Page 76 of Such a Good Girl

My hand rested upon her thigh as we relaxed in the booth. I grabbed her hand,and kissed her knuckles for the hundredth time today. They were bruised and one of them had a small cut on it.

“I feel terrible about this,” I said.

“And I told you that you shouldn’t,” she replied. “It’s nothing. I’m fine. It’ll heal quickly.”

“I still can’t believe you did that.”

“I don’t take being grabbed against my will lightly. He surprised me and I reacted without thinking. Honestly, I wish I hadn’t done it.”

“I’m so fucking sorry about the paps, the fucking media, the damned internet trolls.”

“Nobody can control that shit, West. It’s the fucking wild wild west out there. You know that better than anyone.”

“I do,” I sighed. “Still, I hate that you’re getting dragged into this bullshit.”

The usual media hounds were doing their damnedest to figure out who Kaylee was. Without a social media presence, they weren’t finding much, thankfully. But I was terrified someone would find something eventually, so keeping her safe was my utmost priority right now.

I cringed when I saw Everleigh walking up to our table, followed by a familiar looking face. They scooted into our booth to join us.

“Hey, big brother,” she said. “Your face is all over the place right now.”

“Fuck, I know,” I said.

“This is Kajah,” she said, gesturing to the tall, statuesque blonde next to her. I recognized the name and realized now that she was one of the hundreds of faces that I’d considered for the movie. One in an endless stream of headshots that made me never want to look at another one again.

“Hey,” I said. “Kajah, this is Kaylee.”

“Hi,” she replied, cooly, lifting her chin. “That was some punch.”

Kaylee stiffened beside me. “Yeah, well…”

“He fucking deserved that shit,” Everleigh said, never one to mince words. “Putting his hands on you like that? Fuck that guy.”

“Thank you,” Kaylee replied, with a soft smile. “I just wish I’d handled it differently so it wasn’t plastered all over the place today.”

“It’ll pass before you know it,” Kajah said. “The next shiny story will pop up. That’s just how it goes.”

“Well, I can’t wait for whatever that is to happen,” I said.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Everleigh said, with a laugh. “But yeah, it’ll pass really quickly. Don’t worry, Kaylee.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I need to go to the ladies’ room. Will you excuse me?”

I hesitated. Should I allow her to go alone?

She raised a brow when I didn’t slide out of the booth to let her out. “Are you going to join me? Keep guard outside the stall?”

Resigning myself to the fact that I could not do that, I slid out of the booth. She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and walked off, leaving me alone with Everleigh and Kajah.

“Did you cast your heroine yet?” Everleigh asked.

“No, not yet. I can’t find anyone suitable. Trust me, I’ve been looking.”

“Have you talked to Mom lately?”

“No, why?”

“Because she was bitching about you never calling. You should call. She misses — oh, there’s Theo.” She gestured across the room, waving at him, which confused the fuck out of me. They usually couldn’t be bothered to say two words to each other. “I’ll be right back.”

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