Page 34 of Just Wait

The other women snicker as the first pulls up her shirt, heading off toward Tennyson and Parish.

I grimace.

That was awkward.

She should have known better, but I guess you miss all the balls you don’t swing at.

“Malcolm, is that the woman you and Kincaid stopped the show to pull from the pit?” the man asks, making me jolt.

My heart seizes in my chest.

Me sitting with him is only going to make things worse. I can’t even assure anyone that I didn’t cheat on Theo because I signed a freaking NDA regarding Liminal.

This is a nightmare.

Everyone will assume I’m a cheater.

They’ll think I broke his heart to hook up with a more well-known band.

My chest tightens, and my vision goes hazy.

I’m not a cheater.

I would never do that to someone.

It won’t matter.

People will believe what they want to, and I won’t even be able to attempt to defend myself because of that NDA.

“I’m not answering questions about that out of respect for her privacy,” Malcolm says, patting my stomach.

“Understood,” the man says, looking down at his notebook. “Can you tell me about your mask? Who made it? What do you do if it gets broken? Why did you pick the only mask with a moving feature?”

“You’re beautiful,” the lady sitting next to Malcolm says, leaning over until her face is only an inch from mine. “I think the three of us should get out of here.”

“We’re going to pass on that, but you can try your luck with Ten or Parish,” Malcolm says before I can form words.

It seems rude to interrupt Mal’s interview, but I’m more focused on how big of a deal it’s going to be that they helped me during their show.

The optics are so bad.

Theo will think the worst.

I don’t know if he saw the clips before cheating on me, but even if he did, he should have had enough respect for our relationship to hear my side of things.

My chest gets so tight it’s painful to breathe.

My vision goes hazy as my heartbeat speeds up. It pounds out of control, then skips beats like it’s trying to catch up. It’s a battle not to gasp for air since it feels like there’s none left in the room.

“I’m sorry.” I pry Malcolm’s hand off my middle and force myself to stand. “I need the bathroom.”

My knees wobble like they might give out, but I weave through the people, aiming for the door.

I make it out into the hallway and stumble to the corner near the exit sign.

It’s tempting to go outside.

Maybe then I’d be able to breathe.