Girl Gone Viral (Modern Love #2)(22)

After the incident that had scarred her, Katrina had made it plain she wanted nothing more than to disappear. Jas had done his best to give her what she needed. If she wanted to disappear, she’d disappear. If she wanted to stay in her house forever, he’d facilitate that. If she wanted to venture out, he’d have her back there too. She was a grown, smart woman. She knew what was best for her.

She fiddled with her collar. “It used to be I was scared of having a panic attack in public. The fear, the embarrassment. What if I couldn’t get away, or if people saw me, or someone hurt me when I was incapacitated?”

She didn’t seem to need him to respond, so he didn’t. He didn’t know the full history of Katrina’s panic disorder. She didn’t talk much about her life with her father, but he imagined it hadn’t been pleasant.

“Then that man kidnapped me. And I had something else to fear.”

His heart clenched, hard. He often forgot about the scar that ran down Katrina’s cheek. It was simply a part of her now, the same as her hair or legs. But right now it seemed like it was pronounced and white, more obvious than ever.

Her voice dropped so low, he had to lean forward to hear. “If I’m . . . nobody, then no one will want to hurt me, no one can capitalize off me, no one can use me, do you understand? I have to stay nobody.”

Oh, he understood. He understood perfectly what it was like to want to go someplace where no one knew who you were, to want to run from attention and the spotlight.

He didn’t fully realize what he was doing until her soft, smooth hand was in his. A part of him was aghast at the liberty he’d taken.

Another part of him was dying at the warmth that simple touch filled him with.

He tightened his grip when she looked up at him, her eyes pools of worry and fear. She wasn’t a small woman, but she felt fragile and delicate, and if he hadn’t already felt protective of her . . . well, it was all over now. “When you were kidnapped, I wasn’t with you.” She’d been shopping on crowded Oxford Street in London. He’d been with Hardeep when he’d gotten the panicked call from her security detail. “I’m with you now. I promise you. Anyone who wants to hurt you will have to get through me first.”





Chapter Six


KATRINA LOOKED DOWN at Jas’s hand. He’d never touched her before. Not like this, not bare palm to bare palm, for no other purpose but to touch her.

The kicker? She couldn’t even properly enjoy it!

Thanks a fucking lot, Becca.

Katrina had watched with an ever-growing knot in her belly as the metrics for that god-awful Twitter thread climbed ever higher. She’d watched as the woman who had photographed her and narrated a made-up encounter batted her lashes at her new followers and watched hashtags be born and trend in real time: #CafeBae and #CuteCafeGirl.

They weren’t even good hashtags.

“Katrina?” Jas squeezed her fingers, grounding her better than any fidget stone.

She gathered herself and put on the hat that allowed her to eyeball start-ups and pick apart any BS to find their core. “To summarize, no one will be able to identify me from these photos. Even if they do, it would be almost impossible to track me to this house. Even if that somehow happens, there’s an even smaller chance there’s a bogeyman lurking out there to hurt me.” Her kidnapper had been arrested during the ransom handoff when she’d been recovered. He’d been wanted for a laundry list of crimes, and would be in prison for a long, long time. Her father was the only other person who might hold a grudge against her, and he’d been quiet since Hardeep had paid him off. Katrina kept tabs on him, and had checked in today to make sure he was still tucked away in Vancouver.

Jas’s beautiful eyebrows came together. “Right.”

She lifted her shoulder. So logical. So rational. “Right. Thank you.”

A knock came at the door, and Jas slipped his hand away from hers. Katrina had to swallow twice at the loss before she could speak. “Come in.”

Jia poked her head around the door, her forehead creased with worry. A rush of affection coursed through Katrina. While she’d been consumed by this viral phenomenon, Katrina had neglected everything else, including work and food. At some point, a messy sandwich had appeared at her elbow, and her water bottle had kept getting refilled. She had some vague recollection of Jia trying to distract her with chatty conversation. “Come in, Jia.”

“How’s everything going?” Jia asked.

“It’s . . . fine.” She shoved back from the desk. She had to . . . do something. What could she do?

Pain ran through her legs when she got up, and she wondered how long she’d been sitting in the same position. At the very least, she could move. Make something. “Gosh, look at the time. Nearly ten. Are either of you hungry? Did you eat dinner?”

“Oh, I’m fine.”

Jas shook his head. “Katrina . . .”

“Let me put something together.”

“That’s not necessary.”

It was necessary. Katrina placed her hand in her pocket, but there was no rock, because she hadn’t gotten dressed today either. No shower, no perusal of her wardrobe to decide what she felt like. No rock. Nothing to hold on to.

“I’m hungry.” Katrina scooted past Jas. Her head was a jumble of thoughts and feelings, her stomach in turmoil.