Protect Me (The Donovan Family Book 6)

by Margaret Watson

  "Your family is really close, isn't it?"

  "Yes," she said. "We are. We all have each other's back."

  "The way a family should be."

  "Don't people in your world have families?" she asked.

  "Of course. But a lot of them are business arrangements. Not a lot of lasting marriages in Tinsel Town. It's all about the image. What it gets you."

  "That's really sad," she murmured. His world was so different than hers. All surface, no depth. It had a different landscape. A different language. Completely alien to her.

  "Yeah, it is," he said. A ripple of regret flickered through his eyes for a moment, then it was gone. "I'm going to head over to the set. You ready to go?"

  She nodded, her gaze scanning the crowd. Suddenly she froze. Grabbed his arm. "Let's go back into your trailer for a moment," she said in a low voice. "Act like you've forgotten something."

  Actor that he was, Finn took two steps forward, then stopped. "Damn it. I forgot to change my shoes." He opened the door and walked inside. Mia followed him and slammed the door shut.

  Chapter 16

  Mia peered out the window, watching the crowd on the other side of the street. The woman she'd noticed was in the front, pressed against the blue police barricade. Staring intently at the three trailers.

  "What's going on?" Finn asked quietly.

  Mia motioned him closer. He crowded against her, his arm brushing her shoulder. She tried to ignore the heat swirling between them, filling the small space with tension. She couldn't afford to be distracted.

  "There's a woman across from your trailer and a little bit to the right. Front row. Long dark hair, black skirt, flowery print shirt. Mostly reds, oranges and yellow." She waited, keeping her eyes on the woman. "Do you see her?"

  "Yes. She doesn't look familiar."

  "You sure? You haven't seen her since you've been in Chicago?"

  "I can't swear to it. I'd have to get closer. But no. I don't recognize her."

  Mia pushed away from the window. Away from the weight and warmth of Finn's shoulder against her. She refused to let herself dwell on how much she wanted it back.

  "Her name is Janise Kiplinger. She's a cop from my district. Patrol, just like me."

  "So maybe she's a fan. Not necessarily of me, either," he pointed out. "Derek's trailer and Jenna's are here, too."

  "Yeah, I know." Mia glanced out the window again, and Janise was exactly where she'd been a moment before. "She was supposed to work tonight, but she asked Con to take her shift. Said she had something she needed to do."

  "That doesn't make her suspicious, Mia," he murmured, setting his hand lightly on her back. "Maybe she thought your brother would tease her if he knew she wanted to hang out here and be a groupie."

  Mia shifted into his touch until his fingers were pressing against her lower back. "You're right. Con, and probably every other cop in the station, would be merciless if they knew she was here. But I can't afford to overlook Kiplinger, even though she's a cop."

  "You going to grab her? Question her?" Finn's hand was massaging her lower back, digging into her muscles and smoothing over the bumps of her spine.

  "God, no." She arched into him. "Not without more solid evidence. I'll get her prints from the database and send them to the superintendent. After stripping her identity, of course. He doesn’t need to know I'm checking out a fellow cop. Unless it's a match." She shook her head. "What a nightmare that would be."

  Finn drew soothing circles between her shoulder blades. "Good thinking," he murmured. "And good eye, spotting her in that crowd over there."

  "I probably wouldn't have noticed her if Con hadn't mentioned her name," she admitted, still watching Janise through the window.

  "You'd have seen her." Finn pressed his body into hers, crowding her into the side of the trailer. "You pay attention to everything."

  Suddenly realizing his hand was on her hip and edging toward her ass, she twisted away from him. "What are you doing?"

  He squeezed her ass once, then stepped back, giving her room. "Damn," he said with a tiny grin. "It's been a long time, but I didn't realize I'd lost my touch. I thought it was pretty obvious."

  "Yeah, well, I was preoccupied," she muttered.

  He'd had his hand all over her back and it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Another moment and she'd have been begging him to continue.

