“Oh.” Oh? That was all she could say considering his betrayal?
“And the rest,” Estelle urged.
“Last night he paid me to take him home rather than follow the plan to pick you up at the second spot. I’m so sorry. He did tell me that you knew I was taking him home. But I kind of knew he was lying.”
Estelle sniffed. “I’m so sorry. We’ve betrayed your trust and I know you don’t trust many people.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said to Estelle. She couldn’t believe this. How could Joe do this to her?
“No, but I’m married to this old coot. I’m afraid we have to hand in our resignation. At least, before you fire us. I have all our stuff together. We’ll leave now.”
Tears welled but she forced herself not to let them free. She felt Bain move up behind her.
“I’m going to miss you,” she whispered.
Estelle blinked back her own tears. “I’ve thought of you as a daughter.”
She moved to the older woman, hugging her gently before stepping back. She couldn’t look at Joe.
“I’m sorry, Miss Ari. Maybe someday you’ll forgive me.”
She didn’t say anything. Couldn’t say anything. What else could possibly go wrong?
“Ari?” Bain asked after they were gone.
She shook her head. She couldn’t look at him right now. If she did, she might break. And right now, she didn’t have time to lose it. Maybe later. . .when she was alone, she could deal with all of this.
Joe and Estelle were gone. She had a stalker. Larry had done what Larry usually did. Exactly what he wanted.
He’d paid Joe to spy on her. Anger filled her. She started striding down the passage, following the sounds of voices coming from the living room.
“I don’t know what the problem is here!” Larry yelled as he paced up and down the room. “I made a call and I stick by it. Arianna’s fans deserved to know what happened last night.”
“You don’t know that the fire had anything to do with Arianna.” Dominic was standing across the far end of the room, his arms folded over his chest as he glared at Larry. “And you had no right to talk to the press about those threats. Especially when you didn’t even show us this latest threat first.”
“Oh, so your nose is out of joint because I didn’t come to you first,” Larry sneered. “Or is it because last night just highlighted how incompetent you are! How did you miss whoever set that fire last night? How did that get past your security measures?”
Dominic’s scowl deepened.
“Larry!” she snapped.
He whirled around. “Arianna, darling! There you are! Where have you been?” Larry waved his hand. “That doesn’t matter. Amazing news! Your song sales are through the roof. I’ve had so many calls from people wanting to do interviews with you. Talk show hosts. Don’t worry, I’ll only choose a couple. I know how much you dislike doing that sort of thing. But this is an amazing opportunity, darling.”
Arianna just gaped at him.
“You’re fucking kidding me!” Bain snapped.
She turned to look at him, shocked by the fury in his face.
“You’re happy about the publicity she’s getting because of these threats? Do you not understand that she could be in danger?” Bain demanded.
Larry glared at him. “Arianna needs this. Her sales have been dropping. If she wants to continue making money, we need the publicity.”
“This is a publicity stunt. Was there even another threat?” Bain asked suspiciously.
“Yes! Of course, there is. Do you seriously think I’d make up a threat?” Larry glared at him.
“Where is it?” Bain demanded.
“Here.” Larry pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.
“You’re carrying it around in your fucking pocket?” Bain snapped. “What about fingerprints? Where is the envelope? When did you receive this?”
“It was in Arianna’s dressing room at the venue,” Larry said.
“You got it this morning?” Bain asked.
“Yes. The police let me in early this morning. I thought it was fan mail. Opened it up in my car. The envelope got thrown in a trash can, I’m afraid.”
And he’d immediately contacted the press to arrange an interview.
Bain scowled as he read the note. “Fucking brazen bastard putting it in your dressing room.”
“I’ll get onto the venue to see if we can get hold of any footage of who entered Arianna’s dressing room.” Dominic pointed at Larry. “We warned you not to do this.”
Larry sneered. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“What does it say?” she whispered.
He showed her the note, watching her carefully.
Hello my little songbird. Soon you won’t sing so sweet. When we die everything goes to ash. And so will you.
“E-everything goes to ash? So he set the fire? It was my fault?”
Bain frowned. “Definitely not your fucking fault. Get that out of your mind now.”
“If I hadn’t done the concert. . .” She felt ill.
“Not your fault. His.” Bain glared at Larry. “And this should have gone to the cops straight away. They’ll be pissed.” They’d insisted Arianna give the other notes to the police soon after they’d arrived for this job.
“Well, I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Larry said snidely.
“You were thinking clearly enough to call the press and tell them that Ari had been receiving threats though,” Bain snapped back.
“Arianna, darling, I was only doing what I thought was best for you. I always have your best interests at heart. You don’t look well. Why don’t you go lie down and I’ll take care of getting rid of these two?”
“Rid of them?”
“They’ve shown how incompetent they are. Why, you could have been hurt last night in that crowd.”
“Because you had Joe take you home,” Bain snarled, walking closer to him, his hands curling into fists. “You’re trying to turn this on us. You just made it so much harder to do our jobs. She can’t even walk out the door without paparazzi getting into her face. How fucking safe do you think that is? Her stalker could hide in the crowd, could pull a gun or knife and hurt her. You did that with your stupid stunt. If anyone is leaving, it’s you.”
