“It wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. Just to be on the safe side. The last message you got did basically say this person plans on kidnapping you at some point. They might be waiting for you to go home, where you’ll be unprotected,” she pointed out.
A knock on the door interrupted our conversation.
“Daph?” Ezra called.
I got up to answer it, and the instant I saw his face, which looked almost frozen in shock, I knew something was very wrong. And that was confirmed when he walked into the room, dropped the bag he was carrying on the floor, and pulled me into his arms without a word. Then he apparently decided that wasn’t enough and he pulled back just enough to claim my lips in a kiss that both left me breathless and scared the shit out of me. I swore I could feel his panic.
“Babe, talk to me,” I murmured. “I can take it. I promise.”
“I’m just going to…” Samantha trailed off.
Ezra turned to her, looking almost guilty. “Sorry, Sam. I didn’t see you there.”
She gave him a sad smile. “It’s okay. But it looks like you two need some time alone. Catch you later.”
She walked out of the room, and then I turned back to Ezra and retrieved the bag he’d been carrying from the floor. Before I could open it, though, he took it back from me.
“Daph, if you really want to see what’s in this bag, I’ll show you, but you have a show tonight. And I’m not sure if you’ll be able to get on that stage if you see this right now,” he said, walking over to the couch and sinking down.
“I’ll just go crazy not knowing,” I told him.
He nodded slightly before handing me the bag. I opened it to find what looked like…a chastity belt? With the lock undone? And then there was an envelope. I felt bile rising in my throat as I retrieved the contents. There was a note, of course, but I ignored that and looked at the pictures first: one of a key on a chain against a hairy chest and one of a crop and a cat o’ nine tails.
I dropped the pictures and note as my head started to spin, and I reached out for Ezra’s arm so I didn’t fall. He immediately pulled me into his arms and led me back to the couch to sit down.
I knew this person was sick already. They had to be sick to build up this elaborate fantasy about me, and to build that damn room to keep me in.
But this? I had no words for this. BDSM between two consenting adults was one thing. I had absolutely no issues with anyone who participated in the lifestyle. In fact, I had friends who did. But using it as a means to hold someone hostage was wrong on so many different levels.
“Let me see the note,” I said in a shaky voice.
“You sure, angel?” he asked.
I nodded. “I need to know.”
He sighed and walked back over to pick the paper up from where I’d dropped it. I took it, and what I read horrified me.
I thought I could trust you to be a good girl, Daphne. After you made me hurt Sam, I thought you understood that I don’t share. But apparently you didn’t get the message. Because you’re still fucking around on me. So I have to resort to forcing you to wear this chastity belt until we’re together. If you’re not wearing it when I come for you, I’ll have no choice but to use other, much less pleasant, means to make you understand who you belong to. That part of you is MINE and only mine, and I have the key to prove it. And I can’t wait to sink my cock deep inside it, where it belongs.
“Oh, my God,” I whimpered, dropping the paper again as tears spilled over my cheeks. “Oh, my God.”
I wished I’d listened to Ezra when he told me not to look. Because he was right. I had no idea how I was supposed to get onstage and perform tonight now.
And I had an even more pressing concern. If this guy was this obsessed with me, he would know where I lived. Going home next week when our month-long break started was out of the question.
“What am I supposed to do, Ezra?” I sniffled. “Tell me what to do. Because I don’t know anymore. I don’t know how to stop this person, and I’m terrified of going home next week. Where does someone who doesn’t feel safe in their own home go?”
“She stays with a man who would die before he let anything happen to her,” he said softly, pulling me back into his arms and kissing my head. “Come home with me. I was thinking about asking you if you wanted to even before this. But now, I can’t stand the thought of letting you go back to Ashview.”
Maybe I should have been apprehensive at the idea of staying with him and his daughter for an entire month so soon, but I wasn’t. Because there was no one in the world that I felt safer with.
I woke up feeling like the air conditioner in the room might have shut off in the middle of the night, but when I started to get up, I realized it was just because Ezra was wrapped around me like a vine. Instead of wrestling my way out of his hold, I just turned around to face him and found myself staring into the brown eyes I’d come to love so much. He was already awake and just hadn’t stopped holding me as I slept.
“Morning,” I mumbled.
One corner of his mouth tipped up in a half-smile before he gave me a soft kiss.
“Sleep okay?” he asked.
I nodded. “As well as can be expected, I guess. Nobody tells you about this side of being a celebrity when you sign that contract with the record label. You know?”
“That’s because no one thinks it’s as common as it is. Almost every concert tour I’ve worked on has had someone following the tour. But this is a first even for me. And it pisses me off that the authorities aren’t taking this seriously and they aren’t even willing to look at the evidence we have against this guy.”
“Are you sure about me coming back to Montauk with you?” I asked him. “Isn’t it a little soon for me to be spending a month with you and Ari?”