  She'd done everything except rub against him to mark him with her scent. Which she should consider, since Jenna was in the next scene with him.

  Damn it! He wasn't hers to mark. Wasn't hers for anything, except her job.

  Uncurling her hands, she nodded at the door. "We probably need to get going."

  "Yeah." He glanced down at her, his gaze lingering on her ass. "Probably."

  "Come on, O'Rourke." She tugged him toward the door. "You can fantasize about my ass in those red polka-dot shorts on your own time. You need to get to work."

  He reared back. "How did you know what…?"

  "Your thoughts were blinking in neon above your head," she said, glad that he had to be on the set. Being all snugged up against him had revved her engine. If they had time to spend in this trailer, she was afraid she'd make another mistake.

  "Our mind meld is a scary thing," he said as he flung open the door and stood aside for her to exit.

  As soon as he stepped away from the trailer and the fans could see him, several of them began to boo. Shocked, Mia wound her arm through his. The boos intensified.

  She began to draw her arm away, but he tightened his arm to hold her against his body. "I don't pay any attention to them, and you shouldn't either," he said quietly.

  "But they got louder when I took your arm." She tried harder to pull away, but he wouldn't let her go.

  "They're gonna boo no matter what you or I do. Just ignore them." He began walking faster. When they turned the corner, the boos turned to cheers. The pressure on her arm lessened. "Derek's probably just come out," he said, his eyes twinkling. "Let him fend them all off. I'm happy that they hate me."

  "Really? Why's that?" She turned to look up at him, leaving her arm wound through his.

  "Because I'm the villain in this movie." They approached a huddle of men and women, and Finn slowed. "Puts me in the right frame of mind for my scenes."

  "Hey, if you want someone to insult you, I can do that for you," she said, trying to lighten things up.

  Finn slowed and looked down at her. "Not you, Mia. I don't want you to hate me. Okay?"

  Her heart stuttered and she sucked in a breath. "Okay," she said after a too-long moment. "I won't."

  "Good." He leaned down to brush a kiss over her mouth, then straightened. "You can probably stand against the building," he said, nodding toward the Macy's display windows on her left. "The cars are starting on that street down the block," he gestured toward Lake Street, "where the El trains turn onto this street." He glanced at the street sign. "Wabash. The chase will go a few more blocks until the cars crash."

  Her fingers tightened on his arm. "You're going to be in a crashing car?"

  "No, that will be my stunt double." He grinned. "They're not going to take a chance on damaging my pretty face.

  "It'll take a long time. Be terminally boring for you. They'll film with me driving for the shots where you see my face, then the stunt double will take over for the tricky stuff. There'll be a car next to us with a camera, a car behind with one and a guy in the back seat of my car with a camera."

  One of the guys in the huddle motioned Finn over. He let her go and kissed her again. "Stay out of the way. I'll find you during breaks."

  * * *

  By the time they were done filming, it was two in the morning. Street traffic in the surrounding area had thinned, and most of the fans had drifted away a few hours earlier. Finn had been right. Watching the scene being filmed countless times was stupefyingly boring.

  It took a lot of hard work to create an illusion. Something that wasn't real.

>   Finn had found her during his breaks, standing with her as he gulped a bottle of water, explaining what would happen next. She'd spent the rest of the time studying the crew, the cast members, even the caterers. No one rang any alarms, but she hadn't expected them to.

  If the stalker was around, and Mia would bet she was, she wasn't going to stick out. She'd blend into the crowd. But if Mia memorized all the faces she saw, sooner or later, she'd see a pattern. Someone where she wasn't supposed to be. Or more often than she should be there.

  The stalker wouldn't stay hidden forever. She had an agenda, and that agenda was punishing Finn for his lack of interest. When she stepped into the light, Mia would be ready for her.

  By the time Finn was ready to leave, his make-up removed and clothes changed, she was dead on her feet. Finn looked wiped out, too. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, and she was pretty sure Finn hadn’t, either.

