Guarding Hearts (Living Again #3)

by L. L. Collins

  “I’m going to take my hand off your mouth, but you have to be really quiet. Do you understand?” Sam nodded her head, knowing she was going to scream the second he released her. Ellis was just down the hallway. “Oh, and before you think that you’ll scream and try to get your boyfriend’s attention, I’d think again. See, I would much rather show you pleasure than pain, but I do have some insurance.” He reached behind him and pulled a sharp blade out of his pocket, holding it against her side. She whimpered. Could she scream in time, or would he stab her first?

  “Here we go,” he said, loosening his grip on her mouth. “You scream and I’ll gut you right in front of your boy toy there. I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time before he realizes that you aren’t back yet. But, very soon he’s going to have problems of his own to deal with.”

  Sam closed her eyes, the room spinning. What was he going to do to Ellis? She was so thankful that her parents had already left, or she would have had to worry about them walking in and getting hurt, too.

  He released his hand and turned her, and she got her first full look at him. He was somewhere in his mid to late twenties, decent looking with dark hair and dark eyes. It was his eyes that made her terrified. They were empty and menacing, like he really couldn’t care less whether he was with her forever or killed her right here.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  He laughed. “We’re destined to be together, Sam, and you’ve been cheating on me, whoring yourself out with that scumbag out there. I saw the video.”

  “Video?”

  “The video that’s gone viral, of you two humping each other back here earlier tonight. Boy Toy wanted to make sure you got off before performing, huh? That would’ve been even hotter if it would’ve been me making you come, then pounding the hell out of you against the wall before letting you go. I would’ve finished the job that he couldn’t.”

  Tears coursed down her cheeks. There was a video of her in here with Ellis before the show? She looked up at the ceiling, wondering how in the hell that had happened. “Wondering how that happened, huh, sweetheart? Technology is wonderful these days. Amazing what you can plant a camera into.” He tapped the mirror of her dressing table, then grinned. “It was perfect for watching you get off. Damn, that made me horny. But I know you’ll take care of me later, and I’ll be sure to do better than he did. First, we have to get out of here.”

  He handed her the cell phone that had been in her purse. “Call him. Tell him that you want him to go home, that you’re done with him.”

  She shook her head. “N-no. I can’t do that.”

  He showed her the blade. “You what?”

  She backed away, holding up her hands. “B-but what about Sean?”

  “You take care of Ellis,” he demanded. “I’ll take care of the other one.”

  “Don’t hurt either of them,” she pleaded. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

  He licked his lips. “You got that right, you sure will, and many times over. Call him.”

  She took the phone from him with a shaky hand and dialed Ellis’ number.

  “Sam! I was just about to come get you. What are you doing in there?”

  “I-Ellis…” Her voice broke, and the man stepped toward her, the blade out.

  His voice changed. “Sam? What’s going on? Are you okay? I’m coming in there.” She should’ve known that he would hear it in her voice. She heard him calling for Sean and she closed her eyes. He would be here any second…

  The door burst open before the man could even realize that she wasn’t saying what he wanted her to say. Ellis, wielding a gun, rushed into the room, followed by Sean and three more security guys, all with guns drawn. The second she saw them, she ran towards Ellis, narrowly missing the blade as the man swiped it at her.

  Once she was next to him, Ellis charged. “Put down the knife you piece of shit, or I’ll shoot you like the animal you are. How the fuck did you get in here? You’re done, asshole.”

  “I’m not the only one done,” the man cackled. He looked at an imaginary watch. “Should be just about now.”

  Sean moved around next to Ellis, as did the other guys. One was radioing into his headset for police. She knew they were stationed outside anyway, so it would only be a few moments.

  Ellis signaled to Sean, who stepped forward and kicked the blade out of the man’s hand. Ellis tackled him, successfully pinning his hands behind his back just as three police officers burst into the room, guns drawn.

  “I’ve got him,” Ellis announced. The officers moved in, cuffing him and reading him his rights.

  Ellis turned to her, pulling her into his arms. “Sammi,” he breathed. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I should’ve never let you come back here yourself. Are you okay?”

  “H-he was saying all these things, Ellis. If you wouldn’t have come in here…”

  “I knew right away when you called me that you weren’t okay,” Ellis said, rubbing her back gently. “I had wanted to come in before to check on you, but Sean said to give you a minute, maybe you needed time to decompress.”

  “I’m sorry, Sam,” Sean came up. “If anything would’ve happened to you…”

  Sam hugged Sean quickly, then turned and allowed Ellis to envelop her. “Thank you, both of you.”

  “We’re going to need you to come to the station and give your statement,” Officer Burke said as the other two officers escorted him out.

  “Yes,” Ellis agreed. “Can we give her a few minutes?”

  He nodded his agreement, handing Ellis a card with the station address on it. “We’ll get him processed and be waiting for you.”

  “I’ll call her parents,” Sean said, heading for the door as well. “I’ll wait for you in the hallway. I’ll also figure out how we’re going to get out of here now without being followed. They are vultures out there tonight.”

  Closing the door, Ellis wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her shaking body. “Baby,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t here. I left you alone.”

