Page 25 of Between the Lines

“You want me to call him?”

She blinked, hard, and the serene expression she’d been trying to keep on her face broke as she shook her head.“They’re exhausted from PJ’s birthday. I ate too much cake,” she admitted. “That’s really why I was too wired to sleep.”

“Ellie.”

“I know.” She laughed, between sobs. “I should be eating better.”

“What?No,” I said, moving to where she was. “I’m saying, I don’t think it matters how exhausted they are—he and Logan need to know about this, before they see it on the internet, which…we should expect.”

She nodded. “You’re right. I just…God,” she huffed, covering her face with her hands. “He…he grabbed meso hard,” she whimpered. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“You didexactlywhat you were supposed to do.”

“It didn’t feel like it. It felt so…I didn’t know what he wanted. If he was going to rob me, or…or…”

“But he didn’t,” I said, pulling her into me again. “He didn’t. You managed to think clearly enough to use the tools you had available, and that’sallyou could’ve done.”

“What if it wasn’t enough?”

“We’ll never know,” I countered, pulling back just enough to look her in the eyes. “Don’t let yourself go there.”

“I don’t want to, I promise. But I don’t even wanna close my eyes right now.”

“We’re not sleeping then,” I said immediately. “I’ll call Charlotte first thing in the morning, and they’ll reschedule our scenes, work around us.”

“It’s not that simple.”

I smiled at her. “I love that you didn’t even consider this, but…you aunt is literally one of the studio owners. It’sabsolutelythat simple.”

Her phone started ringing before she could respond. One look confirmed the worst—it was already out.

“It’s Chloe,” she said.

As in, Chloe McKenna, her PR manager.

“Sit down,” I insisted, pointing to the couch. “I’ll hit Pierre while you talk to her.”

She blew out a harsh, ragged sigh. “I…need water first.”

“I’ll bring it,” I told her, steering her toward the couch. “Answer that call.”

I left her sitting there in a full pout, but shedidanswer the call.

There was no sense in putting it off.

While she explained everything to Chloe, I intercepted Pierre, who had already started blowing her up.

Somehow, I managed to talk him into staying put.

He believed me when I said I had her, because I did—relationship status be damned. I ended up taking the call from Nubia too—Nubia Perry, Ellie’s aunt—who was already putting steps in place for me and Ellie both to be absent from set the next day.

And then Chloe insisted Ellie put me on the phone.

I listened carefully to the instructions—removing the social media apps before I returned the device, making sure only calls from Ellie’s preset “top ten” could even get through.

I was surprised my name was in that list of numbers, but I didn’t comment on it.

Afterward, I was supposed to ensure two things—that Ellie slept, and that she ate the next morning, neither of which would be a problem.

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