“I thought about it,” Connor admits, “but you’re not giving me all the information, and I’d rather not spread around partial truths.” He waits for me to divulge more.
I won’t.
“She’s going to talk to her sisters,” I say. “She needs time.”
“Man’s greatest excuse to delay the inevitable.”
“Can you not fucking talk like your auditioning for the role of Confucius?”
“If you make a mistake and do not correct it, this is called a mistake.” Of course he goes and actually quotes Confucius. Fuck me.
I shake my head. “You’re such a fucking prick.”
He doesn’t even blink, not affected by the insult. Maybe because he knows it’s true. “You know, I never really liked Confucius. I always thought his principles were a bit basic, common sense.”
“Fascinating,” I deadpan.
He continues casually. “But there is one quote I appreciate from him.” Connor looks at me and his eyes turn serious, no pretense or humor. “Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.”
I don’t know if he meant for this to be about Daisy. But she’s immediately what comes to mind. After what happened last night, bringing up some of the past, all I want is to go full fucking throttle. No more slowing down. No more hiding. I want to believe that I control my fate, that I’m the one who chooses to stop and start.
I want everything that my friends have. Out in the open. Real.
I have to tell Lo.
The resolution lifts this weight off my chest.
And then something rustles a bush twenty feet away. I see it out of the corner of my eye. A movement that crashes the weight back down tenfold and twists a chain around my ankles.
“Connor,” I whisper, a pit in my stomach. “Nine o’clock.”
He calmly sips his coffee and turns a fraction. Into his next sip, he says, “I can see two lenses.”
They found us.
I run a hand through my hair. I promised my brother freedom from this bullshit. I’ve failed him. Then the cameraman peers out of the bush, noticeable, and I lock eyes with him, my body blazing with anger. I start to charge forward, and Connor grabs my arm and forces me back by his side.
“You can’t go to court again,” he says.
The fucking cameraman no longer cares about “candid” shots that sell big to tabloids, he’s taking a video instead.
“Fuck them,” I tell Connor. “They shouldn’t be here.”
“This is public property,” Connor says. “He can legally be in the woods.”
“I said shouldn’t. How’d they get tipped?”
“RV,” the cameraman says. “I’m friends with the two guys camping next to you. Called me last night. Flew in this morning.”
I shake my head. It’d be more of a coincidence if the paparazzi didn’t get their tips like that. But mostly it’s from fucking friends and connections.
“Fucking fantastic,” I snap. I made a mistake. We should have gone to a fucking hotel. I shouldn’t have tried this. I head back to the campsite, ready to pack up. Rose is already folding chairs and pouring a water bottle on the fire.
The cameraman follows us like a shadow, entering the campsite as though we gave him permission to come hang out with us. Oh wait, we fucking didn’t.
“How many more of you are coming?” Connor asks.
He just smiles, and that’s when I hear tires and an engine groan up the hill. And then two more photographers pop out of the bushes in addition to however many are in the car. Fuck me.
“Ryke,” the guy says, his camera pointed at me as I head to Daisy’s tent. “What were the sleeping arrangements like?”
Before I unzip it, I spin around and the camera guy almost runs straight into my chest. He rights himself while a glare sears in my eyes. My fists clench. “Back the fuck off,” I growl. “You came into our campsite and disrupted our vacation. Don’t act like this is for your fucking job.”
“I’m allowed—”
“You’re allowed to breathe because I’m letting you,” I refute. “Back up and give me ten feet before I put you in the fucking ground.”
“You can’t touch me.”
I near him, and he takes a couple steps back. “You think I care about going to jail for a few hours? Fucking test me, and your thousand-dollar camera and those fucking pictures will be gone in an instant.”
He stays put where he is.
I’m so heated I can barely see straight. I open Daisy’s tent and duck my head in, careful not to let the cameraman have any view of her. She yawns tiredly, barely awake and really fucking naked. I crawl in and zip the tent back. Her spine straightens as she gets a good look at my pissed expression.