  She gripped his shirt, tears wracking her body. She couldn’t even talk, and she was shaking so bad her teeth were chattering. Ellis walked her to the couch and pulled her onto his lap, holding her while she sobbed. He was whispering, but she didn’t know what he was saying.

  She had no idea how much time passed before it felt like she was all cried out. Looking up at Ellis, she knew she must look horrible. All of the makeup she had to wear for the stage was probably dripping down her face. “Ellis?”

  He smoothed her hair back and she wanted to close her eyes at the sensation, but she was too terrified. “Sammi.”

  “H-he said something about a video, of us.”

  Ellis stiffened. “What?”

  “He said he had a camera in my mirror over there and recorded everything that happened with us earlier. He knew—details—that he wouldn’t have known if he wasn’t either here or watching it.”

  His eyes widened, and she saw the panic take over. “T-that’s not all.” She sat back so she could look at him in the eyes. “He said that it ‘went viral’.”

  Ellis stood up and started pacing the room. “Viral? What the hell? How in the world? What do we…”

  “I don’t know if that’s true, or he was just a sick idiot rambling on and on, but there was a video, or he wouldn’t have known details.”

  Just then, Ellis’ phone started ringing. “It’s your dad.” Looking at her for a moment, he put the phone up to his ear. “Warner.”

  Sam could hear her dad’s angry voice from there. “Where is my daughter and what the hell is going on?”

  “She’s okay,” Ellis answered, watching Sam. His mind was reeling from what she had just said. A video? Went viral? That word, to him, meant it was sent everywhere, was all over the place. He felt sick. “We’re leaving to go to the police station soon.”

  “You aren’t leaving to do a goddamn thing,” Samuel’s voice was angry. “Have you seen the news?”

/>   His stomach dropped to his feet. Sam watched him, her eyes puffy and her face streaked with makeup. She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever known. “Well no, sir, it was rather crazy around here. What’s going on?”

  “I trusted you,” he seethed. “You took advantage of my daughter and now her character is being defamed all over television! There’s a video, Ellis!”

  The breath left his lungs with a whoosh, and he felt lightheaded. “A-a video?”

  Sam shot up off the couch. “Put him on speaker.” He hit the button for speaker. “Dad, what video is out there?”

  “Samantha,” her dad’s curt voice boomed through the small room. “The video of you and Ellis in your dressing room before tonight’s show. It’s everywhere.”

  Sam’s eyes met his. “Dad, I can explain.”

  “There’s nothing to explain, Samantha. The whole world is watching your private moments in this video. Thank God it wasn’t worse than it was, and you weren’t…”

  “Stop!” Sam shrieked. “Do you even care that I almost died tonight? That I had a crazy stalker in my dressing room? Hello? I’m your only child and you call screaming at Ellis about the video? Do you even know how that video got there? Do you even care?”

  Ellis watched, entranced, as she stood up for herself with her dad. He knew she was crushed over the video, and that she had been through hell tonight. But she didn’t deserve the way he was speaking to her.

  Samuel paused. “Samantha, of course we’re relieved that you’re okay. I’m glad that Ellis, Sean, and the team were there to make sure this idiot gets put away for a long time. We can all rest a little easier tonight knowing that you no longer have to worry about him. But now we have a PR nightmare on our hands.”

  Sam started pacing the room. “This freak videotaped us, Dad. There was a hidden camera in my dressing room. My privacy has been violated, and you’re worried about PR? What about Ellis, and his career? This isn’t just bad for me, Dad.”

  She was the strongest woman he had ever known. Here she was, after being threatened, touched, and harassed by that maniac, her privacy shattered, and she was standing up for him.

  “I’m going to get the label on this, see if they can shut down these news stations from running it. Maybe the police department could help as well, since this video is part of an ongoing investigation into this guy. Do you even know what his name is?”

  Sam looked at Ellis, and he shook his head no. “No, but we are supposed to go to the police station so I can give my statement, so I’m sure we’ll find out then. Sean said it’s a paparazzi nightmare outside, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen when we leave.”

  “If any of them say anything about the video, do not engage them. Ellis, get her safely to the police station. We’ll meet you there as soon as I try to get this video taken off.”

  “It’s too late,” Sam said. “Once it’s on the internet, no matter how many news stations you get to stop running it, it’ll be there. If someone wants to find it, they will. Let’s just focus on what we can control.”

  “Sir, Sam has had a hell of a night. I’m going to get her to the police station so that she can try to get some rest after that. What time are we heading out in the morning?”

  “I’m not sure we are heading out,” Samuel responded, his voice cold. “I think it’s about time you head back to your job in Florida. Sean can stay on until Brian comes back. We’ll be at home anyway, and now that the sick freak is captured, we can rest easier.”

  Sam’s eyes flew to his, and she gasped. “Dad! This isn’t his fault!”

  “Samantha, you and I will discuss this later.”

  “No, Dad! I want Ellis to stay. If he wants to stay, that is. You aren’t making this decision.”

  “Samantha, you aren’t thinking clearly. I’m still your manager, you know. I can make whatever changes to your staff I see fit. In this case, I feel that Ellis has done a fabulous job, but it’s time for him to head home.”

