38. Cash
38
CASH
“ W here is she now?” I pace across the hotel room floor.
“She’s in her room, getting hair and makeup done. She seems … distressed.” Brooks is standing at the door of my room, which is only three doors down from hers.
“I should tell her now that I’m here. She’s upset, right? With me?” My fingers comb through my hair. I can’t sit still, nervous energy pulsing through me.
He frowns. “I think she’s mostly upset about Zade and Ember.”
I pause, staring at his face. “What about Zade and Ember?”
“I didn’t know what to say. She cornered me, and I didn’t want to lie to her. She deserved to know. They’ve been sleeping together for a while now.”
The oxygen escapes from my lungs. “Zade, her ex, and Ember, her assistant?”
He nods, his face grim. “I found out a few weeks ago. I knew why you wanted me to stick around, so I didn’t mention it. But yeah, that’s why I was going to quit.”
Zade and Ember being an item surprises me. Ember seemed like a true friend. Sleeping with Monroe’s ex behind her back is a backstabbing move. The urge to go to Monroe and check up on her overwhelms me.
I flew to Nashville the day after she left with a plan to confess my love to her, to tell her I couldn’t wait a full week to think about starting a life with her. I don’t need a week. I never expected someone like her to walk into my life, but she’s exactly what I want. I’d be a damn fool to let her go. She insisted I stay at the ranch and decide on what I really wanted, but I never should’ve done it. I want her.
“Go back and stay with her. She shouldn’t be alone right now.”
Brooks nods, turning back to walk out the door.
I lay a hand on his arm before he leaves. “Do you have Katherine’s number?”
He nods. “I can send it to you.”
“Thanks.”
I watch him leave, shutting my eyes after the door slams closed. My heartbeat is thundering in my chest. She needs me right now, but I don’t want to reveal myself just yet. My phone buzzes with an incoming text. I look down to see the text from Brooks with Katherine’s contact information.
I tap the number and listen to it ring twice.
“Katherine here.”
I get the hype with tuxes now. As I stroll over the red carpet in an all-black one with my black felt cowboy hat, heads turn toward me. Cameras flash, and murmurs fill the night sky.
“Is that Monroe Blue’s bodyguard?”
“What’s his name, Cash?”
I’m intentionally late to the party because I didn’t want Monroe to see me too early. The award ceremony has already started. Katherine said to meet her near the paparazzi tent since I’ll need her help to get in. With the way the cameras are pointed at me and how my name is being whispered, I think she might be wrong about that. An eerie tingle crawls up my spine to the back of my neck when I hear the words Redford Ranch , bodyguard , and outdoor shower .
This is what she goes through on a daily basis. I don’t know how she does it.
My eyes focus on Katherine’s dark head of hair. She’s raising her arm in the air toward me, dressed in a bright blue pantsuit. When I approach, her brows rise in interest and approval.
“If I’d known you cleaned up this nice, I wouldn’t have taken no for an answer to you two as a couple.” She waves her hand over me. “Iconic.”
The corner of my lips twitches up. “Thank you, ma’am. Is everything in order?”
She sighs, shaking her head. “They want him to do it. I’m sorry. I explained the situation, but they’re not budging. With their history, the tour, his new movie … I’m sorry. I did all I could. There are contracts involved.” She presses a hand to her forehead.
“Does she know?” I grit my teeth, trying to remind myself that Katherine only has so much influence, and in this world, I can’t use excessive force when some asshole needs to be taught a lesson.
She nods, offering a sympathetic smile. “She’s a professional. This is where she shines, okay? She’ll get through it, and you being here for her will mean a lot.”
A woman with a video camera approaches me, her companion holding up a microphone to my face. “Cash! So good to see you here. May I just say that you really know how to fill out a tux? Wow. Is this your first time on the red carpet?”
I want to turn and walk away, but I know that’s not the right way to handle this. A few more cameras join the circle, all crowding in around me and flashing in my face. Resisting the urge to bolt, I dip my head down and clear my throat.
“Uh, yeah, I guess it is.”
“And are you here escorting anyone?”
More cameras and interviewers join the group, which is beginning to turn into a small crowd. I’m the tallest of the group by a few inches. Katherine takes a step back, grinning from ear to ear and giving me a thumbs-up.
“Well, if she’ll give me a chance, I’m here to escort Miss Monroe Blue.”
A round of gasps travels through the crowd. They press in even closer. I try to take a step back, but there’s no room.
“Are you and she dating? ”
“How long has this been going on?”
“Why did she arrive before you?”
“Is Monroe aware that you’re here?”
They all speak at once, the volume of each question rising as they try to talk over each other.
I hold up my hands. “She doesn’t know I’m here yet. I’d prefer to keep it that way.”
