Dammit.

The way my stomach is twisting is making me feel unwell. I don’t want to face the disaster I’m going to climb off this bike and dive right into, but I know I don’t have any other choice. Actions have consequences and these are mine. Susan will be inside that hotel, waiting, if she hasn’t quit and left me on my own already. There are going to be reporters surrounding the entrance, waiting, hoping to hear something.

Maverick slows down a few blocks away and comes to a stop. He pulls off the helmet and turns to me. “Can’t take you in, babe. Much as I want to. They’ll crucify me. You’re going to have to face this one on your own. You goin’ to be safe?”

“I’ll go around the back,” I tell him. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

My voice is shaking with nerves. That’s not surprising. I’m practically crapping myself at the very thought of going in there.

“I’m goin’ to watch anyway, just walk down the street a bit until I can see the hotel. I see any sign of a problem and I’m comin’ in. Don’t give a fuck what your manager thinks.”

I nod, swallowing. He reaches for my helmet, sliding it off and placing it on his lap, then he takes my face in his hands and brings me closer, kissing me on the lips, not deep, just soft. Exactly what I need. With a deep sigh, I climb off the bike. “I guess I had better face the music.”

“Call me when you’re out of trouble, okay?” Maverick murmurs, and those eyes, they make me feel secure inside, like if everything goes completely south, he’ll be there to pick me up.

That’s a damned wonderful feeling.

“Okay,” I whisper.

I smile.

He smiles.

Then he raises his hand in a peace symbol.

My heart explodes, and as I back down the street, I give him one, too. Then, with a lot of hesitation, I turn and walk toward the hotel. I slip around the back unnoticed and move through the pool area outside and into the lobby using the back doors. Someone notices me almost immediately and the reporters try to rush in the front doors, yelling and screaming, and everyone currently standing in the hotel lobby stops, looking over to me.

Security reaches me first, one standing in front of me, one standing behind me, and they start moving me toward the elevator.

“Scarlett!” Someone screams. “Can we have five minutes to hear your side of the story?”

“Scarlett. Can I have an autograph?”

“Scarlett. Is your biker friend with you?”

“Is it true you’re using drugs?”

“Is it true you’re giving up music to become a biker’s Old Lady?”

I close my eyes and let security lead me inside the elevator. Once we’re in and it’s closed, one of them pulls out their phone and calls Susan. I feel a little relief that she’s still here and hasn’t decided to give me the flick yet. But my relief is short lived when I think about the explosion I’m going to walk into. She’s going to lose her mind. I put my hands over my stomach, take a deep breath, and wait for the doors to open.

When it does, Susan is already waiting, her eyes piercing right through mine. She stares at me for so long I wonder if she’s about to explode and tear this hotel to shreds with her rage. Security steps out, and I step out beside them. Avoiding looking at her a second longer. “Thank you,” she says to the two men who escorted me in. “Your help is very much appreciated. I’ll take it from here.”

The two men nod, and step back into the elevator.

And then I’m alone with her.

I raise my head to look at her again, but she’s already walking toward my room. I don’t argue. I follow her. We move down the hall until we reach my suite, and then we step inside. The moment the door is closed, Susan turns, and I brace for what’s about to come. “What were you thinking?”

Her voice is calm.

Far too calm.

I don’t like it.

“I wasn’t,” I tell her, and that’s the truth. I wasn’t really thinking, if I was, I probably wouldn’t have done it.

But I was angry. She invaded my privacy, and then proceeded to try and control my life. Country music star or not, she doesn’t have that right.

“You’re right,” she says. “You weren’t.”

“You went through my phone, and then tried to take it. You are trying to control a life I already have very little control over. I lost it.”

She stares at me, for so long, I wonder if she’s gone somewhere else in her own head, but then she takes a deep breath, and starts ... crying.

It takes me off guard. Completely. Susan doesn’t cry. She yells. She controls. She demands. She holds her own. She does not cry.

But she’s crying.

Standing in front of me. Tears rolling down her cheeks. Crying. Just sobbing. My heart breaks right away, and I step forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Susan. I shouldn’t have done that. I know I’ve left a huge mess for you to clean up.”

“I don’t care about the mess anymore,” she says, her voice breaking between sobs. “I don’t care a single bit. The media is going to and was always going to, find a way to attack you eventually. I thought I could control it, I thought I could keep you out of that, but I can’t. Nobody can. All I’ve done is waste all my energy trying to fight a losing battle.”

“No,” I say softly. “No, of course you haven’t. Susan, you’re a fantastic manager.”

She snorts, and then starts crying again. “You nearly lost your life because I didn’t believe in you. You are running off the rails because I’m holding you so tightly. If I had just eased up and let you go and see your friend, you could have done is discreetly and nobody would have ever known, instead I tried to control it and created a storm.”

I blink.

Wow.

I honestly don’t have anything to say.

“You’re a person, Scarlett. And I’ve been treating you more like a damned machine I can operate how I see fit, that isn’t fair and now this has happened. I should have eased my control a long time ago.”

“It’s not entirely on you,” I tell her. “What I did, it was bratty. It was rebellion. I shouldn’t have behaved like that. But, Susan, you’re right, I feel smothered. I’m not a stupid girl, I use my brain, but I got to the point where I was becoming desperate to escape this world I felt trapped in. I felt like music was no longer a passion, but a job, I felt like I had no say so in my own life. I understand I’m a public figure now, that people see and hear everything I do, but I am still just a person, and damn, sometimes I want time out.”

“I thought I was protecting you from Treyton, I went over the top because I failed you last time. I’m sorry, Scarlett.”

I put another hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be sorry. We both screwed up. I appreciate you taking care of me. But those bikers, they were helping do that from the outside. I know they’re not ideal company, I know they’re not what you want the world to see me with, but they are good people. They’re good to me. Please believe that.”

She nods, sniffling.

“Listen, how about we come to an agreement that works for both of us. I am in danger with Treyton, so I appreciate that until that is sorted out I can’t be without some sort of protection. I’ll respect that. How about I promise for the remainder of the tour, I stay safe and don’t go running about, but once I’m home, you trust that I’ll have the protection of those bikers, and you’ll loosen the reins a little? What do you think?”

She looks to me. “You’ll stay in the hotel, and at the shows, for the last bit of your tour?”

I nod.

“And you want me to ease my security off when we get home and trust ... bikers?”

I shake my head. “No, Susan, I want you to trust me.”

She studies me. For a good long while. “Okay. I can agree to that. But please, tell me if anything else happens. I don’t want to be left in the dark.”

I nod. “I promise.”

“And if you wish to see that biker, tell me, I can allow him in without the entire world seeing it.”

I laugh softly, nervously. “Okay, I’ll do that.”

“Are you sure about these people, Scarlett?”

I meet and hold her eyes. “I’m surer about them than I’ve ever been about anything in my life. They will keep me safe, Susan. I promise you that.”

She exhales, rubs her chest, and then nods. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

Then she surprises me even more.

She steps forward, and she hugs me.

Really hugs me.

Tight.

And finally, just maybe, I feel like things might just work out.

Finally.

~*~*~*~