Page 105 of Heart of a Rebel

Over time, what started as sporadic visits turned into frequent phone calls. And when she did finally get sober, I felt like I had my mom back again. So, while Sebastian continued to hold a grudge, I was ready to get to the other side of it. There was enough I was holding onto that I didn’t need more.

“I hear the documentary will release soon.” Mom changes the subject.

I roll my shoulders back, bracing myself every time for the feeling that reminder brings up in me. There’s no hiding once my interview is released, and even if I know it was the right decision, it doesn’t make it easier knowing I’m letting the world behind the curtain.

“It is.” I nod.

“I’m proud of you, sweetheart. After everything—” Mom frowns.

I squeeze her hand. “I’m good now. Promise.”

“You always were stronger than me, Eloise.” She wraps her other hand over mine. “I know now the effect my decisions had on you and your brother. But you managed to come out the other side. And look at you, speaking your truth. There are so many things I should have said. Men I let take advantage in one way or another… but you owned your power. You’re strong.”

Tears sting in my eyes as I look into her glassy ones.

My biggest fear growing up was turning into my mother. She let man after man take advantage until the point where she was no longer herself. And even if I took the opposite approach, I became as much a shell as she was after what Cyrus did to me.

He closed me off, made me silent. I represented one thing to women around the world, but to myself, I was hiding. I was weak.

I washer.

Telling my story shed that skin. I reclaimed my history, and I’m finally moving on.

“I’m proud of you, honey,” she says again. “You and your brother are going to continue doing amazing things. Greater than I could ever have imagined.”

Sebastian sits back down at the table, and she lets go of my hand, but his face relaxes when he spots her gesture. Even if there is this invisible barrier, it’s thinning. The air is clearing. There is a break in the trees.

And through it, I see home again.

Adrian’s at the kitchen table when I get home, working and looking hot as hell, even if he is beyond stressed.

It’s not that I want him to be stressed, but I can’t help that I love watching how much he cares about every little thing he does. It’s why my brother trusted him to be our band manager years ago, and why the band agreed if we were going to start a label, he was going to have to be a part of it.

He’s the glue that’s kept us together all these years—and the glue that keeps me together on a daily basis.

“Don’t burst a blood vessel.” I smile, dropping my purse on the counter and walking across the room.

He catches me with his arms around my waist as I reach him. “How was dinner?”

“Surprisingly good, even if I’m still playing peacekeeper. Sebastian managed to give her a two-armed hug at the end of it. I consider that a win.”

Adrian nods, and I lean down to plant a kiss on his lips.

There’s no feeling like coming home to him. I thought it would be harder than it was to leave my own house behind, but at the end of the day it felt like empty walls that belonged to a version of myself I no longer saw in the mirror. Besides the plants, nothing else in that space was living. Not until recently.

But here, with him… I belong.

“You going to be working all night?” I look over my shoulder at the spreadsheet on his computer screen.

He closes it and pushes it away on the table, so he can lift me up and sit me in front of him. “Not now that you’re here.”

His hands slide along my sides, over my hips, until they find my thighs and he pushes them open so that he’s seated between my legs.

“I wouldn’t be distracting you from important things would I, Adrian?” I bite down on my bottom lip.

Adrian watches me as his hands slide up and down my legs. “By all means, please distract me.”

I’d like to play hard to get, but it’s impossible with him. One look and I’m a melted mess in his hands. I’d like to spend my whole life with his fingers on my skin, molding me into whatever it is he seems to see when he looks into my eyes.

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