Home Front, page 6
“My boss told me the client instructed that I was to discuss the details with a Daniel Diaz and not bother the ‘talent’. Those were my orders.”
His use of air quotes around the word talent, as well as the complete lack of an apology from this Kyle Jones, would have really pissed her off.
But the bigger issue was that she believed what he said. It sounded like Daniel was up to his usual tricks. Cutting her out of major decisions that affected her life.
She turned to glare at Dan.
“What?” Dan asked in a tone that implied he believed he was right and she was wrong. As usual. “You don’t need to be involved in this conversation.”
Her eyes widened. “It’s my life. It’s my stalker. I was the one in the shower with him… or her.”
Kyle turned to focus on her. “You think it might be a woman?”
“No. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.” She shook her head. How had he confused her so easily, with one simple question? “The point is, I need to be in on these conversations that involve my life and my safety.”
“Fine. Handle it yourself then. I have plenty of other things I need to do.” With a glare, Dan stormed out of the room, leaving her alone with the stranger.
Great. This man she’d never met before was supposed to protect her from her stalker. But who would save her from her protector?
She didn’t know him. She didn’t like him.
Seriously, what guarantee did she have he wasn’t some deranged killer? None.
“Do you have any credentials?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest where she stood facing off with him.
“Credentials?” he parroted.
“Yes. ID. A badge. Something?”
His lips twitched. “No. No badge. But I’ve got this.” He took his time taking out his wallet and pulling out something. He held it out.
Since he was standing a good two yards from her, she was the one who had to go to him.
As she took what he held, he said, “For the record, I agree I should be dealing directly with you on this. I wanted to speak with you. But when I was told to only speak with your manager, I figured that order had come from you.”
This was her life. Had been her life since she’d been a child.
It didn’t matter she was an adult. She was still completely without autonomy. She’d gone from the television network dictating her every move then, to Dan and the label doing it now.
She barely absorbed the details of the credentials he’d handed her. All she knew was that it was a very official looking identification card and had his name and photo on it.
Besides, how easy was it to fake ID? Probably not all that hard.
Frustrated, she thrust it back at him with a huff.
“Tell me more details about this stalker in the bathroom. What did you see?” he asked.
“Nothing. I was behind the shower curtain.”
“Did you hear anything?”
“No. I had music playing.”
That brow rose again and made her want to hit him in the face with a pillow.
“Then how do you know there was anyone in there at all?” he asked.
“Because there was a message written in the steam on the mirror. That’s how,” she challenged his doubt with confidence.
“You do know that messages written in steam on mirrors stay there until the mirror is cleaned. They’ll disappear when the steam clears and reappear when the steam is back. How do you know it wasn’t written before you even checked into the room?”
She shook her head. “That message was not on the mirror when I went into the shower.”
“You know that for a fact?” he asked.
“Yes, because I let the hot water run until the mirror was all steamed up before I stepped into the shower. And yes, I’m one of those people. I let the water run until it’s steaming hot. I’m a water waster. Go ahead, judge me.” She glared at him, waiting.
He didn’t say anything. In fact, his lips actually twitched. Like he was fighting a smile. Laughing at her on the inside, which of course made her even more angry.
“I don’t particularly like that you’re acting as if this is nothing. Like I’m making a big deal for no reason or making this up. Why would I do that?” she asked.
He shrugged. “To get attention?”
Her eyes flew wide. “Is that what you think about me?”
“Honestly, I don’t,” he said.
She let out a huff. “You don’t what?”
“Think about you.” Kyle lifted a shoulder, making his statement even more enraging.
“Isn’t that exactly what I’m paying you for? To think about me and only me?” she demanded.
She needed to find out exactly how much she was paying for this man to be here to annoy her. It was definitely too much, whatever it was. Dan always did like to spend her money.
But more than the cost, she was starting to doubt this man would—or even could—protect her if it came right down to it.
“Actually,” he began. “You’re paying Guardian Angel Protection Services and they hired me to think about your stalker and how to stop them. So let’s get back to that, can we? I’d like to hear more about this bathroom incident. Was it here in this hotel?”
He glanced around them, first at the windows, then at the other doors in the suite.
As frustrating as he was, she answered, “No. It was before we came to New York.”
“Where were you when it happened?” he asked.
“Albany.”
He leveled a less-than-patient stare on her. “Albany is in New York.”
She rolled her eyes at his cocky comment. “Not New York, New York. I meant it was at a hotel upstate. Not in the city.”
“Got it. You’re one of those.” His slow nod and self-satisfied expression had her already elevated level of frustration creeping higher.
“One of those, what?” she asked.
“Nothing.” His smirk didn’t support that it had been nothing.
She took a step closer until she was almost toe-to-toe with him. She would never be nose-to-nose with this guy, even in heels, since he was so tall compared to her.
“Tell me,” she demanded.
He tipped his head to look down at her, pinning her with his stare as his lips twitched with amusement.
