34. Declan
34
DECLAN
A fter a round of shower sex and one of Hayden’s spectacular blow jobs that fucks with your mind and makes you question whether you’ve died or just having an out of body experience, we went back to the hospital. We found the family still camped out in the waiting room. We stuck our heads in to let everyone know we were back.
“Katie’s in with Jackson. They’ve removed the ventilator. Finally,” Aunt Viv said as she dished out food to everyone around her.
I reached for a cherry tomato only to get my hand smacked. “You were raised with better manners than that.”
She handed Hayden a plate with a smile and then gave me one begrudgingly before patting my face and smiling at me. Once she overfed us until we were about to pop, she shooed us out of the room with orders to bring Katie back to eat.
“We can take her a plate,” Hayden offered.
Aunt Viv glared at him, and I shook my head. “Jackie can’t eat any of this, and we don’t wanna tease him now, do we?”
Hayden’s eyes widened. He cleared his throat, “Umm… no ma’am. That would be rude. I don’t know where my head was at.”
“Back at the hotel room, if the smug smile on Declan’s face is anything to go by.”
“Aunt Viv!”
“What? Like I’m wrong. Now, y’all get. And don’t forget to bring Katie back for food.”
We walked down the hallway toward Jackson’s room, grumbling about being too full. Halfway there, we ran into Foster and Walker.
“Stay alert. We’ve figured out how Caleb’s getting access to Katie so easily.”
My eyebrows climbed my forehead as Hayden asked, “How?”
Foster pulled out his phone and showed us two photos. “Have you seen either of these people?”
“Isn’t that Danny?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“And the redhead?” Hayden asked.
“That’s Katie’s publicist, Michelle. She’s worked with Katie from the start.”
Hayden took Foster’s phone from him, swiping through the photos, pinching and stretching them as he studied each of them closely. I stared at him, but Foster and Walker grinned like they knew something I didn’t.
“What’s up?”
“Just goes to prove, yet again, you can take the operator out of special forces, but you can’t take the special forces out of the operator.”
“She’s here.”
My head swiveled back to my husband so fast my neck cracked. “In New York here, or here in the hospital here?”
“Both. She was in the crowd outside the alley where Jackson and Katie’s failed abduction happened, and I saw her when we left the hospital. She was sitting on a bench waiting for a bus. The more I look at the photos of the guys, they could be two men I saw when we came back in, but I didn’t see either of their faces.”
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“Why would I? Without knowing she’s a person of interest, I wrote it off as nothing more than a random woman in a city with millions of other random women.”
“And you’re sure the woman in the photo is the same woman you saw…”
“Without a doubt. That wild ass mane of crazy red hair sticks out. As for the guys, I’m not sure, but it’s possible.”
Walker nodded and walked away. We all stared after him, and I turned back to ask, “What’s with him?”
Foster sighed, turning his back on his brother to talk with us. “Jackson and Katie both know her.”
“Well, yeah, she’s Katie’s publicist.”
“Jackson’s never met Katie’s publicist, but he did meet a…”
“Sexy as fuck redhead built for sin.”
Foster pointed at Hayden and said, “Exactly that.”
“So, did she target Katie because of Jackson?” I asked, hoping no one thought I was blaming either of them.
“No. Jackson met Michelle in Nashville four months before he met Katie. According to Marcie and Katie, the stalker was already in the picture when Jackson and Michelle screwed around. Still, it’s safe to say she has a vendetta against Jackson at the least, but maybe also against Katie, but we can’t figure out why.”
“Have you asked Katie?” Hayden asked.
Foster nodded. “She said she doesn’t think either Michelle or Danny had reason not to like her or to be working with the stalker. She swears she doesn’t know who Caleb is.”
“Well, one thing I remember about Katie is that she can’t lie for shit. If she knew him and tried to hide it from us, we’d know. It might’ve changed over the years, but I don’t think so. People don’t usually change that much without training or reason.”
“Can you two talk to Marcie and see what she thinks?”
Hayden nodded in agreement as I asked, “Have you called Cato?”
“I’m waiting on him to get back to me.”
Foster’s phone went off, and Hayden’s eyes bugged out. I couldn’t help but laugh. He was thinking what we all did, that Cato listened in on all our conversations, or he was psychic.
Foster read through the messages, then handed me the phone. “You were right, Hayden. The redhead was at the scene. Cato’s still scanning faces there for Danny and Caleb.”
“And what about here at the hospital?”
I handed Foster his phone back. “Yeah. You were right about that as well. But it’s worse. They’ve been roaming the halls looking for Katie and Jackson.”
“Fuck!” Hayden growled.
Foster and I nodded.
