But before they could make it there, Harper saw something that made her feel five thousand times worse.
Kiki Jean Carlow was standing at the opening of the hallway, signing autographs for the crowd of twenty or so people that surrounded her. They were mainly girls, most in frayed jean skirts, cowboy boots, and flannel shirts tied up and above their midriffs. Kiki was wearing a similar outfit.
Harper stopped dead in her tracks, unable to move on. It was like watching a train wreck…a train wreck that was her life.
“So it is true?” One of the girls next to Kiki gushed. “You really are dating Liam James?”
“Just flew in from California to get here. Wouldn’t miss it.” Kiki beamed.
“So ‘Forever’ must be about you, right?” someone else asked. “Since he just wrote it recently.”
“You guys don’t miss anything, do you?” she asked as she grabbed another picture and scrawled her signature across it.
“That’s so cool.”
“Gawd, you’re lucky.”
“The luckiest.” Kiki’s gaze came up and landed on Harper. The look of cold recognition was clear; she knew exactly who Harper was. “Did you want something signed, darlin’?”
Darlin’.
Ohhh, Kiki could sign something all right. Harper’s fist…right after she threw up.
She said nothing. She couldn’t open her mouth. A sick queasy pressure tightened her stomach and her feet were moving before she was even conscious of it. Her heart was now pounding out of her chest and there was a ringing in her ears. The ability to pull air into her lungs was nearly impossible as the people pushing in around her increased.
She had to get out of there. Stat.
There was no way she was going to last long enough to get through the line that snaked out of the women’s restroom, so she bypassed it, pushing through the doors at the end of the hallway and outside.
She made it about twenty feet past the entrance, and away from the people gathered around getting a smoke, before she’d gotten to the limit. She reached for the wall, holding her balance as she leaned forward and threw up against the side of the building. Hands were moving across her back, pulling her hair back as she emptied her stomach.
Celeste.
When the heaving stopped, she held on to the wall and tried to keep herself upright while she started to hyperventilate.
“Come on.” Celeste helped guide Harper away from the wall and to the curb. The second her butt was on the ground she dropped her head between her knees. Celeste’s palm rubbed across her lower back in slow circular motions. “You need to breathe, babe.”
Breathing. That would be good. Maybe if she got some air into her lungs the black spots on the edge of her vision would go away.
Maybe.
She had no idea how long they sat there, but it felt like forever for her to catch her breath. When she was finally able to pull her head up, she looked over at her aunt. “I need to get out of here.”
“I think that’s the best idea.”
“I need to tell Liam.”
“I’ll take care of that when we’re in the car. Let me see if I can get ahold of Reed.” She pulled out her phone and dialed, her hand not stopping with the slow steady circles at the small of Harper’s back. “He isn’t answering.” She frowned after a minute. “I’m going to need to go in there and get him. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah.” Harper nodded. “It isn’t like I have anything else to throw up.”
Celeste’s mouth formed a concerned line. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”
Harper sat by herself for a couple of minutes before sitting still became too much to do. She needed to stand. Walk around a little. Get the feeling back in her legs.
But when she stood and turned around she wished she hadn’t. She suddenly didn’t have legs anymore. Kiki was standing there, arms folded across her chest, making her breasts pop over the top of her low-cut shirt.
She was alone. Her little entourage hadn’t followed her outside.
“So you’re the girl?” Kiki asked, a slight sneer in her eyes as she looked Harper over. She clearly wasn’t impressed. “I saw your picture pop up on his phone when you called him once. We were in bed at the time—”
“No, you weren’t,” Harper cut her off. “You think we haven’t discussed this little game you’re playing? Think again. You aren’t going to get in my head.”
The flash of delight in Kiki’s eyes said wanna bet? “At first I wasn’t sure if he’d fallen for a chubby girl. Or if he knocked you up. A little bit of both it seems.”
“Go to hell.”
“Oh, darlin’, is that any way for an expecting mother to talk?” Her gaze dipped to Harper’s belly, and the malevolent delight behind those icy blue eyes was unmistakable.
On instinct, Harper’s hand went to her little bump, shielding Sofia and confirming Kiki’s assumption in one fell swoop.
“Oh, this will make for a fascinating story. I couldn’t have written it better myself. A love triangle. I’ll be the woman scorned, and you’ll be the tramp who stole my man. And even though Liam is meant to be with me and he wants to be with me, he can’t be, because he got you knocked up. It’s kind of perfect actually. Everyone will love me, and hate him…but oh, they will despise you.”
“What’s your problem?”
She shrugged. “I don’t have one. This is just fun.”
“So this is all just a game to you?”
“Pretty much. And since I can’t have what I want, why should you?”
It was at that moment that Celeste was out the door, her eyes narrowed as she looked between Kiki and Harper, and she made a beeline to them. “Why don’t you go somewhere else and spread your poison?”
“Maybe you should talk to your little friend over here about not spreading hers. Though, getting knocked up is an interesting strategy on getting a guy. Not what I would use, but different strokes for different folks. Good luck with”—she motioned at Harper’s belly—“that.”
And then she was walking away, heading back to the building and disappearing through the side door.
“Harper—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She turned, staring down at her shoes and trying to breathe again. The panic was simmering just under the surface and she needed to push it down. “I just want to get out of here.”
“Reed is getting the car.”
“Okay.” Harper nodded, chewing on her bottom lip in an attempt to keep her mouth closed. She couldn’t stop replaying the last few minutes, and it was just making her want to start vomiting again.
Was this really what it was going to be like? Was this the price to pay for being with Liam? Her name in the tabloids as his popularity grew. Combating lies. Dealing with other women wanting him.
Her lip fell from her teeth, trembling as the sob broke out of her mouth.
“Sweetie,” Celeste whispered next to her.
Harper turned automatically, her aunt’s arms wrapping her up in a hug and holding her close as everything came crashing down again.
* * *
It was about halfway through the show when Liam couldn’t find Harper in the crowd anymore. One minute she’d been there, the next she was gone. He hadn’t had a problem keeping track of where she was before, his eyes always landed on her. Not only that, Celeste and Reed were missing, too.
Though he told himself that they’d probably just moved a little farther from the stage, the unsettled feeling only grew through the last hour. And if he’d checked his phone during the two minutes he was backstage before the encore, he wouldn’t have gone back out.
There was a missed called and voice mail from Celeste followed by a string of texts. He pulled up the texts first:
9:38 pm—Harper didn’t feel well and needed to get out of there.
9:39 pm—She’s going to be okay. We’re going to my house.