He nodded and lightly touched my chin. “You’re red just here.”
I pulled my face away from him and shrugged. “I accidentally rubbed my makeup off. It’s fine.”
Gerald motioned us out. “No time for touch-ups. Come on. Let’s meet your fans.”
I let him lead me out and held my breath as I faced the crowd. Forcing a smile, I felt my stomach sink and my feet still. I had so far to go to get to the table I was supposed to sit behind. I couldn’t do it. There were cameras flashing and lights that were so bright. I couldn’t breathe.
A firm hand on my lower back dragged me back to reality. “Tell me if you need me to get you out of here.”
Just those whispered words against my ear had my body heating up. All my breath heaved out in one big gust and then I felt myself moving forward again. Glancing back at Tucker, I sent him a real smile, grateful that he’d been willing to help.
I sat behind the table, my little fortress from the mass of people, and kept a smile on my face as some random woman introduced me. Then it was my time to be on. The event was just a meet-and-greet, which meant that I just had to sit there and sign copies of my books and talk to people for a few seconds each. I hugged people and took pictures with them.
The whole time, I was very aware of Tucker standing behind me. So were many of the women. It was hard not to notice him. He was a big man, with big looks. He was handsome in a way that made you think of dirty things, and I was sure he knew it.
At the complete opposite end of the pleasure spectrum, there was Gerald, hovering in the other direction. He kept staring at me like some scientist watching a butterfly before pinning it to a piece of cardboard. It was like he was getting ready to dissect me. I was already sure he knew just what parts he would want taken out.
Somehow I made it through the event. I smiled. I hugged. I took pictures. I was Charlotte. I was Charlotte on steroids. I felt like if I gave anything less than one hundred percent, I’d start to crack apart at the edges. My Charlie would show and everyone would know what a fake I was.
By the time we were leaving, I was exhausted. Leaving the mall, there were a few times when I wasn’t sure I’d even make it to the car. I’d given everything I had and I was paying for it.
Chapter 8
Tucker
I glanced at Charlotte in the rearview mirror and frowned. She’d barely made it back to the car. She’d looked like she was going to fall over, like a strong breeze would’ve sent her tumbling. As soon as she’d gotten in the backseat, she’d leaned against the window and fallen asleep. She looked peaceful back there. Gone were the scowl and the unhappy expressions. The little wrinkle between her eyebrows was smoothed out and she honestly looked kind of sweet.
Beside her was Gerald, who I wanted to lay my hands on. He was possibly the human embodiment of an actual pile of steaming shit. He was on his phone, yapping away to someone. He kept looking over at Charlotte and sighing, like she was some big inconvenience instead of the cash cow she was for him. He was also talking loudly and bouncing his foot hard enough to shake the damn car.
I’d heard him yell at her. I wouldn’t ever lie and say that I was the best to women; I slept with them and never planned on calling them again. But I’d never yelled at one of them. It wasn’t something you did. Yet, he’d raised his voice—and, if I wasn’t mistaken, had grabbed her face. The missing makeup from her face had been in the right spot for someone having grabbed her chin.
It made me irate. I didn’t even like Charlotte all that much and it still made me want to break his fucking hands, maybe his face. It was obvious, even to me, that something was going on with the woman. She’d been more nervous than anyone I’d ever seen before, going out to face that crowd. She’d been shaking. Yet, she was doing it. It didn’t make sense. If it made her so nervous, why was Gerald pushing her to do it? It wasn’t like she was short on money. At least it didn’t seem that way.
I didn’t like whatever was happening. Gerald was coming across as a not-so-nice guy and I was feeling sorry for Charlotte. I didn’t want to feel sorry for Charlotte. She was the same woman who’d just demanded I be fired that morning. To be fair, I had been bothering her on purpose. I didn’t think it’d get to her that much, though.
Whatever was happening in Charlotte’s world couldn’t be good. I decided that I’d keep an eye on it, while still remaining aloof about her. It wasn’t that I gave a shit. I just didn’t stand for anyone being treated poorly.
I pulled up to the front door of Charlotte’s house and had barely gotten out when Gerald brushed past me on his way inside. I cleared my throat and held up my hands. What the fuck did he want me to do with Charlotte? The little asshole didn’t even glance back at me.
I wanted to punch him square in the throat. I shook my head and made my way around to Charlotte’s door. She was leaning against it so heavily that when I opened it, she came out with the door. I had to catch her and ease her back up.
The light scent of some kind of citrus teased me and I had this insane moment of wondering where she put her perfume. I’d watched my mom put it behind her ears when I was little, but I had a feeling that Charlotte put it somewhere lower, somewhere more interesting.
“Charlotte.”
She lightly snored and curled into my arm. Something about that snore was more charming than anything else I’d seen from her. The super-special Charlotte Crier-Banks snored. I couldn’t help but smile as I tried again to wake her up.
“Wake up, Charlotte.”
That time, her eyes fluttered open and she gasped. Her grip was still tight on my arm, however. “What are you doing?”
I rolled my eyes. “Trying to wake you up. I figured you wouldn’t want to sleep in the car.”
She pressed her head into the seat and frowned. “You can move now.”
