This One Moment (Pushing Limits, #1)(76)

“Why is it that only a few weeks ago,” a male reporter asked, “Alyssa made a statement that you two were involved and Hailey was nothing more than a friend?”

That was my question to answer. “The record label believed that by announcing Alyssa and I were involved, it would remove the attention from Hailey. At the time, I hadn’t realized Hailey would want to uproot herself from her life back home to be with me in L.A., and Hailey hadn’t realized I wanted her with me. Obviously we need to work on our communication skills a little more.”

Knowing chuckles greeted us.

“So what made you decide to come forward now?” a female entertainment reporter asked. I recognized her from the movie premiere, when she had helped feed the speculation about the whole Nolyssa crap.

“While the idea of standing in front of all you and discussing my private life scares the hell out of me,” Hailey said to the middle microphone, “I was tired of the unfounded hate Nolyssa fans had toward me. Some individuals threatened me online. I received hate phone calls from one person, who also sent me a letter. The cops in my town have questioned the individual and charges are possible.” It had turned out to be someone in Hailey’s apartment building. “People who didn’t know me were threatening me or saying hurtful comments about me just because they were supporting something that wasn’t real.”

Alyssa placed her hand on Hailey’s shoulder. “I’ve had a chance to get to know Hailey over the past few days, and the negative press she received is undeserved. And unlike the media and Nolan’s fans, who didn’t get to know him because of secrets he felt he had to keep, I’ve gotten to know the real Nolan over the past year. He’s a great guy, and he and Hailey are the ones who are perfect together. It never should have been about him and me.”

We answered several more questions. Some were about my past, which I told them was behind me and was in no way an indication of who I was. Some were about Hailey’s and my plans for the future.

“I’m still recovering from an attack prior to coming here,” Hailey stated. “Then I hope to continue what I was doing back home.” She didn’t say what that was, though. She wasn’t the one whose career was based on being in the spotlight. She wanted to keep that part of her life private. We could only hope the media would respect her decision.

“Was this an attack from a Nolyssa fan?”

“No,” Hailey said. “It was a home invasion that had nothing to do with Nolan or Alyssa. That’s all I can say about it.”

Eventually the questions ended and we thanked everyone for coming. Monica opened the back door for us and the four of us left. She and Alyssa said goodbye to us and walked out to the car waiting for them.

Grinning happily because I was finally going to have Hailey all to myself for a while, I grabbed hold of her hips and brought her flush against me. “So, what do you say, Forget-Me-Not?” I murmured against her ear, and I could’ve sworn she whimpered. “Why don’t we go home and I can help you relax?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“You’ll see.” I languidly ran my tongue along the shell of her ear. She moaned softly. “And maybe tomorrow we can start looking for a place to live. Together. Without Jared.”

She laughed. “Sounds good.”

I pulled back. “Which part?”

The smile on her face made my heart do a quick step. “All of it. As long as it’s with you.”





Epilogue


Hailey


TWO MONTHS LATER

From the throw line in the middle of the sports bar, I tossed my beanbag toward the red bucket. If this had been soccer, I could’ve dazzled everyone with my fancy footwork. Not that anyone cared. The sole reason the ten people behind me were here was to drool over my boyfriend. Okay, maybe not so much the guy at the end of our line, but definitely the guy on Jared’s team. He’d been checking Nolan’s ass out, like the rest of the girls at the radio-station sponsored event. But I couldn’t say I blamed him. As long as he and the girls realized that only I had Nolan’s heart.

The beanbag effortlessly landed in the bucket with a hard plop. Nolan didn’t have a chance to congratulate me. He was up next. His team cheered and oohed as he hurled his beanbag at the same target. And he, too, easily made the shot.

We walked together to the end of the line, his hand on my butt. A few girls shot me a jealous glance, but that didn’t bother me. It was an improvement compared to a few months ago. Fortunately, once Alyssa had accepted me as a friend, the entire Nolyssa mess had blown over. Not that I had seen her much lately. She was busy in the studio recording her debut album.

“So, Hailey,” Jared said as we waited for the next game to be set up, “you’re coming with us on our promo blitz, right?”

“I hope so. Depends on if I can get the time off. Plus we’re expecting…a new family member.” How I managed not to laugh at Jared’s shocked expression was beyond me.

“Well, um, congratulations.” He hugged me and gave Nolan a one-armed bro hug. The rest of the band was too preoccupied giving Mason a hard time to overhear us.

Nolan burst out laughing. “She’s not pregnant. We’re adopting a puppy.”

I laughed. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist it.”