Chapter 41

 

 

Ryan got back to the hotel and stopped at the desk. “Hey, I believe you changed my room already?” he said.

“Name?” the hostess asked, then looked up with wide eyes. “Never mind, Mr. King.”

He rolled his eyes. “Is the room changed yet?”

“We have new keys for you and Raven. We put you in the penthouse. No extra charge. They haven’t moved yet. I’m afraid Raven Star is still in 810 with our security manager.”

“Thank you.”

She slid him the keys, then gulped. “Could I get your autograph?”

Nodding, he reached for a pen. “On what?”

She dug up an envelope and passed it to him. He wrote his name and took the keys.

“Have a good stay, Mr. King.”

Luke chuckled as he caught up. “Even pissed off, they want your autograph.”

“Whatever, she’d probably ask for your number if you had gone to the desk with me.”

He glanced back. “I don’t know, she’s still checking out your ass.”

“Perfect.” He stepped onto the elevator. “Sorry. I’m pissed.”

“Don’t blame you. You should ice your hands, though.”

He glanced down. A bruised, swollen mess. The pain hadn’t hit yet, but he figured it would. “Doesn’t matter. Shannon’s never going to listen.”

“He will. Sooner or later, he will.”

He didn’t say another word until they stepped into the room. “Sorry I had to leave. Everything okay?” Ryan asked.

“Sam is working on finding us a house in Tuscany that’s closer to the shoot than the hotel. He’s already working on hiring Shannon’s company to watch over me, and both of you.”

“Great,” Luke muttered.

Leona shot him a look. “This guy is a problem. Better to be safe.”

“I suggested it,” Raven admitted. “You are seen with me, just like Ryan is. I’d rather make sure we’re all safe.”

Luke nodded. “Hopefully, we won’t notice them constantly with us.”

Raven shrugged. “You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t care if I notice. I’d rather make sure the stalker doesn’t get anywhere near me.”

The security manager came back from the bathroom. “The cameras caught someone entering and leaving your room, but didn’t have a view of his face.”

Ryan ran his fingers through his hair. “At least I have keycards to another room.”

“I took the liberty of packing your things and mine. I’m ready if you are,” Raven said.

Leona stood up. “Want us to help?”

“Nah, we got this,” Ryan said, then turned to Luke. “Thank you.”

Luke hugged Raven. “Anytime. And we’ll figure this out.” Then he squeezed Ryan’s shoulders.

Ryan nodded but motioned for the door. “Go on.”

“See you in the morning,” Leona said.

“Yeah, good night.” Raven hugged her before they left.

Ryan took his bags while the security guy got hers. “Let me, it’s the least I can do,” he said.

“Thank you,” she answered.

They headed for the elevator and went up to the penthouse. The guy stopped at the door. “Just to be sure, may I check first?”

Ryan handed him a key.

He stepped inside and Raven asked, “What happened with Max?”

Ryan leaned against the wall and met her gaze. “Fucked up his face. I would have done worse, but Luke wouldn’t let me.”

“Smart man.”

“Rocco also apologized. Told me to tell you he’s sorry and he’s worried about you.”

She snorted. “Fuck him. What did Max do?”

“Called Shannon while some asshole was going down on him. Called my name. Pretty sure he convinced Shannon I was fucking around with him. I don’t know if I can fix this.”

Raven’s eyes popped wide. “Oh my God, what a slimy bastard.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s worse than the video of Luke. At least when they showed the whole thing, it was clear what happened.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

“We can still fix this,” Raven said.

He wasn’t so sure.

The security guy came out. “All clear. You two have a good night.”

“Thank you,” Raven said. Ryan dipped his head and they went in.

He dumped his bags in a bedroom and went to the alcohol cabinet without a word.

Raven joined him. “We shouldn’t have gone.”

Ryan shook his head. “Only then you would have been there when that asshole entered your room.”

She blew out a breath. “I’ll call him.”

“Won’t do any good.”

She squeezed her hands shut. “Well, I can’t imagine Shannon not coming out here when they send people from his company.”

“If they even take the job.” He rubbed at his face. “I want to kill that bastard.” He was sick to his stomach thinking about that bullshit.

“Max?”

“Yeah. The fucking prick is lucky the guy who was on him didn’t beat the shit out of him too. Luke got him to leave.”

“Will he tell everyone?” Leona asked.

“Don’t know, don’t care. Would make shit easier if he did,” Ryan grumbled.