I raised my eyebrow and looked down at where she had my arm. “Can I?”
She looked down and immediately released me. Her cheeks turned pink and she tucked that bottom lip between her teeth again. “Sorry. I must have thought you were John.”
The words sounded hollow, but they annoyed me just the same. Her asshole of a husband was cheating on her with her asshole of a manager. Did she not know? I stared at her, wondering if I had some responsibility to tell her, when her mouth opened in a yawn so deep that her jaw popped.
“Still pretty exhausted, huh?”
She looked embarrassed. “I’m fine. I still have a full day ahead of me.”
I looked at my watch. It was late afternoon. “How?”
“I have to work out and do some writing. Then I have to go to dinner at a new restaurant tonight. With John. Then more writing—and I need to find some time to try out new ideas.”
“Why are you working out so much? You’re too skinny as it is.”
That furrow was back between her brows and she was scowling. “No one asked your opinion on my body.”
I stood up and moved away from the door so she could get out. “You’re right.”
She climbed out and adjusted her dress. “What? No smart remark?”
“I think you’ve had a hard enough day already.”
She stared at me for a few seconds and then sighed. Without saying anything else, she walked inside and didn’t look back at me. It was probably for the best.
I took care of putting the car back in the garage and then made my rounds around the house. I did the same inside, just to see Charlotte already in the workout room with Carlos. She looked like she was barely standing and it pissed me off to see that anyone would let her work out in the condition she was in. It wasn’t my place to say anything, though. Instead, I finished my rounds and went to stand by the front door. As soon as John got in, I was leaving. I needed a break from Charlotte and the messed-up shit in her house.
I made myself think of going out later and finding someone to take home with me. I needed a quick fuck and someone to help soothe my nerves. Maybe a redhead. Definitely not a blonde. I doubted I’d ever be able to bring a blonde home
again.
A little while later John showed up, looking every bit the douche that he was. He flipped his sunglasses onto his head and nodded at me as he walked by. An irrational amount of anger surged through my body and I thought of how good it would feel to hit him one good time.
“You can go.”
I told myself not to actually hit him. “You don’t set my hours.”
He looked shocked that I’d actually talked back to him.
Before he could say anything else, I walked past him into the house and decided to make my rounds again. Just for the hell of it. On the top floor, I passed by the small office that Charlotte used and caught a glimpse of her behind her computer. She had on glasses that took up half of her face and softened her look.
She glanced up at me and immediately bit her lip. When she saw me look at it, she released it and sighed. “You’re not the boss of me.”
I grinned. “The glasses are cute.”
She blushed and pulled them off right away. “They’re not cute. They’re for reading.”
“So they can’t be cute?”
“No—I need them.”
“Again, so they can’t be cute?”
She sighed. “Go away.”
I laughed. “Just a heads-up. John’s home.”
The look on her face said it all. She wasn’t happy about that. She worried that lip back between her teeth and nodded. She looked sad and desolate.
I was opening my mouth to ask her about it when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and nodded to her. “I’m heading out.”
I stepped into the hallway and answered the phone. “Fields.”
“Tucker, they arrested Mercer again.”
I swore. “On what charges?”
Lauren choked back a sob. “They said something about the first charges being incomplete. They took him from the Granger job and led him away. He called me from the jail. He didn’t even sound like himself, Tucker.”
“Did you call everyone else?”
She cleared her throat. “You were the first number I dialed. Will you call them? I’m at the jail now. They won’t let me see him. They won’t let him out. They said that the judge isn’t in his office. They won’t let me bail him out.”
I swore again.
“Everything okay, Tucker?”
I looked back at Charlotte and the worry on her face was enough to make me appreciate her a little more in that moment. “Lauren, I’ll call the guys and get there soon. We’ll figure something out.”
“Hurry.”
I hung up and ran my hand through my hair. “I’ve got to go.”
Charlotte nodded and crossed her arms under her chest. “I hope everything’s okay.”
“You and me both.”
I left with the image of her standing there, watching me leave. It felt oddly intimate and I made a note to myself to stay the fuck away from her. She was trouble. Just because she’d shown a hint of a human side didn’t mean she wasn’t a giant pain in the ass who wanted me fired.
I had bigger things to worry about, anyway.
Mercer being in jail meant that he was going a little crazy. After being a prisoner of war, he didn’t do well with being confined. I couldn’t blame him. None of us would do well in a cell. Mercer was worse than any of us, though. He’d lost parts of himself.
After we’d gotten him out the last time, I’d thought all of the shit would be over and done with. That obviously wasn’t the case, though. The cops weren’t doing their job to clear his name. They were working towards the conclusion that he was guilty and not taking other ideas into consideration. It didn’t bode well for Mercer.
We all knew Mercer. We’d all known him for years. There was no way he’d killed an innocent. He’d always taken the honor thing seriously. He didn’t do things that hurt people. Except for Lauren, maybe, but he wasn’t trying to hurt her. He just wasn’t paying attention.
We had to do something and figure this shit out with him. He couldn’t afford to sit in a jail and rot away for very long. We had to get him out of there.
I hightailed it away from Charlotte’s and dialed the guys on the way. Mercer needed us. Lauren needed us.
