Classic Novel
58
“I’m booking a flight to LA. The minute we hang up. I’ll hopefully be there before tomorrow morning.”
I tucked my knees to my chest, dropping my face against them. “No.”
“No?”
“The paparazzi are already outside Dominick’s house, waiting to get a shot of me.” I stared at the closed blinds, unable to even keep them open because their lenses could see me behind the glass. “I can’t subject you and Dad to this media stalking. Please just stay where it’s safe and quiet and where your privacy won’t be jeopardized the minute you step off the plane.”
“Kendall, the thought of not being there with you is making me sick.”
I gripped the blanket, knowing I needed to explain, the thought causing my stomach to act up again but there was nothing left in it to throw up. “Those pictures, Mom”-I swallowed as my mouth watered-“they were private moments between Dominick and me that weren’t supposed to be captured on film. It doesn’t matter that I’m on a reality show; this isn’t reality. This is an invasion. They’ve painted me in a way where I look like a slut-first with Presley Jordan, which was so far from the truth, and now, this.” I tightened the ball I was in, rocking over the mattress. “I’m disgusted-over all of it.”
“Baby, I don’t think for a single second that this is your fault or that you could have somehow prevented it. The only thing you can do is find out who’s at fault, and then you can make sure the world knows who that person is.”
“Dominick won’t stop until that name is in his possession.”
The entire time I’d been speaking to my mom, my phone had been vibrating.
I quickly went into the settings and silenced all the notifications.
I couldn’t read another one.
I couldn’t see another headline.
I couldn’t respond to any more texts.
I needed it all to stop.
“Has your sister reached out?”
My parents knew things weren’t good between us. We’d individually told them the minute the tension started brewing, and once the Celebrity Alert had aired about our argument in the restroom, we’d each given them our version of what had happened.
They didn’t choose sides; they just encouraged us to speak to each other.
But it was no use. Daisy still blamed me for everything, and I didn’t believe I owed her an apology.
“No,” I replied. “And I don’t expect her to.”
She sighed. “Maybe you should come home. I can’t imagine the paparazzi will follow you all the way to Boston.”
There were paparazzi in Boston too. It didn’t matter where I went, they would find me in the States.
I used the back of my hand to wipe what had dripped from my eyes. “Home doesn’t feel like the right place for me now either.”
Nowhere did.
Except for this bed with the shades drawn and the room filled with total darkness.
“I’m here, Kendall. So is your father. Whatever you need, whatever we can do, you just say the word.”
There was a fire in my throat as I thought of the way those photos had hurt them too.
At the conversations they’d have to have with our extended family and friends.
Our neighbors.
My brain was on a course, and the scenery wasn’t pretty.
“I love you, Mom. Tell Dad the same. I’ll be in touch the second I know something.”
“We love you, baby. To the moon and back.”
As I hung up, the screen showed all my missed notifications. Even though their appearance no longer made a vibration, there were hundreds. Maybe thousands. And they were coming in from news outlets and social media apps, texts, even voice mails.
I tossed the phone onto Dominick’s nightstand, the screen facing down, and just as I was pulling the blanket over my head, he walked into the bedroom.
He came over to my side, sitting on the edge of the bed, framing my face with his palm. “How do you feel?”
I adjusted the pillow behind me, repositioning the blanket so it covered my neck. “Like there’s a knife in my back and it’s twisting around and around and around.”
He took off his shoes and climbed over me, resting across the open space, where he pulled me against his chest. “I don’t have answers yet, but I gave them forty-eight hours.”
I was silent while I let that number digest. “This is going to be the longest two days of my life.”
He rubbed across my back, kissing the top of my head. “What can I do to make you feel better?” He exhaled, his air heating my hair. “Whatever it is, I’ll make it happen.”
I looked up at his face, my eyes pleading with his. “Can you make me disappear?”
THIRTY-TWO
DOMINICK
“W
hen I asked you to make me disappear,” Kendall said from the edge of the pool, overlooking the lapping waves of the Atlantic, “I definitely wasn’t expecting this.”
Keeping her locked in my house without any fucking sunlight wasn’t going to be healthy. She needed air, relaxation, a place where she could unplug from all the bullshit.
My parents’ vacation home in Bimini was the answer.
When any of us wanted to go off the grid, we came here.
After a quick call to my assistant, who’d reserved the company jet and shopped for the clothes and bathing suits Kendall would need for this trip, we’d immediately boarded the plane.Content © NôvelDrama.Org 2024.
Kendall glanced at me from over her shoulder, the water running in droplets down her back, her soaked hair clinging to her skin. “It’s so incredibly beautiful here. Thank you, Dominick. You’ve done so much already. This is just”-she paused, shaking her head-“beyond what I was anticipating.”