A Taste of Pink (Shades Book 4)

by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  I hadn’t spent the last year trying to keep the story quiet and get Warren help, only to let it blow up now.

  I was livid.

  Not to mention that he was still out there.

  “How did this happen? Why was he released early, and why didn’t LAPD inform me?” I’d been breathing easy for the first time in months since he was arrested back in Seattle and admitted to a facility here in Los Angeles. No letters, no phone calls, no gifts, no showing up on sets or at events, or hotels. He was supposed to be held for six months, so why was he out after two?

  “The decision to release him came from his doctors. Mr. Baker passed his evaluations, and because he has never been violent, the hospital did not feel he posed a threat to you. I’ve already talked to our lawyers about bringing a lawsuit against the facility, but they’re not sure how it would go.”

  “I don’t want to sue them. I want them to do their damn jobs and keep him locked up. I can’t even live my life without fear that he’ll pop up. He needs psychiatric help!” I gritted.

  “Yes, and because he violated the restraining order again, he will be readmitted as soon as he’s picked up. I promise you, I’ll see to it that he doesn’t get another early release.”

  “I’m sure the police will make searching this city for him a top priority,” I scoffed. “Why is he even loose right now? He should have been arrested last night.”

  Luis cleared his throat uncomfortably. “It seems there was some confusion and a bit of miscommunication with the security team that detained him. They released him before they were informed of the protection order. The event and hotel people thought he was just a fan who slipped through their security. They assumed since no harm was done . . .” he let his words trail off and I felt my blood pressure rise.

  “No harm? That’s what you call this past year and a half of hell?”

  “I assure you, Riley, this situation is being taken seriously. Mr. Baker will be picked up. In the mean-time, we can use this to our advantage. People will sympathize with you when they hear the story.”

  “I’m not doing the interviews. We don’t know how he’ll respond if I go on TV and call him crazy.”

  This time is was Angela who stepped up. She held out her hands placatingly. “Riley, you don’t have to make it about him. Make it about what you’ve gone through. Showing vulnerability will make you more real and relatable in people’s eyes. Not to mention how we can turn the spotlight on the movie. You can talk about how you drew on this experience to play your role. People won’t be able to help themselves, they’ll have to see the movie when they find out that you were being stalked while playing the part of another real-life stalking victim.”

  “You actually looked pleased about all this,” I accused.

  “Of course nobody is pleased about the situation, that’s why we’re going to take other measures to ensure your safety from here on, but we have an opportunity here, to make a positive out of a negative.” That was practically Angela’s motto.

  “How will going public and talking about him not encourage him? Or make him angry on top of crazy? I want this to stop. Not make it worse.”

  “It will stop. We’re getting you full-time security. We’re hiring the best Los Angeles has to offer. I’ve already reached out to the firm we’ve used in the past. They should be sending someone within the hour. We’ll have someone on you before you even leave the house. But there is something else we need to discuss.”

  “Oh goody, I can’t wait to hear it.” I dropped onto the leather couch off to the side of Luis’ desk.

  “Sweetie, we only have your best interests at heart.” Angela sat down beside me, angling her body toward mine.

  “Look, Riley, I didn’t want to have to show you this, but you would have seen it eventually.” Luis grabbed his laptop from his desk and brought it to me. His internet browser was opened to an article and series of pictures from last night.

  Someone with a camera had captured pictures of me glaring at Derrick and Jennifer. They also had footage of me during the awards ceremony rolling my eyes and scowling at the stage as Jennifer won an award. I’ll admit, it didn’t look great. Not to mention that the lying cheater himself told the media I was still calling and texting him.

  I slammed the laptop shut, my blood near boiling.

  “There are more just like it,” Luis stated.

  I threw my hands up. “Wasn’t there anything else from last night they could be gossiping about besides my life? It’s utter bullshit.”

  “Yes, but the world doesn’t think it’s bullshit. They think you’re still pining over Derrick.”

