Rock Me

by Phillips, Carly

  Michael strode up to her. “You’re here!” He stepped in close, and Ben stiffened beside her.

  “Hi, Michael.”

  “Hi. Anna asked me to look out for you because she couldn’t be here.”

  Anna had touched base earlier, and Summer really didn’t see the need for her agent to drop everything and travel to Atlantic City for one performance.

  “Are we all set for tonight?” she asked Tawny’s agent.

  He straightened his suit jacket and nodded. “After you check in, you can look at our room. At four you’ll need to be at the event center and go through a rehearsal. Tawny’s due for a five o’clock run.”

  “Great!”

  “Are you ready for tomorrow night?” He cast a worried glance her way. “Or are you still upset from the incident at Echo? Because everyone would understand if you’re scared and wanted to drop out. Your safety is what matters most.”

  “What? No!” she said, horrified at the thought. “I never even considered dropping out.”

  Ben’s strong hand came down on her shoulder. “She has no reason to be frightened. She has me to watch out for her,” he said, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “All she has to focus on is performing.”

  Michael paused, as if evaluating her sincerity. Finally he nodded. “Okay, good. Then you’re all set. I’ll let you finish getting checked in. If you need anything, do you have my number?”

  Summer nodded. Anna had given it to her just in case.

  “Great. Then you know how to reach me.” He patted his suit jacket, where the outline of his phone showed through.

  “That was odd. I can’t believe he thought I’d just give up,” she said, glancing at Ben.

  He frowned. “I don’t like that guy,” Ben muttered.

  Summer didn’t blame him. He often creeped her out with his invasion into her personal space.

  “Let’s get up to your suite and out of the open area,” Ben suggested.

  Knowing she’d have plenty of time to see the sights when they came down for rehearsal later, she agreed. Because the upside to leaving the large lobby was being alone with her bodyguard in that luxury suite.

  * * *

  As Ben watched, Summer studied the gray curved sofa in the center of the main room, the floor-to-ceiling windows behind it, the large king-size bed, and the double bath and Jacuzzi large enough for two, and sighed in delight. He saw extravagance in his line of work, protecting politicians and actors who came to the city, people who were used to the lap of luxury and took the things around them for granted. Her enjoyment of the ridiculously huge suite and the amenities provided for her by the hotel, courtesy of Jade Glow, was a joy to watch, and he hoped she never lost the sense of gratitude and awe that made her so special.

  She stepped out of the bathroom she’d been ogling, a big grin on her face. “You know we have got to make use of that tub while we’re here,” she said, eyes twinkling with unmistakable desire and playfulness.

  His cock twitched in his pants, almost as if asking him if they had time. He glanced at his watch. They’d left the city early and had hours before her rehearsal.

  He shrugged and began to unbutton his shirt.

  “Right now?” she asked, stepping up to him and sliding his shirt off his shoulders, her soft fingertips grazing his skin.

  He’d checked the lock when they arrived and now unhooked his holstered gun, planning to set it down beside him in the bedroom.

  “I didn’t see anything else on your agenda until later this afternoon.” He grasped her around the waist, guiding her to the bedroom, where they made sizzling use of the king mattress, then lounged lazily in each other’s arms in the huge tub. And Summer was nearly late for rehearsal.

  After a flawless practice run, Ben surprised her with a reservation at a steakhouse owned by a famous television chef, telling himself that they had to eat. That it didn’t mean anything special that he’d made the reservation and asked for a quiet table in the back, or that she’d been so happy he wasn’t making her eat dinner in the hotel room that she’d almost had tears in her eyes and all he could think about was how he could put that glowing look on her face again soon.

  Sure. Like the fact that he’d fallen into a routine, living with her as her boyfriend wasn’t a big deal. He told himself he’d learned from his father’s mistakes and he’d turned around and repeated his own, getting involved with a woman who, despite her best intentions—because Ben didn’t think Summer was anything like his selfish mother—would take off and move on to bigger and better things. And he’d known the end result going in. Wasn’t that why he’d insisted on great sex only? He had no business violating his own rules, but deep down, he knew he was.

