Deep in the Heart: An Austin After Dark Book

by Alexa Padgett

  Cam pressed a kiss to my temple. “All right. I won’t ask you again to get a pistol. But we’ll practice. Keep your aim sharp.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck. This was what a relationship should be. Caring. And compromise because of the caring. “I can do that.”

  “Later. Right now, I need to hold you a bit.”

  We snuggled together as mosquitoes buzzed and birds chattered. The water rushed by, relaxing us both. Sometime later, when my eyes grew heavy, Cam shifted me before tilting up my chin.

  “No other bombshells I need to know about?”

  I dropped my eyes as I shook my head.

  “Good. Let’s head up. We’ll have some lunch.”

  My stomach clenched, and I knew I wouldn’t eat much.

  The warm feeling Cam created on our date lingered long enough for him to talk me into attending his show Sunday. Listening to Cam play live—even with a tinny, store-bought guitar—proved again how much I liked him.

  “You look at him just like he looks at you,” Kate said, coming to stand next to me backstage where I stood, entranced by Cam’s ability. As if he sensed my eyes on him, he turned his head and winked.

  A soft sigh fluttered from my mouth.

  “Damn, girl, you got it bad.”

  My face flushed hot, and I wondered if I’d made a mistake to invite Cam’s sister to come into the shop. She tended to be more, well, difficult to manage than I’d anticipated. As if she read my thoughts, she turned toward me just as Cam finished his song.

  “I don’t have to come in if you’re having second thoughts.”

  “Oh.” My cheeks heated again. “I’m not sure it’ll work out, but, you know, it’d be fun to see how we’d fit together in a professional setting.”

  Crap in a crabtree. Why hadn’t I considered that I’d be Kate’s boss. Yeah. Awkward.

  Cam leaned into the microphone. “As y’all know, I’m playing a show at Fort Bliss on Independence Day.”

  He waited for the hollering and applause to die down. “One of the reasons is because I spent seven years in the Army. I believe in our independence.” Again he waited for the applause to fade. “And in our military men and women. The vets. Those who don’t get to come home but leave behind grieving families.”

  Cam strummed the guitar. The melody was soft, haunting. I brought my hands up to my lips. This song touched me each time I heard it, and that was before I found out Cam wrote it for one of his soldiers.

  Kate bumped my shoulder with hers. “He’s got talent. Not just for the melody and lyrics but for drawing out the right emotion in the crowd.”

  I nodded, still wrapped up in Cam’s mesmerizing voice and larger-than-life personality.

  “I’ll see you on tomorrow, Jenna. Thanks again for letting me swing by,” Kate said as Cam finished his last song. “I’m really excited about talking with you more.”

  “Sure. See you.”

  How to explain her presence to Pop-pop? I shrugged the worry off and focused on Cam, smiling as he walked toward me. He wrapped me in his arms, and I reveled in this man’s ability to tug me close with such ease.

  I placed my hands on his cheeks and leaned in to kiss him. “You are an amazing performer.”

  He shrugged. “Would have been a better concert with a better instrument.”

  “I’ll be back at it tomorrow,” I said.

  Cam shook his head. One of the dark locks of his hair stuck to his damp brow. “Didn’t mean it to be a swipe. I’m a little off-kilter. Talking about my soldiers does that to me.”

  I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out a hard candy, letting it lie in my flat palm.

  “You bought me Werther’s?” He took the caramel and unwrapped it. After popping it into his mouth, he leaned down and kissed me again.

  “You’re better than any candy, Sweet Jenna Marie.”

  I pressed my lips to his, hard, needing him to understand how much I cared, not only about his kind words but about him.

  “Let’s get out of here.” Cam threw his arm over my shoulder.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  Cam stopped walking and handed his guitar to one of the roadies that he’d introduced me to earlier. Cam’s team was larger than my friends in Lummi Nation but smaller than some of the bigger acts I’d made instruments for. Made sense, but I was more shocked by the fact Cam knew everyone’s name. Lots of the people who worked for him used to be under his command. Apparently, his desire to help, to protect, rolled over into his desire to employ his former soldiers. Kate told me he made sure they had health insurance and retirement plans—at a significant cost out of his own bottom line.

