Peyton strode down the hallway of the theater, desperate to get a car and make it to Raji before Xan’s smear campaign hit.
Behind him, Georgie’s voice echoed from the concrete and plaster, “Peyton!”
Like a spear in his back.
Peyton stopped, even though every cell in his body wanted to sprint, both to Raji to keep her safe and to run away from Georgie. He knew what Georgie was going to say, and she had every right to say it.
He turned. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t stand up for you.” He braced himself to be slapped.
She hurried toward him, her high heels clicking on the cement floor. “Not what I was going to say.”
“You should say it. I should have stood up for you like that.”
Georgie reached him and threw her slim arms around his waist.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, reaching around her. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’ve said that a thousand times, and today, I know you meant it.”
“I should have done that for you every time some jackass said something at school. I wish I had stood up for you, and then I wish you had found Xan. You two belong together. I’m glad you’re happy.”
“We were kids.” She jiggled her arms around his waist like she was trying to shake some sense into him. “Kids are cruel and shallow and don’t know what they’re doing, but now you’re the kindest man I know. If all that had to happen so that you could become this man, the guy who is kinder to the roadies and the other guys and waiters and band members than anyone else, the guy who jumps on a plane to save his ex-girlfriend from the Russian mafia and expects nothing afterward, the guy who quits a megastar band to go to the love of his life when she needs him, then it was worth it. Because you’re who you are now, there is more love and kindness in the world than before, and I’m glad.”
He held her for a moment, one last embrace of his first love, before he thanked her. They both wiped the tears out of each other’s eyes.
Peyton ran through the hallways, sprinting to get to the airport to book a flight and get to Raji before the media storm hit her.
Because Georgie was right: Raji was the love of Peyton’s life, and he would do anything to get to her because she was going to need him.