“No, you don’t. You can’t begin to imagine,” I cut her off.
“Oh, yes, I can, Genevieve. You think I haven’t felt it. I haven’t seen it. I’ve watched you pull into yourself over the last few years and no matter what I do, I can’t pull you out. So, I’ve done the only thing I can do and I’ve stood between you and the world. I know you’re pissed I didn’t tell you about what happened but I did that for a reason. I did it to protect you. I did it so you didn’t pull further into yourself, shut the gates, and lock them. Which means you’d be locking me out more than you already are. I know what this is doing to you.” She whispered the last part, not bothering to hide the anguish.
Naturally, she’d felt me pulling away. Bobby would, she was the only person I’d allowed close. The only one I trusted in a business that was full of phony people who wouldn’t give me the time of day if I didn’t make them money. I was an outsider in an industry that would eat me alive if I let them. It was exhausting, always having my guard up, always on the lookout for someone who wanted to exploit me, bash me, use me.
So Bobby was the only person in my inner circle, until she wasn’t and I become a nation of one.
More now than ever, I was alone.
“The last two years have sucked,” I reminded her.
“They have. But instead of leaning on me, like I’ve done with you a thousand times, you locked me out. That sucked, Viv. Do you know how bad it feels to know that your best friend is hurting but she doesn’t trust you with her pain? What your parents did to you was low, even for them. But not surprising. You knew one way or another they were gonna try to cash in on your success. We knew it and we were prepared. But after that, when the lawsuit was over, you slammed the gates closed and I’ve been trying to climb over ever since. Knowing how you are, do you think I was all fired up to pile more shit on you?”
I didn’t want to think about my parents or what they’d done to me. Bobby was right about one thing, those gates were closed, chained, and double padlocked. Or they were, but I’d briefly unlocked them only to get burned.
“What else?” I demanded, and Bobby’s lips pinched together. I’d been right, she was sitting on more information. “You think you’re protecting me, but you’re wrong. Had I known someone had been in my house, I wouldn’t have turned down the bodyguard Leslie offered.” Bobby’s face scrunched and I closed my eyes, shielding myself from the betrayal. “You went behind my back and agreed to the bodyguard.” I surmised.
“Yes. You needed to be protected. You wouldn’t agree, so I told Leslie to put someone on you. You never knew he was there, he didn’t disrupt your life, and he was only with you when you left the house.”
“What else?”
“During your last tour, there were gifts at every venue and twice he got into your dressing room.”
My stomach hollowed out and something ugly started to grow.
“Anything else?”
“We didn’t tell you because at first, we thought it was your parents fucking with you, playing stupid games to freak you out. After they lost the lawsuit, your dad said—”
“I know what my father said,” I cut her off, not needing the reminder that the man who had a hand in making me told me he’d ruin me.
“Well, after what he said, Leslie and Melissa thought it was best to keep an eye on him. When the first letter was delivered to your house, they thought it was him. If nothing else, he could’ve been a PR nightmare.”
There it was—my parents gutting me, shredding my soul, their greed and desire to steal what they thought they deserved—was nothing more than a PR nightmare.
“Right,” I mumbled.
“Why do you do that?” Bobby asked.
“Do what?”
“Think the worst of me?”
I jerked back, taking the lounger with me. The sound of the frame scraping the decking muffled my huff.
“I don’t think the worst of you,” I denied.
“Viv, I just saw it. I watched the hurt cross your face. I am not them.”
Bobby shook her head. “The only reason I took this job was so I could have a front-row seat to your dreams coming true. So I could cheer you on and celebrate with you. And in the beginning, I loved my job. I loved watching you on stage. You come alive, you’re electric, you were born to be up there. And I fucking loved watching you shine.”
She sighed, all the previous enthusiasm draining from her voice. “I don’t want your money, I don’t want your fame, I don’t want jack shit from you. Never did, never will. And it kills me I have to say that to you. You are not Vivi Rush to me. I’m not protecting your image, your income, or your deals, I’m protecting—you.”
Her voice raised. “So, no, fuck no, I wasn’t going to tell you that some dick, possibly your father, was trailing you around leaving fucked-up gifts for you, or breaking into your dressing rooms. I didn’t want that light you shine to dim. I didn’t want you freaked out before you took the stage, the only place in the last two years I’ve seen you truly happy. That’s not a no, that’s a hell-to-the-motherfucking no, I wasn’t taking that from you and I wasn’t letting anyone else.”
Bobby scrubbed her face and her voice lowered again. “But everything changed when I found…what I found in your room. Your dad is a dick of monumental proportions, but not even he would stoop so low and do something so vile on his daughter’s bed. That’s when I started making plans to get you somewhere safe and find a way to come clean about everything that’s happened this last year.”
“This wasn’t the dream,” I admitted.
“I know it wasn’t. And I hate this for you. I hate that you worked your ass off only to have to deal with this.”
Bobby misunderstood, but I was too tired, too freaked out, to explain to her what I meant.
“Is there anything else?”
“No. I’ve given Nixon an inventory, including pictures of the gifts, copies of the letter, and a timeline.”
“Thanks,” was all I said because there wasn’t anything else to say.
“One more thing,” Bobby said. The look on her face told me to brace so I did. “I quit.”
“What?” I croaked.
“I quit. I’ll stay until this is over, and I’ll stay until you find my replacement. I’ll do what I can to train her, but after that, I’m done.”
More betrayal.
“That look tells me I made the right decision.”
I shot to my feet and stared down at my best friend. “The right decision is to abandon me? I know the last two years have been rough. But I thought… never mind.”
I was halfway to the door leading downstairs when Bobby called my name.
“I’m quitting the job, not you.”
“Same thing.”
“It sure as fuck isn’t and that’s why I’m quitting. You’ve lumped me in with all those greedy assholes that want a piece of you. Guess what, friend, I just want you. I want what we’ve always had, back. I want you back. I want us to have secrets again. I want us to laugh and joke and be friends. Hell, Genevieve, you met a guy and invited him to your house, obviously got busy with him, and you didn’t even tell me.”