  Once in the car, he listed against her as Pete turned corners, and she didn't have the energy to shrug his head off her shoulder. Didn't really want to. Instead, she relaxed against him, his big body warming her in the cool car.

  Her eyelids must have closed, because she sat up with a start when the car stopped at the front of the Drake on Walton Street. Before she could ask Pete why, he lowered the partition. "Loading dock's busy, so we have to come in this way. I talked to Carlos, the doorman. He's going to show you a quick way to the elevators."

  "Thanks, Pete," she said, sliding toward the curb-side door. "Come on, sleepyhead." She nudged Finn. "We're home."

  She reached for the door, but the doorman opened it for her. Held out his hand to help her from the car. "Welcome, ma'am," he said, stepping aside as he waited for Finn to emerge from the car.

  His name tag said 'Carlos', and he was about her height. Dark hair, dark eyes and a round, smiling face. "Thank you, Carlos," she said.

  As soon as Finn was on his feet, Carlos ushered them toward a door to the left of the Drake entrance. "This is a little quicker," he said. "And usually less busy."

  Opening the door, Carlos followed them inside. Small shops, closed for the night, lined the dimly–lit corridor; a florist, a coffee shop, a men's clothing store. A woman's clothing store was down a corridor to the left, and a jewelry store was at the end. To their right were the elevators.

  "Have a nice night, Mr. O'Rourke. Ma'am," he said as he held the elevator door open. "Anything you need, you let me know."

  Finn and Mia slumped side by side against the wood paneled walls. When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, she barely had enough energy to push herself forward and into the corridor. Finn slung an arm over her shoulders, and she wasn't sure if it was to draw her closer, or to support himself. They stumbled across the carpet together, and Mia opened the door to the suite.

  Mia forced herself to pay close attention as she searched all the rooms, but the routine she'd already established made the search go quickly. As soon as she was certain there were no intruders, she threw the double locks, closed her eyes, then focused on Finn.

  "What time do we have to be there tomorrow?" she asked.

  "Same time," Finn said. "One."

  "Okay. I'll see you in the morning," she said, weaving toward her bedroom.

  "Yeah," he managed to say as he trudged toward his own room. "Late in the morning."

  The next few days were all location shoots. The first night, they finished up in the Loop, then went farther west on Lake Street. It was only a mile or two away, and they were still beneath the El tracks, but it was a different world. Vacant factories, boarded-up shops and empty lots with rusting, junked cars gave the scenes a creepy, sinister vibe.

  During one break, she and Finn leaned against a metal grate covering the front of a drug store. The diamond-shaped pattern on the grate was cold against her back and dug into her muscles. She shivered as she drank the bottle of water he'd given her.

  "Pretty cool, huh?" he said, motioning to the dead street with his bottle of water. "Perfect setting."

  "For what?" she asked.

  He tossed the plastic bottle into a recycling bin. "Desolation and despair, babe. What this movie's all about."

  "I'm not your babe," she muttered, but it was half-hearted. She leaned against him as they watched the crew scurrying to set up for the next scene, and she had no desire to move away. Going to his shoot every night, watching him work, had created a bond between them. Common knowledge. A shared experience.

  All layered over the awareness that simmered between them. Ready to burst into a towering flame at the slightest provocation.

  Two teens wearing hoodies hovered in the shadows across the street as she and Finn stood there, waiting for his next scene. Mia assumed they were merely curious about the shoot, like so many other people, but their complete stillness, and the way they clung to the shadows, made her keep an eye on them.

  Those two teens summed up her world. Gritty. Real. A place where danger always lurked behind the façade.

  Nothing like Finn's world of make-believe and glitz. In his world, the only things behind a dangerous façade were wires and cables and pieces of scenery. His world was insulated. Safe. And so far from real that most people in it had probably forgotten what real was.

  She'd been worried about the chase scenes, concerned that Finn might get hurt. Now she watched the one being filmed in front of her and realized he was completely safe. Nothing from the real world touched the people in Finn's version of reality.

