Her Secret Life

“You said Michael’s coming?”

Lacey nodded. “He’s going to meet us at the house. We’ll call him as soon as we leave here.”

“What time is it?”

“Ten fifteen.”

She could look for the clock she knew was on the side wall, but she didn’t want to take her eyes off her sister’s face.

“They were going to gang-rape me.” She could feel the warmth of her own tears sliding down to her jaw.

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“But you fought back,” Lacey said, running her fingers through the hair at Kacey’s forehead. Her sister had already washed her face for her once all the photos had been taken. “You were fending them off, Kace. You already had one reeling on the ground.”

She could remember the groaning, scared to death the guy would recover enough to retaliate.

“I have no idea how long it lasts when you knee a guy...”

“Longer than you think,” Jem said, coming back into the room. “You were down to one, Kace, and I’m as certain as I can be that you’d have taken him down, too.”

He stood off to one side at the foot of the bed, opposite the side Lacey was guarding. Her two angels. There to stave off anyone who might attempt to get past them to her.

“I called your folks,” Jem said next. “Just in case something gets leaked to the media.” His voice was low, his expression concerned, as he looked between the two of them. “We couldn’t have them seeing it on the news.”

Lacey nodded. “Especially since the media has a tendency to exploit everything when it comes to Hollywood...”

The news. She’d thought of it, of course. But... “There was no one else there except for my rescuer...”

“Police records are public,” Jem told her. He wasn’t going to coddle her, and she was thankful for that.

“What’d Mom and Dad say?” she asked instead, thinking of the parents who’d always given more attention to her than to her twin—though it had taken her thirty-three years to admit it to herself. Or her sister.

“They’ll be here tomorrow.”

“No.” Both sisters spoke at once.

Jem spread his hands as he looked between the two of them. “Hey, I got you guys overnight,” he said. “Your parents were heading out right now and finally agreed to wait until morning.”

Kacey looked at Lacey, who nodded. “I’ll call them. When we get home.”

She couldn’t see her parents. Not yet. She didn’t want to see anyone else.

Except...Michael.

“What about Bo?” Jem asked next. “Someone should probably call him.”

“We have a date tomorrow night,” Kacey remembered. “I don’t want him here, either.” Bo wasn’t part of her Santa Raquel life.

And she certainly couldn’t deal with his emotions right now, too. Not until she got a handle on her own. She looked at Lacey. “Will you call him?”

Lacey had lived in her Beverly Hills world a long time. It had been her world, too, for most of their lives.

“Of course.” Lacey said.

“I want to get out of here.”

“I know, sweetie. But if your wrist is broken, they need to get a cast on it.”