"I can’t believe all the people that are here!" Dawn said, peeking through the curtain. D came up beside her and peeked out. 
There were fans everywhere. Some were lined up the whole way down the mall, others were just milling around waiting 
for Dawn to come onto the stage that had been setup. They were holding her CDs, posters, t-shirts and various other 
items to be signed. 

"Wow. That is a lot of people." 

Dawn looked over at her, a frightened look on her face. "What if they’re not even here to see me?  What if they only 
wanna ask me stuff about Alex?  They're probably only here because they think he will be".   

D hugged her and stroked her back soothingly.

"Those are all your fans.  They’re all holding your CD’s, your posters, not his. It’s gonna be okay, sweetie. Just relax 
and be yourself.  It’ll be fun!"  

Dawn took a deep breath and peeked out again. She jumped when Noah came up behind her.

"Are you ready?" 

She looked at D and then to him. 

"Ready as I’ll ever be."

He smiled at her and opened the curtain. D wished her good luck and she and Noah headed through the crowd.  When 
the fans caught sight of her they started screaming and coming towards her. Before she knew it they had her surrounded. 
They were grabbing at her and yelling her name. Some were asking where AJ was. 

Dawn kept close to Noah, trying to make it through. All she could see was people everywhere she turned, pulling at her 
and yelling.  She started to panic because she was chlostrophobic and they weren’t giving her any room to breathe .  
Noah tried to push them off but they just kept grabbing at her. She yelped when someone accidentally pulled her hair. 
Another grabbed her arm and almost pulled it out of its socket. 

Noah yelled for security, trying to protect Dawn from the out of control fans.  D watched from the curtain, her hands 
over her mouth in utter shock. She couldn’t believe how the fans were acting. She was scared that Dawn would get 
hurt. She ran out to help but a security guard grabbed her and pushed her back. 

Two other security guards made their way to where Noah and Dawn were and tried to pull her out of the crowd. 
Some of the fans had a hold of Dawn’s leg and wouldn’t let her go. Her leg was twisted and the pain was so excruciating, 
she thought it would break.  They finally got her leg free and pulled her from the crowd.   

They escorted she and Noah back behind the curtain, then went back to calm the crowd down. Noah and D sat 
Dawn down on a chair…she was understandably pretty shaken up. 

"Are you okay?" D asked concerned, kneeling in front of her. 

She noticed a big scratch across Dawn’s face.  Noah sat down in the chair next to her and put his arm around her.

"I…I…I don’t know," Dawn whispered, still in shock. 

"She can’t go back out there," D said, looking up at Noah. "Look what they did to her."

"I know. I’m going to tell them that the signing is off." 

He got up and went to find the manager. 

D got up and sat down where Noah was and put her arm around her. Dawn leaned against her and started to cry.

"I wish Alex was here."

"I know. You’ll see him soon." 

D closed her eyes and sighed. 

‘J is gonna freak out when he hears about this. He’s going to literally blow a gasket.’

"That was so crazy," Dawn sniffed. 

"I felt so helpless. I saw them grabbing at you and there was nothing I could do."

"They just came at me, it all happened so fast. I couldn’t breathe. I think that one girl almost ripped my arm off." 
Dawn rubbed her sore arm. 

"Then someone scratched my face," she brought her hand up to the scratch on her face and winced at the pain.  
"Not to mention, my ankle is killing me."

"Do you need me to get a doctor to look at it?"

"No, I think it’ll be fine. I’ve just got a few minor scratches and bruises but I’ll be fine. I just want to go back to the 
hotel." 

"Okay. I’ll go find Noah and get you out of here."

Dawn nodded and D went to find Noah. She still couldn’t believe what had happened with Dawn. She was angry 
that the fans reacted that way. Dawn could have been seriously hurt. She found Noah talking to another man. She 
guessed he was the manager. Noah saw her and waved her over. 

"This is Mark Shapiro, he’s the mall manager."

"Nice to meet you," she said, shaking his hand.

"Likewise. I was apologizing to Mr. Williams for what happened here today."

"It wasn’t your fault. No one had any idea that this would happen."

"Your right but I still feel awful about it. We are sending everyone home. We just have to be careful how this is 
handled, though, we don’t want a riot.  Obviously these fans really wanted to meet Miss Simon. I have my 
assistant handling everything now." 

D smiled and turned to Noah. 

"Dawn wants to go back to the hotel now. She’s still pretty freaked out." 

Noah nodded and shook Mark’s hand. 

"We are going to get her out of here."

"I’ll get some security guards to help you out safely," Mark assured them. 

D and Noah went back to Dawn. She was still sitting where D left her, obviously still shaken. 

"We’re taking you back now." 

Dawn got up, trembling, and grabbed onto D for support. Four security guards came and helped them out to the 
limo. Fans were waiting for them outside but didn’t get a chance to come near her. She was pushed into the limo 
and they took off back to the hotel.

