Page 95 of Heart of a Rebel

Adrian must already be thinking the same because his gaze is zeroed in on Rome from across the room. “Behave.”

“Aww, you know me, Adrian.”

“Exactly.”

Rome grins and feigns innocence, but he’s the farthest from it.

“Speaking of…” Adrian places his hand over mine again and squeezes. “The crew wants to set up a time with you for Thursday. But if that’s too soon…”

“It’s fine.” I nod my head. “Can’t hide from all of this forever.”

After what went down at the festival, things blew up in the media. If Neon Records was worried about what my retellings of my sexual assault would do, they weren’t prepared for the full truth. Not that I was either.

With Cyrus locked up, more than just his deviant behavior came to light. The record company discovered he’s been embezzling money for years and he was using company resources to stalk me the entire time.

One secret was unburied after another.

It didn’t take much for the press to paint a clear picture of everything. And once word spread that Cyrus was the one who raped me years ago, the hungry teeth of the press dug in. They’re still drinking blood from the flesh of that particular wound, but now the story is getting twisted, which is why I want to tell my side more than ever—something the label isn’t happy about.

They actually had the nerve to ask me to not talk about it.Wouldn’t want to draw more attention.

Well, fuck them.

I hung up that particular phone call from Nathan and went straight to the documentary crew saying I wanted to share everything.

I’m ready to tell the bad, the ugly, and the unimaginable. I don’t care if it’s hard for someone else to hear. It exists. It makes me who I am, and I’m done hiding from what happened in an effort to make other people more comfortable.

“I’ll have them set up the time then.” Adrian squeezes my hand.

He must see whatever is working in my eyes, because his thumb lingers on my skin and grazes it back and forth.

“How are you doing, El?” Rome asks.

I turn to see he’s leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. These two can read me like a book, apparently.

“Better, surprisingly,” I say. “It wasn’t an easy situation by any means, but knowing the truth is better than when there was this faceless shadow chasing me.”

Rome nods. “You’re tough as shit, have I told you that lately?”

“Learned from the best.”

Rome smiles, but his usual confidence isn’t in it. His eyes drop to the small Band-Aid at the top of my throat, and I dip my chin to try and hide it.

I’m well aware things could have been much worse, and the slice on my throat is an unwelcome reminder that Cyrus got to me in the first place. I’m not sure what would have happened if Adrian and Sebastian hadn’t shown up. Honestly, I still have a hard time thinking about it.

“Well, I’m going to take off.” Rome slaps his knees and stands.

It draws the attention of a passing nurse whose eyes widen at the sight of him, before she scurries down the hall with a flushed face. The man is a magnet.

“Remember, interview.” Adrian points at him. “Answer your texts.”

“Got it, Captain.” Rome gives him a mocking salute before dipping out of the room.

“Asshole,” Adrian mutters.

I pat his arm. “Aww, you know you love him.”

“No.” Adrian shakes his head. “I loveyou. The rest of the band is simply tolerable.”

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