Page 27 of Hideaway Heart

“Why?”

She twisted a few blades of grass around her fingers. “You’ll think it sounds stupid.”

“You don’t care what I think anyway.”

She almost smiled, but not quite. “Sometimes I just like the idea of having a person in my corner, you know? Of feeling like I’m not alone.”

“What would sound stupid about that?”

“What’s stupid is that I knew I couldn’t trust him, but I let him be my person anyway. It’s embarrassing.”

“How long were you together?”

“About three years. On and off.”

“That’s a long time.”

She sighed. “He’s on the same label I am, so the suits liked it. The press liked it. Our agents and publicists liked it. Fans liked to obsess about it, which is always good for business. And sometimes we got along. He could be fun, when he wasn’t being an asshole.”

“Fuck that. You deserve better,” I told her, and I meant it.

Her eyes flicked up to mine. “Thanks.”

“So is Duke the reason for the no-trust zone you mentioned? Or was it the security leak?”

She rolled to her back again and flung an arm over her eyes. “He’s part of it. The leak was part of it. But the no-trust zone has been forming around me like a force field for a long time.”

I wanted her to elaborate, but it didn’t seem right to poke at old wounds. I decided to shift gears. “Can I ask who knew you were coming up here?”

“My assistant, my manager, my agent, my parents, Duke.”

“You told Duke?”

“My father told him.”

“Duke is tight with your father?”

“Apparently.” That arm was still draped over her eyes, so I couldn’t see her expression, but her tone told me how she felt about it. “But I don’t think he knew until today.”

“Okay. And all those other people—you trust them? They wouldn’t leak your location to media?”

Moving her arm up to her forehead, she looked over at me. “I don’t think so. Why?”

“A photograph of us from the parking lot this morning is already online. It doesn’t look like just a fan photo to me, so I wondered if maybe someone who knew where you’d be let it slip—for publicity or whatever.”

“Oh. I don’t think so. It was probably just a random person from Starbucks.” She continued to study me, then switched topics abruptly. “You have very large shoulders. And hands.”

“I’ve been told that helped make me a good swimmer.”

“Were you a swimmer in high school?”

“Yes.”

“Did you join the Navy right after graduation or go to college?”

“Right after graduation. I always knew I wanted to be a SEAL.”

“How come?”