“I have everything already set up in the living room,” Cori says, so we make our way there. We walk into the dining room, and it’s set up like a conference table. The large table has water in the middle and at both ends. She also has coffee set up on the tray in the middle as well.
“What’s in the box?” I ask them. Grabbing the chair at the head of the table, I pull it out and sit down in it, and Tommy sits to my right. Cori puts her purse in the chair to the left of me. Hunter sits next to Tommy, and Brian sits right next to Cori. I watch him sit down and finally notice the thick folder in his hands that he slaps on the table. He takes off his sunglasses, and I finally see his eyes although he never looks at me. He places his phone facedown on the table right next to the sunglasses that he placed there also.
“We haven’t opened it yet,” Hunter says, and I nod at them. My heart starts to beat just a touch faster. I reach over and grab the box, and Brian looks like he’s going to jump over the table at me. I grab the silk white bow and pull it. I pick up the lid off the box and put it aside, the white tissue paper folded over the gift inside. I pull the first layer and then the second, and I gasp out in shock.
There, sitting on top, is a picture of me taken when I sit outside in the morning.
Next time you are out there, wear these for me.
I’m always watching you.
“CORI!” I whisper to her, and the picture falls from my hands onto the pink lingerie set on the bottom. She flies out of her chair and comes to me, grabbing the picture. Tommy also jumps out of his chair, but he isn’t as fast as Brian or Hunter. Hunter goes to the package, and Brian literally picks up my chair with me in it to move me back away from him. I look up at him, not sure what he is thinking.
He squats in front of me. “I need you to tell me exactly where you found it.”
“In my closet on top of my dresser next to my flowers,” I whisper, and he looks back at Hunter who is on his phone typing things.
“It’s going to be fine,” Cori says, coming to my side now and holding my hand.
I look down at her. “He was in my fucking room,” I curse out now, pissed that I let someone have this control over me. I turn around and look at her, then walk out to the stairs. “He was in my room. He came into my house and walked up these stairs.” I point toward the stairs. “Then he invaded the only privacy I have by going into my bedroom.”
“About time you got pissed about this,” Brian says, and I turn and glare at him. “I’m going upstairs.”
I watch him walk up the stairs and then turn to Cori. “I want the whole room redone,” I tell Cori. “I want everything stripped and then put back. Make it happen when we leave.” She nods, while I get up grabbing a bottle of water and drinking it while the guys walk back into the room.
“Okay, boys, give it to me,” I finally say, and they both look at each other, and then Brian nods his head.
He doesn’t say anything when he opens his own folder and hands us a booklet, which is double the size of the one Cori was going to hand out to us. “Now let’s begin,” he says, his voice straight and to the point and more irritating than I thought was possible.
Chapter Six
Brian
“You give a whole new meaning to over the top,” Tommy says from in front of me while he opens the booklet Rachel and I put together.
For the past two weeks, we scoped out every single hotel. We dug up every blueprint for every hotel and found all the little places where someone could hide in each venue. We spent hours on top of hours, days on top of days. And the only one who knows all of this is Hunter and my team. I have evacuations mapped out in each city along with emergency pit stops along the way. We are leaving nothing to chance.
“If we are going to keep Kellie safe, this is the way to do it,” Hunter says, and I know what they are looking at. In the booklets I just gave them is the floorplan for every hotel we will be staying at. From the rooms we will be staying in to the venues where she will be singing.
“Oh my God,” Kellie says, looking up at me from her booklet. “How did you even get all these plans?” she asks, and Hunter just nods.
“Everything in there has been acquired via the internet.” He starts saying, and then he sees Tommy look at me. “How it got on the internet isn’t my concern.” He sits up. “We knew this stalker wasn’t going to go away. If he went through all the trouble of cutting up little pieces of paper to form a sentence, he isn’t just going to shy away.” Now all eyes turn to Tommy.
“I thought I had it under control,” he says, putting his hand on her. “I promise you I have it covered.”
“And how is that working out for you now?” I ask him, leaning back in the chair.
