Cole

 

“If you’re calling to check up on me and lecture me on catering to your little princess friend, I’m not interested.” As soon as I’d seen Sebastian’s name on my phone, I knew he was calling to bitch at me. Well, maybe not bitch but certainly to lecture. No doubt the diva had called and cried because I didn’t bow down and fall all over myself in her presence.

Worst. Job. Ever.

“Man, don’t you ever get tired of being such a pain in the ass?” Sebastian asked wearily. “I mean, honestly, it’s exhausting for the rest of us to have to deal with you. Why can’t you just, you know, be normal?”

“I hate to break it to you, but this is normal for me. If she’s already running to you and crying, that’s her problem. I’m not here to be her friend or part of her fan club. I’ve got a job to do.”

“I get it, Cole, but can’t you do the job without being so freaking difficult?”

“How was I being difficult? She finally arrives here, and after playing the giggly schoolgirl with her fan club, she allows me to hold court with her. I walk into her dressing room and she’s napping. Fucking napping! It was only like… nine in the morning! Who does that?”

Sebastian sighed. “Who cares? You didn’t have to be rude to her.”

I was just about ready to punch something. “I wasn’t rude. I was me. That’s it. I walked in, I took in the surroundings, and looked for anything that was maybe a little… off. She wanted to play at being the happy hostess, and I wasn’t in the mood. Like I said, I’ve got a job to do, and she needs to respect that and stop being so damn sensitive.”

“Okay, fine. Whatever. What are your thoughts so far?”

“Her security team is a joke. Honestly. They all like her, and as long as they’re just dealing with screaming teenage girls and only have to stand there like a wall, they’re fine. None of them are trained for anything beyond that. I’ve seen mall security with higher training.”

“Fabulous. Now what?”

“I’m going to work with the guys a bit to teach them what they need to be looking for, and I’ve suggested they all work on their… shall we say… physical fitness.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means they’re big but not in a way that’s going to help anyone if we have to actually move and run.”

Silence.

“They’re fat, Sebastian. They’ve been riding the diva’s coattails and spending too much time around the catering truck, eating donuts. They’re in no shape to do much good if someone physically came around and threatened her.”

Sebastian snickered.

“What? What’s so funny?”

“You’re just like Declan was.”

“What do you mean?”

“When he was on the case where he met Kristin and he was guarding the child pageant star. He refused to say her name, and you’re doing the same exact thing.”

I swiped a hand across my face and sighed loudly. “It’s a ridiculous name.”

“You’re going to have to say it eventually. You cannot keep on with referring to Evangeline as ‘her’ or ‘the princess’ or ‘the diva’.”

“How about pain in the ass? Can I use that one?”

“Not funny, Cole. I’m serious. Evangeline is a close friend—practically family—and I need to know you’re committed to taking care of her.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, but under protest. I need you to let go of why you don’t want to be there and put your energy into finding out who’s threatening her.”

The thing is, I knew he was right. I knew I needed to quit feeling so defensive and do what I was being paid to do, but everything about this case just bugged me. This person… this… Evangeline… grew up with every creature comfort and privilege a kid could want. She was rich and famous by the time she was twelve. She had no idea what it was like to struggle for anything.

Even now with this stalker situation, she was still very protected, and there was still the possibility of this being more a nuisance than a genuine danger. And she didn’t even have to deal with it herself—she was paying other people to take care of it for her.

 “Cole?”

“Yeah, what? I’m here.”

“You got quiet,” Sebastian said, the weariness back in his voice. “Look, I really want to be able to trust you on this. We’ve got Ali’s graduation this weekend, and I’m trying to keep her calm and focused. This trip we’re going on is a surprise, and that’s where I need my attention to be, so please, man. Do this for me. Tone down the attitude and just… find out who’s scaring Evangeline.”

Every time Sebastian said her name, I wanted to snort with disgust. Such a stupid name. I pushed the thought aside and focused on Seb. He was a good guy, and he’d had my back more times than I probably deserved. “Okay. Fine. I’ll lighten up a bit. But know this, I’m taking this job seriously, and that means I need to focus and not be bothered stroking this chick’s ego. Tell her to do her job, and I’ll do mine, and hopefully we won’t need to be in each other’s faces hardly at all.”

“I suppose that’s all I can ask for.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Keep me posted. I’m going to be around until Saturday night. Our flight leaves at eight, and then I’d like to be able to put the phone away for a couple of days, if you know what I mean.”

“Uh, sure. Luckily, I was able to crack that code,” I said sarcastically. “Don’t worry about things here. Go and be the doting fiancé, and I’ve got things covered on my end. If anything comes up, I’ll reach out to Levi or Declan.”

