Absolutely Unforgivable(65)

I was tired, more mentally drained than anything, and wanted to take a nap but I was too scared to be away from the crowd of people so I stayed on the couch quietly listening to everyone talk around me.

Eventually Trista joined us on the couch. “Okay. So Kita and the boys will be moving some of your things downstairs to Billy’s room. You’ll be staying with him until Jeromy gets home.”

“No, I can’t. No way.”

“Stacy, why are you arguing with me? Do you really think this is optional?” Trista said as she glanced over at Billy. I sighed. She was right. After what happened today, Billy really never was going to let me out of his sight. And, truth be told, I really didn’t want to be upstairs by myself. I would rather be in the safety of Billy’s arms until Jeromy got back. Jeromy. Now more than ever I wished he was here with me, taking care of me.

I tried my best to keep my eyes open but as the conversations dragged on it all got just too much for me. My eyes were just too heavy to stay open. I laid my head back on the armrest of the couch and fell asleep.

When I woke up it was dark outside. Mindy and Bree were still sitting on either side of me, this time watching TV. Billy and the rest of the guys were sitting on the other side of the room at the card table they had set up in the living room, drinking beer and laughing. “Zander, you cheating mother f*cker,” I heard Patrick say and then they all laughed.

“Hey, Little Miss Sleepyhead. You totally missed it.” Mindy said.

“Missed what?”

“We decided on what we are going to wear this weekend, silly!”

“Darla wanted us to cover our bodies in crystals instead of clothes. Starla wanted us to dress up like Las Vegas showgirls. While they were both great ideas, I think they are just a little much. So after some debate, we agreed to dress as go-go dancers. You know like from the sixties. We are going out tomorrow and pick up our costumes. Aren’t you excited?”

“Oh yeah, that sounds great.” I wasn’t really all that enthused about the upcoming shopping excursion. But they were so excited I didn’t want to be rude or hurt their feelings, especially after they had been so sweet and supportive.

“And while we are there we can check out what else they have. This is going to be so much fun!” Bree enthused.

“You know we don’t always have to dress up in costumes. Can’t we all just wear the same color? Like one day we all wear black, the next we all wear red?” I asked, hoping she would agree so I could get out of the shopping trip.

“Well, yeah, but where is the fun in that? I guess we can do that sometimes but we should at least try and get a few cool costumes to wear, don’t you think?”

Out of the corner of my eye something that flashed on the TV caught my attention. I grabbed the remote and turned it up. Oh my God! It was a story about me. Please tell me they did not just flash a picture of me in Billy’s boxers. Oh God they did.

“Houston’s very own superstar Stacy Keller had a run in today with an overzealous fan. The story ended in tragedy when he resisted arrest and was shot by an HPD officer. After the incident Stacy tweeted a message to her fans letting them know she was okay and appreciated the officers that came to her rescue. The man who has yet to be identified broke into her home in an attempt to get closer to the star. We’ll have more on this story as it develops.”

The second the station cut to commercial everyone’s phone almost simultaneously started to buzz. I turned to Billy to see if he had watched what I just did. Vin was talking to him. “This shit’s not going to die down anytime soon. We might want to consider bringing in some additional security for the girls at the shows, at least for a while.”

“Yeah, man. Do whatever you think is best. That’s a good idea.” Billy was patting his hand on his leg, as if he wanted me to sit on his lap.

I made my way over to the table and sat down on his leg. I watched them play cards for a while but as the hour got late I really wanted to go lie down. I didn’t want to be alone but I also didn’t want to take Billy away from his friends so I just sat there quietly. Luckily my body spoke volumes for me and I let out a yawn and laid my head on his shoulder.

“It’s getting late and I need to get this one to bed.” Billy stood up with me in his arms and started walking to his room.

The next morning I woke up when I heard a noise coming from the closet. I jumped up, frightened. But it was only Kita, who had been putting my clothes in Billy’s closet.