  By the time this assignment ended, she’d be ripping his heart out of his chest again, only this time it would be way worse because he was falling harder the more time they spent together. But that didn’t mean he could take a rational, much needed step back.

  He was in it for the painful duration.

  * * *

  The next night, even Ben had been able to tell Tawny’s performance wasn’t her best, while Summer’s production and voice were spectacular. The other songstress’s lack of energy and occasional off-key moments had been visible for all to see. Tawny didn’t take the rough night well, throwing a tantrum behind the stage and storming out, presumably to her suite upstairs. Ben didn’t envy her bodyguard or the people who surrounded her their jobs, dealing with a diva in the truest sense of the word. Even her agent didn’t seem to have his usual calming effect on her.

  Afterwards, they were taken to an exclusive part of the nightclub in the hotel, roped off for a party at which Summer was a guest. Ben lingered in the background, close enough to keep an eye on everyone and everything, including a good view of the only entrance to the elevated party area.

  A waitress in a skimpy black cocktail dress offered Ben a drink, but he declined, instead cataloguing the servers, noticing they had specific women working this area of the club, making his job easier.

  Tawny showed up late, but she obviously knew enough not to blow off such an important event. Photographers took pictures, and even Jade Glow made an appearance, spending time talking to both Summer and Tawny after having seen both women’s performances.

  Summer, dressed in a short sparkly red cocktail dress, beamed as she spoke to the major pop star, and the other woman was clearly impressed with Summer as well. His stomach cramped at the sight, knowing she was taking another step toward her dream, a huge positive for her, another nail in the coffin for them.

  He scanned the crowd. Her agent, who’d managed to show up after all, and whom he’d met earlier, was schmoozing Jade Glow’s agent. And once Jade herself had left, Tawny’s bitchy attitude returned. Summer kept herself away from the other woman, talking to music executives who had come by as well.

  An hour passed, and he hoped Summer would want to head upstairs soon. He wasn’t a fan of the loud music or flashing club lights surrounding them. Arms folded across his chest, he studied the area, stopping immediately as an unfamiliar woman wearing the black dress waitress uniform approached Summer with a drink on her tray.

  Summer, he’d learned, wasn’t a big fan of hard alcohol because it made her voice raspy. Wine was her choice. White wine, as she’d had with Ivy, or a glass of champagne, which was why the red-colored alcohol on the serving tray was a red flag, along with the fact that he didn’t recognize the cocktail waitress carrying the drink and he’d been watching the same women for as long as they’d been at the club.

  He didn’t like how things were adding up in his mind, but someone unfamiliar handing her a drink she didn’t normally prefer was odd. True, there was a better chance he was overreacting and the alcohol wasn’t drugged, but he trusted his gut when it came to the job.

  Summer glanced at the waitress and gave her a curious look before accepting the drink. Acting on instinct, Ben darted forward with every intention of stopping her from drinking, but a man in a suit ste
pped in front of him and he had to push him out of the way to get to her.

  He wasn’t in time to stop her from bringing the glass to her lips before he reached her and grabbed it out of her hand.

  “Ben! What was that for?” she asked.

  He grasped her elbow and pulled her aside, ignoring the stares of people around them. “Did you order this drink?” he asked.

  “No. A waitress brought it over, and I was so thirsty. All this talking over the music,” she explained.

  He turned to look for the woman who’d served her, but she was gone.

  “What’s wrong?” Jack, Tawny’s bodyguard, stepped up to them, grasping Tawny’s arm and pulling her into their circle.

  “Hey! What’s with the manhandling? What’s going on?” Tawny asked.

  “I think someone drugged Summer’s drink.” Ben took a sniff but of course only inhaled the scent of red wine. “If it’s GHB or Rohypnol, it won’t smell. And according to recent studies, it gets lost in the color and fragrance of dark drinks.” There was no way to test it.

