by A. K. Evans
I cocked an eyebrow at him.
He ignored it and kissed me on the lips. “I’m going to throw some clothes on and call Pierce. Finish getting ready. We’ll be ready to go whenever you are.”
“Ok.”
“Love you, Elle.”
As the warmth spread through my body hearing him say those words to me, I beamed, “I love you, too.”
The joy in his expression was undeniable.
I loved seeing it.
He gave me one more peck on the lips before he got up out of the bed and reached out a hand to help me up. I took off to the bathroom to finish getting ready while he got dressed and walked out into the living space to handle business.
I heard the hotel door open when Pierce arrived a few minutes later, but did my best to block out the reason he was there. The simple fact was that I was in a situation that I couldn’t control. Sure, I guess there were plenty of things that I could do to help myself in this situation, but the reality is that it’s not what I do.
I sing.
I read.
I write music.
I play my guitar.
I hang out with my friends.
I spend time with my family.
I buy copious amounts of lip balm.
I do not investigate.
I do not fight bad guys.
I wouldn’t lie. When I thought about the situation too much, it scared me. I experienced anxiety over it, but I had someone I believed I could depend on to keep me safe.
And the best thing about all of it now was that I was in love. I just told Levi how I felt, found out that he felt the same about me, and I wanted to live in that moment now. I could allow what happened today to consume my thoughts and prevent me from doing what I loved, but I refused.
I was in love.
Nobody was going to do anything to put a damper on that…at least, not today.
On that thought, I put on my pomegranate-flavored lip balm, gave myself a once-over, and walked out to meet Levi and Pierce. I walked up to Levi, gave him a quick kiss on the lips, watched his eyes heat, and left for my show.
Levi, I’m certain, decided he liked pomegranates.
Chapter 13
Levi
“Do I look ok?”
Elle.
Fuck, but did I love her.
We were currently in Tucson. We spent the night in Phoenix last night and got up this morning to make the two-hour drive to Tucson, where she was performing for the third time in as many nights. Elle performed last night and, thankfully, there was no further contact from her stalker.
That situation had been pissing me off since day number one when Elle showed up at my office terrified out of her mind, but now I was beyond pissed. My girl was being targeted by someone for reasons unknown to all of us and every time I turned around my team and I were hitting dead ends.
I’ve had previous cases where the person of interest was elusive and very difficult to locate. We worked our asses off and would eventually find our target. It required a great deal of patience and level-headedness. This is something I’ve always had the luxury of having, the ability to persevere and remain rational when things were getting difficult.
Unfortunately, now that Elle was involved, I was finding that I didn’t have so much tolerance and I was afraid that it’d eventually make me do something illogical. I wasn’t prepared to see harm come her way and what I told her brother the day we filled him in on the situation was the truth. I’d lay down my life to protect her if it ever came to pass.
My little ray of sunshine.
There was no better way to describe her.
She lit up my world just being in it. It was evident her friends adored her. When she got on stage, I knew her fans felt the same way. Elle was the kind of person that made everyone happy. When she walked into the room, she didn’t need to be loud or obnoxious to get noticed. She was the kind of person that most people couldn’t help but be drawn to.
Of course, I also received admission from her yesterday that she had fallen in love with me. Now that I had that, I wasn’t liking the fact that I may need to die to keep her safe. Obviously, I wouldn’t think twice about it, but I was finding that I very much enjoyed being with her.
As I looked at her now, standing in front of me all dolled up ready for her show tonight, I couldn’t help but let that feeling of contentment spread through me. And she wanted to know if she looked ok.
“No,” I answered honestly.
Her eyes rounded and she took a step back as she looked down at what she was wearing. I had to laugh. She couldn’t seriously think she looked bad.
“Sunshine, you don’t look ok. You look fucking magnificent,” I quickly explained. I didn’t like seeing the doubt in her mind.
“I was getting ready to go change my whole outfit,” she retorted. “That wasn’t nice!”
“Sorry, Elle, but it’s just too easy to get you. Give it some time; you’ll soon learn that no matter what you’re wearing or what your hair and makeup look like, I think you always look beautiful.”
“Levi…” she trailed off as she stepped back into me and wrapped her arms around my waist. She pressed her cheek to my chest and held on tight.
I put one hand in her hair at her neck and kissed the top of her head.
“Are you ready for your performance tonight?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I’m exhausted. I’m so happy I have the day off tomorrow and don’t have to perform again until Tuesday night. Of course, having to get on a plane tomorrow is not my idea of fun either. I hate flying.”
“So, let’s drive,” I suggested.
Elle pulled back and looked up at me. “What?”
“If you don’t want to fly, we can drive. You don’t have to perform until Tuesday night in LA. From here to LA is what? Seven hours? I’ll drive you.”
“You’ll road trip with me?”
“To be honest, I’d prefer to do that instead of flying as well.”
“I think I really, really like you,” she joked.
I brought my lips to within inches of hers and corrected her, “I think what you meant to say is that you really, really love me.”
