4. Chapter Four
4
Evan
The stench of my dressing room surrounds me as I continue to stare at the dead fish with wide eyes. My stomach curls, threatening to make me spill everything I’ve eaten onto the floor, but I manage to keep it down with a deep breath.
This is ridiculous.
Why would someone want to target me?
Brent and Jace are silent behind me, no longer muttering curses to one another. I notice that Brent has Julia tucked protectively against his side. Knowing that he’s got that comfort I’m suddenly craving makes me jealous.
I snap my attention to Mia, who’s talking animatedly with the security team and shaking her head with anger radiating off her. She clenches her fist at her sides, arms twitching with movement, and I raise a brow.
This woman looks like she’s more than ready to throw a punch, and somehow, even with everything going on in the room, my cock still jumps behind the zipper of my jeans.
It would be in my best interest for me to get out of here.
I shake my head and blow out a rough breath, the long night finally catching up to me. Instead of saying anything or bothering to answer any questions, I run a hand through my hair and hightail out of the dressing room.
I’m sure they can handle this without me, I don’t know how much longer I could stand in there and act like nothing’s wrong anyway.
***
Finally, after over an hour, I’m the first one onto the bus, with the rest of them following closely behind me. My shoulders slump forward once we get into safety, and Carmen turns to give me a sad smile, her hand gently falling onto my arm.
“Are you okay, Evan?”
“It’s no big deal, Carmen,” I mumble, even though that’s the last thing I want to say.
I’m the more level-headed one out of the band, so what I don’t need to be doing is freaking out. Everything will be alright and I’m going to keep telling myself that until I believe it.
In reality, I’m terrified.
Who would’ve been able to get past everyone, including Mia, and make it into my dressing room?
The thought of that happening makes me shiver.
When I look over at Brent, he’s eyeing me curiously with a frown on his face. If there’s anyone that can see through my bullshit, it would be him, and that has me fidgeting in place.
Mia clears her throat behind me. “I’d like to speak with Evan if that’s okay.”
Watching her in action tonight, even if it was only to search the dressing for any signs of my intruder, was fascinating to say the least. There was such a sheer level of determination on her face that nothing else was able to tip her focus, not even when me and the rest of the guys muttered curses at the sight.
The anger that she exuded while talking to the security detail made her blue eyes shine even brighter and I couldn’t take my gaze off of her.
Everyone nods their head, although Carmen looks as though she wants to stay in the room with us to be on the same page. She pauses, only for Mia to narrow her eyes and that’s enough to have Carmen scurrying back to the room that’s labeled as hers for the trip.
Once we’re alone, Mia nudges me toward the leather couch and I sink into the cushion with a heavy sigh. “Where did you learn how to do all of this?”
Mia arches a brow at me, her blue eyes somehow brighter than before, and I’m lost in the depth of them far longer than I should be.
She clears her throat, pulling my attention, and says, “I was in the army for four years, went overseas a couple times, then started doing private security once I got out and have done that for the last five years.”
“That explains your reaction.”
Mia cocks her head to the side, confused, and I chuckle. “You acted like everything was normal in that room.”
She shrugs. “I’ve been through, and have seen, much worse than that, Evan.”
My heart aches for the woman who fought for her life overseas, but I tamp the emotion down and try to focus on what she really wants to talk to me about. I want to know more about her, but maybe now isn’t the time.
I watch as she sets her phone on the coffee table in front of us, then places her hands carefully onto her lap while looking at me with a serious expression. Her phone pings, catching my attention, and I take note of the image that pops up.
It’s a white piece of paper, with scribbles of crayon all over it, but I can tell that it’s a drawing of two stick figures standing in front of a large house, with a dog laying on the ground between them. There’s also a bright sun in the sky, and a tree on the edge of the paper that looked like it had apples on it.
Or is it? I ask myself in response to my statement before the image caught my attention.
“You’ve got a kid?”
Her face pales and she snatches the device away, shoving it deep into her pocket until she’s sure I won’t be able to reach over and take it from her. “Uh, yes.”
“How old is he?”
She blanches further, if that’s even possible, and shakes her head with a nervous chuckle. “How about we talk about you?”
“Okay, what about me?”
“You’ve been getting threats. Small ones, according to Carmen.” I nod in response, aware of the threats I’ve been getting – apparently I’m the only one who thinks they’re fans being stupid, or else Mia wouldn’t be here.
Her phone pings again, her posture shifting until she’s got her back straightened, and she asks, “Is there anyone that you know of who would want to harm you?”
This is the same question Carmen had asked me when the threats first started about a month ago, and I’ve still got the same answer as I did then. I shake my head and sigh. “No, Mia, I don’t know of anyone. Most of my fans are pretty great, but I guess there’s a chance that one of them could be worse than I thought.”
She arches a brow, then pulls out her phone and waits until the screen lights up to ask, “Any idea who that would be?”
“No, I’m just saying that it could be a possibility – not that I’ve seen it first hand.”
“Is there anyone I should talk to that might know more about things?”
I rub a hand over my chin and shrug. “You could try talking to our PR manager, Lance, maybe there’s something on our social media that we haven’t been notified about?”
Mia nods, giving me a small smile – the first real one I’ve seen since she started working for us – and I find myself wanting to see more of it. Once again, a sense of deja vu comes over me and I study her features as I try to figure out where it’s coming from. I know her from somewhere, I can feel it, but from where?
