Page 105 of You Rock My World
A dry, humorless laugh crackles through the line. “I told you to shut your trap. I’m handling my shit just?—”
In the background of Billie’s call, we hear a sudden screech of tires. Then a sickening crunch, followed by a loud bang.
Then nothing.
Lilo sits up straighter, pressing her earpiece again. “Billie? Are you okay?”
Silence.
A beat. Then another.
A splintery pressure compresses my rib cage, a warning my body registers before my mind catches up to what’s happening.
A producer in the control booth mutters something unintelligible into a mic, and Lilo’s eyes widen. “I—We’ve received confirmation that Billie Rae crashed her car into the front gates of the studio. We have a crew moving into place right now.”
I grip the arms of the chair, every muscle in my body coiled tight. They’re going to air this. Turn her wreckage into a fucking segment. I should tell them to cut the feed, to have a shred of decency and give her privacy, but?—
But the crew will get to her before I can, and I need to know if Billie is still breathing, if she’s hurt, more than I want to protect her dignity.
The screen behind us flickers to a live feed of the entrance. Billie’s car is crumpled against the gate, the hood smoking. Security guards rush to the driver’s side, pulling the door open. Billie stumbles out, looking dazed, confused, completely out of it. A guard reaches for her to help, but she shoves him away, screaming, “Fuck off!” She turns in circles, unsteady, her words slurring as she hurls more insults.
An ambulance arrives on the scene. Two paramedics jump out. One approaches Billie to steady her, but she swings at him, missing by a mile.
That’s enough.
I rip out my microphone and stand. “I have to go. And you should cut this—she doesn’t deserve for the world to see her like this.”
48
JOSIE
I watch as Dorian rips out his microphone and stands. He says something to Lilo that the discarded mic doesn’t pick up. But I don’t need to hear it. The disgust on his face is plain. His hand hovers in mid-air as if he’s about to knock the cameras over. He’s done with the show. Dorian turns and stalks off the set, disappearing out of the frame as Lilo pivots smoothly back to the camera, slipping into her role like nothing happened.
“Well.” The host flashes a quick, broadcast-ready smile. “That was more eventful than any of us expected this morning. Our thoughts are with Billie Rae, of course, and we sincerely hope she’s okay. We’ll keep you updated.” Lilo presses her fingers together in a composed gesture, her expression solemn. “In the meantime, how about we all take five? We’ll be right back after a short break.”
As the screen cuts to commercials, someone behind me says something, a chair scrapes against the floor, but I don’t register it. Words filter in as background noise, distant and unimportant.
I’m still processing everything that happened—Billie, the scene she made, her accident, the chaos she left in her wake. It’s shocking. But that’s not what has my pulse hammering in my ears and my stomach clenching like a fist.
It’s what Dorian said before any of that.
I’m in love with her.
The words play back in my mind on a loop. The way he said them. Steady. Sure. His eyes locked onto the camera like he was talking directly to me. Only to me.
I had sensed his feelings, of course I had. But we’ve never said I love you outright. And hearing him do it—for the entire world to hear, with no hesitation, no second-guessing—it landed in my chest like a punch and the gentlest caress at once. Because it’s real now. And if I lose him, I’m losing something that finally has a name.
I let out a breath I’ve been holding since Dorian started speaking, only then noticing the muted attention fixed on me.
The entire celebrity PR department is still gathered around the TV screen, standing behind desks and along the glass-walled meeting room. Staring. At me.
Nadine is the first to speak, her voice slicing through the dazed silence. “Alright, people, back to work.” She claps twice, jolting everyone into motion. “Rian Phoenix hasn’t fired us yet. That means we’re still covering this, so we need to get ahead of it.” She flicks a look my way, assessing. “And since he announced to the entire country that he’s in love with you, we can spin this.”
I don’t reply.
She turns to me, tilting her head. “Josie, start putting together a?—”
“You fired me half an hour ago,” I cut in, my voice surprisingly steady.