“Y’all remember to call Marcie. Lemme know what you find out. I’m calling in reinforcements. In the meantime, we’ll keep Jackson and Katie here surrounded by family.”
Foster stalked off, and we headed toward Jackson’s room. Lucia and Scott stood guard. I walked over to speak with them while Hayden ducked his head inside. I smiled when I heard Katie and Jackson’s laughter drift toward us from the open doorway.
“Have you two eaten?”
“Oh, God. Don’t talk about food. Miss Viv stuffed us to the gills.”
“Yeah, that’s Aunt Viv. Hayden and I will take over here. The two of you go check in with Foster and see where he wants you.”
They moved off, disappearing from sight just as Katie and Hayden came out of Jackson’s room. After checking if I’d eaten, Katie and Hayden left me sitting outside Jackson’s room. I contemplated going in to check on him, but decided the man probably needed some space to process without an audience.
I checked the time and called Marcie, forgoing the video call we usually used. I needed to focus on what she said, and I always got distracted by how gorgeous she looked and the little quirks she had when she talked. Like the way her head cocked like a puppy when she was curious, or the way that Audrey Hepburn like mouth of hers deepened at the corners right before she laughed.
“Hey!”
“Hey, sweet girl. How are you?”
“I’m good. Looks like you guys made it back to the hospital.”
I nodded, then dove into the questions.
“Tell me about Michelle.”
“What do you wanna know about Michelle?”
“Anything you can tell me.”
“Well, she’s… not very nice.”
“Sweetness, don’t beat around the bush. I need to know. It’s important.”
“She thinks she’s better than everyone around her. She looks down her nose at me and Glenn when she thinks no one is paying attention, but she sucks up to your face. What’s worse is that she does the same to Katie. I overheard her badmouthing Katie to Danny once.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She and Danny were buddy-buddy. That night I rounded a corner and found them huddled together talking crap about Katie being a diva and a baby who didn’t deserve to be where she was.”
“Were they friendly from the beginning, or did it develop over time?”
“To me, it looked like he was friendly toward her from the beginning. She seemed more standoffish, though, but warmed up quickly. But I dunno know if they knew each other from before.”
“Anything else?”
“Well, I always thought Danny felt Katie was being stupid for being afraid of the stalker. And I didn’t think she took it seriously enough. At least not until he got into her dressing room, that scared her.”
“Who all was there?”
“What do you mean?”
“Were Michelle and Danny there?”
“Oh! Danny would’ve been. He’d been with us for about a month at that point.”
“What about Michelle?”
“Declan, what’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you in a bit. Just answer the questions, sweetness.”
“Umm, lemme think. That night was about… uhh.. a month, I think, before the Seattle concert. Glenn was not there, but… yeah, I think Michelle was there. It was after the stalker got into the dressing room that Danny talked the label into adding on two more guys. That’s when Nick and Matt joined the tour. And… the more I think about it, I think… I think that was the same night I caught Michelle and Danny talking badly about Katie.”
“Are you sure?”
“One hundred percent? No. But maybe seventy-five?”
“Okay, sweetness. Thank you.”
“Declan, what’s going on?”
I sighed and scrubbed my hand over her face, worried if I told her what was going on, she’d let it slip to Katie, but she knew these people. She knew the way they spoke and walked. She knew their mannerisms. We could send Asher, Bauer, Priest, and Cameron photos, and we would, but two-dimensional still images were no comparison to the knowledge Marcie had.
“If I tell you something, you have to promise to tell no one. Including Katie.”
“Declan…”
“It’s important, sweetness. I wanna keep you safe, but I’ve got a job to do.”
“Okay, I’ll keep it to myself.”
“Michelle and Danny are working with Caleb. Jackson and Katie have identified them as the three people who tried to kidnap them.”
“Oh, God! Katie must be devastated.”
“Yeah, she seemed to be, but with Jackie waking up and on the mend, they are both doing somewhat better. They were laughing and talking a bit ago before Hayden took her to get some food and rest.”
“Do I need to be worried that Michelle and Danny could come here?”
“Do they know about the house?”
“Not from me. I’ve not spoken with Michelle since Katie kissed Jackson on the track in New Jersey.”
“And Danny?”
“Not since he disappeared from the concert. I tried calling him that night, but he never got back to me.”
“Okay. Hayden and I will put the guys with you on alert, but you keep your eyes peeled anyway, you understand? You know them better than any of us.”
“I will.”
Walker and Uncle Matthew came through the doors, and I sighed. Hopefully, they just wanted to see Jackson and not chit-chat some more with me. Either way, I didn’t want them to know who was on the other end of the phone.
“I’ve gotta go, sweet girl. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Bye, Daddy.”