  “What the hell?” Jack turned to Tawny. “We’re going up to the room. Immediately.”

  “The police will be questioning you,” Ben warned the other woman.

  She frowned his way but didn’t reply. Instead she grew quiet and let Jack lead her away.

  Ben needed to get Summer to her room, too, but they also needed to get this incident on record.

  “I drank from it,” she whispered in fear, her gaze shooting to his.

  “A lot?”

  She shook her head. “A tiny sip before you stopped me.” She looked up with gratitude in her gaze.

  He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “You’ll be okay. Even if I’m right and the drink was drugged, with the minute amount you ingested, you won’t need the hospital.” Although he could always take her there immediately if the need arose.

  Just like after the trashing of her dressing area at the last event, he and Summer stayed for hours while the police came and took their statements. They agreed to test the drink, although they concurred with Ben’s assessment that there was very little chance of anything showing up. And they wrote down Tawny’s name and promised to question her and her entourage, especially since she’d been missing from the area for a long while.

  The good news was that if Summer had finished the drink or taken enough to poison her system, she’d be showing signs of the drug, but she was coherent, just exhausted.

  Meanwhile Ben requested the manager let them view security video, because Ben would recognize the unfamiliar waitress who’d suddenly shown up to serve Summer, and if there was a chance the woman had met with Tawny, maybe they’d see it. As it was an Atlantic City casino hotel, security cameras were everywhere, even on the bar.

  Summer sat in a chair in front of the cameras, Ben behind her, leaning over to observe the screen in front of them. It didn’t take long to isolate the thirty minutes before Summer had been served.

  He scanned the crowded bar on the screen, quickly zeroing in on the woman with blonde hair, wearing a black cocktail dress, sitting at the bar. “That’s her.”

  The security guard who was running the video paused and pulled a close-up of her face. “You’re sure?”

  Ben nodded. “I am.”

  “I don’t understand,” Summer murmured.

  He squeezed her shoulder. “Run the video.”

  The woman ordered a drink, and sure enough, the bartender passed her a glass of red wine.

  “I don’t recognize her,” the manager, who was also watching carefully, said. “She’s not one of ours.”

  “Yet she walked to the side of the bar, picked up a serving tray, and mingled through the crowd, into the roped-off area, and handed Summer a drink,” Ben said through clenched teeth.

  The woman then turned away from the bar, unknowingly facing the camera as she eased her hand into her apron pocket and slipped something into Summer’s drink. No Tawny or evidence of who’d paid the woman to drug Summer.

  “Fuck!” Ben turned angrily toward the manager. “Well?”

  “What can I say?” Red-faced, the man straightened his shoulders in self-defense. “The place is a zoo on a good night. I wasn’t given a heads-up to tighten security.”

  “Make sure the police get a copy,” Ben instructed the man.

  But that wasn’t enough. He intended to make sure Jade Glow’s agency took this situation more seriously. They needed to hire someone to figure out who was after Summer and why. Ben’s job, his sole priority, was to get Summer to a safe location and keep her there.

  * * *

  Back in the room, Summer couldn’t relax. She paced the floor while Ben spoke to his boss, demanding they put someone on Tawny’s tail and bill it to the people covering Summer’s protection. Threats were one thing, he said. Escalating was something else, and she could have fucking died thanks to an overdose. He was furious and angry on her behalf, but his words merely drove home everything that had happened tonight.

  Shaking, she left him on the phone and headed for the bedroom area, unnerved by the fact that someone had tried to drug her. Scared about how close she’d come to drinking the poison. During the night’s investigation, she’d sat in silence, feeling dizzy. She’d thought.

  But she hadn’t said anything because she assumed she was just reacting to the power of suggestion and fear. She really had taken such a small sip, she finally accepted the fact that she was going to be fine, which left her time to think. About those moments after Ben had saved her from drinking the alcohol and while he’d been trying to find out whether she’d been drugged.

