand in the air. “Was that your jerk of an ex?”

“Yes,” I confirmed. “He was more than just a jerk. It was an abusive relationship, and he was in jail for a few years on a rape charge.” I decided to leave out the rest of the gory details—there were a lot of them. “And… well, he’s back.”

Both girls fell silent as Lisa dropped her chopsticks with aclankagainst her plate.

I rushed to continue before they spoke. “I think he’s still obsessed with me. I received a birthday card from him, and then he showed up at a bar that the guys were at last week. He was looking to fight Devon, but Noah beat him up and got arrested.”

The silence from the rest of the table was deafening.

“Can I get you ladies anything? Another cocktail, perhaps?”

A lanky waiter stood beside our booth with a forced smile on his face.

“No, thank you. I think we’re okay,” I muttered.

Julia piped up. “We are not okay. Send over a round of tequila shots. Make mine a double.”

“Certainly,” the man nodded.

“Chelsie, why am I just now hearing about this?” Lisa asked. Tears were coating her copper eyes. “This is a big deal.”

“And how come you didn’t tell me about this, like…at all?” Julia added.

Guilt threatened to swallow me whole. “Julia, I didn’t even tell Devon. And now he hates me for it.” I shifted my focus to Lisa and said with urgency, “Lis, I was going to tell you, but I didn’t want to think about it. I just wanted to pretend this wasn’t happening. Talking about it gives it life… it makes it all too real.”

“How have we not seen it all over the media?” Julia wondered curiously. “Facebook is my news outlet and I’ve heard zip.”

“Sean has been working overtime trying to keep this under the radar,” I explained. “With the Grammy’s so close, this could ruin them. But I’m sure there’s no keeping quiet forever.”

Lisa was silent as she swished her sushi roll around in a small bowl of soy sauce.

“Your drinks, ladies,” the waiter said, popping over to the booth and passing out the shots.

Julia wasted no time in gulping it down as I took a small sip and placed it back down with a wince.

“Chels, you need to—”

I quickly cut Lisa off. “I’m not going to the police.”

“I wasn’t going to say that. I know how the police handled your situation in the past,” Lisa told me. “I was going to say… you need to get a weapon to protect yourself. A gun.”

Julia sucked a dollop of spicy mayo off her thumb. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think? Chelsie wouldn’t even know how to use it.”

I tilted my head back, staggered. “For your information, I have one. And I’ll use it just fine if I need to.” I knew my friends were angry with me. They were disappointed in my inability to let them in, as I was so apt at doing with the people I cared about. Truthfully, I had no one to blame but myself.

“Well, I hope to God you never have to use it,” Lisa said as she popped the roll into her mouth.

Julia whistled loudly. “This conversation has gotten way too dark. Let’s talk about sex. Specifically, sex between me and Noah.”

We were accustomed to her lack of filter, but I gaped at her anyway.

“What? I know you’ve all been wondering.”

I pushed my tongue against my teeth. The thought of Julia and Noah together likethatmade my stomach churn. Adding graphic details would be enough to send my sushi careening back up. I wasn’t sure what it was about the two of them that gave me a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach; it just did. Noah was a sexy, famous rock star and he had every right to indulge in cheap thrills as he pleased.

Then I winced. I’d manage to call Noah sexy and Julia cheap in the same thought. I didn’t like where my brain was taking me.

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