  He dipped his head at a large man in the corner wearing all black. At my gaze, Cam headed in his direction.

  “Chuck, this is Jenna. My girlfriend.” My brows drew together at the emphasis on “my”.

  Chuck laughed. “I get that, chief. Hey, Jenna. Glad you’re with Cam, here.”

  “Chuck’s my head of security,” Cam said. “And one of my best friends. He was my second-in-command during my last three tours.”

  Something dark moved in both their eyes. Not good memories, wherever they went.

  “You headed out?” Chuck asked.

  Cam nodded.

  Chuck motioned us forward and fell in a few paces behind. I glanced back but Chuck wasn’t looking at us; his eyes darted around, assessing the people backstage. No doubt trying to find risks before they became threats.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  Cam glanced down at me from the corner of his eye. “You okay if I stay at your place tonight?”

  “Um. Sure.”

  Cam stopped walking a few steps from the back door. “You don’t sound sure.”

  My cheeks reddened as I worried about Chuck overhearing our conversation. Why was this so weird? I liked Cam, wanted to spend more time with him, but something about him having a huge staff caused my chest to tighten and proved, yet again, how different our lives were.

  “No, I want you there,” I said quickly.

  Cam narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t believe me. I pushed open the doorway and pulled Cam into the dark night.

  The screams were the first indication something was wrong. The second was the slam of still-shrieking bodies. The breath hissed from my lungs with one particularly hard swipe of an elbow or knee.

  I started to fall, fear causing my ears to ring and dark spots to fill my vision. Cam yelled, as did Chuck, but the fear from the shifting press of bodies overwhelmed me. I tried to get upright, but I couldn’t breathe, and when another blow came to my solar plexus, I whimpered as I collapsed.

  Cam lifted me in his arms, holding me tight and high, away from the clawing hands but nearer the screaming mouths. I shuddered, pressing my face into his neck and cinching my arms tight around him. My breath broke into staccato pants.

  “Step back,” Cam shouted. “Y’all need to give us some space. Jenna’s hurt.”

  I heard other men bellowing. More people pressed against my back, and I clung tighter to Cam and his familiar scent. I focused on the feel of his shoulders under my hands, trying to drown out the high-pitched squeals.

  Ambushed by fans. I heard the words, but they didn’t compute in my frazzled mind. I forced my eyes tight, trying to hold in the tears, the hysteria that threatened to burst forth. I was there, back there, on the floor of that other club, surrounded by people who were supposed to be my friends, their feet and knees within inches of my face. I pleaded to Ben, who stood over me, to step back so I could stand. To help me up.

  He laughed. An ugly, harsh sound. Then he walked away as more bodies swarmed over me.

  Before I could process further, Cam jogged forward, his gait unsteady. Chuck yelled from my right, another man answered from the left. Where were we going? I wanted to ask, but I was too afraid, my mouth too dry, to lift my head.

  Another round of screams. Cam grunted as a body slammed into his back. Another caught him in his s
ide. Someone yanked my hair. I screamed as I began to tumble out of Cam’s arms.

  “Jenna? Can you hear me, sugar?”

  I opened my eyes, immediately squinting at the twirling, bright red and blue lights.

  “What? Where?”

  “We’re in an ambulance.”

  “Why?” I started to sit up, but a set of hands pressed me back down. The panic built and a machine beeped a loud warning.

  “Jenna. Look at me.”

  Cam’s clipped command did not brook disobedience. My eyes sought his.

  “You’re safe, and I’m with you. Okay?”

  I nodded, but my mind still rebelled, still sought the danger. My gaze bounced from Cam’s to the EMT’s—the person who held me down.

  “We’ve got to finish cleaning out your cuts, ma’am.”

