When she turned, Zane caught her gaze, his eyes dark and intense.
“This is ridiculous.” The words slipped free as Charlie moved towards the trailer. She ran her finger across the paint smear. Dry. Whoever had done this had had time to get in, get done, and get out without being seen…and with enough time for the paint to dry. Minimum of half an hour, if she had to guess.
Worrying her lip between her teeth, Charlie turned on the boys to find them all staring at her. “All right guys. What’s going on?”
Micah, Parker, and Benji turned and glanced her way before looking past Zane. She wasn’t used to being ignored after asking a question, but right now she really didn’t look like she was anything more than a groupie along for the ride.
Turning to Zane, her eyebrows raised, trying to hold back the mix of temper and fear that bubbled inside of her, Charlie was less than appeased with the answer that she received.
“Fuck if I know.”
Blowing a stray hair out of her eyes, Charlie glared at Zane and held that fear at bay with some of her temper. “Really? That’s the best that you can come up with under these circumstances? You can tell me that you have no clue, whatsoever, to what’s going on? Have you received any threats lately? Had sex with any particularly weird women? Has Conner given you a heads up on anything? The question is: Who would want to blow a chunk out of you guys—or more specifically, out of you, Zane?”
“Whoa, babe. Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little? I mean, it was just a little bang.”
“Don’t
babe
me, Alexander. You’re in serious trouble right now and you’re acting like it’s just another day on the job.”
“It is.”
“Oh really, would you care to explain that to me, Oh Immortal One?”
He seemed to snap, his carefree attitude shattered just like that as he rounded on her with a silent snarl on his lips.
“Welcome to the world of rock and roll, cupcake. Sometimes people get bored and do dumb shit; sometimes fans decide that they know you and maybe they take a dislike to you and hell, sometimes it has nothing to do with who we are or what we do—it’s just a chance to get a little spotlight of their own. If I went around pissing my pants every single time a threat came to head, I would never have a clean pair of boxers. Guess what? It’s part of my life and I’m fine with it. Sure, I’ll have Conner do whatever it is he does, but until then I have no intention of whimpering over it like a damn pup.”
“You’re so ignorant. You can’t just sit back and let Conner take care of this! You have to worry about yourself. If that’s too hard, worry about the rest of the band. People could have
died
tonight and you’re saying “Oh well” because nobody was hurt?”
The duo had reached a near roar by now, aggressive posture and wild gestures split between the two of them. In the background, the others shifted and scratched uncomfortably and tried to take interest in their surroundings.
Micah stepped in. “Uh, do you want to take this someplace more private? Or maybe just knock it off for now? Your pissing match is exceptionally loud and neither of you seem to be winning.”
“Can it.”
The sharp retort burst from Charlie, unbidden, and for a moment she just stood there. Taking a deep breath, she took a step back from the group, not really sure what sort of feelings were swarming through her. Why had this upset her to the point of wanting to get on all of their asses? None of that mattered right now.
Scrubbing a hand across her face, she raised blue eyes sheepishly towards Zane. “You know what? You’re right. I’m wound tight right now and none of this is any of your faults. There’s nothing that can be done tonight, even though I don’t like the particular outlook for tomorrow. Extra security and an investigative team are going to have to be called in. I’m tired and I think I just need to sleep tonight off. Conner is supposed to call here in about forty minutes, but I’d like all of you to bunk together in Zane’s trailer. It’ll be tight, but that way he won’t have to spread security so thin. Tomorrow we’ll work on hiring some extra crew.”
Shifting on her now-throbbing feet and cursing her choice of shoes, Charlie gave a simple wave and walked towards her trailer. She was relatively sure that, given her fight with Zane and with what had happened tonight, they would heed her advice.
“Charlie, wait.”
She felt an all too familiar hand on her shoulder and she turned without looking to face Zane. His hand cupped her cheek gently, tilting her face up until their eyes met.
“We’ll be safe tonight and I’ll be over tomorrow morning to talk. Until then… Dream of me.” With that, his lips brushed hers as softly as a butterfly’s wing, a ghost of a caress before he released her. Charlie took off, fighting down a smile when she knew his eyes were watching her walk away.
Chapter Seven
Humming an old lullaby, the words a distant memory, Charlie sipped at a cup of coffee and stared out the window. Last night she’d been haunted by dreams of the concert: Swaying to the beat and feeling truly free to lose herself in that cocoon of music. Those dreams had inevitably turned to nightmares and several times she had woken up startled, the images of the guys lying broken and bloodied on the stage freezing her heart.
She was not going to let that happen.
Zane was a good person, even if he didn’t act it sometimes. Underneath the flirting and come-ons, he was a good man. He’d never once forgotten her birthday in all the years she’d worked for the band. And once, when she was so sick that she couldn’t leave her trailer, instead of ostracizing her for fear of losing his voice during their first tour, Zane had warmed up a can of chicken soup and brought it over. There had been no glimpse of his playboy façade; only a soft touch and a tender voice. He’d stayed with her, watching moving into the early hours of the morning, only to catch her cold.
No. Maybe they’d never be lovers, but she did love him, in her own way, and the idea of someone targeting him rattled her.
Setting her breakfast dishes in the sink, Charlie checked her watch. She had a good twenty minutes to get ready and while she only needed a quarter of that time, what she really needed was to figure out a way to watch over Zane without him catching on to the fact that he had acquired a babysitter overnight. It wasn’t going to be a particularly simple job.
Before she had fallen asleep last night, Charlie had replayed in her mind the events of the concert, the blast of the explosion still echoing in her ears, and she’d settled on the conclusion that whoever was doing this was after Zane. The only question was: Why? She didn’t buy for two minutes that it was some bored loser or any of the other bizarre options that Zane had given her. No, budding alpha or not, she felt he needed protection, maybe if only to appease her own worries.
