by Cari Quinn
I groaned and lowered myself to her level. She curled her arms around my neck, giggling when I extricated her from the sheet and into my arms. “Shower.”
“Wait. Need my iPod.” She made grabby hands for her bag.
What did I get myself into?
The shower consisted of three songs from Metallica and a dissertation about the difference between mullet-rock and heavy metal. I had to admit her way of explaining things was hilarious.
“Have you thought of doing a podcast with this stuff?”
Her blue eyes got wider. “You think anyone would care?”
“You made me care. I had no idea Lemmy from Motorhead was so very important to metal.”
“Yes, but you’re humoring me to keep me and you sane.”
I tucked a towel closed at my hip. “Don’t forget the want to keep you naked thing.”
“Can’t forget that.” She fluffed her hair with a towel.
“Honestly, it would keep you from getting bored.”
“You’re correct.” She went onto her toes and kissed me. “Such a smart guy sometimes.”
It was probably the best thing I’d ever come up with. She threw herself into the idea whole heartedly. By the time we were back to the hotel she had a schedule of recordings and about twenty people who already agreed to do a vidchat with her.
She was mildly terrifying in her ability to get people to do things for her.
Myself included.
On our way to the hotel she sat up as we passed a strip mall. “Can we—”
“No.”
She sighed. “I need a notebook. Just the drugstore right there. No big. See?”
I pulled in. “Only because it seems to be empty.”
“That’s because it’s six in the morning, but yay for twenty-four hour drugstores.”
I opened my door and went around to her side of the car. I hustled her inside. She made a bee-line for the candy.
“Faith.”
“It’s on the way to the office stuff.” She plucked a bag of Starbursts off the shelf as well as a bag of Peanut M&M’s. She jogged down the end of the aisle to the back of the store. I lengthened my stride as she snatched two notebooks up and a package of pens in pinks and purples.
She spun around, her arms full. “Okay. Ready.”
There was no way to take them from her without dumping the pile, so I led her to the front with my hand at her back. She dumped her loot on the counter and chatted happily with the woman checking her out.
Five minutes later we were in the car and she was happily scribbling in her large, block print. She was so engrossed she didn’t notice we were at the hotel.
“Faith.”
“Can you just leave me in the car?”
“No.”
“Meh.” She stuffed her pens and the rest back into her bag, but left the smaller one out.
“You have to pay attention to your surroundings.”
She looked up from writing and walking, her eyes unfocused. She was already gone into some other dimension where music ruled her brain. “Right.” She closed the notebook and held it against her chest. “Let’s go.”
I honestly wished I’d had the idea sooner. Talk about making my life easier. We got onto the elevator and back up to our floor. Indie and Patrick were running herd on the rest of the band.
The door to her room shut behind her as she stood in the hall with her hands on her hips. “Faith Elizabeth Keystone.”
Faith hunched her shoulders. “She’s more intimidating than my mother,” she said out of the side of her mouth.
“She’s fairly terrifying.”
“That’s why she’s our den mother. Don’t let her know I said that.”
I schooled my features as Indie stalked down the hall, dragging her suitcase behind her.
She stopped in from of Faith. “What the hell were you thinking?” Then looked up at me. “And you…not bringing her back last night? What the hell kind of bodyguard are you?”
I tried to swallow down the idea that I was being scolded by a woman that was a foot shorter than me and weighed in at just over a hundred pounds. “I took her to a safe location, ma’am.”
She dropped her voice. “I know you two are more than bodyguard and client, but honestly…if you pull this shit again, you won’t have to worry about this crazy fan. I’ll kill you myself. Got it?”
“Understood.”
She pushed by us. “We leave in ten. If you’re not in the Escalades your ass will have to find your own way to Maryland.”
“See?” Faith looked up at me. “And you think you’re scary.”
“I heard that!”
“I love you, Indie,” Faith called after her.
“Love me on the plane, Keys.” She got on the elevator and stared down the hallway at us. “I already had to chew through a sleeve of Tums because of you two,” she said before the doors closed.
I cleared my throat. “We should get our bags.”
“Yeah. Good idea.”
32
Keys
The next few weeks were a whirlwind. We toured up the east coast and there wasn’t a peep out of my would-be stalker. The podcast was a success. I’d tapped every source I had in Ripper Records.
Jazz Duffy had spent the last week with me doing a nightly hangout online. We broke the internet twice. Our podcast was lighting up YouTube and iTunes. We even added it to our band site as a new feature.
It was honestly the only thing that kept me from going insane. I tried to get Quinn to take me out to a few shows on our days off—anything to kill the monotony, but he was holding firm.
He didn’t want to take any chances. The warden was definitely in full effect. He was constantly on the computer or his phone. His eyes were tired, and his mood was mercurial at best.
Every time I caught him talking to Lucy, I knew it was going to be one of the nights I left him alone. Their hacker wonder girl was getting just as frustrated as Quinn. She couldn’t find a digital footprint anywhere for the packages. And I hadn’t gotten one yet for the end of September. We were already into the first week of October.
