Page 405 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.
I only know it feels like my body is on its way home to Silver Creek, but I’m leaving my heart in LA.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Audrey
All things considered, lifein Silver Creek post-celebrity-relationship (fake celebrity relationship?) could be worse.
Flint and Joni weren’t wrong about inquiries from gossip sites and other reporters. Fortunately, my lack of a social media presence has made me slightly more difficult to reach. Mostly, I’ve just gotten emails. A few people have shown up at the house or stopped by the lab, but since Nate has insisted on shadowing me everywhere I go, it’s been easy to simply let him turn them away.
I pull off my glasses and drop them onto my desk, then close my eyes, pressing my fingers into my eye sockets.
“I’m not gonna lie, Audrey. You look like you need a good night’s sleep,” Nate says, setting a mug of coffee down on my desk. “Drink this, at least.”
I manage a small smile and reach for the cup. “I don’t think I’vehada good night’s sleep since I got home.”Since I left Flint.I think of how easily I slept with his arms around me, evenjust after a horrible run-in with the skeevy photographer at the premiere party, and a wave of longing rushes through me.
“Hey, whatever happened to the guy at the party? Ed Cooper?”
Nate drops into an empty chair across from my desk, causing a loud creak.
Malorie, one of the forest rangers who staffs the research lab, shoots us some side-eye, and Nate squirms.
“Can you get in trouble for me being here?”
I wave a dismissive hand. “I don’t work for them. My university has an agreement with the state allowing me to use the space, but I’m my own boss around here. You’re fine.”
“Will that be in jeopardy too?” Nate asks. “If you don’t find new funding?”
I nod. “Sadly, yes. Malorie is grumpy—she’s the one who just gave us angry eyes—but everyone else is really great. I’ll be sad to go.”
“Maybe you won’t go,” Nate says. “Don’t give up yet.”
I take a long drink of coffee. “Oh, geez,” I say, putting down the mug. “I forgot how bad the coffee is here.”
“Sorry,” Nate says. “You looked desperate.”
I press my face into my hands, rubbing them up and down like I’m trying to wake myself up, then breathe out a long sigh. “I miss him, Nate.”
“I’m sure he misses you, too.”
“So, Ed Cooper?”
“Right. We called the cops on him that night, but he’d somehow managed to snag an official invitation to the party, so they had to let him go. He wasn’t breaking any laws by being there.”
An uncomfortable shiver runs down my spine. “I just feel like there ought to be a way to stop him somehow.”
“Unfortunately, there will always be guys like Ed Cooper out there. It sucks, but it’s the price people like Flint have to pay.”
“And people close to Flint,” I say, my voice tired.
Nate leans forward, holding me with his very serious stare. It’s funny to remember how intimidated I was by this man when we first met. He really is just a giant softy. “Listen,” he says. “I know my opinion doesn’t matter. But I worked for a security agency before Flint hired me full-time, and I shadowed a lot of famous people. Flint is one of the good ones.”
Warmth spreads through my chest. Nate doesn’t have to convince me. IknowFlint is good. “Thanks, Nate. Your opinion absolutely matters.”
Nate glances at his watch. “Are you working late tonight?”
It’s only my second day back at the lab, and I can for sure find something to do, but if I stay late, Nate will stay late, and I don’t want him to do that. He hired a second security officer to cover my house when I’m home and in for the night, but as long as I’m out and about, Nate won’t stop working.
