Chapter 160

A few days after Pete and Chuck were arrested, I was driving Andrew’s gold Aston Martin to the hospital. Andrew had already gotten his driver, Carl, to take him back to the city for an important meeting about rising tensions between pro-integration and anti-integration demonstrators early that morning. I wanted to visit with Nikolas on his last day in the hospital, so Andrew let me take his car while Jeffrey watched over me, as always.

Everything proceeded normally as I parked and exited the car. I wove my way through the other vehicles and up to the visitor’s entrance. Then I was surrounded.

“Crystal Blanchard! Crystal Blanchard!” a chorus of paparazzi called my name.

“Crystal Blanchard, why are you at the hospital today?” one reporter asked, shoving his recorder in my face. “Is His Highness Alpha King Andrew Dubois with you?”

“Crystal Blanchard, is it true that you and Andrew helped catch a pair of arsonists?” another followed up. A flash blinded me as she took my picture.

“Crystal Blanchard, sources tell me that you used intimidation tactics to coerce a confession out of the victim’s sons,” a third reporter said. “Care to comment?”

The crowd circled me, enclosing me. They shoved and trampled each other as they tried to be the first one to reach me. Their questions and accusations blurred into each other until I could not distinguish one voice from another, and the flashes from their cameras created one giant, pulsating light.

Images of the panicked crowd at the fundraiser shooting overwhelmed my mind. Their screams filled my ears, replacing the paparazzi’s indiscernible voices.

My body shook. My palms grew sweaty. I searched everywhere for an exit, but the wall of reporters left no room for me to escape.

I felt helpless, as helpless as the day when I was kidnapped and thrown to the vampires. All of my training for remaining calm flew out the window. All I knew was that I had to get out of there, somehow, before something bad happened.

“Kill them,” Susan growled in my mind. “Kill them all.”

I shook my head fervently.

“No,” I told her…and myself. “No, this is not the time.”

I forced myself to try and remember what Andrew had taught me. Fragments of our meditation sessions came to my mind.

“Breathe,” Andrew’s voice told me. “Just breathe.”

I closed my eyes against the blaring light and focused on my breathing. I knew that it would only raise more questions from the reporters, but I had to do it. It was the only way that I was going to stay in control of Susan.

In…two…three…four…

Out…two…three…four…

In…two…three…four…

Out…two…three…four…

An arm wrapped around my shoulders. My eyes shot open, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Crystal, it’s me,” Jeffrey said, placing his free hand lightly on my arm. “It’s just me. Let’s get you out of here.”

I looked over to see his calm, protective, reassuring face and sighed in relief.

“Thank you.”

Like a brother shielding his little sister, Jeffrey blocked me from the paparazzi with his body as he bowled our way out through the crowd and into the hospital.

“You’re safe now,” Jeffrey told me as he released his hold on me. “You’re safe.”

I wanted to believe him, but my racing heart did not.

By the next morning, I was back at Andrew’s mansion, eating breakfast by myself. Lisa and Bob were, thankfully, out at some social obligation, and Andrew had another early morning meeting. Compared to the chaos of the paparazzi swarm the day before, this quiet meal was a welcomed break from the hustle and bustle that everyday life had become.

I was scrolling through random videos on social media when I got a call from Lily.

“Hey, Lily,” I answered. “What’s going on?”

“What’s going on with me?” she said. “What’s going on with you?”

I blinked in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you and the giant on the cover of every tabloid today. I thought that you were still with Andrew.”

“Of course, I’m still with Andrew!” I exclaimed. “What giant—what in the world are you talking about?”

“I’ll send you the link.”

My phone buzzed as I got Lily’s message. When I clicked on the link, it led me to a tabloid article with a picture of Jeffrey and me in front of the hospital where Nikolas had been staying. Jeffrey had his arm around me in what I saw as a platonic gesture but that others might mistake for romantic.

Above the picture read the headline:

ALPHA KING’S LUNA HOPEFUL CAUGHT IN LOVE TRIANGLE WITH BODYGUARD

I gaped as I read the words over and over. The implications slowly sank in, and I could not believe what people must have thought.

Jeffrey and me, together, as a couple, cheating behind Andrew’s back.

I felt absurd just thinking about it.

“Hello? Crystal?” Lily’s voice called from my phone.

I shook myself from my thoughts and raised my phone back to my ear.

“Hello?” I said.

“Are you still there?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, I’m still here.”

“And you got the link?”

“Oh yeah, I got it.”

“Well? Details, girl!”

I ran my hand over my face.

“What do you want me to say? Those are only rumors.”

“But what about his arm wrapped around your shoulders? That looks awfully suspicious, you know.”

I groaned.

“I know, I know, but it’s not what it looks like.”

“Then what is it?”

I hesitated. I hadn’t told many people outside of Andrew and Jeffrey about my trauma or my episodes, and even though Lily was my best friend, I wasn’t sure how she would react to the news. Would she think that I was too damaged to hang out with anymore?

I knew that there were days when I thought that I did.

“Is something wrong, Crystal?” Lily asked, her voice suddenly concerned. “Whatever it is, you know that you can tell me. You can tell me anything.”

I smiled slightly to myself.

“You’re right. I can.”

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“I was having a panic attack. Since I’ve been getting attacked so often lately, I’ve been suffering with issues such as panic attacks and PTSD. Crowds are especially hard for me.”

I paused to see if Lily had anything to say at this conjecture. When she didn’t, I continued.

“Jeffrey has learned to recognize the signs of my panic attacks and other episodes, and he comes to my rescue whenever I need to escape a situation. I started to have a panic attack when the paparazzi surrounded me outside of a hospital that I was at to visit that dressmaker, Nikolas Vanderbilt, and Jeffrey swooped in to save me. That’s why he had his arm around me, to shield me from the reporters.”

Lily took a moment to respond.

“So, you’re not cheating on Andrew?”

“Of course not. Jeffrey and I are just friends, nothing more.”

Lily sighed over the phone.

“Good. I had my doubts at the start, but now that you two have been together for a while, I think Andrew’s the best thing to happen to you since you got out of prison.”

Lily and I laughed heartily.

“Well, I’m glad to finally have your approval,” I said. My mind drifted to the picture of Jeffrey and me. “Hopefully, you didn’t get on the bandwagon a little too late.”