20. Luke
TWENTY
LUKE
“I hope you’re enjoying my leftovers,” the asshole ex-boyfriend says as I start to follow Calla to the bathroom.
I stop, turning slowly on my heel to face him again. “You’re lucky she ever let you touch her.”
He laughs. “I see she’s got you wrapped around her finger already.”
“What she does is no longer your business.” I can feel my anger building, and it’s taking all that I have in me to not punch this motherfucker in the face.
“You know she’ll eventually get tired of you and come running back to me,” he says so confidently that I can tell he truly believes that, which pisses me off even more.
I should keep my mouth shut. I know that, but I just… can’t. “I doubt she’ll get tired of someone who can actually make her come.”
The stupid smile drops quickly from his face. That one struck a nerve. “I know how to make her come.”
“You keep telling yourself that, and I’ll keep making sure she screams my name while she soaks my hand.”
I don’t give him the satisfaction of coming back with another stupid response. Instead, I meet Calla as she’s coming out of the bathroom and put my hand on her lower back as I escort her out the back door, not bothering to look back to see if he’s watching us.
“You ok?” she asks once we’re in the car. I’m the one who should be asking her that. She’s the one who had to deal with him all night. I’ve been too caught up in my own jealousy to remember she’s doing all of this for me.
Since we’re alone in the car this time, I grab her hand and interlace our fingers. “I’m fine now. Are you alright?”
“Yes,” she says with a sigh. “I just can’t believe I was ever with him. How did I not see the kind of person he is?”
“That’s what people like him do. They manipulate everyone around them. Don’t beat yourself up about it.” I bring her hand up to my lips and kiss the back of it. Her head falls to my shoulder and we’re quiet the rest of the way back to the hotel.
We walk in silence through the hotel lobby. The elevator fills with tension the moment the doors shut and it’s just the two of us. I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her toward me.
“I hated seeing his hands on you,” I whisper before I drag my lips up her neck to nip gently on her earlobe. She tilts her head to give me better access.
“Were you jealous, Luke?” I can hear the cheeky smile in her voice as I kiss up and down her neck.
I can’t even deny that I was. I’ve never been jealous over a woman. Ever. But tonight, when his hand rubbed over her ass, I wanted to rip his fucking arm off. Not only because I knew she didn’t want his hand to be there but also because I want to be the only one touching her.
“Yeah, I was,” I admit, making her shiver. “You like that I’m jealous, princess?”
“I do.”
I suck gently on the spot on her neck that I know she likes. “You want me to show you just how jealous I was?”
“God, yes,” she breathes.
The elevator doors open, and I lead her out and down the hall to her room, well, our room because there’s no way I’m not staying with her. I’m not risking her sneaking out again, but more importantly, I’ve gotten used to sleeping next to her.
When we get to her door, I press her back up against the wall and grab her leg, pulling her thigh up to my waist.
“If I touch you right now, would you be wet for me?”
“You’ll have to see for yourself.”
Since I had a feeling she was going to say that, I run my finger across her damp panties. “Mmm. Just what I thought.”
I drop her leg and pull out the hotel key. “You stay here while I check the room.”
She sighs. “Do you always have to follow every safety protocol?”
“It’s kind of my job, so yes.”
“Well, it’s a bit of a mood killer.”
I smirk at her as I open the door. “Don’t worry, princess. I’ll get you back in the mood real quick.”
She stands there, holding the door open while I do my sweep of the room, something I do in every place we ever go together. But tonight, when I step into the bedroom, something is different. Someone is waiting for us.
I immediately switch to work mode. The man stands from the bed and yells something I can’t understand as I launch myself at him, tackling him to the ground. It’s easy to gain control of him, seeing as I’m double his body weight.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” I ask once I’ve got him on his stomach, arms locked behind his back.
“I’m here to see Calla. She’ll want to see me!” he yells as he struggles beneath me. He can’t be more than twenty years old.
“I doubt that, buddy.” I grab my phone with my free hand and call the police.
Calla, of course, didn’t stay by the door where she’s supposed to stay while I clear the rooms. She walks into the bedroom and freezes. “Oh my god.”
“Calla!” the man yells. “Calla, it’s me, Mason.”
Calla looks terrified and confused as she shakes her head slowly.
“Stop talking to her,” I say forcefully, in between my conversation with the nine-one-one dispatcher. “Calla, go wait in the other room.”
“I don’t… I don’t understand,” she says. She’s clearly in shock.
“It’s me, Mason,” the man repeats.
“I don’t know you.”
“You do! You told me to come see you.”
“I-I don’t think so.”
“Calla!” I snap. Her wide eyes turn to me. “Go wait in the other room, please .”
She gives me a tentative nod before slowly walking away. The man starts yelling her name again. I switch to speakerphone and put the phone on the bed so I can keep a better grip on the guy.
