The finished basement consisted of a laundry room, what looked like an unfurnished rec room that was mainly used for storage, and a small music studio.
I went upstairs last.
I knew from what Summer had said that her bedroom was up here. And I could tell that the upstairs wasn’t part of the original bungalow-style layout, that it had been added on later. At the top of the stairs, I found one large room, the master bedroom.
This was where she was sleeping when the intruder woke her. When he tried to climb the wall to get to the balcony.
Really, there were easier ways to break into a house. Especially if someone was home, and you didn’t want to run into them. I’d told her all that stuff downstairs about typical break-ins because it was true, but unfortunately, that MO didn’t seem to fit this situation.
This felt personal.
Why climb to the second floor, specifically to get onto the balcony off a woman’s bedroom in the middle of the night, if all you wanted was to rob the place?
I took a walk through the bedroom. The bed was as she’d left it, the covers tossed back. There was a large adjoining bathroom and a huge walk-in closet filled with beautiful clothes. Shoes. Jewelry. It smelled faintly of perfume.
There was a set of clear built-in drawers practically overflowing with lingerie.
And I wondered. Did DJ Summer have herself an obsessed fan or something?
A stalker?
Someone who’d gotten close enough to suss out her lack of security, and tried to take advantage of it?
Along the back wall of the bedroom, there was a set of glass doors covered with filmy curtains, which obviously opened to the balcony. I headed over there… and something moved outside. I stopped, tensing and scanning the area for possible weapons.
It was instinct, and it happened in a fraction of a second.
Then Maddox stepped in through the curtain from the balcony. He saw me and raised his hands. “Don’t shoot,” he said sarcastically.
“You’re lucky I can’t.” I wasn’t armed, though I had no idea if he was. I wouldn’t put it past him to have a weapon on him, or on his bike.
“Just checking out the balcony,” he said, closing the doors behind himself. “Fuckin’ creepy, he tried to come in here.” He glanced around the room, at Summer’s rumpled bed.
For some reason, that rubbed me wrong. I didn’t like him standing in her bedroom, even though he had as much reason to be here as I did. Brody called us both.
“So, you’re Brody’s guy?” he said, stealing the words I was just about to say. “The consultant.”
“He and Jude consult with me pretty regularly.”
“Yeah, I’ve worked events with your guys. They’re good.”
My guys were more than good, but I let that lukewarm compliment slide.
Maddox glanced around. “I’ve never been here before, but nothing really looks out of place or anything. No reason to think he was here earlier tonight, before she got home. She said she was at an event with Brody tonight. Then she came home, had some friends over. I checked the locks on all the doors, the window latches, and everything’s intact, nothing’s been tampered with.” He found me studying him again and added, “My brother owns a home security systems company. I work for him sometimes. Kinda second nature to check that shit.”
“What’s the name of his company?”
“Triple X.”
I knew of Triple X, through the industry. They had a solid reputation, despite the fact that they were run by a known member of the West Coast Kings.
“Plus,” Maddox added, “I’m not exactly a stranger to B and E’s myself. I mean, you know. Back in my young and irresponsible days.”
Right. Fucking predictable.
I wasn’t sure if I was annoyed or grateful that this was the member of Jude’s crew who’d shown up tonight. Maybe he’d prove useful, though, given his “expertise.” Maybe not.
“You live nearby?” I asked him.
“Nope. Was at my girlfriend’s place. She’s a few minutes away, down by the beach.”
“Good of you to come so fast.”
“Brody called me,” he said simply. “You know how it is.”
“I do.”
“If we’re finished feelin’ each other up, maybe we head back down, see what’s goin’ on?”
I held out my hand, like, After you, and once he’d cleared his ass out of Summer’s bedroom, I followed him back down to the kitchen. Brody was standing by the bar, talking to Summer. She was sitting on her barstool, gripping her mug of tea.
“Maddox.” Brody greeted the biker, shaking his hand. “I was just telling Summer that you’ll be back in the next few days with some guys from your brother’s company, to install an alarm system.” He gave Maddox a meaningful look, as Summer looked at him, unsure.
“Yup,” Maddox said. “Absolutely.”
“You really think that’s necessary?” Summer said, but she sounded weary. “I mean, the police responded so fast. He didn’t even get into the house.”
“Honestly, Summer, we probably should’ve dealt with this sooner,” Brody said. And I was glad to hear that he realized it. “I’m talking to Jude about this tomorrow. We’ll want enhanced security measures put in place, to protect you.” He glanced at me. “We’ll be discussing it with Ronan, too.”
More like security measures, period. The more I assessed this whole situation, the more it became clear they’d had no security on her until this point.
But I just nodded in agreement.
“Ronan advises us on these things all the time,” Brody went on. “He’s the best in the business.”
I appreciated the endorsement. I knew Brody also contracted guys from other security firms in town. But I was glad I’d been able to take the call tonight; if I hadn’t picked up, he probably would’ve had to call in someone else.
For some reason, I didn’t love that.