“That, too,” she approved just before she kissed me.
She tasted like watermelon.
This woman and the fucking flavored lip balms. I used to think it was innocent, but now I had a feeling she purposely put it on before she’d kiss me. I knew flavored lip moisturizers were a thing, but not in the variety that Elle had exposed me to. I didn’t know any flavors existed beyond cherry and strawberry. Oddly enough, I wasn’t sure I had tasted either of these flavors on her lips yet even though I’d spent quite a bit of time kissing her lately. To top it off, I had yet to taste the same flavor on her more than once.
Last night, it was pomegranate.
Fucking pomegranate.
Who the fuck makes pomegranate lip balm?
Now, watermelon.
If she kept this shit up, I’d be happy to spend the rest of my life kissing this woman and doing nothing else.
I tore my mouth from hers, kissed her on the forehead, and said, “Come on. Let’s get you to the venue so I can get started on spending more than a few hours with you alone and uninterrupted.”
Her body visibly reacted with a shiver before she nodded at me.
She turned to walk toward the door when she stopped and inquired, “Wait. You won’t have me alone. What about Pierce?”
“Pierce has a plane ticket, Elle. Not only do I want you to myself for the drive, but I’m willing to bet Pierce wants nothing to do with a seven-hour road trip in the car with us. He’ll fly and meet us in LA.”
“Oh, ok,” she sang, approving of this arrangement.
She turned back on her heel and made her way to the door of the hotel room. I followed directly behind her.
Pierce was waiting for us just outside the elevator, so the three of us made our way to the venue for Elle’s performance.
A few hours later, I was
relieved that we had gotten through another night on this tour without any incidents. I walked Elle backstage to her dressing room, so she could grab her things. When we got back there, she asked, “Do you mind staying for a drink or two? I figure since we don’t need to worry about being on someone else’s schedule tomorrow and can go whenever we’re ready, it’s ok if we sleep in a little. And this place reminds me a little bit of Lou’s. I’m feeling a bit homesick and would love to just take some time to enjoy the fact that I’m almost halfway through this tour.”
I could give her that. As much as I wanted to take her back to the hotel and keep her to myself, I also wanted to make sure she could let loose a little. Besides, if she had a couple of drinks in her before I took her back to the hotel, I figured that wouldn’t hurt in the least.
“Sure,” I agreed.
We walked back out to the front. I told Pierce we were going to stay so Elle could have a drink and then we’d be heading out. He didn’t mind.
After ordering Elle a drink from the bar, we found a booth and sat down.
“You guys are going to make me drink alone?” she asked.
“I’m driving, El,” I answered. “And I don’t drink.”
Pierce replied, “I’m on the job. Drinking is not an option.”
“Well, if I had known that we could have just gone back to the hotel. I feel bad now.”
I was about to respond, but Pierce attempted to convince her it was fine before I could. “It’s been three days of performing, Elle. You can take a minute to breathe if that’s what you need. I don’t mind and I’m willing to bet Levi doesn’t either. It’s ok. Just relax and enjoy yourself for a minute, honey.”
“Thanks, Pierce. I appreciate that.”
The three of us spent the next hour or so in that booth giving Elle the break she had been craving. She did a lot of talking and asked Pierce and me all about the work we do. She wanted to know the kinds of cases we worked, which were our favorite, which we despised, and how dangerous things got sometimes. We answered what we could and I did my best to make sure she knew that no matter what the danger was that we faced, my entire team was highly skilled. We knew what to do in a high-pressure situation and had the training to handle ourselves well. The last thing I wanted was her worrying about what could potentially happen.
After finishing her third drink, Elle announced, “Ok, I’m going to head to the ladies’ room and then we can get out of here. Thanks again for giving me this.”
As I stood to let her out of the booth, I responded, “Anytime, sunshine. Whatever you need, just ask.” I squeezed her hand before I continued, “I’m watching you all the way there and back. Ok?”
She looked toward the bathroom. It was only about twenty-five feet away from where we were seated and, after realizing I had a clear line of sight to the door of the ladies’ room, Elle nodded her head at me.
Elle took off and I watched her all the way there. She pushed through the door and stepped inside. I sat, watching the door like a hawk. I didn’t have to look at Pierce to know he was doing the same.
A waitress came up and asked if we needed refills. I never took my eyes off the bathroom door. I heard Pierce tell her we were all good. A few minutes had passed at this point, and that’s when the door opened and Elle stepped out. Her eyes locked with mine and I knew immediately something wasn’t right.
Not taking my eyes off Elle, I stood and ordered the waitress to call the police.
“What? Why?”
“Just do it,” I demanded.
“Reynolds,” I bit out.
He was moving right behind me. As we made our way across the room toward her, I saw it happen. A man in a hooded sweatshirt grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down the hall in the opposite direction. A woman, who I hadn’t seen before, had been standing directly behind Elle and followed them down the hall.
Pierce and I struggled to make our way through the crowd of people and all I could think about was getting to my girl.