Chapter 9
Charlie
I conditioned my hair before shampooing it in the shower. I wasn’t paying attention. I was thinking of the look on Tucker’s face when he’d listened to whatever the person on the other end of his call had said. He never seemed very serious. There was always an easy air to him—and that made it even more alarming when he’d gotten serious so suddenly.
I felt like I should be worried. I knew it had nothing to do with me, but seeing him so serious had made me feel like there was a national emergency that I hadn’t heard about. I was reminded of a movie I’d watched when I was younger about a meteor heading for earth. I felt like that, like there was something big heading towards me and I couldn’t see it yet. Tucker knew, though. It was a weird feeling, to say the least. It made me want to see him and make sure everything was okay.
I had to condition my hair again and then rush through the rest of getting ready. I pulled on a pair of dress pants with a pretty blouse and heels that were almost dangerous to walk in before finding Sharon and letting her do my hair and makeup. The whole time, I remained quiet. I was lost in thought about who Tucker actually was and what had gone wrong.
I shook my head to clear it of thoughts of Tucker, making Sharon smear lipstick across my face.
“Oh, Charlotte! What are you doing?” She grabbed a makeup remover wipe and immediately started working at my face. “Jesus. You would do that when I’m putting a red lipstick on you.”
I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m sorry.”
“What’s going on in your head? You seem like you’re in a different world.”
The sad thing was, Sharon was the closest thing I had to a friend. She was paid to spend time with me and probably didn’t even like me, but she was the only person who ever took the time to actually talk to me. That didn’t mean I would ever tell her things, though. She thought John and I were a couple. I could hardly say that I couldn’t get my mind off my bodyguard.
“I don’t know. It’s nothing. It’s just been a long day.” I blew out a breath and forced a laugh. “I’m so sorry that I messed up your work. I can’t believe I did that. I was on another planet.”
She laughed lightly and squeezed my shoulder. “Girl, it’s okay. Just try to stay still, okay? Gerald asked me to have you done as fast as I could.”
I did as I was told and ten minutes later I was out the door and John was revving the engine and speeding off to wherever we were going. Before we were even out of the driveway, Gerald was calling, though.
“Tell John to drive a decent speed. He’s not auditioning for fucking NASCAR.” He waited while I repeated the message and then kept talking. “You’re going to be at Gigi’s tonight. The owner is Giana Morelli. She invited you hoping to get an idea about her private dining room. Don’t fuck it up.”
“Wait—what?” I shook my head. “I’m supposed to design her dining room tonight?”
“Yeah. It’s what you do. Do it right and you’ll have the job. We can cover it on the podcast and the show.”
“Gerald, I’m not prepared for anything. I don’t even have a notepad.”
“Use a fucking napkin. Jesus. I thought you were the creative one here. I don’t care what you use. Just make it work, Charlotte. And tell John to come to my office when you get home. I have a job I need to talk to him about.”
I listened as he hung up on me and then dropped my phone into my clutch. “Gerald says to come to his office after dinner.”
John just shrugged and kept speeding towards downtown.
“Did you see Tucker leave today?”
John pushed at the stereo, searching for a good station. “Tucker?”
“The guard?”
“Oh. No. Why?”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes so hard they got lost in the back
of my head. “No reason.”
He punched the button to turn the sound off and glanced over at me. “You’ve got the hots for him, huh?”
“Oh, fuck off. I don’t have the hots for him. He just left in a weird way today and I was worried. Because I’m a decent human being.”
He laughed. “You’ve got the hots for the hired help.”
I shook my head. “You’re an idiot.”
“You know what the best part is?” He realized I wasn’t going to respond and grunted. “The best part is that you can’t even touch the guy. You even try and Gerald would have him fired so fast.”
A car swerved in front of us and I lost John’s attention as he focused on screaming and shouting at the driver. I held on to the door handle and squeezed my eyes shut as his driving became even worse in his anger.
Just when I thought we were going to die, John parked us in front of the restaurant and patted my thigh. “Come on. Let’s continue this great time inside.”
He got out and I watched as he practically hovered around the car. His energy level was way higher than it normally was and it struck me that John was most likely on some kind of drug.
A man in a suit caught John’s attention and said something to him while gesturing to the car. John got in the guy’s face and then turned back around, his face bright red and his eyes bulging.
He got back in the car and slammed the door. “There’s no fucking valet tonight. On their opening night, they don’t have a goddamn valet. What’s wrong with this shithole?”
I held my breath as John lurched the car forward and pulled into the parking space that was open just a few feet ahead. As soon as he cut the car off, I was out and straightening my pants. My heart was hammering away in my chest. I had this fear that was bouncing around in my head. What if John made a huge spectacle of himself? Then I thought… what if he did? Maybe I’d be free. Was that what I wanted?
Before I had a chance to think it over, John appeared at my side, put-together and smiling. “Shall we?”
I frowned as he took my arm and led me towards the front door. The same man in the suit stepped back upon seeing John, but John just flashed him a toothy grin and shrugged his shoulders, like he didn’t know what had come over him.
Black Dog Security- Complete 5-Part Series Page 36