“Shut up. You don’t get to talk to her.”
“You don’t understand,” he cries. “I love her.”
“Yeah, don’t we all.’
“She loves me too! She wanted me here.”
“Sure, buddy.”
“She told me so!”
I let him keep saying all the crazy things he wants since Calla is out of the room. Eventually, the police show up and escort the man out of the room. They question me and a shell-shocked Calla, who has her arms wrapped around herself as she answers questions. She looks terrified, and I want nothing more than to get her out of here, but I have to follow protocol for these situations.
Within an hour, I’m escorting Calla into a different hotel a few blocks away, thanks to Ashley’s quick scheduling.
Once the door is shut behind us and I check the room, I cup her face in my hands and force her to look at me. She’s been uncharacteristically quiet, which I completely understand, but it’s breaking my heart to see her like this.
“Calla, baby, are you alright?” I ask.
“I-I don’t know. I guess I’m still a little shocked.”
I nod and then kiss her forehead. “I know. It’s scary when someone invades your space like that, but I’ve got you. I’ll never let you get hurt.” Maybe I shouldn’t make that promise. After all, I’m only assigned to her until this tour is over. Then it won’t be up to me to keep her safe. But for some reason, I don’t want to think about that. I want to believe that I’ll always be the one to keep her safe, even if I’m not the one watching over her.
She chokes on a sob before wrapping her arms around my middle and crying into my shoulder.
I hold her and rub her back, letting her have the outlet she needs. It’s funny, for someone who is so strong and can give me attitude for every little thing, she’s actually really sensitive, and I wonder if anyone has ever taken the time to realize that about her.
“You’re safe, baby. I promise,” I say over and over until her sobs start to lessen.
“Thank you,” she says as she pulls back. “Thank you for protecting me.”
My heart squeezes at the pain in her voice. “Always, Calla.”
She sighs and wipes a few tears from her face. I don’t have the heart to tell her that her makeup is running down her cheeks right now. She looks beautiful anyway.
“Will you hold me in bed for a while?” she asks.
I don’t even hesitate. “Let’s go.” I’ve never been much of a cuddler. If I’m in bed with a woman, I’m there for one reason, and then I’m done. But these last few weeks with Calla, where we have nothing to do but lay around on the tour bus, have been unexpectedly nice. I never knew how good it would feel to have the warmth of her body pressed up against me, the scent of her hair near my nose, or the comforting feel of her heartbeat against my chest. It’s almost as if I’m starting to enjoy cuddling. Or maybe it’s the person I’m doing the cuddling with. I definitely don’t think I’m ready to admit that yet.
I lead us to the bed. She reaches over her shoulder to unzip her dress, but I stop her. “I’ll get it.”
I gently pull the zipper down and slide the dress down her body. She steps out and turns to me like she’s not sure what to do next. I unzip my bag because it’s closest and pull one of my shirts out. I tug it over Calla’s head. I like seeing her in my shirt way too much.
“Let me go wash my face and brush my teeth.” She grabs her small toiletry bag and disappears to the bathroom.
I start working on changing out of my suit when I hear her call out, “Why didn’t you tell me I look like a monster?”
“I kinda liked it. It was like Halloween role-play,” I call back. She laughs from the bathroom, and I’m glad to hear it. I wish I could erase what happened to her tonight, but in the grand scheme of things, it could’ve been way worse. From what I could tell from the information I got from the police, the guy is a Calla James super fan. He’s interacted with her a few times on social media, or at least who he thought was her; I know Ashley handles a lot of her social media. A recent comment told him that she “couldn’t wait to see him,” and he took that very literally. He apparently has a friend at the hotel he was able to steal the keys from. He seems harmless enough at this point, just a bit mentally unstable. It’s better if he gets the help he needs now.
I meet Calla in the bathroom and brush my teeth beside her. After weeks on a cramped tour bus together, we don’t have many boundaries left at this point.
When we’re both ready for bed, I pull back the covers and let her climb in first before I slide in behind her. When I wrap my arm around her and pull her close to me, I feel her physically relax. No one has ever been like that with me. I mean, I never let people get close to me, really, but just knowing that being close to me relaxes her makes me feel things I never thought I would.
“I know things like this happen. I know fans can get obsessed. I get it. I just never thought someone would get so close, you know? Like what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been there?” Her voice is quiet, and I know she’s still processing everything that happened tonight.
“Let’s not think about what ifs, ok? You handled yourself so well. You should be proud of that.”
“Are you kidding? I froze up like a statue.”
“Listen, I’ve seen people react in all kinds of stressful situations. You held yourself together until you were out of the public eye. No one saw you cry.”
“Except you.”
“Except me. But I promise I won’t tell anyone. Wouldn’t want to ruin your reputation.”
She laughs lightly. “Good night, Luke.”
“Good night, Calla.”