Chapter 4
Veronica
My alarm started blasting that stupid Miley Cyrus song and I groaned, not wanting to leave the comforts of my bed. My soft satin sheets, 900-thread count were meant for long hours of sleep, relaxation, and sex…
Okay, cut that last part. The Lord knows I sure as hell wasn’t getting any of that.
I slammed the heel of my palm on top of the alarm button and sighed as the sweet silence returned in my room. I smiled a little as I buried my hands under my pillow and felt the slow pull of slumber spreading through my body—
Until I heard the door bang and the sound of a noisemaker’s horn blasting so loud I jumped out of bed.
“I knew you’d be going to sleep again!” Sasha cried, coming over and looking down at me from my spot on the floor with her hands on her hips. “That’s why I took it upon myself to get your ass out of bed,” she said.
“But did you really have to do it so painfully?” I grunted, getting on my knees and massaging my bum. She laughed at me, as if seeing me in pain was fucking hilarious. I’d like to see her fall five feet out of bed.
“That, my dear, was a bonus,” she quipped, and I rolled my eyes at her and got to my feet, fixing my night gown. “Come on, Henry will be here any minute, and we have plenty of things to discuss,” she said, clapping her hands together excitedly. I rolled my eyes once more.
“Great. Can’t wait. Now can you please get out of my room so I could shower? Maybe get dressed for the day?” I asked, my voice bleeding with sarcasm. It was her turn to roll her eyes at me but she walked out anyways, waving her hand in the air to get me to hurry up.
If I were a petty person, I’d probably take my sweet time and make Sasha and Henry wait for ruining my plans of staying in bed all day…but I wasn’t. As much as I found these work discussions boring and really draining, I cared a lot about my job. I put in a lot of work to get to where I am, and slacking off even just a little bit could kill my career in a heartbeat.
So I heeded Sasha’s advice and took a quick shower, giving my hair a run through once with my brush, and picked a black tank top with the Game of Thrones logo on top, and a pair of workout leggings to wear for the day. Regardless of how important Sasha made today out to be, it was still my day off, so I was wearing my casual and comfy clothes at home, and maybe get a little workout in. This body isn’t going to keep looking this good without me putting in the work, after all.
I pulled a pair of white beach sandals on and went downstairs, resisting the urge to slide over the banister like I usually did when I was alone. I peered down below and saw Sasha sitting on the couch, her eyes fixed on the TV screen, flipping through the channels aimlessly with her head perched on her knuckles. No sign of Henry yet.
The doorbell rang and Sasha threw the remote on the couch as she stood up to get the door. Huh, speak of the devil.
I walked over to the couch and sat down as Sasha let Henry in, the latter carrying a brown folder, as well as that small bag he always carried around. He was wearing another brown business suit again, and I wondered whether he only had one pair he always used, or if he had a closet full of the same brown suit over and over. I shuddered to think the latter was true, but that would be totally creepy, and despite Henry’s appearance, he was actually more of a father figure than—okay, I was not going to get into that.
“Hello, Ronnie! How have you been?” he asked cheerfully, sitting down on the solo couch facing me. I smiled and shifted my position so I was sitting with my legs crossed like I was about to meditate.
“Hey, Henry. Everything’s okay with me. Why do you ask?”
“Considering you almost got kidnapped, pumpkin, of course I’d be worried about you,” he said, his brows furrowing in concern.
I shook my head as I felt my brain start to retrieve the memory of what happened, refusing to remember it again. I was safe and sound, so there was nothing to worry about.
“That’s really sweet of you, Henry, but I promise I’m doing just fine,” I assured him.
“Regardless, we can’t deny that this situation has made us see the light,” Sasha said, prompting Henry to nod in agreement. “The action of this crazy stalker of yours, whoever he is, has escalated to the point where it’s endangering your safety. I’m actually ashamed to face you right now,” she continued, her eyes downcast and her shoulders slumping with regret. “If I had taken those threats, those letters he sent seriously, then that incident back in Arclight would’ve been avoided. I am so sorry Veronica.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Sasha. You couldn’t have known what was going to happen. You don’t have to beat yourself up over it,” I told her, accepting her apology.