“Fine,” Tommy says, getting up from his chair and walking over to the corner where I didn’t notice a wet bar. He pours himself a shot of whiskey, then downs it, hissing afterward. “You guys were right, okay? Is that what you want?”
“It’s a start,” I tell him, and he nods at me. “Now tell her about the dressing room.”
“Kellie,” Cori says softly, but with one look at the anger on Kellie’s face, she stops talking. Tommy pours a second shot, downing that one also, and then he comes back to sit down.
“You have to know that at no time were you in danger. The minute we got the present, we had extra security watching you,” Tommy says, and I look at Hunter who just raises an eyebrow.
“What present?” Kellie says almost in a whisper when she sits down. “Where?”
“I found it in your dressing room,” Cori says softly from beside her. “You went straight to the stage, and I went to put your bag away. There was a huge box of chocolates, and the note looked funny.”
“What did it say?” Kellie asks, and Cori looks down at her hands and then looks up with tears in her eyes.
“It said I wish I could sit with you and watch the sun.” The minute she says that, Kellie gasps, then looks at Tommy.
“Like in the picture he took of me,” she tells him, her voice going higher and higher. “In the mornings, I walk outside with coffee and sit on the big couch to watch the valley as the sun rises.” She looks at them now. “Why didn’t anyone fucking tell me? I would have stopped.” She gets up, walking out of the room, and Cori follows her out.
“We had it,” Tommy starts, and then Hunter finally says something.
“You had shit,” Hunter finally says. “You hired two robo cops to watch her, and they fell asleep twice.” He raises his hand and motions with his fingers. “In five days. And in that time, the guy came into her house.” Hunter looks at her. “I can sugarcoat this, or we can just chalk it up to it wasn’t good.”
“Now you think I’m over the top?” I ask Tommy. “That sick fuck was in her house. In her fucking bedroom.” Sitting up more, I hiss out the last sentence. “When the fuck were you going to finally take this seriously, Tommy? You hire two imbeciles who can’t even stay awake. Then you don’t even get someone to shadow her.” I shake my head. “You should have called us right away.”
He nods and puts his hands up. “It’s not the first time she’s had stalkers.” He looks at us. “And it won’t be the last. Do you know how many sickos we block on social media? Tons.”
“Did the last stalkers get this close? You know, in her fucking house?” I shout out the last words. “Bottom line, you should have fucking called us.”
“Well, you clearly found out,” Tommy says. “I need help, guys.” He looks at us. “We had all the letters tested and got nothing. Not even a fingerprint.”
“If we help you,” Hunter starts, “you let us take over.” He waits for Tommy to say something, but he just nods. “You let Brian take over everything that has to do with her on the road. If he says jump, she fucking jumps.”
“Fine,” a soft voice says, and our heads swing to the archway where Kellie stands with Cori by her side. She walks in, and when I see that her eyes are red, I know she’s been crying. “I’ll listen to whatever Brian tells me.” T
ommy gets up and goes to her, bringing her into his arms. She wraps her arms around his waist as he whispers something in her ear. She just nods at him and then sits at the table.
“Now that I know everything”—her voice is as strong as it could be—“I want to go over all the plans.” She doesn’t look at me, not once. Her head stays down as she takes the booklet I made, and then I lean back in the seat and let Hunter do all the talking. When we leave five hours later, my body feels like it’s going to explode. This whole day has been one test after another. I wanted to throat punch Tommy for being so stupid, then I wanted to shake or hug or just protect Kellie. It was up and down the whole time. Every single time I thought about this asshole in her house, I wanted to hit something. Then I would catch her shaking her foot because she was nervous, and I wanted to reach out and hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay.
“You need to reel that shit in,” Hunter finally says when we get in the car, and he drives out of the driveway. I look in my passenger side mirror, watching the gate close behind us.
“I swear sometimes I want to kick his ass,” I finally say. “To not even tell her.” I shake my head.