“What are you going to say to her when she sees you?” a man asks, pressing his mic up to my face.
I clear my throat, leaning down to make sure he gets it. “I’m going to tell her that I’m madly in love with her and there’s not a woman on this planet who compares to her. I’m going to ask her if she’ll be my girlfriend and, when she’s ready, more than that.”
They erupt with flashes and more questions, all screaming over each other now. I look up over their heads, seeing a man in a black tux with slicked-back brown hair glaring daggers at me from behind the crowd. As soon as we make eye contact, he smirks, lifting a hand in a friendly wave. Anger washes over me, heating my skin. I push through the crowd, using my size and the skills I learned on Monroe’s tour when fans got too excited. I make it easily enough though, and to my surprise, Zade meets me halfway.
He leans forward to whisper in my ear, “Don’t sweat it, man; you can have her for a little while. I’ve always been good at sharing. By the way, thanks for taking care of that little problem for me. I’m just assuming I have you to thank for the radio silence, considering how serious you’ve taken this whole bodyguard thing. He was beginning to get … difficult. My reputation was on the line for a while, bu t now, my worries are over. You’re not a bad contact to have around for those of us who prefer to keep our hands clean when things get sticky.”
I pull back, studying his face as he smiles and laughs loudly, clearly attempting to put on the show for the audience.
“If I need you, you’ll get a call. I pay very well.” He winks at me, turning to stride into the venue like he’s weightless.
My muscles are screaming with tension. The urge to chase him down and tear his throat out right here nearly overtakes me. The fantasy of watching his blood blend into the carpet infiltrates my thoughts. The paps are a buzz of white noise around me as I study his retreating form, frozen in place.
He was the one informing Tony Ziggler of her whereabouts. Zade was the one behind it all. And when I killed the man, it freed him of whatever obligations Zade had toward him.
Rage boils inside me, threatening to spill over. I stalk toward the entrance to the venue, blindly following him. The paps make desperate attempts to get my attention, but I easily evade them. They give up at the entrance, where they’re clearly not allowed through.
Security lets me through, either from Katherine’s instructions or because they recognize me. Zade grabs a glass of champagne from a passing waiter before he turns down a hallway.
I follow him at a distance, knowing I should hold back and find Monroe. The urge to squeeze more information out of him propels me forward.
If he was willing to sell her out before, he could do it again.
He pushes open the door to the men’s room. I wait outside of it for a minute, my chest rising and falling rapidly.
I will not take it too far. All he needs is a warning.
A man exits the restroom, and I catch the door before it fully closes. I step inside, letting go of the door as I look around. The restroom has an attendant handing out paper towels and breath mints near a long countertop and gilded mirrors lining the wall. The walls are a dark maroon color. Black and white tiles cover the floor, and the sink looks like a slab of marble with little bowls hollowed out of it.
Zade is standing at the urinal. The stall doors are all cracked open.
I turn to the attendant. Reaching into my pocket, I extract my wallet and slide out two hundred-dollar bills. I hand it to the man. “Give us a minute.”
He gladly accepts the generous tip and exits the room. I take his chair and use it to prop it up under the door handle. I pop my knuckles, planting my boots in a wide stance.
“I think you left out some details I need to get from you.”
Zade startles, jumping up and turning to face me. He hurriedly zips up his pants. “Man, you scared the hell out of me.” He laughs nervously, eyes shifting around the restroom.
“Don’t waste time looking for help. Look at me. No one’s coming to help you.” My words ring out with finality.
His face pales, but the actor in him takes over. A practiced smile dances over his lips. I slowly start to remove my jacket so I don’t ruin it with bloodstains and set it on the counter.
“I’m all ears, Redford.”
“Why did you help Tony Ziggler get close to Monroe?” I speak slowly so I don’t confuse him. “What was in it for you?”
He feigns confusion like the actor he is. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It was the security guard. I knew it was someone on the tour, but I couldn’t figure out who,” I say casually. “The one in Seoul. I had a buddy hack his phone records. Didn’t find anything, which means he used a burner. It took some digging, but he finally found the wire transaction from that night. Someone paid him to abandon his post, to let the fans down that hallway. My bet is that Ziggler was in her dressing room, just waiting for someone to drop her back off there until the crowd was handled. You were banking on me leaving her in there alone. When I found out you were fucking Ember, and she paid Kacie for the photo of Monroe and I at the ranch through her sister’s email, it all clicked. Same account sent the wire to Kacie.”
I smile at him as the color drains from his face.
“Ember knew where Monroe was every second of that tour. She had the hotel room numbers, planned her every move. At first, I didn’t think it would be possible for her to orchestrate it all, with the dead bird and the roses, but with help, with someone else pulling those strings, it makes sense. But it doesn’t answer the question of why. ”
He shrugs, regaining composure as his eyes shift to the door I blocked off. His lips curve in a nervous smile. “He had something on me. And she was an easy lay, desperate really, to fuck me. It was blackmail, plain and simple. Monroe is fine so what’s the problem? Look, I have to present an award out there.”