It must be the sleep, that’s all.
“Is that everything you needed to talk to me about?” I ask.
Mia nods, then rises from her place on the couch and taps her phone. “This is a start, at least. I’ll start getting in touch with people on your team, see what I can find out and try to get the threat taken care of.”
I’m about to disappear into the large room that me and Jace will be sharing, since Brent and Julia have a room of their own, and Mia calls my name softly.
It’s much softer than her tone has been, so it startles me for a moment and I turn around with my eyebrows raised in surprise.
She clears her throat, that serious expression taking over her features once again, and says, “I’m here to look after you, so don’t worry about anything.”
“I’m not worried,” I say too quickly.
Before I turn away from her, I let my gaze pursue the length of her body until my head catches up to me and I silently curse at myself. Once I’ve rounded the corner and disappeared into the double room, which is smaller than my damn closet at home, I groan loudly and flop onto my bed.
“You good, man?”
Jace isn’t normally talkative. He’s the type to get on with the show, then disappear into his own head and it repeats the next show. It took Brent and I a while to adapt, since we were so used to Ryker’s infectious personality, but Jace is growing on us the longer we spend time with him.
I look over at him and nod. “I’m great.”
“I’m sure we’ll get it figured out, don’t let what’s happening get to your head. The fans are counting on us, we wouldn’t want to bring them down.”
It’s weird hearing him say that, like he’s stealing the words right from my head, and I only nod in response before turning onto my side and keeping my gaze focused on our door. We can hear Mia talking over the phone, demanding to get any information she can from our social media pages that would hint at the intruder from tonight.
There've been plenty of incidents with fans throughout the years – ones who hide out backstage waiting for our show to end, others who manage to find us whenever we go out somewhere in the city like they’ve been following our every move – but I’ve never seen anything like this from them.
“Maybe we should start calming down on our socials, let Lance know to post something once a week – or every other week.”
Jace grunts in response, leaving me to believe that’s all he’s got to say back to me. Then, he surprises me by giving an answer. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, our socials are climbing the charts and they’re only going to get higher the further into the tour we get.”
I sigh heavily. “I don’t know, man, I’m just trying to think of a way to make sure no one else gets hurt throughout this whole thing.”
“Mia wasn’t able to get anything from the security footage?”
“It got blacked out around the time of the incident, no one could figure out what happened. It only came back on when the guy, or woman, was long gone.”
If this is how the intruder is going to start out, I can’t imagine Mia will be here for a short amount of time. I think about the image she got sent.
The last thing I would’ve imagined was that Mia is a mother.
I wanted to ask her so many more questions – what her child’s name is, how old he, or she, is, how often they’ve been away from each other like this and if it’s taking a toll on Mia’s emotional state.
She wouldn’t allow me the opportunity, though. My guess is that she likes to keep her personal life private, which is perfectly fine with me. The more I know about her, the easier it will be for an attachment to form and that’s the last thing I need right now.
Jace’s snores pull me from thoughts of Mia, reminding me that I need to keep my mind focused on getting to the bottom of things instead of on Mia’s life – it’s not my business.
When I close my eyes, though, an image pops into my head of blue eyes staring at me while we’re surrounded by flashing neon lights – the same blue eyes that Mia has. I snap my eyes open, wondering where the hell that image came from, then shake my head with a frown.
It’s only because she’s been around a lot lately and I’m going crazy from it.
Another image comes across, this time in the apartment I used to own before joining Raising Havoc, and those same blue eyes.
What the hell?
There’s no way I know Mia from years ago, This has to be some crazy fantasy I’m conjuring, and that’s all. Which only makes this situation much more dangerous because she’s my bodyguard, not a random woman I should be having thoughts like this about.
Another snore echoes in the room, and I grab an extra pillow to put it over my head. If only Ryker were still here, then I wouldn’t have to worry about the walls rattling with his deep snores. On the other hand, if Brent were in here, and I voiced the images floating in my head, he would pull in the right direction.
After what seems like forever, and once I can’t hear Mia’s voice through the thin walls, my eyes finally droop closed. I can’t even bother to worry about the image that meets me when they do, only that I’m falling into a deep sleep — or not...
I’m pulling Summer onto a crowded dance floor and watching her hips sway against me while she holds a pink drink in one of her free hands. There’s a fire swimming inside of me at her close proximity, so much so that I trail my fingers down her exposed thighs and push them beneath the tight fabric of her dress.
She hums in agreement, pushing her ass against me and essentially forcing my hand further up her dress until my hand is splayed over her lace panties. I can feel the heat from her pussy, along with the arousal desperate to escape, and I groan into her ear.
“God, you feel so good, darlin’.”
Her body shivers, just like it has every time I say the nickname, and I place a kiss against her earlobe before pushing away from her and start pulling us toward the edge of the crowd. I need to get her into my bed, listen to her scream my name as I make her come all over my cock.
In response, my cock hardens even further in my pants, and I have to adjust myself discreetly as we come to a stop at the bar.
“Whatcha gonna do?” She asks, mischief evident in her gaze.
“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough, darlin’, and I’m positive you’ll be begging for me to do it over and over again.”
I fling myself up right in my bed, sweat beading my forehead and my cock straining behind my thin boxers.
Darlin’
There’s no way… it can’t be her. It’s only my imagination, nothing more.