Page 55 of Captivating

I bite my tongue. I don’t throw in her face that she asked in the first place. “Okay. Not tonight. But we’re going to discuss this at some point.”

Fuck.

I hate being the one to walk away, but that’s what she’s asking.

She wants me to leave her alone with her music.

It’s how she processes the world.

“We really don’t have to. I won’t ask again.” She picks her notebook up from the piano and jots something down.

“You won’t have to. I will,” I promise, then walk away.

LILAH

If the shoe fits, strut your stuff, Cinderella.

—Lilah’s Secret Thoughts

Lennox snuggles her sweet-smelling head into the crook of my neck and yawns.

Me too, baby girl. Me too.

Meanwhile, her momma’s eyes might as well be drilling a hole into the side of my head from the other end of my couch as she waits for an answer I don’t know if I’m ready to give.

“Can you repeat the question?” I stall, and Addie just shakes her head.

“Lilah Belle Ryan,” she calls me out.

“Okay, first, you’ve been around the family way too much if you’re using my full name.” I lower my voice and pat Lennox’s tiny tush when she startles against me. “Fine...” I whisper-hiss. “No. I haven’t spoken to Noah. I met with my manager and the label last week and lost my mind when they told me everythingthat has been sent by ‘With all my love.’That’s how this sicko has been signing everything.”

“Creepy much? My God, Lilah. How long has it been going on?”

“I’ve gotten weird things before, but they think this one started early last year. But they only started escalating and signing their messages two-ish months ago.” A chill rips down my back, and I close my eyes, hating how vulnerable this makes me feel.

Addie looks distraught, and I wonder how it’s been just a few months since I met her when it feels like years. “Has Noah known the whole time?”

I shake my head, and my heart sinks. “He found out recently. But it doesn’t matter. He still kept it from me. God, Addie. I’m so mad at him... I’ve never been this mad at him before.”

“Have you talked to him?”

I shrug. “Sort of, but not really.” I try to push away the hurt, but it doesn’t work. “We’ve texted. He’s checked in to see if I’m okay. If I’m safe. But we haven’t really talked, and we haven’t discussed the tour. Not yet. I know we need to, but I think about it, and I just get so freaking upset all over again.”

“Did you tell the label you fired him?” She looks at me over the top of her coffee cup, and I think if she could have backed away as she asked the question, she would have. I get the feeling everyone in my life is bracing for the impact that Noah and I fighting will have on everything. Like they know the blast zone will be enormous.

“No, I didn’t tell them I fired him. I just told them I wouldn’t start the tour until after Killian’s fight. That gives me a few more weeks to either calm down or not. It’s not like I can fire my entire team, and I’m under contract with the label. So, I’m basically stuck surrounded by people I can no longer trust, and I just don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do with that.”

“Oh, babe, I’m so sorry.” She pulls a cookie from the pink Sweet Temptations bag between us and offers it to me. “You could use this more than me.”

“I will never turn down a chocolate chip cookie.” With zero hesitation, I snatch that sucker out of her hand. “I swear these are better than sex.”

Addie chokes on her coffee as I pop the rest in my mouth.

“I’m sorry, but you must be doing it wrong, if that’s true.”

I think about Killian.

His weight on my body.

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