We made it to the hallway, where the crowd had significantly thinned out, and took off running. Sure enough, there was an exit door that led out to the parking lot in the rear of the building. We stepped outside and I scanned the dimly lit lot searching for signs of her.
“There,” Pierce said from beside me as he pointed in the direction of where Elle was being held up against a car with this man hovering over her pressing his body into hers.
She was on the other side of the parking lot.
Fuck.
We ran.
I could tell she was struggling against him.
Fight, sunshine.
We were maybe fifty feet away when Elle yelled out to me.
“Levi!”
She was terrified.
His hand was around her throat, so she struggled to get out that single word.
The man turned, saw us, and threw Elle to the ground. He moved to get in the passenger’s side of the SUV.
“I’ve got her,” I shouted to Pierce. “Do not let him get away.”
Pierce made it to the side of the SUV before the man could even close the door. He ripped him out of the seat and took him down to the ground. I went to Elle.
“Elle, are you hurt?” I asked as I picked her up and carried her away from the side of the vehicle.
“Oh my God,” she cried in my arms.
“Shh, it’s ok. I’ve got you,” I said softly.
She buried her face in my chest and cried. I did what I thought she needed in that moment and that was to hold on tight to her. I heard the sirens in the distance. They were muffled by Elle’s crying and the grunts coming from the guy Pierce was currently apprehending.
“You’re safe, sunshine. Please tell me if you are hurt.”
She was so wound up and just pressed her body further into mine.
Minutes later, the police arrived.
The waitress I told to call them had apparently followed behind Pierce and me and saw what was happening. When the police pulled into the lot, she directed them around the back to where we were.
Clutching Elle tight to my body, I moved closer to where the SUV had been parked so that I could hear the interrogation and what was being said. In the midst of me taking care of the only thing that mattered in the last few minutes and Pierce handling the animal that put his hands on my woman, the woman who had followed behind Elle out of the bathroom took off in the vehicle.
Pierce was giving a description of the vehicle to the officer along with the partial plate number he managed to catch before the woman drove off. My guys were fucking fantastic. Pierce not only took down the guy who grabbed Elle, but while doing that he also got a partial plate number for the vehicle the second suspect was driving.
Pierce then went on to explain what happened from the moment Elle performed until the moment they arrived.
A second officer walked over to where Elle and I were standing and explained, “I need to ask her some questions.”
I looked down at her and asked, “Elle, can you do that now?”
She took a minute to gather her bearings and pulled out of my arms. She stayed close to my side and I kept an arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“Can you tell me what happened, darlin’?”
Elle’s voice was trembling and scared when she murmured, “We should have just gone back to the hotel after the performance.”
“What happened is not your fault, Elle,” I assured her.
I looked to the officer and shared more of the back story.
“I’m Levi Cunningham, owner of Cunningham Security in Windsor, Wyoming. Elle is currently under the protection of my firm as we investigate a case for her. She’s being stalked -- someone entered her apartment a few weeks ago and has been contacting her ever since. We’re doing everything we can to locate the individual, but have been unsuccessful so far. She’s a well-known singer and has a pretty sizeable fan base. We’ve narrowed the list down to possible suspects, but it spans several hundred people so it’s taking
time to go through.”
I paused a second and Elle started speaking again, “I’ve had performances for the past three nights. I merely wanted to relax for a bit, so we stayed so I could have a couple of drinks. We should have just gone back.”
Her fingers dug into the skin at my side as she tried to fight back her emotions.
I spoke to the officer to continue the story, “We were about to leave, but Elle needed to use the restroom first. As soon as she opened the door to walk out of the bathroom, I knew something wasn’t right. My partner and I started moving across the bar toward her and thankfully got out here before they could get away with her.”
The officer interrupted, “We know there was another individual involved who took off in the SUV. Did I hear someone say it was a woman?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“She had a knife,” Elle added.
I froze.
“Pardon?” the officer asked.
“I was just washing my hands and noticed her standing there staring at me in the mirror. I was creeped out. When I turned to walk toward the door to leave, she held out a knife and stopped me.”
She stopped speaking and took in a deep breath. Her body leaned further into mine. I took her weight and squeezed her shoulder to give her the support she needed.
“If I didn’t do what she said, she told me I’d know what it felt like to have the cold metal blade penetrate through the skin of my back.”
She couldn’t fight it anymore. Elle began to cry. I couldn’t say I wasn’t a mess of emotions as well. My Elle. Scared. With a knife at her back.
“I remember seeing Levi when she opened the bathroom door,” she got out through her sobs. “I remember being grabbed, but nothing else until his face was in mine delivering a message.”
My body went tense.
“What was the message?” the officer asked.
Her body began trembling as she, I’m assuming, mentally recalled what he said to her. It took her a bit to speak, but she managed to relay the message, “You think you can have it all? You better watch your back, you greedy, selfish cunt.”
Pierce was standing nearby, heard what Elle said, and when I looked him in the eyes he turned to walk back to where the fuckwad who delivered that message to Elle was standing.