Damn him for laughing at her. Worse than that, he’d never answered.
Ignoring her and her question, he pivoted and moved to the desk. There he grabbed a pen and pad of paper.
“Write down the name of the hotel in Albany. I want to call and question their head of security.”
“No.” She folded her arms again, refusing to take the pad and pen he held out to her.
“No?” His voice held a hint of surprise.
“Not until you tell me what you were insinuating before.”
She should have let the subject drop. Just like with ill-behaved children, cocky men were best ignored rather than encouraged with further attention.
He let out a sigh, dropping the hand holding the pen and pad of paper. “Fine. I’ll tell you. Manhattan. Paris. LA. Miami…”
So he’d done his research on her. She could tell that from the way he’d emphasized the city where she currently maintained a home. A rather nice, sizeable home, on the water with a dock and a boat. But he probably knew that as well.
He continued, “You’re one of those people who only pay attention to the glitzy and the glamourous places. The world to you is just dots on a map. And those dots are comprised of only big cosmopolitan cities where you can spend your money on overpriced things. While the rest of the globe is blank space in your eyes. Beneath your notice. Inconsequential. Just another small town, another state, another city you’re forced to fly over or spend a few hours in singing so you can make a couple hundred thousand bucks that night.”
She gasped at the insult. “None of that is true. You don’t know me.”
She’d just spent months of her life traveling to every little no-name place with a concert venue. There were so many she couldn’t even remember the names—
The thought screeched to a halt as she realized how that sounded in her own head.
Darn. She didn’t want this man to be right.
He raised the pad and pen again, this time poised to write her answer himself as he asked, “Hotel?”
“The Albany Hilton, but don’t bother writing it down because I’m calling your boss. There must be someone else they can send for this job.” She was done with him and his attitude.
Rather than begging for a second chance, like she thought he would, Kyle laughed. “You’d think there would be, wouldn’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
This man was always talking in riddles. Giving her half an answer and making her beg for the rest. So annoying.
She planted one hand on her hip and watched as he scribbled the name of the hotel on the pad.
He finally put down the pen and raised his gaze to meet hers. “It means that I’m pretty much it. But go for it. Call Rudnick. Send me packing. I’m happy to grab a hot dog from a cart on the street. Maybe take in a Broadway show since there are a bunch I haven’t seen yet. Then I’ll hop on a train and get the hell home. Which is not all that far from Albany, in case you were wondering. I grew up very close to Oneonta. That’s in New York, by the way”
That name rang a bell, niggling at the back of her brain.
Oneonta Orthopedics.
Her eyes widened at the realization. “That’s where I recognize you from. The doctor’s office.”
Kyle smiled, but the expression managed to look mean. “Ah. Finally, she remembers. Yup. They gave my appointment to you. No biggie. I had nothing better to do for that extra hour I waited to be seen by the doctor. Glad to see your emergency ankle injury is all better. I still have a way to go with mine. You know, a splintered fibula takes a bit more time to heal than a twisted ankle.”
She drew in a breath, the words I’m sorry on the tip of her tongue, where they remained unspoken.
If he hadn’t been such an ass, she would have sincerely apologized to him for the doctor bumping her ahead of his other patients. But the way things were now, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not that he would have accepted her apology anyway.
Nope. She could tell he’d already judged her. His mind was set. He didn’t want to know her. He didn’t want to like her. Not just her. She had a feeling this man enjoyed being mad at the world.
“So, boss,” he began.
She didn’t miss the emphasis he’d placed on the word boss.
“Can we discuss the game plan?” he continued. “Or are you going to call and have Rudnick try to scrape the bottom of the barrel for my replacement? Since I was the best he could do, even as broken as I am, I wouldn’t expect much.”
Damn him. And damn whoever had snuck into her bathroom and written that threat that made his unwelcome presence in her life necessary.
She didn’t believe his theory that the message had been written before she’d arrived. The reality was she did have someone, an obviously unbalanced someone, focused on her. Possibly intending her harm.
Kyle was supposedly qualified to stop that person.
With her surgery coming up so fast, she didn’t have the time or the energy to get someone new. She was going to have to let him do his job. For now. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t hate him while he did it.
“What kind of game plan are you talking about?” she asked.
He leaned one ass cheek on the desk and settled in, like he was staying awhile. Since she hadn’t called his boss, or kicked him out, she guessed he was right. She hated that.
“Logistics. Transportation. Getting you in and out of the hotel unseen. Your schedule while you’re here in the city. Do you have any performances? Appearances?”
“No.”
“Okay. Any plans to go out for dinner or to see a show? Or clubs? Shopping?”
She shook her head. “No. None.”
“None?” He cocked up his brow.
“Correct.”
“So you’re telling me you’re just going to sit here in the suite the whole time you’re in Manhattan?” His doubt was palpable.
“No. I never said that.”
“Then you are leaving the suite,” he said, the comment drenched with sarcasm.
“Yes.” Smart ass.