He straightens his coat, taking a step toward the door. I stand in his way, refusing to move a muscle, even as he tries to get to the door.
“How did you get Ember to do it? Just because you fucked her?”
He laughs, running a hand over his hair. “She was just an easy target, a girl who’s jealous of her friend and despises living in her shadow. Piece of cake. You think she wants to answer phones for the rest of her life, when she has the chance to be with someone as famous as me and eventually make her way up to the stage?” He laughs, making the mistake of clapping a hand on my shoulder. “You want ’em both? Man, go for it. I get so much pussy that I’m swimming in it.”
I look down at where his hand is touching my shoulder. He starts to pull back and remove it, but I grab his hand, crushing his fingers back until I hear a crunch.
“Dammit! What the fuck, man?!”
He tries to yank his hand back, but I don’t let go.
“What did Ziggler have on you?”
He’s wincing, bending over and pulling back, but to no avail. “Fuck you. I’m not telling you that. I meant what I said. I’ll hire you to take care of problems. I’ll recommend you to my friends. We can always use muscle like you! You’ll make bank in Hollywood.”
“What did he have on you? Tell me, or I’ll break your other hand.” I lean closer to him, spitting the words into the side of his face.
His skin is turning red, the color bleeding across his cheekbones as sweat begins to drip down his temple. “I got into pimping, okay? He was a client, a regular, but one of the girls … didn’t make it. I was just doing it for the thrill, but he recognized me and threatened to go public with my involvement.”
My mind is scrambling to make sense of it. “So, you sold him information about your girlfriend to save your ass?”
He nods. “All he wanted was access. Just information about where she was staying on the tour. I thought it was just a crazy fan thing. I didn’t know he wanted to hurt her!”
“How the fuck did he find you? Quite a coincidence.” I break his thumb for the confession about exploiting Monroe to a man like that.
He roars in pain, scrambling to get away from me. “Please! Please let me go! It was a celebrity look-alike thing. I found girls who looked like popular stars and charged out the ass for them. We’d style them, do their makeup and everything to look like the real girl. It brought in wealthy, fucked-up people.”
He peers up at me, desperation coating his forehead in beads of sweat. “I can get you in, man. I can get you an in with some business that will make you so much richer than that ranch ever could. You’ll meet powerful people, celebrities, politicians?—”
I shove his hand back, cracking his wrist and dropping him to the floor. His screams echo through the men’s restroom. My boot connects with his throat, crushing his worthless body to the cold tiled floor.
“One thing I need to make crystal fucking clear to you is that if I catch you anywhere near her—even if you’re just passing through the same fucking zip code—you will pay for that mistake with your life. Am I making myself clear?” I emphasize each word with increasing pressure from my boot.
His head bobs. His lips are trembling, blood dripping from the bottom one, where he bit down so hard that it broke the skin. His wrist is lying limp beside him. He hasn’t even tried to fight me off, proving he is a little bitch at heart and was always unworthy of her.
“When I bury a man, nobody ever fucking finds him. They don’t even get a funeral. You read me, motherfucker?”
He’s crying now, tears streaming down his flushed cheeks as he nods, desperate to end this conversation. “She’s irrelevant to me, I swear. I’ve moved on. I was glad to get rid of Ziggler! I swear, man, it was never about her. I would’ve had someone else take care of him, but we couldn’t find him.”
“And it goes without saying that you’re not presenting her fucking award tonight. Leave the event— now .”
I release him, removing my boot from his throat and stepping back. He pants, rolling over to his side and gasping for oxygen now that his windpipe is open.
I grab my jacket from the sink, pulling it on over my shoulders and straightening the lapels in the mirror. Zade is still groaning on the floor.
“I think you broke my fucking wrist, man! You’re a fucking lunatic!”
I bend down, staring into his bloodshot eyes. “You’re right. I am a lunatic. It’ll benefit you to remember that whenever you think about coming after me or my three equally deranged brothers. ”
I would kill him now, but getting a body out of an event like this would be impossible. He’s a coward. He won’t go after her again, not after what I just did to him and knowing what I did to Ziggler.
I stand up straight and adjust my cowboy hat before removing the chair from under the doorknob and strutting out into the hall. The attendant is standing there, headphones covering his ears. A piece of paper is posted on the door that says Out of Order . He nods at me. I fish out two more hundred-dollar bills, just to ensure we’re on the same page about what he saw and heard. He accepts them without a word and removes the sign.
I stride through the hall toward where the auditorium is, following the sound of the music playing.