Once they arrived back at the hotel D and Noah took Dawn straight to her room. She was disappointed when she 
didn’t find AJ in the room. She sat down on the couch and starting sobbing. Noah tried to comfort her while D 
called his cell phone. He picked up on the second ring.

"This is AJ."

"J, it’s D."

"Hey girl! You guys back already?" He asked, surprised.

"Um, yeah. I need you to get back to the suite as soon as possible."

AJ didn’t like the way she sounded. 

"Why? What’s wrong?"

"I don’t want to get into it over the phone. Something happened at the signing and Dawn needs you."

"I’m on my way." 

D hung up and told Dawn that he was on his way. 

He and Nick burst through the door ten minutes later.  Dawn rushed to him and threw herself in his arms, crying.

"Shhhh...baby...it’s okay," he whispered to her, holding her tight and stroking her hair. 

"What the hell happened?" He asked D and Noah, starting to get angry. 

Noah started to speak but D stopped him. She thought it best that she tell him, knowing how he felt about Noah.

"The crowd at the signing got out of hand. They got excited when Noah brought Dawn out and started grabbing 
and pulling at her. It was crazy."

AJ couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He looked at Dawn and cupped her face in his hands. He frowned 
when he noticed the scratch that ran down her face and ran his thumb over it. He felt his temperature begin to 
rise. 

"How the hell could you let this happen?" He screamed at Noah. 

Noah clenched his fists and glared at AJ.

"I didn’t LET it happen. I tried to stop them. I tried to protect her as best I could," he said through clenched teeth.

"He’s right. There was nothing anyone could do," D intervened.

"What do you mean there was nothing anyone could do?? Where the HELL were the security guards??  Didn’t 
this place have any fucking security???!!" AJ yelled back, sitting Dawn back down on the couch, she was still 
shaken up.

"The security guards came and helped her out of there safely." 

"SAFELY??!!!! Look at her face!!! You call that safely!?!" 

"AJ, dude, calm down," Nick said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

AJ glared at him and pushed his hand away. 

"I will not calm down. My fiance got mobbed today Nick!! She’s got scratches and bruises all over her!!"

"I know man and I’m sorry but you can’t blame D or Noah. They didn’t know this was gonna happen."

AJ looked at him and then D and Noah. He stepped right up to Noah and looked him right in the eyes. 
Noah could see the rage in his face and was bracing himself for a fight.

"I don’t want anything like this to ever happen to her again, do you understand me?"

"I will make sure she’s protected....I won’t leave her side," Noah promised. He smiled to himself as AJ clenched his 
fists. 

"That won’t be necessary. I’m going to hire her a bodyguard," AJ informed him, walking back to Dawn. He sat down 
next to her. 

"Are you alright, Angel?" He asked her, as he put his arm around her.

"I’m okay. I’m just a little shaken up but I’ll be alright."

"Did you get hurt anywhere else?"

"My arm is sore from when someone practically ripped it out of my socket," she said, rubbing it.  "And my ankle hurts, 
I think I twisted it." 

"How did that happen??!" He raised his voice, looking over at D and Noah.

"When the security guards tried to pull her out of the mess, a few fans had a hold of her leg..." D’s voice trailed off.  

"God dammit!!" He yelled,  "I’m going to get the doctor up here to look at you," he looked back at Dawn.

Dawn shook her head in protest. 

"I don’t need a doctor Alex. I just need you," she said, moving closer to him as she laid her head on his chest.  

D looked at Noah and saw him roll his eyes. She smiled to herself. 

"I was just scared, and I couldn’t breathe, I felt like I was in a box," Dawn added, closing her eyes. 

"You should go now Noah. Dawn is gonna be fine now," D said as she led him to the door.

Dawn remained in AJ's arms as he stroked her hair.  Not too much time passed before she had fallen asleep.  He 
carried her into their bedroom. When he came back out, went to the wet bar and made himself a drink, then lit a 
cigarette.  D sat down on the couch, not sure what to say to him. She knew he was angry with her.

"Listen J, I’m sorry about what happened to her."

AJ looked at her, took a long drag off his cigarette and sighed. 

"I know you are. I know it wasn’t your fault. There’s no way you would have known."

"I’m actually really surprised that the fans reacted that way towards her. I honestly didn’t think she was that popular 
yet," Nick said, sitting down next to D.

"I know what you mean. There were tons of people there waiting for her. I knew her single just blew up and there 
was a ton of hype over her performances but I didn’t think they would react that way either," D agreed.

"Well, I’m not leaving here until I get her some fucking security," AJ said, as he gulped down his drink.  

"I’m going to go check on Dawn," he said softly, putting out his cigarette and walking towards the bedroom. 

D looked at Nick and shook her head. He smiled at her and put his arm around her.

Chapter 25
Back