Breaking Stars (The Celebrity 2)

“No,” she snapped at me, her voice turning harsh. “Do not do that to yourself. Please don’t act like getting away didn’t change you, Paige, because I heard it in your voice. That trip was a good thing. Don’t diminish it. And you had to eventually come back, anyway. It’s not like you could stay gone forever.”

She was right. I would have had to come back to LA soon enough, so I allowed a smidgeon of that particular guilt to evaporate, even if I didn’t entirely agree with it. I felt like I was being bossed around, and I allowed it.

“Call me as soon as you get in, and I’ll come right over,” she insisted.

“I will.” I almost hung up before I whispered, “Quinn?”

“Yeah, babe.”

“Why didn’t you tell me what the tabloids were saying about me?”

My car speakers blared out a raspy crackle as she breathed into her cell phone. “It only just started happening, I swear. And I figured it would all die down, but so far, your being away has only kept the talk going. I was going to tell you about it the next time you called me, but honestly—”

She paused for a long enough time that I thought our call dropped. “Quinn?”

“Sorry. It’s just that part of me didn’t want to tell you about it because you needed to be away from all this bullshit. You were having such a good time being free that I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to come back to your chains. I didn’t want to be the reason you came home before you were ready.”

Her words soaked into me, traveled through my body, and settled square in my heart. “You’re a good friend, Quinn.”

“The best,” she added with a small laugh.

“You are.”

“You understand, though, right? You aren’t mad at me?” she asked, her voice small.

“I do understand. I’m not mad. Thank you for always looking out for me.”

“I love you. I’ll see you when you get home. Hurry up. I miss you.”

“Miss you too. ’Bye.”

I disconnected the call before she said anything else and continued following the Mercedes in front of me.

• • •

After long days of monotonous driving, my apartment building was finally in view. Over time, the hurt I’d felt about Tatum’s reaction had been replaced by anger. It was the only way I could deal with everything my body and mind were currently attempting to process. As long as I was mad, I wasn’t sad or reeling in the loss.

Jayson and Colin still led the way, and I found myself annoyed even more by their heavy-handed behavior. I didn’t need a freaking escort into my own home.

As I pulled into the entrance, I was suddenly surrounded by hordes of people rushing to my car from every direction. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be accosted at every turn. Almost.

Being in Hanford had been such a relief in every way. I didn’t realize how stressed I had become by simply choosing this career. It’s amazing the things that you’ll live with and stop noticing because they become a part of you—like the weight of certain anxieties and burdens. You simply carry it all on your shoulders and forget it’s there because you eventually become used to the extra weight.

Cameras flashed all around me, blinding me even in the daylight. Reporters shouted questions so loudly, I couldn’t tune them out. It was worse than when I’d escaped to Quinn and Ryson’s house, so much worse.

No longer were the questions about Colin and his stupid cheating ways, but about my apparent inability to handle it all. Because why else would I have been gone for so long?

“Paige, did you really try to kill yourself?”

“How was rehab? What were you in for, sweetie?”

“We heard Colin found you and saved you. Are you two back together?”

“Do you have a drinking problem? Drug overdose?”

“Colin’s here! Did Colin bring you home from rehab? Is this a new start for you two?”

I stepped out of my car at the same time Colin exited Jayson’s. If I thought the flashes were blinding before, they were nothing in comparison to the flurry that started then. The press loved a good drama, and that was what my relationship with Colin had become since the news of his cheating broke.