“That said, we both thought it would be best to tighten security around here, just to be sure nothing like that happens again,” Henry said.
“Well yeah, sure, if you think that’s the right thing to do,” I said, not seeing anything wrong with his statement. He nodded, smiling lightly.
“Most excellent. I’m glad you see it that way. Which brings us to the next topic,” he said, placing the folder he was holding on the coffee table and I picked it up to review the contents. A file with a grainy picture of a guy was attached to the file, and I have to say, even with such a crappy quality, the guy at the picture was pretty good-looking. His angular jawline could cut glass, at the very least.
“Veronica, we thought it would be best to hire someone to protect you. You know, someone to look out for you at all times, be it at home or during your shootings or appearances, that sort of thing,” Sasha said brightly, and I wrinkled my brows at her in confusion.
“Wait a minute—what do you mean by ‘all times’ and ‘be it at home’?” I asked, looking at the two of them. They looked at each other quickly, almost as if they want the other to answer my question for them. “You don’t mean he’s going to stay here and stick to my side 24/7, right?” I said, laughing a little at my ridiculous idea.
They didn’t laugh at my joke, and the expressions on their faces quickly killed the humor in mine.
“No,” I said, and Sasha groaned.
“I knew you were going to say that, but if you just considered--,” she started to explain but I cut her off.
“There is nothing to consider, I am not going to have some random guy come here and take away my privacy!” I said, getting up from the couch and making my way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I threw the folder onto the island before grabbing a glass from the cupboards.
I could not believe they were even trying to convince me to go along with this. I mean, they knew how much I valued my alone time. I needed this little piece of privacy I had for myself after hours and hours of being exposed every single day. How could they do this to me?
“Pumpkin, please stop overreacting about this. This is your safety we are talking about here!” Henry said, the both of them following me into the kitchen. “Look, I know you want to be by yourself, but at the current state of things, it’s just not an option right now,” he said.
“So I’ll get Leila to stay with me for a few days,” I countered, offering up another solution. Sasha grimaced and shook her head.
“It’s not that easy. Sure, you’ll have company with you, but neither Leila nor you are capable of defending yourselves should something dangerous arise. Also, she can’t hang around with you during your appearances for the movie,” she replied, shutting down my idea. “You need to be around someone who’s experienced, someone who could protect you if things go awry.”
“But we’re talking about a total stranger here,” I said, still not willing to accept the idea. “How sure are you that this--,” I waved my hand over to the folder on the island. “—guy is even any good? Or trustworthy, at least?” I asked them.
“Remember that man back in Arclight? Chase Lincoln?” Henry asked, and I nodded, remembering the redheaded guy who saved me. But he looked nothing like the guy in the picture. So what did he have to do with this?
“He ran the security detail for Arclight Hollywood that day,” Sasha answered, reading my mind. “Henry talked to him about setting you up with security yourself, and he’s sending this guy.”
“Why can’t he be my bodyguard then? I mean, I know him, he saved me already. I trust him,” I said. I was beginning to understand they weren’t going to drop this ‘bodyguard’ thing no matter what, so I was going to look for a silver lining. I mean, it was better to entrust my life to a man I barely know than to a complete stranger, right?
“The thought had crossed my mind,” Henry said, raising his hand to fiddle with the side of his mustache. “I actually asked him if he would personally take on the job, but he told me he didn’t think he was the appropriate person to do it.”
I scoffed at this.
“And this guy is?” I asked. “This--,” I picked up the folder and read his file again. “This ‘Jason Keyes’? What does he even do, anyway?” I asked, irritated. Sasha shrugged, raising her arms up in an ‘I-don’t-know’ gesture.
“But hey, at least he’s hot, huh?” she said, trying to placate me.
Unbelievable.