“You should have an alarm on the house,” I told Summer, backing him up. “We can discuss, beyond that.” It didn’t seem like right now was the best time to get into the finer details. One look at Summer made that clear. The woman needed the assorted men out of her house, and she needed sleep.
“We just don’t want this happening again,” Brody told her, gently. “One random break-in attempt, where the police were able to intervene, should be a warning. And we need to heed it.”
“I don’t think it was random,” she said softly.
“What?” Brody said.
She looked up at him. “His name is Blair Sanchuk.”
He stared at her, absorbing that, as I did. “Did the police tell you that?”
“They didn’t have to,” she said. “I saw his face.”
Well, shit.
Even though I already suspected that the intruder knew her, it made the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end to hear the truth.
She knew him.
Brody sat down on the stool next to her. “Summer. You know this guy?”
“Not really. I mean, I met him a bunch of times. He comes to my shows. He hangs around in the scene, you know? He’s never been here before. I’ve never invited him here. I don’t keep cash here or anything… I have no idea why he’d try to break into my house.”
Brody glanced at me.
I shook my head.
Now was not the time, so whatever he was thinking, I silently willed him to bite his tongue. Telling a woman in her pajamas that she just had some obsessed fan try to break into her bedroom was not what she needed to hear.
Brody had assumed it was just a random break-in attempt, and maybe the police did too, depending on what she’d told them. But this changed things. Complicated them.
I wasn’t gonna question her anymore right now, except for one thing.
“Did you tell the police that you knew him?”
Summer looked at me. “I don’t think so. It was a bit of a blur.”
I doubted that. If the police asked her, point-blank, if she knew the guy
—and they would ask—I was pretty damn sure she’d remember whether she said yes or no. Whether she lied to the police or not.
I wasn’t sure how to read that.
Was she lying to me, and Brody, too?
“You’ll need to call the police,” I told her, “and request a restraining order.”
Summer looked from me to Brody. “But the police already arrested him. They’re taking him to jail, right?”
“I’ll talk to our lawyers in the morning,” Brody said. “And we’re putting a guy on you. A bodyguard.”
“I don’t need a bodyguard, Brody,” Summer protested.
I thought Brody might push back, but he didn’t. I took his cue, and we all just let it drop, for now.
Maddox left, and while Brody calmly explained to Summer that he was leaving a bodyguard with her tonight, that it was non-negotiable, and that they could discuss it further in the morning, I called a cab to come get Andre, who I’d almost forgotten about.
It was the middle of the night and we all needed sleep. Summer tried to argue with Brody for a bit, and I just stayed out of it.
The woman was clearly a fighter.
She was strong, but right now her other survival instincts were kicking in—she was going into flight mode. Mentally, she wanted as far away from this event as possible.
Maybe she was in denial about the seriousness of it all.
But this was gonna hit her in the cold light of day tomorrow. Hard.
And tomorrow, I’d need to talk it all through with Brody. Because his client didn’t seem to have the first clue how vulnerable she was in this house, and maybe in her life in general.
I wasn’t sure Brody really got it either.
I was kinda pissed off about the whole thing myself, and I’d just met her.
Why the fuck didn’t this woman already have security?
I watched as she shot me a look that I read as somewhere between annoyance and surrender, then disappeared up the back hall to her bedroom.
Brody sighed. “Your guy outside… You’re leaving him here tonight?”
“Andre? Fuck, no. He’s been pounding Crown Royal. I’ve called him a cab.” Then I said the thing I’d been considering without fully committing to it until it came out of my mouth. “I’ll stay.”
Yeah. So, I’d just assigned myself to bodyguard duty.
Something I’d sworn up and down, to myself and everyone I knew, that I wasn’t doing again.
Ever.
Naveen was gonna have a fucking field day with this shit. Half the reason he’d thrown me that “retirement” party tonight was because he didn’t believe for a fucking second that I was never taking another bodyguard assignment.
When I said I was retiring, though, I fucking meant it.
But I just couldn’t walk out of here tonight. Because I knew if I did, I wouldn’t feel right about it.
“You sure?” Brody asked me. Even he was probably wondering why I didn’t just get on the phone to one of my guys and go home to bed.
“Yeah. It’s just for tonight.”
It was just for tonight.
That’s what I promised myself.
“Alright,” Brody said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Makes me feel better to know you’re here, actually. We’ll talk in the morning, yeah? I’ll bring Jude in. He’s in Australia, on tour with Dirty, so he’ll have to join us on FaceTime or something.”
“Sounds good.”
“Get some sleep if you can,” he said, and I saw him out.
I waited with Andre until his cab came, then headed back into the house and locked the door behind me.
Despite Maddox’s assessment, I went through the house and personally checked every door and window, though I left Summer’s bedroom alone. I’d already locked the doors on her balcony before Maddox and I cleared out of her room. And the woman had been put out enough tonight. She deserved privacy now, space, and quiet.
I turned out most of the lights and made myself as comfortable as I could on the couch. Yeah, I’d seen all the guest rooms. But I wasn’t a guest. And Summer hadn’t offered me a room.