A dopey grin stretched my face, and I had the damnedest time wiping it away when I stood to greet my uncle. He’d been here since last night, but I’d not seen him yet.
“Uncle Matthew, it’s good to see you.”
He pulled me into a hug, slapping my back with enough force that, had I not stilled myself, it would’ve knocked me off my feet.
“I like that husband of yours.”
I blushed. “Yeah, I do too.”
He laughed. “Walker and I are going in to check on Jackie-boy while his Katie-girl gets some food and rest.”
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate the company.”
Matthew laughed in a way that made me think he was of the same opinion as me, and Jackson probably wouldn’t want company, but that didn’t keep them from walking through Jackson’s door.
Several hours later, Hayden and I sat outside Jackson’s new room. They’d transferred him while Katie got some rest and something to eat. As soon as Katie and Hayden came back, Katie ducked into Jackson’s room while Hayden took up the spot next to me.
There was something Hayden wasn’t saying, but I trusted him to tell me anything that pertained to us or Katie and Jackson’s safety. As much as I wanted to cuddle up to him, I kept some space between us. We were trying our damnedest to keep things professional when we were the two on guard duty, but fuck it was so damn hard.
He looked at me and said, “Are you struggling as hard as I am?”
I laughed. “Depends. But if you mean keeping our distance while we’re working, then yes.”
“Good. I suck at enough shit in life, I didn’t wanna be alone in how hard I sucked at this too.”
“I don’t consider you having a hard time keeping at arm’s length a bad thing.”
“Any clue when they’re gonna release him?”
“No, but it can’t come soon enough for me. I hope we fly to Nashville next.”
“If we aren’t, she’s meeting us wherever we end up. I’m over being separated.”
I nodded, chewing my lips because the way I felt about her being in Nashville and us here in New York seemed more ridiculous than I wanted to admit. We just met the girl. We’d known her for less than two weeks. We’d not slept in the same bed together. Yet, I felt like part of my soul was missing.
“It’s jumping the gun to feel like part of us is missing, right?”
My head swiveled. Hayden stared straight ahead, a faint blush painted the cheekbone I could see.
“What?” I asked, wanting to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood him while I stood to check the nurse’s badge who asked for access to Jackson’s room.
When I came back over to him, his gaze caught mine, his upper lip tucked between his teeth. When he released it, the nervous habit he had of running his tongue over his teeth, first upper then lower, gave him away.
“You heard me.”
“Yeah. I did. What you call jumping the gun, I called ridiculous when a similar thought ran through my mind.”
“So you feel it, too.”
“If you mean the pull I felt toward you that wouldn’t let me shove you into the hookup box, yeah. I’ve felt it since she ran into me in the hallway after you and Jackson fought at Conrad’s.”
“Yeah. It was the same for me. The minute her eyes met mine. Confused the fuck outta me.”
“Same. Made me feel…”
“Like you were cheating?”
I nodded, and he huffed a soft barely there laugh before saying, “I’d already wrecked our home, cheating… well, it’s not like it was a possibility because my dick is a one man guy or he was until I saw her. As if I didn’t feel bad enough about where we were at, popping wood for a gorgeous stranger while on a protection detail certainly cemented how big a piece of shit I felt like I was.”
“God, we’re fucked.”
“I thought we were. I thought we were on the path to destruction that night in the kitchen. But when I looked around… you kissed her on the head, and I realized you were on the same path I was, and it led right to her.”
“And you don’t think…” he stopped and took a deep breath, then continued, “you don’t think it’s cheating, though, right?”
“No. I don’t. She’s ours. And we’re hers for as long as she’ll have us. We’re together. The three of us.”
I sighed. “Good. That’s how I see it, too.”
“Vato, do you feel like what we’ve done without her is cheating? On her, I mean?”
“No. Oh, fuck! Do you think she considers us being together without her cheating?”
“The only way to know what she is thinking is to ask.”
I pulled out my phone to call her when Katie walked out of Jackson’s room.
“Katie, you okay?” I asked.
The girl looked devastated. Tears glistened in her eyes, but she dismissed the concern, despite the tears choking her words.
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine, Declan. Just upset they kicked me out for the night.”
My brow furrowed. The plan was for Katie to stay with Jackson while Hayden and I stayed glued to them.
“They aren’t letting you stay?” I asked.
She shrugged. “The nurse said they needed to get Jackson situated for the night and that I needed to get some rest myself.”
I looked at Hayden. He seemed just as confused as I felt, but neither of us said anything to Katie. When she turned to walk away, Hayden stood, bumped his fist against mine before putting a hand on Katie’s back as he followed her down the hallway away from me.