by K. M. Scott
Chapter Fourteen
Hunter watched as Alexis walked slowly down the hall toward her room. With her shoulders drooped, she didn’t look like the confident and strong woman he’d come to admire over the past few days.
“I feel so helpless. I want to help her, to protect her, but even going to the gym is becoming impossible because of this stalker. Before this all started, that guy at the beach and the one at the gym wouldn’t have been a problem,” Lauren said sadly next to him.
He turned and looked at her in confusion. Hadn’t Alexis always had to deal with unwanted attention from her fans? Hunter just assumed all stars did.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“She was never afraid like she is now. When fans came up to her when she was out in public, she chatted with them, took selfies, and signed autographs. She never felt like she was in any danger. But now even one fan approaching her she just gets paralyzed with fear.”
“I can’t imagine her that way,” he said, surprised to hear Alexis used to be so at ease with her fans.
Lauren shook her head. “She was so open to meeting people, but this stalker has changed that. Every day she goes inside herself more and more. She wasn’t even like this after she and Jackson broke up, and that was bad.”
“What happened then?”
Frowning, she explained what he’d guessed about the breakup. “She took it hard. Jackson didn’t even have the decency to tell her before he began strutting around with that girl. And I mean girl. She’s three years younger than Alexis, for God’s sake. He had a beautiful woman who loved him, and he threw her away for the flavor of the month. I’m waiting for the announcement that he’s moved on from her and hooked up with a teenager, the pig. Alexis had to pretend for the whole world that she was fine with being humiliated, and she did. She held her head high and people applauded her for taking the high road on the whole thing. But she stopped wanting to go out, and when someone would invite her to a party, often she’d come up with an excuse not to go. She started hiding from her life.”
“So what brought her out of that?”
Lauren’s face softened as she smiled at him. “I like to think I had some part in that. I never let a day go by without reminding her how strong and talented she was. I know assistants are supposed to do that, but I meant every word. I know Alexis since we were little kids, and she’s the strongest person I know. That’s why seeing her retreat into herself like this is so upsetting. This time it isn’t just a person she loves betraying her. This stalker isn’t someone she can look at and say, ‘I can do better than what you gave me.’ He’s hidden, so that means she’s all alone in it this time.”
“She’s not alone, Lauren. She has you and she has me. I’m going to find out who’s behind this and give her the life she always wanted back.”
With tears in her eyes, she looked up at him. “Please do it quickly. I feel like she’s slipping away more and more every day.”
Lauren left to go to her room she shared with Carla, so Hunter headed to his own room. Maybe Gideon had already made some progress on those names he’d given him. Even just one lead would be better than sitting around feeling helpless.
As he sat listening to his phone ring, Hunter thumbed through the reports from the LAPD and the private detective he’d gotten from Paul. Nobody seemed to ever get a good bead on this stalker. He sent letters regularly, but they never came through the post office and somehow they always got to Alexis, no matter if she was in LA or New York.
This told Hunter whoever the stalker was, he had to have someone on the inside helping him. But who?
Hopefully, Gideon would be able to help answer that. Assuming he ever answered his goddamned phone.
Finally, he heard his friend’s voice in his ear saying, “Twice in one day? You must miss us back here at the ranch.”
He didn’t have time for his jokes. “Hey man, tell me you found out something.”
“In like four hours?” Gideon asked in amazement. “Are you kidding? I need at least a couple days, dude. You gave me a list of like twenty people.”
“I know. I just hoped something popped right off the bat. You are working on it, right? Because this is way more important than that busy work Persephone has you doing.”
Gideon didn’t answer as Hunter’s thoughts wandered to Alexis down the hall and if she was okay.
“Hunter, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean? I’m doing my job. What are you talking about?”
“I’ve never heard you like this. You sound worried, man. That’s not like you.”
Hunter lay down on his bed and covered his eyes with his arm. “I’m fine. Same as always.”
“I don’t think so. What’s going on there? Do you think you know who’s stalking Alexis?”
Hating that he didn’t have even one goddamned solid clue yet, he said, “No. I’ve got nothing. Not a single damn lead.”
“They can’t expect miracles. Rome wasn’t built in a day, man,” Gideon said, trying to be supportive.
“Nobody’s saying anything. I just want to get to the bottom of who’s doing this to her as soon as I can,” Hunter lied.
It wasn’t just that he wanted to catch Alexis’s stalker. It was more than that. He wanted to see that open soul that Lauren talked about. So far, all he’d seen from Alexis made her seem so closed off. If he could get the stalker and end that torment for her, he hoped he might be able to see her open up again.
Of course, Gideon didn’t know any of that, so he naturally assumed Hunter just wanted to get this case over and done with so he could head out on vacation. “I know you want to get back so you can get some time off. I get it. Give me some time and I’ll get everything down to the last time each person had sex and if they enjoyed it. How’s that sound?”
“Is everything about sex with you, man?” Hunter asked with a laugh. “We’re talking work here, and you have to stick sex in the middle of it.”
“I’m not the one who just said stick sex in the middle, dude.”