  “Wha…what happened?” I asked as I laid back against the hard mattress.

  “Ambush,” Cam said, eyes dark and mouth set in a flat, angry line. “Took seven members of my crew to get those women off us.”

  “I fell.”

  Cam shook his head. “I didn’t drop you.”

  His shirt was ripped. So were the knees of his jeans. “You fell.”

  “I wasn’t letting you go.”

  The cloud in my head vanished at his words, at the heated look in his eyes. I wasn’t letting you go.

  He meant it. He planned to let those woman, at least I assumed they were women based on the pitch of the voice, hurt him, but he hadn’t dropped me. Would have—probably did—protect me with his own body.

  I reached up and placed my palm on his cheek.

  “Thank you.”

  16

  Cam

  Rage burned under my concern for Jenna’s safety—and my gladness that she’d let me stay with her. All I knew so far was the fans were led around to the back of the building. Chuck spoke, well, more like yelled at the police who were supposed to help with security. He’d get answers.

  I bit my lip against the ache in my legs. Both my knees dripped blood and I rolled my shoulder, trying to ease the ache from the nail scratches there and on my neck.

  No wonder Jenna hated crowds and feeling hemmed in. I’d fought in multiple battles, stared men in the eye as we grappled with a knife. But the experience tonight, when the mob of mostly young women attacked, scared me spitless when they tried to rip Jenna from my arms to get to me.

  I leaned in, my forehead touching hers, reveling in the feel of her hands on me. I didn’t deserve that soft look, the gratitude. “I’m finding that I’d do just about anything for you, sugar.”

  She pressed her lips to mine, and I closed my eyes against the overwhelming sense of rightness of holding, kissing her. I pulled back, needing further reassurance.

  “You okay? Anything hurt?”

  Her brows scrunched as she considered the question. “My head. Probably from when someone yanked my hair.”

  The rage slid back over me, burning the edges of my skin. “No one should have touched you. I’m so sorry you were hurt.” I touched her temple. “You banged your head as I went down. Don’t know what on. Then you fainted.”

  She lowered her lashes. “That was the fear.” She swallowed and refused to meet my gaze.

  Shit. She had every right to be afraid. I’d brought her into this mess—my life. “I was afraid, too.”

  Chuck stepped to the back of the ambulance and patted the door. “Got him.”

  “Him, who?” I asked, scooching closer to Jenna. The need to protect her grew with each breath. My heart tripped. I couldn’t lose her—couldn’t let anything bad happen to her.

  “Benjamin Wilkins.”

  Beside me, Jenna tensed. “What, exactly, did he do?”

  “Who’s Benjamin Wilkins?” I asked, annoyance making my voice sharp.

  “Ben. The guy from my guitar shop,” Jenna added, a frown building on her face.

  “The little shit’s been out on bail, which we knew. So now we get to add intent to harm and assaulting an officer. He clobbered one of the cops on the head to let those fans loose back here. Smart about it, too, because he waited until I received the all-clear from the officer before whacking him.”

  Chuck crossed his arms and by the pained scowl on his face, I knew he took the security breach personally.

  “He’ll stay in jail this time?” Jenna asked.

  Chuck looked at me. I tipped Jenna’s chin up, trying to make the moment a bit more private—control mattered to Jenna and I wanted to give her as much of it as possible.

  “You want him to?”

  Jenna nibbled at the corner of her lip. “Is it wrong to say yes?”

  “Hell, no,” Chuck said.

  “No, sugar. He’s tried to hurt you. Twice. I can call my attorney.”

  “Three times,” she said.

  “What?” The word slid from my lips as a growl.

  “I-I remembered. When the women started grabbing at you and me. I remembered that Ben stood over me when I fell to the floor of that club.”

  She waited until I dipped my head. I remembered the story she told me. My hands clenched into fists and I breathed through my nose real slow to ease my racing heart.

  “He stood there, making sure I couldn’t stand and then…then he kicked me.” Her eyebrows pulled tight over her nose. “That must have been when I passed out.”