“Doesn’t matter,” he says. “She knows now, and from the look on her face, she isn’t going to be a problem.”
We don’t say anything the rest of the drive home, and when I get to the gym two hours later, I let all my frustrations out. I end up collapsing on the bed when I get home.
Two days later, I’m in the middle of my living room when the doorbell rings. Tossing the remote onto the couch, I get up and walk to the door. I just got out of the shower, so my hair is still wet, and all that I have on are my shorts. Unlocking the door, I pull it open, and my mouth falls open when I see who is standing there.
“Hi,” Kellie says, and I look her up and down. She is wearing black yoga pants and a loose black and white striped top with a pink jacket. A faded blue Yankees cap sits on her head, and she’s braided her blond hair on both sides. “Sorry for showing up unannounced.”
Shaking my head and trying to get a hold of myself, I move out of the way to let her come in. “Please, come in.” When she enters, I look outside and don’t see anyone with her. “Did you come here by yourself?”
“Yeah, I just finished packing, and I borrowed Cori’s car so people wouldn’t follow me,” she says and steps into the living room since it’s right inside the front door.
I’ve lived in this house for five years, and it’s only me, so my house is small. Plus, a bigger house means more cleaning, and no one has time for that. I mean, not that I actually clean my house, but if I did, I wouldn’t want to clean a big house. “Can I get you something to drink?” I ask her. Walking to the oversized gray couch, I grab the remote and turn off the television.
“A water would be good. Thank you,” she says, putting her oversized bag on the floor beside the door and following me to the kitchen. I didn’t know what type of house I wanted when I started looking, but the minute I saw the open floor plan, I knew it was what I wanted. Walking to the fridge, I open it and grab her a water bottle. When I turn around, I see her pulling out one of the stools from around the island. I hand her the water bottle. “Thank you.”
“What are you doing here?” Finally, the question comes out.
“I thought with us leaving tomorrow, it would be best if we talked a bit.” Her hands go to the label around the water bottle, her eyes going down and then coming back up again to look at me.
“I thought we went over this already,” I say, standing up straight now with my arms crossed over my chest. “And you agreed.”
She holds up one hand. “Calm down. I wanted to talk about the elephant in the room.” She smiles and then looks down. “You know, when I flirted with you.” I don’t say anything because I don’t know what to say to that. “Anyway, this is super awkward for me, so thanks for making it even more awkward by standing there not saying anything.”
“What do you want me to say, Kellie?” I ask her. “What exactly is there for me to say?” She lets out a breath and starts.
“I flirted with you, and you did nothing about it,” she says, “so I just want to maybe forget that happened and move on.”
“You mean you flirted with me while you were dating someone else and expected me to jump on it?” I ask, cocking my head to the side.
“That is so not what happened!” she shrieks. “I was barely dating him, and by the end, I was definitely not dating him.”
I swallow down and calm my nerves when I say, “So you’re telling me that you hired me to bring you to your boyfriend’s house, but he really wasn’t your boyfriend?”
“Oh my God,” she says, throwing her hands up and looking up at the sky. “Listen, can we just forget it happened?”
“Done,” I say to her. “Forgotten.”
“You are so annoying it’s not even funny.” She pushes the stool away from the island. Grabbing the water bottle, she says, “I don’t know why I expected us to have an actual conversation.” I don’t know if she’s asking me or talking to herself. Walking to her purse, she picks it up and turns back. “Thanks for the talk.” She turns and storms toward the door, but I’m faster than her, so as soon as she opens the door, my hand is on it over her head, holding it shut. I should have let her go, should have just let her walk out the door, but I didn’t. My stupid body moved faster than my brain. She turns around, and she is way too close. Close enough that I see the tiny freckles she has on her nose. I’m close enough to see the vein in her neck move while she swallows.
“We don’t have time to get into this.” My voice is lower than it was before. “And it doesn’t help that for the next ninety days, I’m going to be your shadow. But”—I lean in a touch closer, and her chest stops moving as she holds her breath—“when we get back, if this thing is still here, the gloves are coming off.” My hands itch to touch her, to run my thumb around her jaw and feel her skin under mine.