He chuckled weakly. “The fact that you’re so concerned about it makes me even more sure. I want Ari to spend some time with you, without the glitz and glamour of show business. I was thinking about asking you to come back with me even before that delivery yesterday. Or at least about asking you if you would come spend a week or so with us. But I don’t want you going back to Ashview now. Anyone who’s this obsessed with you knows where you live. And I think they’re expecting you to go home, where you won’t be protected.”
“Oh, my God. If they know where I live, they probably know where I keep my bus garaged when I’m not using it,” I realized.
“I thought about that too, and I might have a solution. My parents actually have a few acres right outside Montauk. I’ll have to ask them, but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t park your bus there while we’re home. I’d just have your lawyer draw up an NDA for the driver so they can’t share where it’s parked,” he suggested.
“They already sign NDAs for that,” I told him. “Just because I don’t want fans knowing where my bus is and trying to get on while it’s parked. And Mel’s been working for me ever since my first tour. He’s like an uncle to me. I trust him not to tell anyone.”
“Before you get too excited, let me call them,” he sighed, sitting up. “We can talk to Ari about it together later. But this is probably a conversation I should have with my parents without you.”
“Why?” I asked.
“They can be…a little protective,” he explained. “Especially my mom. She’ll probably be suspicious about why you need to hide your bus in the first place, and about why you’re coming back with me. You don’t need to hear the conversation I’m probably about to have with her.”
I smiled. “Okay. Thank you. You didn’t have to do this. Any of it.”
“Yes, I did. It’s what anyone would do for someone they lo—care about.”
Wait. Was he just about to say “love”? I wasn’t sure what to say to that. Should I tell him I felt the same way? Just let it go? This was uncharted territory for me. But before I had to come up with a response, he kissed me.
“I’m scared too, baby,” he whispered against my lips. “You’re not alone. But we’ll figu
re out who this is, and we’ll stop them. No one’s going to lay a hand on you. Not if I can help it.”
A lump rose in my throat and I choked back tears. I wanted so much to believe that I’d be safe with him. And I knew he’d never put me in any danger on purpose. But I couldn’t stop thinking that maybe I was the one who would be putting him in danger, just by being near him.
If this freak had broken Samantha’s cast just for hooking up with me, what would they do to Ezra—or, worse, to his daughter—when they found out I was in love with him?
My stomach twisted into a knot as Daphne’s driver, Mel, pulled her tour bus onto my parents’ property. I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous about it, other than I was bringing my girlfriend home to meet my parents, essentially. And Daphne was the first girl I’d brought home since Katelynn.
“I’ll be back,” I said, planting a kiss on Daphne’s temple. “I need to go tell him where to park this thing.”
I headed up to the driver’s seat, and Mel was stopped, waiting for directions from me. I quickly told him where my parents had told me the bus could be parked, then went back to sit on the couch with Daphne.
“I wish I didn’t look like I’ve just been on the road for twenty hours,” she sighed. “At least I got to shower.”
“Baby, we drove here from Miami. They know that. They won’t care,” I told her. “Just be your normal incredible self, and they will love you.”
“Is it weird if I say I’ve never actually had any boyfriends—or girlfriends, for that matter—bring me home to meet their family before?” she asked, turning bright pink. “You’re the first.”
“Don’t worry; I’ll be gentle,” I teased.
That earned me a giggle, and she buried her face—which was now the color of a lobster—in her hands. I chuckled as I pulled her into my arms and kissed the top of her head.
Mel emerged from the driver’s seat and walked back to the living area. “Okay, Daph, you’re all set. I’ll see you in a month.”
Daphne grabbed her purse and pulled a hundred-dollar bill out of her wallet. “Thanks, Mel. Can we give you a ride to get to the Jitney?”
“Nah. I ordered an Uber. Should be here in a little bit,” he told her.
“This’ll cover your fare and buy you lunch. Thanks for being flexible. And remember, no one knows where this bus is, and it needs to stay that way,” she reminded him.
“My lips are sealed,” he promised as he took the money and handed her the keys for the bus, then gave her a hug. “Have a nice break.”
She smiled. “You too.”
He walked off the bus, and I turned to her.
“Ready to meet my parents and sister?” I asked.
“No, but we’re here now. I can’t put it off any longer. Let’s get it over with.”
“Could you at least try not to look like you’re headed to your own execution?” I kissed her forehead. “At least you know one person in there is excited to see you.”
She snorted. “True. The eight-year-old is going to be thrilled to see me.”
I stood up and held out my hand. “I promise I won’t let them give you too hard a time. Come on.”
“Go ahead and get off the bus. I need to lock the door, and then I’ll get out from the driver’s seat,” she said as she took my hand and stood.
Daphne went and got into the driver’s seat, opening the passenger door for me and then closing it again. I headed around to the driver’s side just in time to see her jumping down and locking the driver’s door.
“It’s crazy that you actually own this monstrosity,” I chuckled as I took her hand and started to lead her toward the house.
“Yeah, it kind of is. But after my first tour renting a bus, I decided that I wanted to just buy one and customize it. Honestly, it didn’t cost me that much more to just buy it outright than it would have renting it for a couple of tours, and customizing the inside didn’t cost much either. I kind of feel like one of those celebrities because I have my own bus, but it’s nice having my own space.”