  “He cheated on me! Obviously he’s not the trustworthy one! If anything, this should make him look like an even bigger ass.”

  Angela offered a tight smile, “What it does is make you look pathetic. You’ve been single for a year now. That’s not the image we want for you.”

  I huffed out an angry breath. “So, you what, want me to just go out and get myself a man?” As if it was that easy.

  “You need to show that you’re moving on. We’d really like you to reconsider Adam. Spend a little more time with him in public. Go to a few parties and events together. It’ll be good for both of your images.”

  “No. He’s just going to go back to Jennifer and then I’ll look like even more of an ass.”

  Angela and Luis shared a contemplative look, and then Angela spoke again. “Well, if not Adam, then perhaps there’s someone else. I just need a second to think about who’s single at the moment.”

  I swear to Jeeves, if she said the name Justin Hawk, I would throw my phone across the room.

  “What about, Justin Hawk?”

  “No!” I stood, shoving Luis’ laptop back at him. “I’d rather date Liz Tramblay than Justin Hawk.” He was an arrogant little shit, and his music was garbage, even if that wasn’t the popular opinion.

  Luis calmly placed the laptop down, and said, “Well then, do you have a suggestion?”

  “I don’t want to do this. I won’t.” I shoved past him and stormed out of the room and out of the house.

  They didn’t chase after me. However, my phone started buzzing before I even made it out of Malibu. Knowing it was really immature of me to take off like that, I accepted Luis’ call.

  “You should have waited for your bodyguard before leaving, Riley.”

  Shit. I hadn’t thought about that. “I’m sorry. I overreacted. Just send him to my house. I’m going straight home. I’ll let them know at the gate to expect someone.”

  “Please reconsider what we talked about. You deserve for everyone’s attention to be on this movie, on your success Riley, not gossiping about why you can’t keep a relationship. I know it’s not fair, but don’t you want the world to know you’re happy.”

  “I am happy.” Wasn’t I?

  “I know that, but sometimes you have to give the tabloids what they want.”

  Give them what they want . . .

  I thought about what he said the entire drive until I was pulling into the gated neighborhood where I lived in Beverly Hills and up to the drive of the European style mini mansion I’d bought for myself almost a year ago. Right after Derrick and I split, and I moved out of his penthouse. It was the first big purchase I’d made. I was still driving around in the 67’ Camaro my dad restored for me for my sixteenth birthday. She was my baby and I’d drive her ‘til she couldn’t be driven anymore. I rolled her into the big garage and, only once I was shut inside and the engine was off, did I breathe out a heavy sigh.

  Home.

  My space.

  No one to give me orders, tell me what to wear, eat, say, who to date.

  I was tired. So damned tired, and not just because I hadn’t been able to sleep last night in the guest bedroom of Luis’s Malibu beach mansion, where the ghost of my mother was everywhere.

  I needed a day to just shut off my phone, run a bath, read a book, eat carbs, and watch old movies. Things that were good for the soul.
<
br />   I was twenty-five, but sometimes this life made me feel so much older.

  I shuffled inside, tossing my keys and purse down on the kitchen counter before disarming the alarm system on my way to the living room. I kicked off my shoes and dropped onto the plush beige couch, curling up and grabbing one of the many colorful pillows that made up a rainbow on my sofa and hugged it to my chest. I stared off into space for several minutes, on the verge of shutting my eyes and falling into a nap when I noticed something that made a frown tug at my brow. I sat up and looked at the empty frames on the mantle above the fireplace. The photographs in them were missing. There’d been ones of me and my parents, me and Dad on the ranch, me with Mom at her wedding to Luis, and a few others.

  They were all gone.