There was something going on between the two of them and that something could not very easily be denied. It scared her more than a little bit, but perhaps that fear was something to think about while she spent time with him, felt him out.
Lost in reverie and moving more on auto-pilot than anything else, Charlie stopped and stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She’d shed her pajamas and now wore a form-fitting black tracksuit. Professional, yet casual at the same time. She pulled her unruly black mane into a ponytail and let the hair spray fly. Once finished, she paced into the living room, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.
First, she had quit her job, refusing it when it was offered again.
Second, she had gone absolutely wild in the throes of emotion and boredom.
Now she was trying to do her job, again, without actually owning up to that fact.
Yeah, that whole, “I’m not crazy” thing didn’t really feel like it was working.
Striding back and forth in the tiny living room, Charlie glanced at the wall clock and frowned. Surprise, surprise—Zane was running late.
Refusing to call and give him the satisfaction of thinking that she was worried, even if she was, Charlie poured another cup of coffee—caffeine that she definitely didn’t need—and sat down. He would make it when he made it and she wasn’t going to throw a fit about his tardiness. No matter how much the situation warranted it, Charlie needed to get her mindset back where it had been pre-party Charlie, so she picked up the book lying on the coffee table and started to read.
Unable to focus, her gaze flitted back to the clock and she grumbled in irritation. Twenty-five minutes late? Okay, that was bad even by
Zane’s
standards. Standing up, Charlie shoved her feet into her running shoes and made a beeline for the door. But as she jerked it open, she nearly fell back on her butt with a gasp.
Framed in her doorway, Zane stood, looking like a wreck—literally. His normally artfully-spiked hair was just a tousled mess now and his clothes were mussed. Dirt was smeared across one cheek as fresh blood oozed from the corner of his mouth and gushed copiously from his nose.
“What the fu—”
“Can I come in?”
Charlie grabbed for Zane’s hand and pulled him into the trailer, shock settling into the pit of her stomach. What fresh hell was this?
“Who, what, where, when, and why?”
She listened to him wheeze for a moment as he made a production of kicking off his boots and gingerly sat down on her couch. Charlie grabbed a warm, wet cloth from the bathroom and helped peel off his now-useless shirt and surveyed his chest, looking for damage. Nothing except for dirt and a couple of scrapes. Using the washcloth, she dabbed at his face while Zane pinched his nose and Charlie couldn’t help but smile at the put-out attitude he had.
She inspected the swollen and split lip for a moment before glancing at his nose. “You’re lucky. Nothing looks broken. Your pretty face is just going to hurt for a little while.”
“As my nurse, you’re fired.”
“Very funny, but unless one of your guys decided to take a chunk out of your hide, it’s probably time for you to tell me just what in the hell happened.”
“I was jumped.”
“Great! Now I have everything figured out now and don’t need any other details.”
A scowl crossed his face like a black cloud. “Damn it Charlie, I don’t have anything else to tell you. I was headed over here and bam, next thing I know, I’m on the ground, bleeding.”
“Whoever did this would have had to hit you really hard to get a one-hit knock out—and then be strong enough to drag you somewhere to finish knocking you around.”
“Yeah well, when Conner figures out whodunit, feel free to ask them how they managed to pull it off.”
“All right, you’re cranky, I get it, but do you see
now
why I was upset last night at your lack of worry.”
“Yeah, I’ve got it. Do you have any suggestions?”
“An investigative team, double security, and none of you go anywhere without senior security with you.”
“Whatever. That’s fine. Anything else you need? My face hurts like hell and I’m seriously considering beating someone’s ass just to blow off some steam.”
“You need personal security detail.” Her tone was matter-of-fact.
He just looked at her. “In layman’s terms? I don’t particularly feel like trying to speak the language of security right now.”
“Oh, for the love of God, Alexander—you need someone with you 24/7.”
His forehead wrinkled. “No.”
“What do you mean
no
? You just got your ass whipped and if you really want to know what I think you need, then that’s it. You need to have someone to watch your back at all times until this is figured out. End of discussion.”
“Fine, you’re hired.”
“Quit arguing, it won’t—wait, what?”
“You heard me, you’re hired. Me and you, together constantly. I’ll even let you use my pillow at night.”
“Zane, listen. I’m trying to be professional-ish here and you cracking jokes isn’t going to help us any. I’d suggest Conner, but he’s got his hands full.”
“Charlie, babe, were you the one that got hit on the head? If I have to have some pain-in-the-tail security type up my ass the whole time, then it’s going to be you. If it’s so god damned important that I have a keeper, then I just figured out how to keep you busy. And I’d be glad to keep you busy in more ways than one, if you were wondering.”
“Perv.”
“I might need some meds before we get that far, but I’d be happy to see what I can do for you to make sure that I live up to that title.”
She couldn’t help but laugh; it was typical of them to go back and forth at each other like a couple of fencers, but the end result was that she was in a surprisingly good mood despite seeing him all beaten up.
“I just wonder why they didn’t do more damage when they had the chance—not that I’m not happy to see that they weren’t particularly successful.”
“Maybe something came up. Maybe they got interrupted and made a dash for it and I just happened to come around? Hell, I don’t know, but I’ll say thanks as well if it’s all the same to you.”
“All right. I’ve got to brief Conner. Why don’t you go lie down and rest?”
“Fine.”
After Charlie pumped a couple Tylenol down Zane’s throat and sent him to bed, she reached for her cell just as it began to ring. Conner. She tapped the screen and sat down once more. “Yeah?”