Page 68 of Siren's Game

"I'll call her anyways." He reaches for his phone then all but runs outside to find better reception.

Van stays where he is and shakes his head, his shoulders sagging with a heavy sigh.

"What is it, boss?"

Van seems exhausted and I get it. He never had that many media requests to handle for us, going from zero to ‘dating the Sirens’ level must be a challenge.

"Nothing. I'm just a bit worried, that’s all." He grimaces and takes a seat, rubbing his hand over his jaw. "It's probably nothing but I don't like what's happening out there."

"Is there anything you can do? We can do?" I raise my eyebrow at him.

I get what he’s saying. Something is off about . . . well, everything. I have a bad feeling in my gut and I just hope it’s a false alarm.

"Nothing that would help." He sighs and rolls his shoulders, leaning back his head to have a contemplative look at the ceiling. "Let me rephrase. Nothing that wouldn't be the equivalent of a child running to their parents to tell on someone and the parents proceeding to scold the bullies, which makes everything even worse in the long run. Does that make sense?"

"It does," I admit and sit back down next to him. My fingers are itching with the urge to call Kayla and make sure that she’s feeling alright. I’m sure the whole situation is scary for her as well. "I'm sure it will be fine." I’m telling this more to myself than to Van, but he gives me a nod.

"I'm going to have a talk with their manager or label or whoever is responsible." He stretches his arms over his head. "I'm sure we'll come up with something. Then again, I guess they have their reasoning for letting all of this play out."

"What if their reasoning is 'we are dicks and don't give a fuck?'" I wonder aloud, making him look at me with a worried wrinkle between his eyebrows.

After all, that’s what Kayla is assuming their reasoning is and I don’t find that a reach, looking at what they’ve been doing. No wonder she wants to get away from them. "What? Don't tell me that's such a far-fetched assumption."

"I guess it isn't." He scrunches his nose, annoyed, and sighs. "Anyway. The Sirens are part of the fam now, so I'll go and see how to best deal with it."

"Thank you, Van." He nods at me, then gets up walks and leaves as well. Meanwhile I finally get to check the reply Kayla sent.

Kayla: Come over around six?

I look at her message. Why didn’t she mention the incident? Does she not trust me?

I take a deep breath. Maybe she just wants to distract herself. I should stop reading so much into every little thing she does or wording of messages she sends me.

Asher: Got it. Food?

Kayla: Let's order. That carbonara was bomb. Off now, got a situation.

Ah, there it is. It makes me feel a bit bad; of course I wish nothing happened to them, but a bit of weight falls off my shoulders, knowing that she trusts me enough to mention those kind of incidents to me.

Asher: I heard. Good luck. See you tonight.

Kayla: <3

She sent me a heart.She fucking sent me a heart.I know some people just use it to communicate, but I can't fucking stop grinning. And I know how much of a hypocrite that makes me when I tease Luca about it, but I still can’t stop that giddy feeling in my stomach.

I'm getting there!

I'm embarrassingly nervous as I ride up the elevator to Kayla's flat. Luca stepped out on Millie's floor, and I think the two of them are going out to eat somewhere.

A stupid idea if you ask me, considering their fans feel it’s okay to verbally and fucking physically to attack Millie, but what do I know?

I have no idea what our plan for tonight is besides eating, but I've stopped at the restaurant we ordered from the last time and brought enough food to feed an army. There’s no way I would have waited long enough to get to her place and then order it. I’m fucking hungry.

When I step out of the elevator, Kayla comes into view immediately as she's standing by her open apartment door.

Her eyes light up when she sees me, then she schools her face to a more neutral expression, but it lights up again when she notices the boxes I'm carrying and the scent of our food hits her.

"So good that you're here, I'm fuckingstarving," she says and comes closer to take one of the boxes that's dangerously close to falling and carries it inside, closing the door behind me once I walk past her.

---