Dirty Crown: A Bad Boy Secret Baby Royal Romance (with BONUS book - Rebel Rockstar!) (35 page)

I
feel increasingly
awful with every bad word that is said about Nate—especially when I can’t even stand up and defend him—but I need to wait. We all do. We have to
all
be ready for this, and Lola is only just getting there. Every time I feel even an ounce of frustration with her, I remember myself back then. I was nowhere near ready to speak out. Even if others had stood alongside me, I may have been too terrified, so I do understand.

I’ve spoken to Nate on and off over the last few days, but he won’t tell me where he’s hiding in case our phones have been tapped. He sounds happy, though, which is all I can ask for in this nightmare. I’m just so grateful that he isn’t furious at me for putting him through all of this.

“What do you think she’s going to decide?” Tonya asks me nervously, pacing up and down outside the therapist’s office. Lola has agreed to speak to a professional, to see how it makes her feel, and then we will go from there. Tonya is as worked up about all of this as I am, which is making the tensions in the room very high.

“I really don’t know,” I answer honestly. “But we cannot do this without her. She’s the key to us getting justice. We might not be listened to because it happened so long ago, whereas Lola is now.”

“She’s just so closed off about it all,” Tonya whines. “It’s difficult for her to even open up to us about it.” We still don’t know how far Cole has taken things with Lola, and I’m not sure that we ever will.

“I know, but we just need to wait. Even after all of this, she’s going to need to tell Ben and her family first.” Images of my own mother flick through my mind, but I try to push them aside quickly. I don’t want her to find out about this through the media either, but it also isn’t the sort of thing you attempt to rebuild a relationship over. This has been troubling me for a while now, but I can’t fix everything at once, and this issue needs to take precedence while Nate is having such a crappy time.

The door swings open and I jump up from my seat to stand next to Tonya. We both look at Lola expectantly as she slides quietly through the door, biting on her lip. Her face is red and blotchy, showing me that she’s been crying, but I can also see something else. A new look in her eyes, one that I pray is a sign of hope.

“Okay,” she whispers, smiling weakly. “I’m ready. Let’s go to the police.”

I wrap my arms around her and pull her in for a hug. “Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask, desperately not wanting to push her into anything, but she nods against me.

“No, it’s time. I’m ready.” She pulls back to look at me, giving me her most confident expression. I see a glimpse of the old Lola, the one I met on that ship all that time ago. “The doctor made me see that I’m only holding back because I’m afraid of how people will react to me, but that none of it is my fault. Not really. That’s all in my mind.”

“It isn’t your fault. Not at all,” Tonya interjects, grinning for the first time in a very long time. “Just like it isn’t ours, either.”

“He can’t get away with it anymore.” Lola nods defiantly. “Not with me or anyone else.”

“We’ll go to the police tomorrow, after you’ve had the chance to speak to your family—”

“No,” she jumps in quickly. “I need to go right now. I need to do this right away. I’ll speak to my family afterwards.”

“Right.” I glance at Tonya, who is nodding vigorously. “Let’s go, then.”

* * *

W
e spend
hours and hours in the police station, giving statements, going over evidence, discussing future moves, and by the end of it I’m absolutely exhausted. On the way to the police station, I only had a brief second to fire off a quick text to Nate to ensure that he knows things are changing, and I also let Kim know the story in the best way I could via text so it wouldn’t be a shock to her when it came out.

By the time we exit the questioning room, each of us as physically and mentally drained as the others, Kim is standing in the waiting room, pacing up and down furiously. My heart pounds heavily at the pissed-off expression on her face, and I wonder if we’ve done the right thing, or if we should have spoken to our management teams first…

“There you are!” Her face bursts into a smile and she pulls me in for the first hug I’ve ever had from her. My body relaxes. She’s actually here in a caring capacity, rather than for business.

Or so I thought…

“Okay, girls, I’ve been discussing things with your teams, and we’ve put together a press conference for you. It isn’t until tomorrow morning, to give you all enough time to learn your speeches, but we need to tackle this before it leaks to the media—which it will, the second Cole gets arrested.” She returns to her normal, bossy self, but I’m actually grateful for that. Now that we’ve unburdened ourselves, I feel like a little return to normal life is in order. “We’ll be sending things over to you later tonight, so be sure to have your emails open.”

I turn to Lola and Tonya. “Do you guys want to come and stay at my place? We could do this together. Then we don’t have to be alone when we…speak to our families and stuff.” I’m more thinking about Lola for this one, but maybe I should do the right thing and call my mom too.