  She’d sat in the security room, Ben’s sole focus on the screens in front of him, and one painful fact had been driven home to her—she was alone. Her best friend couldn’t give up her career to follow Summer around, and her parents had abandoned her, hurt feelings more important than family ties. In her career-driven life, she’d never had time to make a group of friends, and in her profession, people were more competitors like Tawny than gal pals. At least the people she’d met so far. And Ben was pretty sure at this point Tawny was involved, which made Summer sick to her stomach.

  She heard Ben’s voice from the other room as he talked on the phone. And what about Ben? He was her bodyguard … for now. Her protector. But he’d be gone when his assignment ended. With a lump in her throat, she washed up and finally climbed into bed, her heart still racing inside her chest, fear mixed with raw pain.

  He came in soon after, climbing in beside her. She hadn’t realized how many emotions she’d been holding in until he pulled her into his arms and she burst into tears.

  “Hey. Everything’s going to be fine,” he said, pulling her close and running a hand over the back of her hair.

  She took a shuddering breath, grateful for his strength and support. “I know. I just…”

  “Talk to me. You’ve been through a lot in a short time. You’ve got the stress of the competition, the performances, someone sabotaged your dressing area, now you were almost drugged.”

  “Explain why someone would want to do this to me? Even Tawny. That drug could have done serious damage, and for what? A leg up on me? What was she thinking?”

  “At the very least, you would have acted without inhibitions. Maybe she was hoping to catch you on camera doing something outrageous. Something that would get you kicked out of the running to open for Jade. She’s certainly played that card before.”

  Summer swallowed hard. “God, I hate to admit it, but that makes sense, especially if the tape went viral, like the one did back on Star Power.”

  “There’s something else that’s been bugging me,” Ben said.

  “What’s that?”

  “Michael Gold. He’s always around, quietly in the background. My gut churns when he’s in the area.”

  Summer thought about his words, weighing possibilities in her mind. “I’m all for looking into every angle, and he is in Camp Tawny … but he’s a professiona
l.”

  Ben shrugged. “I’m not discounting him. I’ll have Dan add him to the list of people to look into.”

  “Okay.”

  “Are you? Okay?” He stroked her arm in a soothing motion. “Like I said, it’s been a lot for you to handle.”

  She sniffed, the earlier emotions returning at the reminder. “It’s a lot for someone alone to handle.”

  He stiffened beside her, then those big, strong arms squeezed her tighter. “You are not alone.”

  Tears leaked out of her eyes because he couldn’t be more wrong. “I miss my family. For most of my life, I had their support, and now, when I need them to be my parents, not my managers, they’re nowhere to be found.”

  He rolled her to her back, pushing himself up on one arm so he could meet her gaze. “Maybe you need to tell them.”

  “I can’t get them on the phone or video chat long enough to explain what’s going on.”

  He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. “They’d care if they knew. I believe that.”

  Deep down, she agreed. “I do, too.” It just wasn’t easy to break the ice or get them to really hear her these days. “I’ll try,” she murmured.

  “Good.”

  He pulled her into him. “Get some sleep and we’ll get out of here early tomorrow. Put this whole nightmare behind you.”

  She nodded and allowed her heavy lids to close, breathing in the comforting smell of Ben in her bed. Her breathing evened out, and just as she felt herself drift, she heard him speak.

  “You aren’t alone,” he said, stroking her arm. “You have me.”

  It was low. It was quiet. For the moment, it was everything.

  Chapter Nine

  Ben was grateful to get Summer back home to her quiet New York City apartment, away from the hustle of Atlantic City and the fear that followed her there. At least here he had a semblance of control. The main reason someone had been able to get to her was because they knew her public schedule. But as long as they were holed up in her apartment, she was safe.

  His new plan included varying her gym routine, switching up her days. He insisted Ivy take alternate routes over, as she was a direct link to Summer. Anything to throw Tawny or whoever was behind this off Summer’s tail.