  “You want him in jail, and I’ll get my PR machine involved so they can get your story out there. I don’t care if he plays ball for the Yankees.”

  “He doesn’t play for anyone now. I think that’s part of why he’s acting out.”

  “He needs to be shut down.”

  The last words sifted through my gritted teeth. The EMT finished cleaning Jenna up and eyed me with concern. Whatever. Jenna hurting at the hands of Ben brought forth all my protective instincts—and made me want to rip him to shreds.

  I cleared my throat from the emotional debris. “Whatever you want.”

  Jenna searched my eyes. “I want him to go away. Whatever and however that’s best. I don’t want him to hurt you, either.”

  “I’m fine.” I brushed off the concern but my knees and calf throbbed more with each breath. I glanced back at Chuck, making sure he saw the danger in my eyes. “We’ll take care of this. Make sure he stays away.”

  Chuck dipped his head in understanding and stepped back before pivoting on his heel. He’d take care of Ben. I narrowed my eyes. I would, too, in a statement put out soon by my publicist.

  She rested her head on my shoulder, and once again I focused on how right she felt in my arms. “Let’s get your leg looked at,” she murmured.

  “It’s fine.”

  “Cam?”

  I looked down into her upturned face.

  “Don’t play tough guy right now.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips. “You think I play at it?”

  She moved back, scooting her legs over the side of the EMT bed so that I could settle more fully next to her.

  “I think you’re Army Ranger tough and brave. And right now, you have a serious boo-boo that needs attention.” She dipped her blond head toward the EMT who gathered the necessary equipment to clean out my abrasions.

  I went along with the motions, needing the time to get my anger back under control.

  “You need an X-ray of your knee and lower leg, sir,” the EMT said. “One of the bones might be fractured.”

  “It’s not,” I said, pressing a kiss to Jenna’s forehead—the non-scraped side.

  My blood pressure soared again as I thought of those women yanking on her. Thankfully, Jenna fainted before she heard the derogatory words they hurled toward her. I never would have dropped her, but after experiencing the vitriol first-hand, my fears ratcheted up. Those women hated Jenna—I wasn’t sure if it was envy or spite or something that piece-of-excrement Ben said, but whatever caused the outpouring of hate, it scared me. Big time. Which was why Jenna must have her own security detail.

  And�
�much as I hated to do so, I needed to re-think my relationship with her. What I could and did bring to her life.

  First, I needed to hold her until my mind slowed far enough for me to develop a strategy to keep my female fans and Jenna.

  Much as I might like the idea of scrapping the fame to live a quiet life, too many of my former soldiers depended on me. I’d made them a promise before I met Jenna. She might be my main interest, but my men, now security and roadies, were my family—the one that brought me through Kim’s death and the dark place I fell after my father’s decision to throw her out.

  My arms tightened around Jenna. I needed time to figure out how to keep her and my men secure.

  I closed my eyes as the EMT wrapped my leg.

  Brenda was going to demand a raise.

  If she could figure out this shitstorm, she deserved one.

  17

  Jenna

  “I don’t wanna get an X-ray,” Cam muttered.

  I’m sure he didn’t, but something else bothered him more than a trip to urgent care.

  “I’ll go with you. Hold your hand the whole time.”

  “You can’t go in the room with me. You know that.” He sounded petulant, but he rubbed the thumb of his left hand against my wrist.

  “Do you not want to go because you’re worried it’s broken?”

  “I don’t wanna miss time with you, sugar.”

  “I just said I’d go with you.”

  “And then you’ll be exhausted for work tomorrow. And I want to hold you in my arms again tonight. The rest can wait.”

  I turned toward him after I stepped out of the ambulance.

  “No. Either you go to get your leg checked out now or I go home. Alone.”

  Instead of anger, Cam threw his head back and laughed.

  I frowned, trying to look fierce and serious.

  “Oh, I get you’re not joking, sugar. I just like how bossy you got. Like I matter.”