“Dick,” The Hotness repeats.
“A mopey dick,” I agree. I shake my wrist, checking my watch. “It’s getting close to one. We better head out if we want a shot in hell at getting cabs down here. Bars will be closing soon and they’re gonna get scarce.”
We head for the door as a herd. I push open the door, ushering Lilly forward with a hand on her back. “Anyone wanna share? We’re going east toward the river.”
“We’re headed north toward—“
Trey’s words are drowned out by the sound of shouting on the street. Light pulses from every direction, strobing harshly against my eyes that have grown accustomed to the dark interior of the bar.
I instinctively reach for Lilly. She’s thrown her hands up over her face to shield her eyes from the cameras and I put my arm around her shoulders to guide her away from them. Through the flashes I count four paparazzi, each of them shouting my name, then Trey’s and Tyus’s as they come out of the door.
“Over here! This way!”
“Where are you going?!”
“Lilly! Look over here, Lilly!”
“Don’t do it,” I tell Lilly. “I’m going to get a cab and get us out of here.”
She puts her arm around my waist to hold onto me. “How can you even see?” she asks frantically.
“You get used to it.”
I lead her to the edge of the sidewalk. There are no taxis out here but the street is a busy one. We’ll see one soon.
“Yo! Avery!” Trey calls. He lifts his arm over the chaos erupting between us. Sloane is striding carelessly up the street with two paparazzi in tow. “We’re going over a block to see if we can find a cab. We’ll see you!”
“Have a good night, man!”
Hollis and Tyus walk with them. Two of the paparazzi jump on small motorcycles, one following them and the other idling across the street from us. He’ll follow when we leave. He’s probably hoping we’re going to a club.
Headlights mix with the strobe of the flashbulbs. A car is pulling down the street. A lit triangle rides on the top.
I step out into the street to flag it down. It comes to a stop a few feet away from me and I tap the hood once gratefully before offering Lilly my hand. She takes it quickly and lets me pull her toward the back of the car.
“Where are you going, Lilly?” the last guy with us asks. He gets right up in her face to take her picture, making her wince. “Is he taking you home, sweetheart?”
“Back off, man,” I tell him coolly. “Give her room.”
I open the door for Lilly. She immediately darts inside the dark interior of the cab. I push past the guy and his camera to slide in behind her. The camera keeps right on flashing outside the window even after I’ve closed the door.
“Where to?” the driver asks brusquely.
“Palmetto Warehouse.”
“Canter Apartments first, please,” Lilly tells him hurriedly.
I frown at her. She’s sitting on the far side of the cab, pressed up against the door. “You’re going home?”
She casts me a weak smile as we pull away from the curb. “I’m really tired and I have to work in the morning. I should go home.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. You live pretty far from the bakery. It’ll make my morning longer going there.”
“Can I stay at your place? I’ll go in and open the bakery with you.”
Lilly’s eyes dart to the rearview mirror where the cabbie’s eyes are watching us. “Um…”
I slide across the seat to close the distance she’s put between us. She looks up at me, her face unsure. “I’m not asking for anything,” I tell her quietly. “I just want to be with you.”
“I want to be with you too,” she whispers back. Her eyes involuntarily move to the mirror again. “It’s just that I…”
“You don’t want the world knowing your business.”
She nods gratefully, her eyes back to mine. “Yeah, exactly.”
I lean down to whisper in her ear. “What if I drop you off at your place, take this cab to a club downtown, ditch the ‘razzi behind us on the motorcycle—“
Lilly jerks her head to look behind us. She had no idea we were being followed.
“—and I’ll take another cab to your place?”
“That’s a lot of work,” she mutters distractedly.
“It’s that or it’ll be all over the internet that I stayed the night at your house,” I tell her honestly.
“Fuck,” she breathes, staring out the back at the motorcycle tailing us.
I take her hand, pressing our palms together. She laces her fingers through mine. She doesn’t look at me.
Ten minutes later we’re pulling up outside her apartment and I know I’m not coming inside. Not now and not after I ditch the tail. She’s gone somewhere, someplace farther away than she’s ever been from me, and it’s a goddamn killer because she’s right here next to me. I can see her, I can touch her, I could kiss her, but she’s not there. She’s somewhere else inside the hatred she has for this kind of life. My kind of life.