  “You’re my manager, Dad, but if it wasn’t for me, there would be nothing to manage. I think that gives me the right to have a say so on who is hired and fired around here. You treat me like I’m a five year old child. I’m an adult, and last time I checked, the super mega country star Samantha Kerrigan.”

  Ellis had to check to see if his mouth had dropped open. “Sam,” he started, but she turned her steely gaze on him, silencing him.

  “Ellis, get her to the police station and I’ll meet you there.” With that, the line went dead.

  Sam screamed in frustration. “He doesn’t even listen to me, Ellis! He acts like I’m a toddler!”

  Ellis stepped forward, grasping her hands in his. “Sammi,” he said softly. She stopped, looking up at him. “Maybe he’s right.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “No.”

  “The guy’s caught, baby. I probably should get back to my real life.”

  Tears dripped down her cheeks. He was breaking her heart, and he knew it. “So you’re going to leave, just like that? Just because my dad said you should? Is that all I am to you, a job that you’re finished with? Really, Ellis? After all this, you’re going to be a coward after all?”

  Her words were like a punch to his gut. Everything she said was true, that was exactly how he was treating this. “I know we never talked about how long I would stay,” he started, “but even if I wanted to stay forever, I can’t.”

  “Why can’t you? I’m not worth it?”

  He felt like the wind was knocked out of him. How could he tell her that she was worth everything, but that if he stayed, the rest of it would all come out? He couldn’t risk it. Not even for the best thing that had ever happened to him.

  “Let’s get to the police station,” he said, avoiding her question. “Then we can talk.”

  “You know, I was a fool. I thought that the past few weeks had meant something to you, Ellis, that you actually opened yourself up to me. I guess I was a fool to believe that I meant more to you than just an easy lay. That’s what I was, right? You played the game, got me, now you’re leaving when the going gets tough. Tell me, is this what you’ve done your whole life? You’re too damn afraid to own up to your feelings, so you just run away?”

  Ellis bit his lip, hard. She had hit the nail on the proverbial head on all counts. She knew exactly what he was doing.

  “I guess I was wrong about you,” she said softly, her voice shaking.

  He wanted to tell her she wasn’t wrong, that he cared more about her than anything he had ever had in his entire life, but he wouldn’t allow his mouth to open and the words to come out. Instead, he led her silently out of the dressing room and to the side door, where Sean and the rest of the team were waiting.

  “Paparazzi are everywhere,” he warned. “So when I open the door, I’ll lead you directly to the waiting car. Don’t look at anyone, and don’t respond to any comments. Ready?”

  Sam shook her head, and Ellis felt her shudder as she sucked in a deep breath. It was for the best. Or so he kept telling himself.

  The door opened and it seemed like a million stadium lights were in their faces. Bulbs flashed repeatedly from all directions. Sean led them through the yelling crowd. “Sam, is it true that you’re pregnant with your bodyguard’s baby?”, “How do you feel about a sex tape being public?”, “Who is he, Sam?”, “Was there really a stalker, Sam?” plus countless other tasteless questions were peppered at her from all directions. Ellis gritted his teeth to keep from reaching out and punching someone. If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t be in this right now. If it wasn’t for you, she might also have been kidnapped and killed, a voice reminded him. He immediately shot it down, knowing that he was now going to do what he should’ve done all along, and that was to let her go.

  He sat next to Sam in the hard plastic chair, listening to her recount the harrowing events of Tanner Bauer’s attack in her dressing room. She stared straight ahead, her hands clasped in her lap, her voice strong as she answered everything they asked. T
hey were recording her statement, and she hadn’t cracked once. She also hadn’t looked at him in two hours and thirteen minutes. He knew because he had felt every single second of them. He knew he should be okay with her being angry with him, but instead, it stung. He didn’t blame her. He had acted like a grade-A asshole.

  The ride to the police station had been silent, Sam looking out the window the entire time, her body curled into the door so she was as far away from him as physically possible. Once they had gotten there, she had done all of the talking, even when her parents arrived and Samuel tried to take over. Now they were sitting in the waiting room while he was next to her in the interrogation room. Not that it mattered. She hadn’t even acknowledged his presence.

  The man had been identified with a rap sheet a mile long and warrants out for his arrest in many states. He had been a transient for so long that the authorities had no leads on where to find him. His case would be rather open and shut. He had admitted to all of the previous creepy flowers, jewelry, and notes. He refused to admit that he had anything to do with the hotel room in Florida, or the erasing of tapes.

  He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, and he excused himself to see who it was. Stepping out into the hallway, he saw that it was Devin.

  “Hey,” he answered.

  “Ellis,” Devin said back. “Dude, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?”

  Ellis sighed. So Devin had seen the video. “Man, it’s a long ass story.”

  “You better call Andrew. I’m not really sure he’s going to be happy about this.”

  “The video? I know, Dev. I’ll take care of him after I get home tomorrow.”

  “Video? What video? I’m talking about the story on all major news channels right now flashing your juvie picture and talking about how you misrepresented yourself to Samantha Kerrigan and how a juvenile delinquent could become a police officer.”