“It sounds like you need to get some, Gideon. I’m not kidding here. This is the second conversation that you interjected some mention of sex into. I’m just saying if all you’re doing is busy work, you might want to get out and clear your head, if you know what I mean.”
“You do realize who you’re talking to, right?” he asked, sounding offended. “Trust me. There is no problem on my end here. Life is just as it always has been for me, so don’t worry. I’m a perfectly healthy American male. As for you, I’m guessing you still haven’t taken Alexis Marchand to bed, right?”
“I didn’t call you for a lecture on how to sleep with women, man,” Hunter said with a chuckle, amused by his friend’s growing obsession with his not sleeping with the client.
“No, but you have to admit I took your mind off your worries for a few seconds there. Give me a little more time and I’ll find out everything I can for you about all the names you sent me. Until then, just enjoy the fact that you’re protecting one of the most beautiful women in the world, Hunter.”
He’d always been able to count on Gideon to focus on the big picture. At least the big picture according to him.
“Thanks, man. Call me as soon as you find out anything.”
“You got it. And relax up there. She’s safe and sound with you around. Hey, I like that. I think I’m going to suggest that for the group motto to Persephone. Maybe it will get me out of all this goddamned busy work she has me doing.”
“Bye, Gideon.”
Hunter ended the call and shook his head at his friend’s suggestion. Persephone would likely double his workload after hearing that idea of his.
Tossing the phone onto the bed, he mentally ran through every person on that list he gave Gideon. None of them had exhibited even the slightest behavior that would indicate they were behind the letters and packages Alexis had received. The LAPD had no real leads on any possible suspects either. And his suspicion about Kyle was nothing more than th
at. Suspicion.
Mumbling to himself, he said, “How is it someone could do this and no one would know who it is?”
Frustrated, he headed to the kitchen where he found Carla hurrying back and forth between the oven and the counter preparing dinner. He couldn’t help but be surprised since no one had cooked much of anything since he’d been there. At least nothing he’d been offered.
He leaned against the doorframe and watched her for a minute. “What are you making?”
Carla looked over and a sheepish look came across her face. “Lauren thought it would be nice if Alexis had her favorite food. She can rarely eat it, especially when she’s filming, so now’s a perfect time to make it. And since she’s…”
She didn’t finish her sentence, but she didn’t have to. Hunter knew what she meant. Lauren was having her make Alexis comfort food.
Hunter scanned the countertop. Fresh carrots, peas, and green beans sat cut up and in bowls. Baby red potatoes waited for Carla’s knife to cut them up, and various spice jars sat lined up next to the cutting board. Perhaps comfort food for movie stars meant vegetables. This was Alexis’s favorite food?
“What is all this?”
The assistant opened up the oven door and took out a pan. “Pot roast with glazed carrots and baby peas. The green beans are for Lauren. She loves them with garlic.”
She smiled as she tossed the vegetables into the pan around the pot roast that sat in the center on a metal rack. “And I always throw in potatoes for good measure.”
“You weren’t her cook back in LA, though, right?” Hunter asked, seizing on that point as he remembered Alexis telling him about another woman who stayed behind when they all came east.
“No. I just fill in sometimes. I learned how to cook from my mama, so whenever Alexis needs a home cooked meal, I do my best.”
“Hmmm. Go figure. I would have never guessed her favorite meal would be something so common. I would have thought someone famous like her would like fancier food. I’d guess she could have anything her heart desires. Who’d think pot roast would be what she wanted?”
Carla ripped off a sheet of aluminum foil and began tenting it over the pan. “It comes from growing up in Minnesota, I think. Alexis is from ordinary people. She wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth.”
“I had no idea,” Hunter admitted as he watched her continue to make the meal with loving care. But he noticed her hands were shaking.
She nodded and gave him a smile. “Yeah. That’s why she’s so down-to-earth.”
Grabbing a piece of carrot, Hunter bit into it. “Carla, you’ve been with Alexis for three years, right? In that time, is there anyone you can think of who would want to hurt her?”
She stopped covering the pan with foil and shook her head. “No. Until all this started with the letters and packages, I would have said everyone loved her.”
“Okay, thanks.” He watched her for a few more moments and asked, “Is anything wrong? Your hands are shaking.”
Carla quickly shook her head. Wiping her hands on a dishcloth, she forced a smile. “No. No, nothing’s wrong. I probably just need to eat something.”
“Okay. I’m here if you have anything you want to talk about.”
Hunter grabbed another slice of carrot and started to leave, but Carla touched him on the sleeve to stop him. Turning around, he saw she had something else to say.
“I’m sorry about lying to you earlier, Hunter.”
“I understand, Carla. You have to do what your boss tells you to do.”
With sadness in her eyes, she forced a smile. “Thank you. I just want you to know I would never do anything to knowingly hurt Alexis. I hope you find out who’s doing this to her so she can get back to living her life. She deserves it.”
“I will,” he said as he walked out of the kitchen.
Glancing down the hallway, he thought about knocking on Alexis’s door to see if she was okay but decided to let things lay as they were. He likely couldn’t say anything to help her feel better anyway.
