Page 11 of Wild Fixation
I have no choice but to drive and hope. After I cross the bridge separating the northern neighborhoods of Seattle from the downtown area, I speed along yet another busy, stoplight-studded road. The closest I can get to the trail from here is probably the grain terminal, so I turn onto a smaller road and park in the first place I can. Then I leap out of my car and start running.
People stare as I barrel over the grass, but I ignore them. I sweep the waterfront, searching for some sign of Jacob. When I don’t find him, I head north, the direction I assume Jacob would have been running.
There he is.
My heart lurches. I stuff that reaction away and run faster. Jacob is backing away from a cluster of paparazzi that close in on him like a hands closing around a bug. Pretty soon, they’ll have him trapped.
His eyes flicker toward me, panic in his gaze even through the sunglasses. I charge, lowering my shoulder. Some of the reporters notice where Jacob is looking. The second they see a big guy in all black sprinting at them, self-preservation kicks in. They part before I reach them, and I snatch Jacob by the wrist without a word.
“Hey, wait!”
“We just have a couple questions.”
“What have you been working on?”
“Are you still collaborating with The Ten Hours?”
They shout questions at us, but I don’t pause, don’t hesitate for a second. I haul Jacob behind me, forcing him to keep up with my long strides. He has to jog a little to keep pace as I cut through the park and up the hill toward my car. A couple of the most daring vultures trail us, but my presence gives them enough pause that they leave some distance this time, allowing me to throw Jacob into my car and slam the door shut.
I don’t stop moving until I’m in the driver’s seat and have locked all the doors.
I let out a breath. The paparazzi come right up to my car, cameras flashing, but we’re safe in here. They can’t get inside. All they can do is take crappy shots through the windows.
I start the car and rev the engine. It’s all the warning I give them before I start driving, and they scatter like a pack of crows startled away from carrion in the street.
Only when I get back onto a main road do I speak.
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“I…”
Jacob falters, and I regret the harshness of my tone. At a stoplight, I dare a glance over at him. His normally warm brown skin has paled and cooled. He stares down at his hands, hardly blinking, shell shocked. He clasps them in his lap, and I tell myself it’sprobablynot because they’re trembling.
I soften my voice with an effort.
“That was not the smartest thing you’ve ever done.”
Jacob sags, shoulders slumping, head drooping forward. I focus on the road and tighten my grip on the steering wheel.
“I know,” he says miserably. “I know. I thought I could go for a run. Just a simple little jog. This kind of stuff used to be no big deal not that long ago.”
“It’s a big deal now.”
“I’m learning that. It’s just hard to learn it in the span of a few months. My life was pretty normal before the tour. We had fans and everything, but we all had to work side jobs to keep afloat. It wasn’t like this.”
I hold silent. I don’t know what to say about a life so foreign from my own. My SUV is beat up and nearing the end of its usefulness. I have a roommate back at my very ordinary rented house. I will never become famous or have to worry about the things Jacob worries about.
I sigh into the silence. “This is how things are now,” I say. “You have to deal with it.”
He can’t keep denying reality. It will only lead to more situations like this, and one of these times, I won’t be around to fly to his rescue. The very thought of that twists my stomach into knots, but I try to set that aside.
“I jog there all the time,” Jacob says. “It shouldn’t have been such a big deal.”
“Well, it was,” I snap, a little harsher than I intend. Worry and fear sharpen my tone all over again. “It was a big deal, and it will be every time you do that.”
“It’s just a jog.”
“It’s not just a jog. Not anymore. Not for you.” I barrel on before I can stop myself. “You aren’t doing shit like this anymore, not without someone with you. I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