Luckily, she had a decent couch.
I sent my trainer a text to cancel our date at the gym in the morning.
Then I reported in to Naveen, via text, to give him the recap of what was happening. I’d call him tomorrow.
I could already hear him, fucking laughing at me.
And maybe he’d have a reason to laugh.
I stared down the dark hall that led to Summer’s bedroom.
Brody had given me her cell number before he left. I wasn’t sure exactly what he’d told her before she went upstairs, but she hadn’t looked happy.
And she’d definitely been crystal clear about her lack of desire to hire a bodyguard.
She probably hated me right now.
At least I knew I wasn’t gonna bill her, or Brody, for tonight. They could pay whoever came on as her permanent bodyguard, starting tomorrow.
I sent her a quick text.
Me: I’m on the couch tonight if you need anything. Ronan.
Then I tried to sleep, though I didn’t, all that much.
It’s just for tonight.
I kept telling myself that, over and over.
For some reason, I didn’t believe myself.
I could already feel that this job, for whoever took the assignment, was gonna be long and messy.
Call it professional instinct.
And I knew I couldn’t risk getting sucked back into a job I’d already mentally put behind me.
I knew that… and yet, for some reason, here I was.
Chapter Five
Summer
I tried, but I barely slept for the rest of the night.
I lay in bed as the sun came up and well afterward, just trying to get some rest so I wouldn’t be a groggy bitch all day. I wasn’t usually an early riser. I was a nocturnal creature. But around eight-thirty a.m., I finally gave up and checked my phone.
There was a text from Ashley, and a couple from Brody.
Ash: Yo what’s up
Brody: I hope you were able to get some sleep. We’re having an important meeting this morning. My place. 10:30
Brody: Ronan will drive you.
So… Ash hadn’t heard about my unwelcome nocturnal visitor yet, and had no idea why Brody and I had been calling him in the middle of the night.
And Brody was out of his damn mind.
Me: I can drive myself.
I sent that to Brody, not even bothering to try to beg out of this “important meeting.” If he deemed it important and he was having it at his home, he considered it very important.
And the longer I tried to avoid it, the more overblown this whole thing was gonna get.
Besides, he had my schedule; my assistant kept it updated to the fucking minute and it synced to Brody’s phone. So it’s not like I could make up some excuse why I couldn’t attend this meeting. My morning, like most mornings, was clear, obligation wise.
I flopped back onto my pillow. Fuck, I’d dreaded this. Everyone’s reaction to what happened last night was half the reason I’d had trouble sleeping.
As the reality sank in, I knew they were all gonna flip. Last night was just the first taste of it. Brody, all gloomy and sympathetic, biting the hell out of his tongue while he traded loaded glances with the other guys…
Ronan, especially.
Clearly, they were all conspiring to put me on extreme lockdown, a team of muscle men shadowing my every move. And that was gonna seriously cramp my style.
After Brody and the other guys had left, Ronan texted me that he was on my couch. Brody had insisted that someone stay with me, and honestly, I didn’t mind that part. I didn’t exactly want to be alone in my house for the rest of the night. Though when I’d said I’d prefer to call in one of my friends, Brody had put his giant managerial foot down and insisted I have professional security for the night.
I then pictured Brody going home to his wife, telli
ng Jessa what happened. He’d probably called Jude, too, either last night or this morning. And by now, everyone was talking about what happened.
It all felt so unreal.
And yet, it was vividly real.
I looked over at the curtains over the glass doors that led out to my balcony. They were closed. And the thought of a man—Blair—creeping out there made my skin crawl.
I threw off the covers and got out of bed. I went straight into the shower, dove under the spray of hot water and just stood there for a long while. Part of me wanted to stay underwater for a few long days until this whole thing just washed away.
Another part of me wanted to get dressed, head downstairs, and check on my houseguest. Offer him fresh towels for the guest bathroom so he could shower. Offer him breakfast and coffee or tea with half a bowl of sugar, the way he evidently liked it.
I couldn’t help that part. It was second nature. They didn’t exactly call me the party queen for nothing.
Yes, I threw incredible parties. I was a natural born hostess. And the thought of someone in my house, possibly hungry and lacking the comforts of home, made me incredibly uncomfortable.
He probably didn’t have a change of clothes for today. And he definitely didn’t have a proper bed to sleep in last night, because I didn’t offer him a guest bed. If he was anyone else, I’d be waking him up with music, the smell of a latte frothing and a smile.
But I stayed right where I was.
He’s not your houseguest. He’s security.
The thought made me extremely uneasy.
The fact that bodyguards shadowed my famous friends around was… entertaining. For me. They were always impressively fit, and sure, they provided some eye candy. Sometimes they were even fun to flirt with, just to see if I could. To see if they’d break form, flirt back.
Some did.
Some did not.
But having one right in my home? In my personal space?
Lurking while I played gigs and hovering at my house parties?
Sweet Temptation: A Players Rockstar Romance (Players, Book 3) Page 5