“I get it. You’re on the road a lot. You might as well be comfortable while you’re traveling so much. And I can say from experience, that bus doesn’t even really feel like a bus. It’s more like a house on wheels, minus a full kitchen.”
“No joke, I was this close to putting a full kitchen in,” she said, pinching her fingers together for emphasis. “But I decided I didn’t want to deal with the fire hazard.”
I pulled my keys out of my pocket and unlocked my parents’ front door, leading Daphne through the foyer toward the living room, where I heard Frozen II playing on the TV. At least we’d graduated from the first movie. That was improvement. Sort of. Rachel saw us first and a grin spread across her face.
“Ari, look who’s here,” she said.
Arielle turned around and squealed loud enough to wake the dead as she jumped up from the couch.
“Daddy!” she exclaimed, running for me at full speed.
“Hey, munchkin,” I laughed as I picked her up and kissed her cheek. “I’ve missed you. What have Grandma and Grandpa been putting in the water here? I think you grew another four inches.”
She giggled. “I missed you too. Are you really staying with us for the whole month, Daphne?”
Daphne chuckled uncomfortably. “Yeah, I am. Are you still okay with that?”
“Yeah,” Arielle told her. “And I promise I’m keeping it a secret.”
“Good job,” I said, kissing her forehead.
I knew how hard it was for Arielle not to tell her friends, who loved Daphne as much as she did, about our houseguest, but she seemed to understand the importance of keeping it private. That, I wasn’t worried about.
I was much more worried about how Daphne and I were going to tell her that we weren’t just friends. She was smart, so I was half-convinced that she already knew, but her making an educated guess was one thing. Daphne and I actually sitting down with her and explaining that we were dating? That was something else entirely. And it was completely new territory for me.
We’d decided to wait a couple of days for that conversation, though. Give Arielle time to get used to Daphne as just a friend instead of a celebrity. She was already there, sort of, but the only time she’d spent with Daphne in person had been backstage at her concert in New York City. I figured it might be easier for her to wrap her head around if she saw Daphne in a normal setting for a little while.
“Are you three staying for dinner?” Rachel asked as she came over and hugged me with one arm, then handed me my car keys.
“No,” I sighed. “It was a long drive, even though it was on Daph’s bus. We’re both pretty wiped. I think we’re just going to head home and order pizza.”
Translation: I didn’t want to subject Daphne to a game of twenty questions from Paranoid Paula—I mean, my loving, caring mother—right off the bat.
“Understandable. We can get to know your girl later. We’ve got a month.” She turned and gave Daphne a hug. “It’s nice to meet you in person instead of on a screen, Daph.”
“Hey, Rachel,” Daphne said, her voice still trembling a little. “You too.”
“Mom, Dad, want to come meet Daph before we head out?” I asked my parents, who hadn’t budged or said a single word since we’d walked in.
“We can meet her later, since you’re too tired to stay for dinner,” my mom said with a slight edge to her voice.
My parents hadn’t been thrilled about Daphne parking her bus here for an entire month, though after I pushed them enough, they finally relented. They’d never even said what exactly the issue was, but they were pretty adamant about it. I’d thought we were past it, but apparently we weren’t. And I wasn’t going to let them take whatever the hell this was out on my girlfriend.
“Jelly bean, want to go get packed while I talk to Grandma and Grandpa?” I said, turning back to Arielle.
“I’m already packed,” she informed me.
Daphne smiled at me, then looked at Arielle. �
�Do you want to come and see my tour bus while your dad talks to your grandparents, Ari?”
“Daddy, can I?” Arielle asked me.
“Absolutely,” I said, setting her back on her feet. “Just make sure you listen to Daphne and don’t touch anything she asks you not to touch. There’s a lot of really expensive equipment on there. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Daphne took Arielle’s hand and led her outside, and I went to sit on the ottoman in front of the couch.
“Okay, whatever your issue with my girlfriend is, it stops now,” I said firmly. “Daphne’s here because she’s in trouble and needs help. She’s already stressed enough; she doesn’t need this from you too.”
“I’m just not sure why she asked you of all people for help,” my mom said. “She’s a world-famous celebrity and could have gone anywhere in the world. Why come to Montauk to slum it with you and Ari for a month?”
“First of all, she didn’t ask. I offered. And she wanted to come here and spend some time with Ari. Because she realizes that Ari and I are a package deal and she wants Ari to warm up to her a little.”
“How do you see this working out in the long run, Ezra? Really? Do you see her dropping everything and moving here and living happily ever after with you? Life isn’t a fairy tale,” she sighed.
“You’re right,” I told her. “It’s not. And I don’t know how it’s going to work out in the long run yet. We haven’t talked about it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to work out at all. I get why you’re concerned, but don’t write Daphne off so quickly. She might be a professional musician, but there’s a lot more to her than that. She’s one of the kindest, most genuine people I’ve ever met. Just give her a chance, Mom. Get to know her a little. I know you’ll love her as much as I do.”
Falling Angel Page 22