  The next night they filmed in Lakeview, the neighborhood where she and all her brothers lived. They shot scenes in front of houses, two-flats and apartment buildings, as well as some of the small shops on the busier streets.

  She nudged Finn during a break. "I shop at that store," she said, pointing toward Frosting, a cupcake bakery.

  "Yeah? They any good?"

  "I'll get you one. You can judge for yourself."

  As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized that would never happen. When she would be free to leave his side to buy him a cupcake, he'd be gone. Back in California.

  Instead of being relieved, the thought made her sad.

  On the third night, they filmed a scene on the patio of Monk Street restaurant on Southport. Finn interrupted a dinner between Derek and Jenna, the two men fought in the street, then Finn stormed away after threatening both Derek and Jenna's characters.

  The fight scene took hours to film. The crew blocked off the surrounding streets, and the carefully choreographed fight scene took dozens of takes to complete. By the time Finn slumped against a building beside her, dripping sweat, her own muscles were sore from the tension of the scene.

  "We're about done here," he said as a make-up artist pressed a towel to his face and neck, blotting up the sweat, then added some splatters of blood around his mouth and nose. The young woman fussed with his hair for a moment, although afterward it didn't look any different to Mia. "One more scene, then we can leave."

  As the make-up artist fluttered around Finn like a butterfly, Mia glanced at the muddy spots on the cuffs of her pants. She'd gotten splashed by one of the camera cars zooming past her down the narrow street.

  Finn worked hard, and what he did wasn't easy. But it was nothing like her world.

  He nudged her shoulder with his, drawing her attention back to him. "You going out of your mind yet?"

  "Nope," she said, taking up her usual position against his side. "Watching and cataloging."

  "You see anything?"

  "Not yet. There aren't as many spectators, but no one looks familiar. Don't think I've seen any of them before."

  "We haven't heard from the stalker in a while," he said. "Maybe she's given up."

  "That would be nice, but I doubt it." A cool breeze blew by, and Mia shifted closer to Finn. "Stalkers are obsessed with their victims. Most of them can't give up."

  He draped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her against him. "You cold, babe?"

  "Not anymore."

  She told
herself she was acting for the audience of cast and crew and spectators. She was supposed to be Finn's girlfriend. Of course she'd stand close. Of course he'd call her babe and put his arm around her.

  It didn't feel like acting, though, and that set off all kinds of alarms. Warnings that she might be taking this more seriously than she should.

  Only two more weeks. For the last several nights, they'd both been too tired to flirt and tease when they got back to the hotel suite. Mia told herself she was happy about that. Less temptation. Less chance of making another mistake.

  During these night shoots, Finn sought her out during his breaks. He was pleasant to his fellow cast members and the crew, chatting them up, but he always headed toward her.

  And every night, she huddled close to him.

  Sean, the director, motioned Finn over, and he pushed away from the wall with a groan. Let his fingers trail over Mia's shoulders as he let her go. She watched him walk toward the group of people, and they all began talking at once.

  She did one more sweep of the area with her eyes, spotting a small clump of fans watching from across the street. She cataloged each one, then went back to a short woman standing in the back of the group. She looked familiar.

  Then the whole group turned and headed toward the El stop down the street. The woman didn't glance over her shoulder. She was in front of two other people, so Mia couldn't get a good look at her as she walked away.

  Maybe she could get some video footage from security cameras in the area. She made a mental note to ask for them tomorrow morning. And double check with the superintendent's office to see if Kiplinger's fingerprints had been a match for the one they'd found on the envelope.

  She spotted Finn walking toward her, on the phone. Calling Pete, she hoped. Finn slid the phone into his pocket as he reached her. "Pete will be here any minute." He took her hands, rubbing them between both of his. "No shooting tomorrow. A day at the studio, rehearsing, going over some changes.

  "And Sean's throwing a party tomorrow night. Celebrating the first week of production. No disasters, no huge problems. Everything's going smoothly."