“Where are you going? And when?” The pad and pen was back in his hand again as he waited.
“New York Presbyterian Hospital. Tomorrow morning.”
When his gaze met and held hers there was a question in it.
Without him having to ask, she answered, “I’m having surgery.”
There was the slightest twitch of his eyebrows before he asked, “Ambulatory?”
“No. I’ll be in probably for two nights. When I’m released, we’ll relocate to a house I rented until the end of the month.”
“All right.” He didn’t ask more.
Maybe he didn’t care what her surgery was. Good. She didn’t want to talk about it anyway.
“We have to leave here by six-thirty in the morning. Be ready.” Now it was her turn to order him around and she liked it.
“Not a problem.” He nodded before reaching for his cell and typing something into his phone.
“Who are you texting?” she accused. Panicking she took a step forward. “You can’t tell anybody. I don’t want this to get out.”
As he glanced up at her, phone still in hand, she stalked to where he’d sat and snatched the cell away from him.
When she looked at the screen, expecting to see a text, she saw instead a satellite view of the hospital and the surrounding streets.
“What are you doing?” she asked, confused.
“Checking where we’re going.”
She shook her head. “That’s not necessary. We’re taking the hotel’s town car, which comes with a driver.” She thrust the cell back at him.
“It is necessary. I want to explore alternate approaches and access to the hospital. I don’t want to bring you in through the main entrance, even that early in the morning. You’re too recognizable. A back way is preferable. Access from a covered parking structure would be even better.”
“Oh.” Again, she couldn’t bring herself to apologize, which was really not like her. She was usually a nice and polite person. At least she had been until she’d met him. But she did say, “Good idea.”
Mister Sarcasm’s brow cocked up as he said, “Thanks.”
His lack of anger and mean-spirited amusement at her expense had her scowling as she stalked back to her place on the sofa just when the door opened and Daniel walked in, carrying a cup of coffee.
Once again he hadn’t bothered to text and ask if she’d wanted something while he was out.
Dan. Kyle. Were all employees so problematic? Or just hers?
“Did you get a text from my mom?” Dan asked as he stared at his cell and scrolled through with his thumb without looking up at her. “She texted me to say you didn’t reply.”
“I saw one come in, but I didn’t read it yet.”
The less she had to think about the surgery, the better. And since she’d told her aunt about it, that had been the only topic of conversation between them. She’d made the decision, but it didn’t mean she wanted to be immersed in all things mastectomy.
“Well can you reply, please?” Dan asked, sounding annoyed. “Because now she’s sending everything she sent to you to me. Links to all sorts of things for after your surgery. How the hell she knows all this stuff about breast surgery I have no idea. What the hell is a port pillow?” He cringed at the cell. “Eew. There’s a description. She says you’ll need one after the surgery.”
“So order it. Order whatever she suggests.” Luna shrugged.
“There’s like shirts and stuff. Don’t you want to pick which ones yourself?” Dan asked.
“Not really, no.” She wasn’t looking to be fashionable in her post-surgery clothes. She just wanted to heal and move on with her life.
“All righty then. I guess I’m shopping for your clothes now too, in addition to all my other duties,” Dan grumbled.
“As if you have anything else to do right now while we’re not touring.” She shot Dan a glare.
“Spoken like the person who has no idea all the things I handle so you don’t have to.” Dan lobbed that shot back at her before becoming immersed again in what was on the screen of his phone.
Now that the bickering was done, Luna glanced up in time to catch the raised brow of her new bodyguard. He managed to look both amused and judgmental at the same time. All while pretending to look at his own cell phone.
She glared at him. “Do you have something to say?”
“Me?” He widened his eyes but still didn’t look as surprised or as innocent as he’d probably been trying for. He shook his head. “Nope. Not a thing.”
“You might want to tell your face that, then. Because it seems to have plenty of opinions,” she sniped.
To her disappointment, he let out a laugh. “Noted.”
She’d never hated someone so much. Not even her stalker. She just mostly feared him or her.
Thinking of stalkers was no better than thinking about the surgery so she went back to staring at the blank page in her notebook.
While she had downtime, she’d vowed she’d make the most of it, no matter what. She had big plans to write new songs. A bunch of them. Enough for an album. Her next release was long overdue.
Unfortunately, it seemed her creativity had left the building.
Letting out a breath she put the notebook down and reached for her cell phone. Maybe a little mindless procrastination would give her some inspiration. She tapped on the TikTok app and the first video filled the room with blaring music. She scrambled to hit the volume button.
That little incident earned her a glance from both Dan and Kyle.
Great. Now there were two men in her life to be disapproving. And she was paying both of them way too much for the pleasure. Wonderful.
Her smartwatch vibrated on her wrist and she glanced down.
It was the alert reminding her not to eat or drink anything after midnight in preparation for tomorrow’s surgery. With that all thoughts of the men in the room fled. All that remained were nerves and her mind-numbing fear.