“I. . .I. . .” Larry had grown pale.
She felt ill. Bain was right. How long was the press going to be hanging around? How long until she felt safe leaving her home again?
“Arianna, are you going to let him get away with talking to me this way? I hope you see why you have to get rid of him.”
“Leave, Larry.”
“W-what?”
“Leave,” she said more firmly. Her hands were shaking, but this felt right. It was something she should have done a long time ago. “I can’t have you near me right now. You. . .you. . .you paid Joe to spy on me. You went public with these threats. I can’t have you around me right now.”
“But. . .I. . .”
“Go!” she said more harshly.
He just gaped at her in shock. She guessed she’d never spoken to him like that before. She’d never really snapped at anyone like that before.
“Leave, Larry. Now.”
The panic was weighing down on her. She didn’t want to see him. Didn’t want to see anyone.
“I guess I’ll come back when you’re being more reasonable,” he snipped.
“Leave your access card as well,” Bain demanded.
“Arianna,” Larry wheedled.
“You heard him,” she said. He didn’t need it to get out of the building. And truthfully, she’d never liked that he had a card. He’d bullied her into getting one for him.
He scowled at her. “You’re making a huge mistake.” But he strode away, throwing his access card onto the floor.
“Arianna.” Bain turned to her. “Are you—”
“I need some time alone. I don’t feel well.”
And knowing she was being a coward, she fl
ed into her bedroom.
Bain stared after where Arianna had raced out.
Shit.
He hated how stressed she looked. Although he was proud of her for telling Larry to fuck off.
“Anything I need to know?” Dominic asked carefully.
“Other than the fact that I’ve fucked things?”
Dominic snorted. “We’ve all done that before. What matters is how you handle things now.”
Bain wiped his hand down his face. “Need to give her some space and time.”
“Yeah? That seems like the best idea to you, does it?”
Fucked if he knew.
“Seems to me everyone gives that girl space. She’s got no one in her corner. In the time we’ve been here, how many visitors has she had? How often has she gone out? Met a friend for a coffee? How many personal calls has she had?” Dominic sighed. “Whatever you did, just apologize. Way she looks at you, I’m pretty sure she’ll forgive you.”
“She kissed me. I didn’t react. I’ve already overstepped the bounds with her. She thought I didn’t want to kiss her. That I’m not interested in her.”
“Then go prove that you do want her.”
“She’s still our client.”
Dominic frowned. “Caleb was supposed to be organizing something more permanent for her. We need to check on how that is going. I’ll call Kent.”
“No, I’ll call him.” He sighed. “I have some explaining to do.”
“You know, there’s one simple solution to all this.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t work for her anymore. Tell Kent that you quit this job. Then you can stay on and take care of her without this whole client issue.” Dominic waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Bastard.
But he wasn’t wrong. All he had to do was make a phone call. Then he’d be free. Both to pursue her and to protect her.
But the real question was. . .was he prepared to take a chance? Or would he let what happened with Jillian hold him back?
10
No. No. No.
How could she have none? She searched through her bathroom drawers. There had to be some here. Somewhere.
She couldn’t be that unprepared.
She sat on the bathroom floor. Awesome. Just awesome. This was just the cherry on top of a crappy day. She moaned and lay down on her back. What the hell was she going to do?
Put on your big girl panties, Ari. You’re just going to have to demand that Dominic and Bain let you go out.
Christ. She pulled herself up off the floor, bending over as a cramp took her by surprise.
Ow. Crap.
She hadn’t had a period in so long that this one had caught her by surprise. And just her luck, it had to be such a strong, painful one. She made it to the toilet and tidied herself up. She’d managed to find one overnight pad. Yay! Wasn’t going to last that long, though.
She downed a couple of Tylenol in the hope that would kick in quick. She’d already changed out of Jen’s clothes. She grabbed a jacket, hat and scarf. It wasn’t that cold outside, but maybe it would help disguise her.
She hoped like hell that Bain and Dominic had managed to get the crowd downstairs to disperse. Because the last thing she needed was to get photographed going out to grab tampons with her two brawny bodyguards.
No doubt they’d twist it to say she was off buying condoms for an orgy. Or a pregnancy test. She groaned at the thought.
She opened the door to her bedroom, coming to a stop as she saw Bain standing on the other side. He looked just as shocked to see her standing there. Which didn’t make sense since it was her bedroom.
“Ari. Can I talk to you?”
“Not now.” Another cramp hit her, and she had to bite her lip as she held on to the doorframe.
“You all right? What’s wrong?” He jumped forward and was reaching for her. She took a step back.
“I have to go out.”
“What?” He stared at her in puzzlement.
“I’ve got to go out. Can you make it happen?” She knew she had to seem like a crazy person. And she was being rude. “Please.”
She stepped past him and started walking towards the front door.
“We can’t go anywhere,” Bain called out to her.
She could feel him walking closely behind her.