“But if it’s really serious…”

“Seb, I get it. She’s your friend, and you’re concerned. I’m on it. Go and enjoy yourself, and tell Ali congratulations.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it. And Cole?”

“Yeah?”

“I owe you.”

I chuckled as I hung up and mumbled, “You have no idea.”

***

The problem I was seeing with the entire situation so far was that there were way too many people around. This set claimed to be “closed,” but it was in the middle of freaking downtown Baltimore. The first days just on the primary set were bad enough—especially the alley scenes—but then they would start filming elsewhere in Baltimore, where it would get a hundred times worse. There was no way to keep things completely under control in the middle of this circus.

Last count there were about a hundred people on the film crew milling around, and that didn’t include the actors and their entourages, the extras, and the food people, and whoever else got a day pass to be here. It was a nightmare.

I walked the perimeter of the set. They weren’t even filming today. They were just getting ready and setting up for tomorrow. The cast was off in a locked room reading lines. I hadn’t seen… Evangeline… since this morning. Sebastian’s words came back to haunt me, and I knew he was right. I had to address her by name and be a professional, but that name just didn’t roll off the tongue, you know?

The production company had their own security people, and I managed to get some time with them to discuss what could be done to secure the area a little more. Their head guy was a little annoyed with my presence, but I really didn’t care. By the time I’d walked away from him, he knew better than to second-guess me.

He would have extra men on site tomorrow when the cameras started to roll.

I stalked back over to the main building, and I found Malcolm—Evangeline’s head security guy—standing outside the door of the room where the cast was reading. I could tell he puffed out his chest a little more. As if that was going to intimidate me. Asshole.

“Are they coming out anytime soon?” I asked him.

He shrugged.

“Have they come out at all since I’ve been gone?”

A head shake.

I was in no mood for this. In less time than it took to blink, I was on this guy with my arm at his throat and his body slammed against the wall. “You can give me the silent treatment on your own time. While we’re here on the set, you’ll talk to me when I speak to you. If you were doing your job, I wouldn’t need to be here. But you’re not. So why don’t you give your overinflated ego a break and tell me what I need to know so we can both wrap this shit up.”

The guy’s eyes were defiant, but he was turning red from the pressure I had on his throat. I pressed a little harder just because I could. “We’re both trying to keep her safe, so if you give a damn about her, you’ll cooperate.”

Then I let him go and stepped back and tried not to smirk when he gasped for air and almost sagged to the ground.

“Fine,” he wheezed. “They should be coming out for lunch in a few minutes.”

“Does she eat with the cast and crew or go to her dressing room?”

“Dressing room. Cali brings her the food.”

“Figures,” I muttered and raked a hand through my hair.

As if reading my mind, Malcolm straightened and said, “It’s not like that. Evangeline used to sit out and eat with everyone and joke around. Since things started happening, it was agreed upon that she should eat in her dressing room. She hates it, but one of us usually stays with her.”

“Okay, here’s what I need from you—when they come out for lunch, send Cali to get her food, and you escort her to the dressing room. I’m going to spend the lunch break with her and get some background information. While I’m in there, I want you and your guys casually observing anyone who’s lingering around here.”

“Lingering?”

“Yeah, you know, hanging around and watching for her.”

“How long of a list do you want? I mean, there’s a small entourage that is always around.”

“Consisting of…?”

“Besides the rest of the cast? You’ve got producers, directors, their assistants, makeup people… Seriously man, there’s a lot.”

“Okay. That’s a start. But I want you to take note of who stays around longer than they need to.”

Malcolm nodded and seemed to have caught his breath finally. “What if we do? Should we scare them off?”

I shook my head. “Take notes. I don’t want anyone to know they’re being observed. Yet. For now, I want to get a feel for what we’re dealing with. See who’s around and see if it’s a onetime thing. We’ll play it like this for a few days, and see what we can find. After a day or two, you’ll eat with her, and I’ll stay out and observe. Okay?”

He nodded again. “Look, Cole… you have to understand. I’ve been with Evangeline for years. She’s like a sister to me. It pisses me off that I can’t get a handle on this situation.”

“I understand your frustration. I really do. But you have to know that my being here is because she needs more help. I can’t have you off pouting because I’m here. We need to work together on this.”

I would have said more, but the door to the reading room opened and people started milling out. Evangeline spotted Malcolm first and smiled at him—immediately going to his side. For some reason, it bothered me. She smiled at him—a relaxed smile—and wrapped her arm around his as she waved goodbye to the other actors and promised to see them in an hour.

Then she spotted me, and all that peace and relaxation immediately disappeared. She frowned and, if I wasn’t mistaken, glared. Huh. Who knew she had it in her? She almost looked intimidating.

Or maybe she was just a really good actress.

Somehow I doubted it.

