by Zoey Parker
She shook her head. “It’s not a lot, but when I pulled off his baseball hat the last time, he had bright, ginger red hair.”
My heart sank a little at that. Yes, a physical descriptor like that was incredibly useful. And with him being a redhead it would definitely help us narrow it down. But I supposed I’d been hoping for some kind of a silver bullet, like his name tattooed across his forehead.
I admonished myself for being so ridiculous and put on a large smile. Reaching across the counter, I took her hand in mine. “That’s really good, Abby. That’s very helpful.”
She smiled weakly at me in return. “Do you think you’ll find him?”
I saw the fear in her eyes, the worry. I saw how broken up she’d been when her friend had been attacked. I saw how much this was all affecting her and I vowed that no matter what else happened, I would find this son of a bitch and make sure that he never hurt her again.
I nodded my head. “We will. I promise you, we will.” I squeezed her hand tightly, then let it go. “I need to call your uncle and give him the information. He needs to know who they’re looking for.”
She gave me a weak okay, but put on a brave smile. I told her to wait in the kitchen and finish her coffee while I stepped into the other room to call Caleb who picked up with a gruff, “What the hell were you thinking letting her go to that damn awards show?”
I winced a little at that. The awards show had actually gone smoothly, but it had been a stressful night for me. Abby on stage, in a huge crowd with people I didn’t know or trust, a bunch of crazy fans on the sidelines, all of them reaching out to touch her. No, it had not been my favorite sort of venue. But there had been security and cameras everywhere, not to mention that so many people were watching her it would have been incredibly hard to get out of there with her.
But that hadn’t made me feel better when Abby used it as her argument. I hadn’t cared, because in the end if that guy decided she was better off dead than his, it would only take a single bullet and a good shot to get to her.
The thought left my blood running cold and the urge to protect her stronger than ever.
I cleared my throat. “She was going no matter what I did. Was I supposed to tie her down or something?”
Actually, I wasn’t wholly opposed to tying her down. I didn’t necessarily like getting really kinky—I didn’t need a dominatrix with a studded collar, a whip, and a love of electricity—but I enjoyed getting a little creative in the bedroom. And as my mind flashed to an image of her naked on her bed, spread eagle, her pussy quivering with lust and dripping with need, her hands and legs both tied to the four posts—well, it was hard to argue with an image like that.
Shaking my head, I forced the image out, reminding myself that I was on the phone with my boss and her uncle and that if he knew anything was going on between us, I was a dead man.
Caleb grunted. “I know, I know. She’s strong willed. It’s a good thing, usually, but right now it’s dangerous. You need to keep her in line, Kade.”
I nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll do my best.”
“Right. Now, what were you calling about? What did you find?”
“Abby said she remembered something about the guy.” I didn’t dwell on the attack or how she’d discovered this tidbit of information, because it made me angry and was sure it would do the same to Caleb. “She said that his hair was a ginger red, really bright and noticeable.”
“That’s good. Did she remember anything else?”
I glanced to the kitchen toward her, noting that her shirt had ridden up since she had her elbows on the counter and I could see the very bottom of her rear hanging out over the edge of the stool. It was the perfect shape and I couldn’t help but stare.
Looking away, I said, “No, nothing else, sir.”
“Alright, good. I’ll remind Brody when he checks out the hotel you found, the one on the stationary.”
I winced. “You’re sending Brody?”
Caleb made an unhappy sound that sounded exasperated. “He’s the cleanest of them, you know? Got that angel-looking face. People want to open up to him. Besides, I trust him better than the others.”
I snorted. “Sure, to be loyal, but not to be bright.”
“Look, it’s either him or you. I’ll leave it to your discretion, but you’re the one who has to tell Abby.”
I agreed, understanding his unwillingness to do so. Abby wouldn’t be happy with me leaving her again, and I definitely wasn’t going to bring her with me. Still, as much as I liked Brody, he was a knucklehead and I didn’t think he was subtle enough to get that information. Ultimately, I decided that as much as I wanted to stay and protect Abby, the best way to do that was to catch the guy. And doing that meant leaving her in Brody’s somewhat capable hands for a couple of hours while I checked out the lead.
Abby wasn’t thrilled—in fact she was scared and worried—but I kissed her like fire and told her I would come back, I would protect her, she would be safe. In the end, she left me go only because I swore it wouldn’t be more than a couple of hours.
I kept my promise. The hotel wasn’t too busy at that time of day, so I lucked out and was able to question the staff. They refused to give me a name because I wasn’t the police and didn’t have a badge, much less a warrant, but they confirmed that a few redheaded guys had stayed there in the last month. And when the manager of the hotel bustled off to take care of something, I was able to ask some of the guests, too. Most said they didn’t know anything or hadn’t seen anything, but before I left, a young woman—blonde, pretty, and a little similar to the way Abby looked—said that she’d had a redheaded man hit on her at the hotel bar.