“What?” she whispers.
“In ninety days, we get back home. If this thing is still going on between us, I’m making my move.”
“Your move?” She just blinks.
“My move to make you mine,” I tell her, and the need to lean in just a tad and feel her is so great. Instead, I push off the door and watch her not say anything. She just swallows and then turns around and walks out of the house. My eyes follow her to the white Range Rover where she gets in and drives away. I watch her until she turns the corner and I can’t see her anymore.
I turn and walk back into the house, locking the door behind me. I can still faintly smell her perfume. “Well,” I say to the empty room, “that went well.”
Chapter Seven
Kellie
“It’s go time.” I hear in my earpiece and get up from my makeup chair. Looking into the mirror, I make sure my first costume is on properly, and it is. My hair is down in thick curls, and I know the minute I get on stage with the lights and the dancing, I’ll be a sweaty mess and not one curl will be left.
“You got this,” Cori says from behind me, and I just look at her reflection in the mirror.
Turning, I walk out of the makeshift dressing room. The minute I walk out of the door, I see him leaning against the cement wall. Brian’s wearing black jeans and a white polo shirt. His arms are bare with just a watch on. He walks behind me, and I start doing my vocal exercises while I think of our last conversation. When he said he was going to make me his, I should have told him no, that it was too late and that it was just a crush, but I didn’t. I just swallowed and rushed out of there before I could jump into his arms and wrap my hands around his neck. It was the first time he even acknowledged that something was between us. I went there to tell him to forget what happened, and instead, I walked away with a ninety-day ticker.
The hallway is decorated with pictures from past events, and when I turn the corner, I see all my crew is there. Everyone from the sound check people to the girl who makes sure nothing slips off me whi
le I perform. I duck my head and walk to the middle of the room, and everyone makes a circle around me.
“I can’t believe it’s finally here,” I say, looking around at all the faces. “I want to thank you guys for coming with me for the next ninety days. For leaving your family and your life behind to travel in a bus. There are no words.” I stop talking when I hear the fans chanting my name. “Let’s give these people what they paid for.” Lowering my head, I say a quick prayer. Everyone claps their hands and goes their way. I start to bounce up and down, and the little purple skirt flows around my thighs. My name starts getting louder and louder when the crew climbs on stage. “Is everyone ready for after?” I ask Cori, who just nods her head.
As I walk to the lift under the stage and get in, my eyes are on Brian, who nods at me. “I’ll be here the whole time.” I don’t respond as I grab the microphone from the wall. I ride the lift up to the stage, and the lights go off in the arena with forty-five thousand fans screaming. Whatever shit I have to go through, this is the reward. I stand behind the red curtain, the sound of the drums starts to fill the speaker, and the screaming gets a touch louder, if that is even possible. I bring the microphone to my lips, and say, “Santa Clara.” The curtain lifts, and the spotlights focus on me while I start to sing. And for the next two hours and forty-five minutes, my mind shuts off. I go through fourteen costume changes, and each time, three people come out to help me change. While I do this, Brian sits in a chair facing the lift where he watches. When I finally bow and run off the stage, everything happens so fast. Brian puts a hand around my back while Sandra grabs the mic and headset I hand her. We make it to the bus in record time with Jackie and Trisha right behind us. We get on the bus, and the driver pulls out right away before the fans start to pour out of the venue.
Cori hands me a water bottle, and I finish it in record time while I start peeling my last costume off. It’s a black leather cat suit that molds my body perfectly. I sit in the chair and peel off the boots and then turn to Cori who unzips the back. I’m about to pull it down when I hear Brian. “Um, maybe you should undress in your room,” he says, not looking at me but looking at the driver. My head snaps to him, and I peel the suit off right in front of him. I’m wearing a strapless bra that is stuck to me with tape, almost like it’s crazy glued on. I peel it off my hips, and my nude top also stays on.
Hollywood Princess Page 4