Each night we came together in a clash of sweat and soul bleeding passion. The more impatient and frustrated he was, the more times he looked for me in the night. I had a feeling tonight would leave me in an exhausted heap by morning.
I couldn’t say I minded it, but I couldn’t get him to talk anything through. He said it was because he didn’t have news to share, but I had a feeling it was more than that.
I rolled across the bed, flicking through my phone to find anything to entertain me tonight. Another night trapped in the hotel room, waiting for Quinn to finally close his computer.
Owen and Zach had escaped to an amusement park since we were outside of New Jersey. We had two days in the refurbished Giants stadium. The only problem was we had a night off in between.
Everyone was gone, doing something fun and I was under hotel arrest. I rolled onto my stomach and flipped open my laptop. I tabbed through our YouTube comments and answered a few questions, ignored the trolls, and created a poll on our Facebook page.
The watery clunk of a Skype call notification made me perk up. I hit the accept button and grinned as Devon’s face filled the screen. “What’s up, slut?”
“Hi, Dev.” I smiled automatically at her greeting, then glanced up at the time stamp. Even by Pacific time standards it was way past her bedtime. “What are you doing up so late?” Devon was one of those freaks that actually liked the daytime.
“Let me ask you a question.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“First of all—does Quinn’s boss grow these bodyguard dudes especially fine or something?”
I laughed. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“Well, you know I’m kinda the way station for these guys. Like they cut their teeth on little ole me.”
A prick of guilt settled between my shoulders. “I know you’ve had a lot of different guys in the house. I’m sorry about tha
t.’
She shook her head. “Oh, no—it’s awesome. As I said, the eyecandy is obscene. Like the guy that’s staying with me this week? Holy Thor. The dude is huge and built like a god.”
“Did you get him to sit for a sketch?”
“No. But good plan.” Her green eyes sparkled. “I like it.”
I snickered.
“Okay, so then I kinda forgot to get the mail this week. I was hip deep in this huge triptych painting of the Cliffs of Moor.”
“Can I see?”
“When it’s done.”
“Meh. You suck.”
“No, I believe it’s you that sucks. Are you bored or something? Figure you’re going to drive me crazy with catalogues. You’re killing a lot of trees.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I swung my feet up as I rolled onto my stomach.”
Devon reached off camera. “What the hell is this?” She fanned out a dozen catalogues in front of the lens. She peeked around the thick electronics catalogue with a quirked eyebrow. “Since when did you even know what to do with a motherboard, let alone how to build one from scratch.” She flipped through them. “And man, do you really need toys like this?” She held up a leather bondage magazine.
“I did not order those.” I leaned forward. “Is this a gimp mask?”
“Yeah. It’s scary. There’s stuff in this magazine that actually makes me want to burn it. Like bonfire on the deck burn it.”
“I swear I didn’t do that.” I tickle of unease grew in my stomach. “Did you get anything else from Frances the Fan?”
“Actually, no. Which is weird since it’s already the third.”
“One sec.” I rolled off the bed and padded to the door. “Warden?”
He looked over his shoulder. “I’m in the middle—” He stood up. “What happened.”
I nibbled on my lower lip. “It might be nothing.”
“Trust your instincts.”
I went back into our bedroom and came back with my laptop. I set it on his desk. “Dev? Is your Roth guy there?”
“Yeah.” Her eyes went from playful to hesitant. “Well, crap.” She propped her head on her hand.
I gave Quinn a quick recap, with a few extra embellishments from Devon, and his jaw tightened with every word. “Devon, can you—”
“Already on it.” She disappeared from the screen.
“How many days has this been happening?”
I shrugged. “Devon got in artist mode, but since it’s the third, I’d bet money they started right around the end of the month.”
He picked up his phone and I lost him to Aidan, Lucy, and some other tech person that was forever mining my sites for some elusive data that I didn’t understand.
The rest of the night was lost to hacker talk and speculation. They were checking the labels on the magazines to figure out if they were requested online or by some other service.
It seemed to be a mix of different ways. Some right in store—like the scary dominatrix stuff—and some through regular mailing list signups on websites. It caused a flurry of actions for the next few days.
I focused on the shows and tried to keep a lid on the hope that something was actually happening to end this friggin’ nightmare. But as with everything else it seemed to be a dead end.
We had ten dates left on the tour and the first blast of cool night air was putting a damper on the lawn tickets for the Saratoga New York show. But New Yorkers seemed to be a hearty bunch.
Personally, I was ready for a parka. I rubbed my hands together and held them over the radiator in our room. Quinn was checking the rear of the hotel. We’d decided to stay in downtown Saratoga in one of the older mansions that had been converted.
He was being really weird tonight. Distracted, and on his phone even more than usual. Usually he didn’t care when I listened in about what was going on with the stalker, but he kept shooing me away.
I was ready to kick his ass.