“Arianna. Stop.” He grabbed her arm just as Dominic walked out of the kitchen, eating a huge sandwich.
He chewed and swallowed his bite, watching them both warily. “What’s going on?”
“You tell me,” Bain growled. “Ari has gotten it into her head that she wants to go out.”
“I don’t want to go out.” She scowled up at Bain. “I need to go out.”
“What?”
“Arianna, why do you need to go out?” Dominic sent Bain a look as she fidgeted back and forth.
She could feel her face going bright red. “Is it not enough to know that I just really need to go out. Do you have to know why?”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Bain snapped. “It’s not safe.”
“Your job is to keep me safe, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. But it will make our job easier if we know why you need to go out,” Dominic told her gently. “We’re going to be the ones taking you, so we need to know where we’re going.”
“I need to go to the pharmacy.”
“Why? You sick?” Bain asked.
Crap. They were right. She was going to have to tell them. Otherwise they’d never take her. But this was so humiliating. She wasn’t used to talking about this sort of stuff.
“I. . .I. . .shit!” She bent over as another cramp hit her.
“Ari!” Bain yelled out. Grabbing her, he picked her up into his arms. “What’s the matter? What’s wrong? Dominic, we need to get her to the hospital.”
“No, no hospital!”
“You’re in pain!”
“Because I have my period, you dense man!” Another cramp hit. She tried to wiggle her way out of his arms. Could her embarrassment get any worse? But he tightened his hold.
“Your period? Oh, baby. Why didn’t you just say?”
What?
She sniffled and gaped up at him. Where had grouchy Bain gone? And who was this honey-voiced man?
“Don’t cry, baby. Have you got bad cramps? Do you have a heating pad? Tylenol?”
“I. . .I. . .what? You. . .I. . .” Spit it out, Arianna.
Bain raised his eyebrows, then looked to Dominic. “Think I’ve shocked her into silence.”
“Probably thinks you’ve been body-snatched since you’re not scolding her.”
“I don’t scold her that often,” Bain snapped.
Okay. There was her ogre. Well, not her ogre.
Bain shook his head as he looked down at her. He gently set her on her feet. “Why didn’t you just say that was the problem? Do you need tampons? Pads?”
“Chocolate? Comfort food?” Dominic added.
“I. . .I. . .all of those things,” she admitted. She dropped her gaze. Even though they were being super understanding she still couldn’t help but feel ashamed.
“No need to be embarrassed,” Bain told her. “We’ve both been married.”
Well, now she felt like an idiot. If she hadn’t made such a big deal of it. . .
“Why don’t you write me a list of what you need, sweetheart and I’ll go grab it for you,” Dominic offered.
“You. . .you’ll go buy me sanitary products?”
“Yep. Not the first time I’ve bought them. I was married for nineteen years before my wife died.”
His wife died? Oh no. That explained the hint of sadness she’d often sensed around Dominic. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. It’s been a few years since I lost Jane. Now, why don’t you write me that list? I’ll go grab you everything and you can let the grouch here coddle you and try to make up for being an ass.”
“I. . .I thank you. But I don’t need coddling.” She
sent Bain a wary look as she moved into her office to grab a piece of paper and a pen.
She handed the list off to Dominic. He took it with a wink. “Be back soon.”
Once he’d left, she was acutely aware that she and Bain were alone.
“Come on. Let’s get you comfy. You want to change into your pajamas?”
“I. . .um. . .yes.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Everything okay?”
“F-fine.” She took a deep breath and focused on her speech. “I’m fine. You’re just. . .I’m not used to you being. . .like this.”
He gave her a puzzled look. “Like what?”
“Umm, kind I guess.”
His eyes widened. “You saying I’m usually mean?”
“What? No, that’s not what I mean.”
“But you don’t think I can be kind.” He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled down at her. Well, right now he kind of looked mean.
Way to go insulting the guy who was just being sweet to you, Ari. The guy you also practically mauled this morning.
“Maybe kind was the wrong word. Maybe I meant sweet.”
“You don’t think I can be sweet? I can be sweet.”
“You can?”
What the hell was he doing? Was he trying to argue that he was kind and sweet? ‘Cause he wasn’t. Except he sort of wanted to be for her. He didn’t like that she thought he was mean.
“Have I been mean to you, angel?”
“Why do you call me that?”
He blinked, feeling his cheeks heat. Crap.
“You sing like an angel.” That wasn’t the only reason, though. She looked like an angel. And she’d had that nightie with a teddy bear angel on it the first night he’d found her sleepwalking.
“Oh.” She blinked then sniffed. “That’s really sweet.”
Okay, yeah, he really wasn’t used to being called sweet. Or feeling this way. Fuck. He wanted her. Wanted to explore these feelings he had for her.
Christ.
He watched her warily. “You’re not crying, are you?”
She wiped her cheeks. “No.”
She dropped her head. Crap. He hated that. She looked so alone and sad. “I can’t believe Joe did that to me.”
Daddy's Angel (Montana Daddies Book 7) Page 10