“That would be amazing,” they both say happily. I can’t believe I’m about to have a sleepover with Lola and Tonya, after everything we’ve been through and under these circumstances, but then again, what seems a little weird is also very normal now too.

* * *

W
e go
over everything that we’ve been sent a million times until we have it right. As we rehearse, also deciding on our own information that we intend to include too, I feel so grateful that the girls are here. If I had to go through this night alone, I would have driven myself insane by now. Especially since I haven’t heard a word from Nate since I texted him with the good news. I don’t even know if he knows yet, or if he’s coming back.

“Okay,” Lola finally announces when we decide that we’re done. “I’m going to go and call Ben and my parents. I have to tell them now.”

“We’re right here.” I grin at her. “Just shout if you need us.” As she leaves the room with her phone gripped tightly between her fingers, I turn to face Tonya. “Are you going to call your family?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “They already know. I told them years ago. When the news breaks, they won’t be shocked.” I stare at her, confused. I didn’t know she’d told anyone. “They didn’t believe me,” she admits. “Because I’ve always been a bit of an attention-seeker, they assumed I was making it up.”

“Oh, my God, that’s awful,” I mutter, completely and utterly stunned. I can’t imagine how brave she was, just to be shot down by the people who were supposed to protect her.

“I only brought it up once, but that’s what made me so scared to mention it to anyone else.” She tries to smile, but the strain is obvious in her face. “Hopefully this will make them see things differently, although, to be honest, from the way my family is, I doubt anyone will ever mention it again.”

“I’m sorry, Tonya.” I hug her tightly. “That’s awful.”

“It did affect me for a very long time, but I feel better now. It’s done, anyway.” She pulls back to look at me. “Why don’t you call your mom?”

I stand in my bedroom alone, holding my phone nervously between my fingers. My breaths are coming out loud and labored at the prospect of the conversation that I now need to have. I keep thinking about the bravery we’ve all shown today. This should be the easy part, but deep down I know that isn’t true.

“Come on, Jem,” I whisper to myself. “Just do it.”

But by the time I work up the courage to actually follow through with it, the phone rings and rings, and no one picks up.

* * *

A
s we stand
outside the room where the press conference is being held, I don’t know who’s more nervous. We’ve all been a damn wreck since we woke up, and now I’m just desperate for this to be over.

“Do people know that he’s been arrested yet?” Lola asks for the hundredth time.

“I don’t know. I assume so.” I try to smile at her reassuringly, but it’s very difficult for me to disguise my own emotions. “I’m sure the world will be aware before we go out there—”

“Come on.” Kim’s sharp voice interrupts me. “It’s time. Let’s go.”

Anxiety courses through my veins as I see all the expectant faces looking up at me. Just as I really start to teeter on the edge of panic, Tonya grips my hand, and I shoot her a thankful smile. I’m not alone in this. Not anymore. The three of us can get through this. Together we have a strength that can tackle anything. This is going to be the easy part.

* * *

W
e burst from the room
, all over the moon to have it done. Surprisingly, everyone was really supportive of us, giving us exactly the reaction that we needed. Tonya pulls me and Lola into a massive hug and we all lose ourselves in the moment, grateful to have one another to lean on.

“We did it,” she whispers excitedly. “We really did it.”

“Jem!” A male voice calls above the crowd, and my heart flutters in excitement. I spin around to find Nate standing there, smiling widely at me, running towards me. “Oh, my God, Jem.”

He lifts me up and kisses me intently, making me feel closer to him than I ever have before. This is the reason I haven’t been able to get ahold of him. He raced back to me at the very first opportunity to give me this amazing surprise.

“Nate, I’ve missed you so much!” I cry out. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve just done an interview.” He blows over my question completely. “I’ve got my side of the story across. Everything is going to be all right.”

He runs over to Lola and Tonya, enveloping them in hugs too, and I listen as he says his words of thanks—especially to Lola, who he knows has risked her own reputation for his again—and I can’t help but smile. Everything feels right with the world again.

“Come on!” Nate turns to us all and grins widely. “Let’s go out for dinner—my treat. I think we all have a lot of catching up to do.”

Lola bites her lip anxiously. “Can I…invite Ben?” She looks to Nate. I know he hasn’t met Ben yet, but he wants to, so I know he’s going to say yes before he nods himself.