Chapter Five #3
Maybe it was time to call my girl Alina.
She was the one who always helped me get back on track.
I hadn’t seen her since Carter interrupted our trash party at Elite almost a week ago.
That was my first sneak-out attempt. I should’ve known that Chace would rat me out.
He was his brother, after all. A little tidbit I didn’t know until then.
I smiled. “They do that sometimes. Artist thing. We’re very dramatic. Makes for better music.”
“Harley.” She said my name almost like a warning.
“I promise, it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing, and you know it.”
“Well, that’s why I have a brand spanking new guard dog, don’t I?” I bumped into someone. That’s what I got for not looking where I was going. Instantly, I knew who it was. A shiver ran down my spine, lighting my skin in its path, and a delicious burn intensified as it got lower.
Carter.
Never even ten steps away from me.
Making sure I wore a blank expression before I turned, I asked, “Well, Warden, are you ready to go?”
“Where to?” e grunted.
I swear this morning put aside what was obvious was an anomaly coming from this man, all he did was grunt at me.
“To change outfits,” I said as if I didn’t have a care in the world when in all reality I was losing my mind slowly.
Not from the situation that brought Carter into my life.
Rather, the demands of this life were getting to be something I didn’t sign up for.
I just didn’t know how to break those chains just yet.
Carter frowned and looked me up and down. Everywhere his eyes landed felt like a touch of silk on my fevered skin. Damn, if he could do this to me with just a look, I feared I would combust if he ever did touch me.
“What’s wrong with what you’re wearing?”
“Ah, welcome to the life of a music star, Warden,” I sing-songed and started walking. “We never stay at one place for more than five minutes, and every new location demands its own outfit.”
Back at the hotel, we collectively hurried through the lobby, almost jumped over the elderly couple waiting for the elevator, and I was all but pushed into the room. Not by Carter, but by Cassie.
“Damn, girl,” I muttered, still feeling the palm of her hand in the center of my back. “Are you gunning for a new career?"
She arched her brow in question.
“One in security detail.” I tried to reach back to rub the sore spot.
“Har-har,” she said drily and went to the table and started sifting through her papers.
I went into my room, and directly to the closet. Picking out black jeans, I tried to find some shirts but didn’t like any of the choices that were there, so I opted to stay in the one I was wearing. It was a tour shirt, after all. The holes in it would only accentuate the life of rock and roll.
I decided to tie it up and call it a day, but I knew I needed to fix my hair and make-up.
People didn’t need to see my hair all piled up on top in a messy bun.
They got to see it wild and free. Fastening my jeans up, I took the bottle of the gunk that was on my night dresser that made my hair stand out wild like it was caught in a breeze and walked into the bathroom.
I didn’t see it at first. My mind was too occupied with what I was going to say to the press about last night’s events. How I was going to minimize the effect it had on me and turn on the sympathy for the clearly sick man.
As I lathered my hands in the gunk, I looked up and froze. There on the mirror, right in the center, was a piece of paper taped to it. A piece of paper that had words written on it. In my handwriting.
My hands started to shake in earnest now.
You walked in like a quiet song,
I’d been missing you all along,
You don’t see me the way I see you.
I squeezed my eyes shut hoping I was seeing things, but when I opened them, the paper was still there.
My song from last night.
The words became blurry as my eyes filled, my hands were shaking in earnest now. Hell, I could feel my whole body quaking.
I didn’t think.
I turned and ran. I didn’t know where I was running to, but the moment I got to the door of my room, I saw him and my whole body sagged against the doorframe.
His head whipped around. He took one look at me and in two strides he was across the room and before me. “Speak!” he barked.
I couldn’t. I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth. I just lifted my arm and pointed with a shaky finger to my right, indicating the bathroom.
“Stay here,” he growled, then stalked to where I pointed.
To that room. To my words. To the page that was ripped from a notebook no one even knew about.
I thought it was over. I was sure that the incident from last night was it. The big showdown, and that everyone was just overreacting. But watching Carter reading my words, words that were about him, I knew it wasn’t.
This was no longer a game.
For the first time in my life, no matter what happened before, I was in real danger. The only problem was, I wasn’t sure which danger was greater. Was it the unknown fan, or whatever he was that had clear access to me? Or was the way that Carter made me feel?