  I rose to my feet and looked around the room before wandering into the hallway, ignoring the quiet voice whispering that I needed to turn around and leave. There were more pictures missing from the walls. I moved into my home office and library. All the drawers on my desk were open and the stacks of mail and paperwork on top had been rifled through. Knots began to form in my stomach and chest, and that voice was now urging me to leave much louder. On autopilot my feet carried me up the stairs. My throat grew tighter and the voice was full on screaming in my head, until I came to my bedroom and froze. My heart stopped as I stood in the doorway and tried to process what my eyes were taking in.

  Drawers opened, articles of clothing everywhere, things knocked over, more clothes tossed about the room, items ripped off shelves and racks, my previously perfectly made bed mussed. The longer I stood there staring at it all, the harder it became to breathe. Fear ratcheted up my spine and all I could hear was the quick and heavy thudding of my heart in my ears.

  And then a shadow moved inside my closet, and a figure appeared in the doorway.

  I screamed and without thinking, tore back through the house, down the stairs and toward the kitchen. He was shouting after me, and I knew he was right behind me. A cry tore from my throat. I was terrified he would catch me as I slowed long enough to snag my purse and keys on the way out the door. I raced to my car, fumbling to get inside, looking back over my shoulder, but he wasn’t there. I smacked the garage door opener as I hurriedly started it up and reversed out of the garage, barely remembering to close it back up as I peeled out onto the street and away from the house. I made it to the security office before my heart stopped racing and I let off the gas.

  I stopped the car and sat there, white knuckling the steering wheel, trying to gain control of my breathing. But I couldn’t. The longer I sat there, the more I panicked until my whole body started to tremble and I thought I was going to hyperventilate. I managed to let go of the steering wheel and grab my purse. I dug out my phone and jammed my fingers against the screen until it dialed Luis.

  “Riley,” he answered.

  “He was in my house,” I choked out, my voice shaking as hard as my hands.

  “What?” he nearly shouted into the phone.

  The first tear leaked from my eyes. “He broke into my house. He was there when I got home.” My home. The place I was supposed to be safe. The place that was mine. The place where no one was supposed to be able to get to me. Several more tears followed.

  “Riley are you okay?” he asked. I heard Angela’s voice in the background, and his became muffled as he spoke to her.

  “I’m fine,” I said even as my hands still shook.

  “Did you call the police?”

  I shook my head. Dumb since he wasn’t in the car. “No, not yet.”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  “I’m sitting in my car outside the security office. Should I go in and report it?”

  “No. Leave everything to me. I want you to drive back here immediately. Don’t call anyone else. Just get back here.”

  Somehow, through the shaking and crying—God what I must have looked like at stop lights to other drivers—my lead foot got me and Baby back to Malibu.

  Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

  I sat in the drive, gripping the steering wheel tight and repeating the mantra over and over in my head. Luis and Angela were probably looking out the window at me right now.

  Get it together, Riley.

  You’re safe. You’re safe. You’re safe.

  No matter how many times I repeated it, my pulse still pounded, and I had to shove down the urge to throw up.

  This wasn’t supposed to happen.

  How did it happen?

  I wasn’t going to get any answers hiding in my car.

  Luis was pacing on his phone in the foyer when I let myself inside the house. He threw up his hand in a signal to hold on. I didn’t see Angela and I hadn’t paid attention to whether or not her Lexus was still in the drive. I waited, listening to his end of the conversation. He must’ve been on with the security system provider.

  So much for them being the best in the biz.

  A vein throbbed on Luis’ forehead as he yelled at the person on the other end.

  I cringed. I’d been on the receiving end of Luis’ tirades before.

  “Well you better figure it out,” he barked and then stabbed the screen of his phone, before shoving it back in his jacket pocket.

  I chewed my lip. Was he calm enough to talk to?

  When did I become the calm one?

  “What did they say about the break-in? Why wasn’t the alarm triggered?”

  “They’re looking into it. Now tell me again exactly what happened when you got home?”