“He was nice enough, I guess,” she told me, fidgeting slightly. “But there was just something about him. I felt awkward and uncomfortable the whole time. You know how some people just make you feel like that?”
I nodded, sensing that this had to be the same man. This woman looked very similar to Abby and it was possible that he was trying to use her as some temporary fill-in for Abby until he could actually get to her. If that was the case, I had to tell the woman it might be best to avoid redheads for a time, but it was good for me. It meant I was getting closer.
“Did you happen to get a name?”
She shrugged, thinking hard about it. “It was James something. His last name was like a city name or something.”
“Angeles? Niguel? Pasadena?”
But she shook her head, frowning a little. “No, no, nothing like that. Like—oh, I remember! Texas! His name was James Austin.”
I thanked her and gave her a gentle warning that there was someone unsavory around who liked pretty blondes like herself. She seemed flattered by the compliment and slipped me her number. She told me that a decent, sexy man like me was more than welcome to chat her ear off.
Though I wasn’t going to use the number, I shoved it in my pocket so she wouldn’t think I was being a complete ass and waved as she left. Then I pulled out my cell phone.
“Caleb, it’s Kade. I got a name: James Austin.”
Chapter Fifteen
Abby
Kade told me he had some luck at the hotel, which surprised me. It was only a name, but a name went a long way when just a day earlier, we didn’t have anything at all. I was relieved that Kade was back, regardless of what he got, though.
“I’d like to go to the hospital today,” I told him, finishing up touches on my makeup, preparing to go out. He stood in my doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his hard chest. He looked wonderful, delicious, and I had the urge to just stay in and play games with each other’s bodies, but reminded myself that my dearest friend was in the hospital. “To see April.”
He frowned, clearly not liking the plan. And for once, I acknowledged why. He was trying so hard to protect me and I knew that I didn’t make it easy on him. But this was my life and these were the things I had to do. I wouldn’t let this stalker—this James Austin—ruin my life, control my whole world. And that m
eant doing what I was sure seemed like trivial activities to Kade. That was my explanation for the awards shows and the auditions, but this was different.
Seeing April was important to me, because she was important to me. Honestly and truly.
Maybe he saw that on my face because he finally sighed and gave in. “Alright, we’ll go to the hospital. But you don’t get a ladies’ room break this time, so I suggest you go here. You stay with me no matter what.”
I bit my lip. “Can you at least wait outside when I talk to April? There are glass windows so you can see in,” I hurriedly added when I saw the no forming on his lips.
He made a frustrated sound a rolled his eyes, but ultimately said, “Fine.” Even if he did sound grumpy as he said it.
We went to the hospital shortly after that conversation. He drove and the entire way he made sure that I understood I was not to leave his line of sight. And that meant if there were no windows that looked in on April, he was coming in with me. I tried arguing this point, but it was impossible. He wouldn’t budge. I was beginning to think the man was just as stubborn as I was—maybe even more so.
Still, as we parked beneath the building, I couldn’t help but notice I wasn’t all that annoyed. No, I didn’t appreciate being treated like a child or a porcelain doll. And yes, it annoyed me to no end knowing that I wasn’t going to get an ounce of privacy if Kade didn’t allow it.
But there was also the sense that I was truly and honestly being protected. That with Kade, I would be safe, no matter what was thrown our way.
And that’s hard to be truly angry about.
April’s room was on the third floor. We took the elevator and got lost twice before I managed to ask a doctor where her room was. He was helpful, moderately attractive, and did absolutely nothing for me. It was amazing how easily I looked away from attractive men these days, but I supposed having one who was even more attractive protecting you like Kade helped with that.
I was pleased to see that April’s room did in fact have windows. I looked over at Kade triumphantly, who looked moderately annoyed, but waved me on anyway. “Fine,” he told me. “Go. I’ll be here.”
Pushing open the door tentatively, trying to be quiet in case she was sleeping, I poked my head inside the room. “April?” I half whispered.
She looked over at me and her face broke into a smile—which looked painful. “Abby! Come in! I didn’t think you’d come today.”
I waved off her words. “Are you crazy? Of course I was going to come today! And if it weren’t for my crazy bodyguard—”
“Crazy sexy,” April amended with a wink, but I ignored her.
“—I would have been here a while ago.” I went over to her bed and sat down on the side of it, taking one of her hands in mine. “How are you feeling?”
She looked awful. The bruises and cuts looked worse, not better, in the bright florescent lighting of the room. She looked pale and a little ghastly with the yellow and purpling spots smattered across her face. The swelling looked like it had puffed up as much as it was going to, meaning that only one eye was stuck shut and her right cheek looked three times its normal size.