Either way, I stepped back and observed. Sure enough, Cali went rushing by toward the food table while Malcolm led the princess away. I leaned against the wall and did my best to blend in and observe. So far no one was lingering or looking out of place. Everyone was on the move to one place or another.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Malcolm open the dressing room door and usher Evangeline inside and shut the door. I’d decided to wait until I saw Cali heading back this way before going to the dressing room. Why? One, it gave me extra time out here to get a good look at how people behave, and two, I didn’t want to spend any more time in that room than I absolutely had to.

I was bored already. There was nothing going on that was raising any red flags. People were busy doing their thing, and nothing seemed out of place. Obviously, someone was sending this stuff to Evangeline, but on the surface, there weren’t any obvious suspects. Not that it was unusual. It just meant that this case wasn’t going to be as cut and dry or as quick as I’d like it to be.

“Hey, Cole,” Cali said as she approached, carrying two plates, a young mousy girl on her heels. “This is Janelle. She’s one of the director’s assistants. There are two. Her and Matt. You’ll be seeing them around a lot, delivering scripts and scheduling changes directly to Evangeline.” The girl said a quick hello before looking down at the ground. “I know we didn’t talk about it, but I had a feeling you’d probably want to spend a little more time talking with Evangeline during the lunch break. I brought you a plate too.”

Color me surprised. No one really took the time to think about me. I normally fended for myself. I could feel myself scowling at her and forced myself to relax. “Thanks,” I murmured and motioned for her and the quiet chick to lead the way to the dressing room.

I opened the door when we got there—without knocking—and let Cali enter first. In less than a minute, our plates were set out, and both Cali and Malcolm left without hardly uttering a word. Janelle stayed for a minute and went over the revised schedule for the afternoon before scurrying from the room. Once the door closed, I turned and faced Evangeline and instantly noticed that she didn’t look pleased.

“So, Emmeline, how’d the reading go?” I asked casually, walking across the room to the table where our lunch was waiting.

“It’s Evangeline,” she corrected but stayed standing on the opposite side of the room.

“Whatever,” I said as I took my seat and eyed the giant sandwich and potato salad Cali had plated up for me. The food definitely looked good, and if I was any kind of gentleman, I’d wait for her to sit down.

But I wasn’t.

She stood there and stewed for a solid minute, and I was three bites into my lunch before she finally walked over and took her seat. She was looking pretty annoyed and… prissy. I couldn’t help but snort and chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” she demanded.

“You. Why don’t you take the stick out of your ass for a few minutes? It might make sitting easier.”

“What?” Then she huffed. “You’re a real jackass, you know that, right?”

“And there’s no fish stinking up the room, so lose the face too.”

“Excuse me?” she snapped, clearly offended.

Putting my sandwich down, I leaned in a little closer. “Look, Maybelline, you asked for protection from my company, and you’ve got it. By sitting here and treating me like I’m something beneath you, all you’re doing is making yourself look foolish. You don’t think I’m worthy of being in your presence? That’s fine with me. I’m not thrilled with being in yours either. But while I am, you damn well better lose the attitude.”

I could see her lush little mouth trying to form words. I didn’t care. I went back to my sandwich. It was actually quite good. Ham, Swiss, a little of the spicy brown mustard that I happened to enjoy and…

“Screw you.”

Now that got my attention. How adorable. The actress was trying to offend me. Once again, my sandwich got put down as I leaned back, crossed my arms, and studied her. “Screw you? That’s all you got?”

“Unlike you, I don’t need to be vulgar.”

“Sweetheart, I haven’t even begun to be vulgar around you. When it happens, you’ll know.”

“Every time you open your mouth, you’re vulgar.” She picked up her fork and stabbed it into her salad, believing she’d gotten the last word.

She thought wrong.

“I’ve actually been on my best behavior all day,” I said sweetly. “If you don’t believe me, listen to this.” I paused for dramatic effect. “I’ve looked all around this fucking dump of a movie set. Your security team is a bunch of overweight, overpaid pussies. Not one of them is man enough to take down even one of your teenybopper fans lining the fence outside. By the time Malcolm or one of his guys got to you if the stalker got through, they’d find you either getting slashed or fucked.” I stopped and raised a brow at her. “Vulgar enough for you?”

She paled. I kind of felt guilty—since a scenario like that wasn’t anything to joke about—but I needed her to see the difference.

“Like I said, I wasn’t vulgar earlier. I’m here to do a job, and worrying about proper etiquette and being politically correct aren’t going to help.”

Once again she tried to find a comeback and failed.

Good.

“Are you going to be in the room with the cast for the rest of the day?”

She nodded.