  I followed him into the living room and took a seat on the plush sofa. Angela was nowhere to be seen. I grabbed one of the decorative pillows I’d helped my mother pick out and hugged it in my lap. I told Luis every detail as I remembered it from the moment I walked in my door.

  A chill raised the hairs on my arms when I thought about how long I’d been in the house with him.

  “You’re certain the alarm was set? You’re sure you didn’t forget when you left yesterday?”

  I bit back my irritation, “Yes. I know the alarm was set. I disarmed it, set my things on the kitchen counter, and went to the living room.”

  His brow pulled into a deep frown and he was silent. I almost wished I had forgotten to set the alarm and that’s how he got in. Never mind that I lived in a gated community and he shouldn’t have gotten as far as my front door. That was less troubling than the mystery of how Warren got past my system.

  Luis made several more calls in the dining room. I heard him arranging to meet someone at my house.

  I used the time to think. My new bodyguard had once again been diverted and was currently on his way here. Was he going to make me feel safer?

  Maybe, but it was also going to be an invasion. This person I didn’t know but was expected to trust staying in my house and following me everywhere. For how long? Would they catch Warren soon? Would they even hold him if they did?

  I knew what I wanted. And it wasn’t some stranger shadowing my every step.

  I waited for Luis to finish on the phone.

  I cleared my throat and pushed my shoulders back. “I want to hire my own security.”

  Luis didn’t even look up from his phone screen at me. “I’ve already taken care of it, Riley.”

  “No.”

  His gaze lifted to mine.

  “I mean, I don’t want your guy.”

  “He’s not my guy. He’s one of the top security personnel from the most highly recommended security firm in the state. Trust me, he’ll keep you safe.” He returned his attention to the text or email he was typing out.

  “I don’t doubt that, but I want someone I already know. Someone I already trust,” I persisted.

  “Who is it? Someone we’ve used in the past? What company is he with?”

  I forced myself to hold his gaze. “He’s from the firm in Seattle. James Raynes. He was with me most of the time I was in Washington. You actually met him when you came up.”

  “Ah, yes. He’s with Teller Corp. which is
the same firm I’ve already contacted here, just another branch. I do believe Teller has a few of them, so you can rest assured the men here will be equally competent and capable.”

  I fingered the locket of my mother’s at my throat and shook my head, another idea sparking in my mind. “I know James. I want it to be him. The guy here can be his backup. Get him and I’ll agree to yours and Angela’s plan.”

  His forehead creased.

  “To date someone,” I clarified. “I’ll date him.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “James. I’ll date him, or, well, pretend to date him.”

  Luis remained unblinking. It was an effort not to wither under that stare, but now that I’d put the idea out there, I was committed to it. I didn’t look away.

  “You want to date the bodyguard?”

  “It’s perfect. Like a two for one.”

  “This isn’t a sale on shoes, Riley.” No shit.

  I let go of the necklace and sat up straighter. “Those are my terms.” I couldn’t budge. If I did, Luis would steamroll right over me.

  “What makes you think that this Raynes fellow will even agree to this?”

  Oh, I knew he wouldn’t. No way in hell. But maybe his boss would. I was an excellent client after all. “Aren’t you the one always saying it’s not a matter of if someone will do something, but a matter of how much it will take to make them agreeable?”

  From his face, he didn’t like me throwing his words back at him. “Angela needs to hear about this.”

  “Fine,” I shrugged.

  He made the call on speaker phone. At first, she was against the idea as Luis was, but I made my case.

  “I know him, and I trust him. You can have him sign an NDA, but he’s not the type that would sell anything to the media. He’s also not an actor, or musician with his own agenda.”

  “I just don’t know.” Luis scraped a hand over his slicked back hair.

  “Hold on, I’m thinking,” Angela said. “This could actually work.”

  Luis shot a glare at the phone in his hand. “How so?”

  “Actress falls for her bodyguard could make for a nice story. What’s his background?”

  “He was in the military,” I piped up. “Even got some medals, I think.”