Chapter Fifteen
Alone in her room, Alexis enjoyed the pot roast dinner Carla made for her, wishing she felt like being out in the dining room where everyone else sat enjoying themselves. She heard Lauren and Hunter out there laughing about something, but even their happiness didn’t cheer her up.
Honestly, she wondered if anything would ever make her truly happy again.
Carla’s meal worked just like Lauren knew it would. Whenever she felt sad, Alexis could always count on her best friend to make sure she had something to help her through it, and comfort food that reminded her of her childhood never failed to make her reminisce about growing up in Minnesota.
Life then was easier, and not just because they were kids. People could be trusted back home. Caring about one another meant something important to the people she grew up with. Back in high school, no one would have ever bothered to stalk her. She was just one of the girls in those days.
Lauren knocked lightly and said in her worried voice, “Honey, are you okay in there? Do you want me to come in and hang out with you for a little while?”
As she stared at the bedroom door, she shook her head, even dreading having to see the person closest to her in the world. “No, thanks. Please just tell everyone I want to be left alone tonight. The bodyguards can go home. I’m not going anywhere tonight, so let them have a night off.”
She heard her friend sigh before she said, “Okay. I’ll be around if you want me. It’s only eight o’clock, so I won’t be going to bed anytime soon. Just yell for me if you need anything, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks, Lauren.”
Nothing she could do would make her feel better, so Alexis doubted she’d need anything that night. What she needed was for her life to go back to a time when she didn’t fear everything in her world.
Alexis set the tray of food on the dresser and lay down on the bed. She curled up in a ball and closed her eyes, praying that sleep would come and take her over until the next morning.
She awoke still curled up in her bed and looked around, wondering if she’d gotten her wish and she’d made it all the way to the morning. Craning her neck, she looked out the window on the other side of the room and saw the sad truth in the darkness. Whatever time it was, it wasn’t morning yet.
Checking the time on her phone, she saw she’d only slept two hours. Disappointed, especially since that probably meant she’d be up most of the night tossing and turning, she quietly opened her door and listened for any indication that Lauren or Carla were still around. The last thing she wanted was to talk about what was bothering her. She’d done enough talking to last a lifetime.
She crept down the hallway as silently as she could and went to the kitchen to get a drink. Looking across at Hunter’s door, she wondered if he had gone to sleep yet. Unsure if she should bother him, Alexis tapped on his door lightly and waited a minute. When he didn’t answer, she figured it was for the best and began to walk back toward her room.
“Are you okay, Alexis?” she heard behind her about halfway down the hallway.
Turning around, she nodded. “It’s nothing. I was just wondering if you were still awake.”
He smiled and she couldn’t help but notice how sexy he looked at that moment. Still in his jeans and a dark blue t-shirt, he seemed so comfortable just standing there in his doorway.
“I’m not Lauren or Carla, but I’m still awake. What’s up?”
She walked to where he stood, and for a moment, neither one of them said anything. It didn’t feel awkward, but there was no denying the sudden silence. Not that Hunter had shown himself to be a big talker. That was one of the reasons why she knocked on his door. She didn’t want to talk so much as not be alone, and out of everyone in her world, only he seemed to fit the bill for that.
Hunter stepped back out of the doorway to welcome her into his room. “I’m not doing anything much at the moment. Come in.”
As he closed the door behind her, she lo
oked around at the room that used to be her office. It felt foreign to her now. Masculine. As her gaze settled on his gun sitting on the dresser, Alexis couldn’t even remember what this room had looked like as her office such a short time ago.
Then she noticed she hadn’t thought to get him anything to sit on other than the bed, so she stood in the center of the room as he sat down and cleared away papers he’d been reading.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get you any chairs, Hunter. I don’t know what I was thinking. I should have gotten you a desk too. I can take care of those things tonight and have them here tomorrow,” she said, hoping he didn’t notice how embarrassed she felt.
He tidied up the papers and set them on his nightstand. “That’s not necessary. I can work like this.”
She smiled at his attempt to be gracious but made a mental note that she needed to get him a desk and at least one chair.
After a few moments, he asked, “Do you want to sit down?”
Alexis looked around awkwardly wishing so much that she hadn’t been such an idiot when she bought the furniture for this room. The only place to sit would be on the bed with him, but she didn’t want to stand the whole time she stayed there.
“Yeah. Thanks,” she mumbled as she sat down on the side of the bed opposite him. Still feeling out of place, even though this was a room in her own home, she said, “This feels comfortable. I’m glad. I wasn’t sure which mattress to get.”
He didn’t say a word to her silly mention of the bed, which only added to her awkwardness, so she mumbled, “These are nice sheets. Very masculine. Grey and black. Lauren has great taste. I think she said they’re five hundred thread count.”
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t know about those things,” he said in a low voice.
She ran her fingers over the flat sheet next to her. “Yeah. I think these are five hundred.”
Even Alexis didn’t think he should respond to her idiotic yammering on about thread count, so she wasn’t surprised when he didn’t. It only made it crystal clear that she shouldn’t have knocked on his door in the first place.