“Okay. For today, Malcolm will be outside the door while I finish getting a feel for what’s going to be going on around the set. When you’re done with the reading, I’ll have Malcolm bring you back here so we can discuss how tomorrow is going to go. I want you to be aware of anyone who’s hanging around unnecessarily. You need to be prepared for the fact that we’re going to be changing things on a daily basis. If whoever is watching you doesn’t know your routine, he can’t get to you.”

She nodded again, but her eyes were as cold as ice as she looked at me.

“So you understand what I’m doing, right?” I asked, anxious to finish my lunch.

“Yes,” she said quietly.

We ate the remainder of our meal in silence.

***

Reading must have been exhausting because when I met up with Evangeline later in the day to talk to her, Cali, Malcolm and his team, she looked ready to drop.

Not my problem.

“Okay, you’re due on the set tomorrow morning early, I’m told,” I said, looking directly at Evangeline. When she nodded, I added, “I want you here thirty minutes before that.”

“Thirty?” she objected. “That’s…”

“Five o’clock. In the morning. I’m aware.”

“But it’s ridiculous! Why would I want to be here that early in the morning?”

All eyes were on me, I could feel it, but my eyes never left Evangeline’s. “Because everyone has a copy of the schedule for tomorrow. That means if your stalker is part of the cast, crew, or whatever, or even if he gets a glimpse of the schedule, he’ll be expecting you at five-thirty. We’re going to start throwing things off.”

“You can’t mess with the production schedule,” Cali said, sounding concerned. “It could lead to more trouble or Evangeline losing her role.”

I still didn’t lose eye contact. “No one’s going to lose their job. All the schedule changes are going to happen so they don’t have a conflict with production, and if I find it necessary to, I’ll talk to the producer or the director or whoever else I need to.” I don’t think Evangeline has even blinked since I started talking. “Do you trust me?”

“Not a chance.”

I sighed, realizing it would have been smarter to play a little nice so she would be easier to work with. But I never made smart decisions. “Do you trust me to do my job?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“That’s fine. You don’t really know me but, believe me, you’re going to learn to. And fast.”

“Arrogant much?” she mumbled.

“Enough with the name calling,” I said, filled with annoyance, the passing thought about playing nice completely disappearing. “I realize you’re immature and all, but really, it’s enough.”

“I’m immature?” she said, her voice raising as she stood. “You’re the one who keeps lashing out for no reason. What gives you the right to call me names and yet act like I’m not allowed to do the same?”

“Rubber and glue.” I picked up my copy of the production schedule for the next day. “Malcolm, your guys are going to be on fan club detail in the morning. This is where I’m going to need your guys to be more observant—are we dealing with a bunch of overzealous girls or is there someone in the bunch who doesn’t seem to fit? Take video or pictures or whatever you can in case we need to identify someone later on.”

Malcolm nodded. “I’m on it.”

“Wait,” Evangeline interrupted. “Malcolm stays with me in the morning. Both he and Cali are nearby.”

“Well, now you’ll have me,” I said and gave her a fake, tight smile.

“No,” she said, her shoulders stiffening in defiance. “You go and watch the crowd. I want Malcolm with me.”

“Newsflash, princess. You’re not calling the shots. I am. And I say I’m going to be with you. Get used to it.”

“Since I’m the one who hired you, I’m the one who gets to make the final decisions. I’ll call Sebastian and get it worked out.”

That was it. I reached out and grabbed her arm before she turned away. Malcolm and his guys were instantly on their feet ready to defend her. One look from me and they all relaxed. “Listen, you are not going to call Sebastian every time you don’t get your way. This is why I called you immature. Only a child feels the need to tattle when they don’t get what they want. Like it or not, I’m the guy here to protect you. Quit fighting every damn thing I do and say. I’m not asking to be your friend or confidante, but dammit, you’re going to listen to me and do what I tell you. Are we clear?”

She stared at me for so long with eyes filled with such fire and hatred that I felt like she was burning my skin off. Abruptly she yanked her arm free. “If you call me a child again, when you’ve done nothing but act childish yourself, I promise you won’t like the consequences. You have no idea how much I despise you.”

Part of me was kind of impressed—since most people didn’t put up much of a fight when I was trying to intimidate them—but the other part of me was just annoyed.

“Oh yeah?” I said through clenched teeth. “I don’t fucking care. I guess I’ll have to cancel my fan club membership and rip up my glittery card.”

She was so furious she was shaking with it, but there was also a glint of tears in her eyes.

Shit.

In a flash, she pulled herself together and looked over at Malcolm. “Let’s go,” she said and walked away to pick up her jacket and purse. And then, as regally as any member of the royal family, she stood by the door and waited for her entourage to take their places before leaving the room.

She almost pulled it off except for her last-minute twist around to flip me off.

And damn if she didn’t look sexy as hell doing it.