“You sound like Luke, wanting Leona to hate him and blast him all over to find her faster.”

“Not so simple. I’m stuck here. I can’t go to him. And he won’t answer his fucking phone. Luke realized his mistake with Tara and washed his hands of her. Me, I fucked around with Max, even though he was a cheating bastard and I knew it.”

“I did the same with Rocco.”

“He wasn’t fucking around while he was actually with you,” Ryan snapped back. He paced away when he noticed the surprise on her face. “Shit, sorry, I’m just pissed off at Max. I’ll shut up while I try to figure out how to get through to Shannon.”

“You’re friends with his business partner, right?” Raven asked. “Had dinner with him? Hung out with them on a few occasions?”

“What good will that do? He lives across the hall from Shannon. Peter was probably the first person he called.”

“Call Peter. Sam is already in contact with him. He does most of the contracts anyway. And the last I heard, he was taking the job, which means Peter doesn’t know. Call and set him straight before Shannon has a chance to convince him otherwise.”

A spark of hope shone for a second before dimming. But really, what did he have to lose?

“Okay.” He pulled his phone out and looked up C&O Security and found Peter’s number. It was late, but he needed to try.

It only rang once before he heard, “This is Peter Carver.”

“Hi, Peter. This is Ryan King, and hopefully Shannon hasn’t told you anything. I need you to hear me out before he makes this look really fucking bad.”

“What are you talking about?” Peter asked slowly.

“Shannon thinks I was fucking around with an old ex, Max Snyder. And I did sleep with him a few nights before meeting Shannon, but I haven’t touched him since. Wait, I beat the shit out of him when I found out what he did, but I didn’t touch him sexually. The bastard stole my damned phone.”

“Okay, wait, slow down. What the hell is going on?”

Ryan explained everything that happened that night before continuing. “Shannon won’t answer his phone now. And I get it. But I didn’t do what he thinks I did. I wouldn’t have. I need your help to figure out how to get through to him, because I love Shannon.”

“Ah fuck. That’s not going to be easy.”

“Yeah, I know. But Raven has a stalker. He’s been in two separate hotel rooms. I understand our agent already talked to you about hiring C&O Security to protect her, and you’re all planning bodyguards for Luke and me as well.”

“Well, in this case, yeah. Okay, so you have Raven Star and Luke Chance ready to back you up?”

“I do.”

“Fuck, let me think.”

Ryan let him.

“Max Snyder really stole your phone and had some other asshole give him a blow job? You aren’t just trying to cover your ass?”

“Damn it, I’m not lying. I didn’t even want to go to the club, but with Raven’s stalker, I couldn’t let her go by herself. Seeing how she has an on again off again relationship with Rocco, she needed someone with her. I know this all looks bad. I do. But I didn’t do that. I was with Raven, Luke, and Leona. I didn’t even realize my phone was gone until I got back to the hotel.”

Raven tore the phone out of his hand, hit speaker, and turned up the hysterics, “Ryan was with me. It’s my fault. I should have stayed in, but that would have been bad too. The asshole stalker could have come into my room while I was there.” She dissolved into tears. “Ryan is my best friend. I wouldn’t make this up. You can ask Luke too. Ryan’s knuckles are busted up from hitting Max repeatedly.”

“I’ll do what I can, but I may need to call you back, Ryan. I have a feeling we’re going to have to play dirty to get him to listen. I know how he is, and if he’s as hurt as I imagine he would be after something like that, he’s not going to listen to reason yet.”

“Just tell me what I can do to fix this.”

“I’ll work out the plan and tell him about it tomorrow. You guys are leaving Montreal in a few days. That gives me time to figure out how this works. But I’ll get him out there, then it’s on you to fix it. Might take help from Raven and Luke.”

“Thank you. That’s what I need, a chance.”

“You’ll have it. But if it turns out you really fucked around with Max, you’ll regret ever meeting Shannon. And not because he’ll do anything, but Shannon does not deserve that shit.”

“He doesn’t. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” He hung up.

Ryan sat on the bed and dropped his head into his hands. “What a goddamned mess.”

“Peter’s listening,” Raven said, the tears gone, a hint of a smile on her face.

God, he loved her. She was freaked out, but she had something else to focus on, so she was helping him any way she could.

“Ryan, we’ll fix this,” Raven promised.

And he still felt hopeless. “I hope so.”

“Shannon can’t ignore all of us. He’s going to have to face you at some point.