Still, she straightened herself up and stubbornly said, “I’m fine. Really.”
I didn’t believe her for a second, but didn’t call her on it. At least she was in the hospital, getting treatment. And she was safe. James the Stalker wouldn’t come for her here. Not with the cameras and all the staff. No, I had to believe she was safe here.
“Well, good,” I said finally.
After that, we chatted a bit about the hospital. How was the food? Was there anything on TV? Should I bring in some extra pillows that weren’t just awful? But as our conversation dwindled, I couldn’t help but bring it to something that had been nagging at me.
“April, I…I don’t want to ask, but I feel like I should,” I told her, feeling bad for having to remind her of the other night.
“What is it?”
“Have you spoken to the police?”
Quickly, April looked away, and I knew that she hadn’t. “They stopped by,” she told me seriously.
My lips pulled down into a frown. She didn’t seem happy with this line of questioning, but I thought it was important that everyone was on the same page. If April had gone to the police about this whole incident, then I wanted to cooperate. I wanted to help. Even if that put Uncle Caleb in a tricky spot, I had to do the right thing by April. She didn’t deserve any of this.
“And? What did you tell them?”
She worried at her lip. I almost yelled at her to stop that, it looked so painful given her current state, but then she released in and looked over at me. “I told them that I…that I didn’t see anything useful. That it was just a burglar trying to take my TV.”
I frowned. “Did you see anything?”
She shrugged her shoulders, looking upset and a little guilty. “I don’t know. Yes, I guess. I mean, I don’t think any of it was useful anyway, you know? Just some guy in a ski-mask with blue eyes and super pale skin surrounding them. Eyelashes so light that…” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Like I said, nothing useful.”
“But why didn’t you tell them that? They might have been able to—”
April sat up suddenly and gripped my hand so hard that I felt the bones press together. “Because he threatened to kill me!” she said suddenly, desperately amidst a choking sob.
“Oh god, April.”
She shook her head and said, “He said that if I told the police anything, if I told anyone anything, he’d come back and he’d finish the job. He’d…” She let out another sob, and I shifted my position on her bed so that we were side by side. I slung my arm gently around her shoulders and let her cry, shushing her and telling her that it would all be okay, everything would be fine.
And I told myself that it would be, just because Kade was going to find this asshole and then we wouldn’t have to worry about him ever again.
But as the thought ran through my head, another was hot on its tail. Kade would do whatever he could to protect me. No matter what. Of that I had become undoubtedly sure. I believed in him like I had never believed in anyone, not even Uncle Caleb. It had to do with the way he looked at me, like he didn’t feel like he should be looking at me but just couldn’t help it in the end.
It was a heady feeling to know that I was that important to him—and I believed it was me, not just a job commanded to him by his boss. It made my insides squirm and twist in pleasant ways and it made me want to throw myself into his arms and stay there forever. Which, of course, was an embarrassing thought and more importantly an impossible reality.
Still, the feelings he brought out in me were strong and very unexpected. But I liked them. I hoped to hold on to them for as long as I could. I hoped that he felt the same.
All of this was good. Except for the realization that the person who was lying in the bed beside me, sobbing uncontrollably, looking like she had been used as a punching bag, was someone I loved very dearly. Someone who meant the world to me. Someone who had been there for me through thick and thin and had been a bright spot in my often stressful life.
And she’d paid for it. Dearly.
I hadn’t asked for that result, and if I could take it back, I would. But that wasn’t an option. And I couldn’t make my crazed stalker forget about April now that he knew how important she was to me, so I immediately disregarded any crazy notions about abandoning her. Fighting with her. Telling her she had never been important to me.
That wouldn’t help in the long run regardless.
But that connection to me had definitely put her in harm’s way. Which meant that the other people I loved were in danger, too. Caleb, for instance. It was no secret that he was important to me. He meant the world to me and I talked about him nearly every time I won an award, telling the world that he was the reason I’d gotten as far as I had.
I need to warn him, I thought as I stroked April’s hair.
Maybe it was a
silly thought. After all, Caleb was leader of a motorcycle gang and dealt with some pretty dangerous people on a regular basis. And he was digging into this man’s past. Of course he was in danger—and likely already knew it. But I decided I would warn him anyway. I wanted him to know that people I cared about were being targeted, that he was in more danger than all the rest.
But if I were being honest with myself, the person I was most worried about now was the man standing outside the door right now, keeping guard over me.
Maybe this James Austin didn’t know yet how deep my feelings had begun to grow for Spear. Maybe he didn’t know that I had let him into my bed last night and again this morning. Maybe he didn’t know, but he knew so many other things that it was hard not to think of him as omnipotent. As though he could see anything and everything all the time.