I peeked out the window at the busy main street. People were walking around in hoodies and lightweight jackets. There was so much greenery around even in October. Huge oak trees that weren’t quite changed over, dogs on leashes everywhere, and shop owners even had water stations out for them. The town actually looked like a postcard.
I turned to the knock on the door.
“Keys?”
I crossed to open the door. Owen stood in the doorway, decked out in denim, leather, and his bling. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to the Racino for some concert.”
“Aye. Fuckin’ Gin Blossoms. I didn’t even know they were still together.”
I grinned. “That’ll probably be fun.”
“Right? I wish you were coming. I miss my concert buddy.”
I let him in. “I know. Believe me, I’m jonesing so hard.”
“Quinn sent me up to get you. We’re having dinner in the dining hall. They put together some spread for us.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Evidently this is kind of their off season. Horse racing or some shit.”
I frowned. “Yeah. Quinn mentioned something about that. I think his folks might live around here.”
“Huh. That’s why he seemed to know everything about the area. I never know if it’s just because he’s playing super-bodyguard or if he actually has been to these places.”
I crossed my arms and tucked my cold fingers into the warm pockets I’d made. “Tell me about it.”
“Are you wearing that?”
I looked down at my jeans and Supernatural sweatshirt. “Is dinner formal?”
“Everyone’s all fancy.” He shot his French cuffs. “See? Fancy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Give me five.”
I ducked into the bathroom and put on some quick makeup, exchanged my sweatshirt for an Aerosmith T-shirt, red flannel, and my heavy leather jacket. I swapped out my Chucks for a pair of black knee-high boots with a wedge.
“Better?”
“Damn, girl. I wish all women got ready like you did. Especially with those results.” He whistled.
I punched him in the arm. “Behave.”
He draped his arm over my shoulder. “Where’s the fun in that?”
I was so tired of being safe. And even more tired of not having fun. Maybe the band getting together for dinner would put me in a better mood.
We met Wyatt and Hunter in the hall. “Guess it must be some spread tonight if we even got you to stick around, Wyatt.”
“I’m escaping to the speedway, actually. I didn’t realize they had one near here.” He swapped out his suit for dark jeans and a thermal shirt and heavy flannel.
“Guess we’re all going to be busy tonight,” I said. I left out the “except me” so no one would feel sorry for me.
We walked down the staircase to what used to be a grand ballroom. The floors gleamed, and sconces were lit. There was a banquet table set up and the rest of the crew and band were settled in. I looked around for Quinn, but didn’t see him.
I raided the plate of rolls and dished up a bowl of stew from the huge iron pot. I wandered over to the table and picked at it as everyone laughed and talked around me. The hostess of the hotel was bustling around completely charmed by my guys.
I knew they were hoping for special treatment and food—con artists all of them.
“Faith.”
I turned, a crusty wedge of bread halfway to my mouth. I dropped it into the gravy. Whoa. I put down my bowl and picked up my napkin. Wasn’t sure if I’d need it for the food or drool.
Quinn stood at the edge of the dining room in heavy cargos with a wide belt with a chain wallet. He wore thick motorcycle boots and a heavy leather jacket that made his wide shoulders look even more massive. He wore a gray thermal shirt under the jacket with a silver chain winking from his neck.
Yeah, it was probably drool.
I stood up. “Wow.”
He held up his hand, a black helmet outstretched to me. “Want to go for a ride?”
“Holy crap, yes.” I crossed
the room and snatched the helmet from him. “Is this what I think it is.”
“Thought I’d show you around. You’ve been cooped up for weeks.”
I grabbed him by the heavily zippered lapels of his jacket and dragged him down to kiss him. “We’re going out.”
He nodded. “We’re going out.”
I looked over my shoulder and saw the thumbs up from Owen. I grinned at him and did a little dance around in a circle.
33
Quinn
I clasped her hand in mine, and drew her out the back. My nerves were quadrupling in my chest. Taking her to my folks’ farm, and then to a concert seemed like a huge gamble. I’d had her on complete lockdown for weeks. Nothing. Not even anything to go on with the crazy array of catalogues that had started coming to her house.
They made me uneasy, but I didn’t know if they were something to truly worry about. I couldn’t figure out this woman’s game. I was convinced it was the same woman that had tried to take Faith at Hunter’s wedding. I had shit for proof, but it just seemed way too coincidental.
But tonight, I just needed to let us be us.
I didn’t know what was going to happen after the tour. I wouldn’t leave her side, but I couldn’t keep up this double life crap either. She was far too important to me for that.
Important enough that I was going to show her where I came from.
Her mouth dropped open when she saw my bike. “Are you kidding me?”
“I had one of the hands drive it in from my folks place.”
“You keep this at your parent’s farm?”
I shrugged. “Not really something I can take with me when I’m living on the estates of my clients. Nor do I really have time to ride.” I pulled her in front of me and took the helmet. “But I think we need some fun. I don’t know if meeting my parents is fun or not, but if you wa—”
“Yes.” I set it on her head and pushed down. Her blue eyes were huge. “All the way yes. I gotta see where you come from.”
