by Maxi MacNair
In the end though, trespassing would be all they could charge him with. That was the main problem having to deal with stalkers, there wasn’t a lot the police could do as far as arresting them unless they actually acted on their crazy threats. It was why Bristol had hired security firms like Lucas’ in the past, and why she had been paying extra to keep Lucas himself around full-time. A dangerous maniac obsessed with her, and the police couldn’t legally do anything? Lucas, and whoever he brought with him, were her only real protection now. Sometimes though, when she looked at Lucas, Bristol felt like just having him around was more than enough protection.
Bristol couldn’t wait to get out of this situation and end this day. When she was ready, she signalled to Lucas to open the door, and the two of them made a beeline to the waiting limo. She did manage to smile for the camera a few times, but those photos were more than likely just of Bristol getting hurried along by her muscular and stern looking bodyguard.
Lucas let himself in the back of the car with Bristol, left Pete standing in the crowd, and pounded on the window separating them from Craig, her driver, to tell him to speed off and head for home. His blonde hair was slightly mussed from the encounter, but other than that, he looked impassive, like he always did.
“Where were you?” Bristol snapped. She was normally an even tempered person and didn’t let the creeps she often had to deal with get to her but the guy touched her face, and there was something about the intimacy of the gesture got under her skin. Not to mention the added stress of an actually violent and criminally dangerous person trying to get to her as well.
“The plan was for me to stake out the crowd while Pete hung back with you until I radioed for him to bring you out. When I saw him waiting by the limo I rushed back in. I was right there though. You’re fine.”
“Please do a little better screening people next time you need to add someone to help you out okay. Maybe make sure they can follow simple directions.”
“My job is to keep you safe. Are you safe?”
“I don’t know, am I?”
“You’re kidding me. Pete’s done, and you’re fine.”
Bristol liked trying to get a rise out of Lucas usually, which is why she talked to him this way. She knew Lucas always had her back, but teasing him about not doing his job right was just too fun and easy. At this moment though, the teasing was more out of habit than anything else. Bristol was exhausted. She’d been on stage for almost three hours. Now she wore a stylish pantsuit and heels, very going to be pretty for the photos walking to the car her stylist said, which Bristol knew usually meant that it was going to not be comfortable at all. She wanted sweatpants, or wanted to crash by her pool and lose herself in a book.
Now, looking at Lucas’ antagonistic face, she found herself just wanting to cry. When she’d looked for a security service, they all told her he was the best in the business, but he came with an attitude. They weren’t wrong. She didn’t know how the guy could stand up straight with a chip that size on his shoulder. Her teasing, she knew, she would only take so far. Lucas was the kind of guy you mostly just shut up and did what they told you to do.
“Just please don’t let them touch me like that. That’s all I ask.”
“You know the job better than I do, hey Bris.”
“Don’t get like that.”
“I know you’re tired and hangry, and you’re a bitch this time of night when that happens. So do us both a favor and shut up.”
Bristol opened her mouth. Shut it again. The teasing went both ways. It made her twice as mad though that he was right, and her stupid traitorous stomach growled out loud to prove his point. He reached in the bag he carried a flung a granola bar across the limo at her.
She took it. She hadn’t even noticed she was starving so maybe a snack before going to sit out by the pool would be a better idea.
Bristol had made a tropical utopia for herself behind the house she and her husband Ricky lived in. Lots of plants, nice lighting so she could enjoy it day or night. There was a waterfall, a slide for when they hosted parties, tiki bar, comfy lounge furniture so she could lose herself in whatever she was reading at the time. Tonight’s book was a sci fi series about a near future where Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid belt battled for autonomy. Just thinking about a new book and her pool was already helping her calm down from the whole situation.
When they got back to the house the ornate gates opened, and the car rolled in. Bristol didn’t like being driven around, preferred driving herself, but as Lucas pointed out, this made her much easier to keep tabs on. For show days, she would be driven while he was in charge of protecting her.
It wasn’t like things were going to lighten up anytime soon either. Her next tour started in just a few days. Between now and then, one more local show, lots of rehearsal. She had a totally new batch of dancers this round after some wonky union contracts. It was always hard getting used to a new group.
“Whose car is that? Ricky home?” Lucas said, as they got out. He stretched like a big cat, and his sleeves came up so she could see the colorful tattooed skulls on his biceps. Bristol wondered what Kyle Reed drove these days, if the Camry could be his. Bristol didn’t like to admit it, but for some reason this crazy stalker had gotten in her head, which made her all the more certain that he wasn’t just the regular crazy fan she had to deal with from time to time.
Bristol glanced into the garage. “Ricky’s three cars were are all there,” she said, “I have no idea who drives the Camry.”
“I guess he’s got someone here?”
“He must.”
“Maybe, I’ll go in with you. Just to check it out. Okay?”
Bristol tried to think who of Ricky’s friends drove a car like that. It was in rough shape, and he was such a snob about what he drove.
Dammit, she just wanted to relax. Instead, she let Lucas go inside first. Prickles of unease worked their way down her back. Bristol felt like this more often than she wanted lately. The house was empty, quiet. Nothing out of place in the grand foyer, and Ricky wasn’t in his man cave. Bristol started to see the empty beer bottles though, and then a mostly empty bottle of Jack. Oh dear, Bristol thought to herself. Lucas scanned it all, but kept his face impassive.
Bristol followed him up the stairs. He’d probably gotten drunk and gone to bed early. It wasn’t even eleven yet. When they got to the top of the stairs their bedroom door hung open, a dim, warm glow spilling out into the hall from a decorative lamp.
Lucas peered in, went rigid, and blocked her.
“You should maybe just go back downstairs.”
For a split second a vision of Ricky murdered in their bed washed over her, but she knew that wasn’t it. She didn’t want to say it but she knew exactly what was going on.
“No way I’m going to just ignore this and walk away again. I’ve had enough protection from you for one night I think.”
She pushed past Lucas. Her husband lay on his back, mouth open, snoring softly. His black hair was a mess, his muscular chest rising and falling slowly. A naked young woman curled next to him, head on his chest. Bristol cleared her throat. The girl’s eyes fluttered open, and she let out an ear splitting scream. As she sat up, Bristol got a view of very large, very fake breasts. She hoped that was a good sign that the girl was of age.
Ricky lurched awake and cursed. “Fuck me, what’s going…Oh shit…Brissy…I thought you were starting your tour tonight.”
“You thought wrong Ricky. I really think that it’s time now that you Get Out!!!” Bristol said letting the anger and volume of her voice rise as she went through the words.
“Excuse me, Miss, Maitland,” Lucas alway referred to her professionally like this when others were around. “Maybe you should just go downstairs and let me handle this,” he said in a way that was more urging than asking.
“Tried that last time. Apparently it didn’t work.” She shoved past her bodyguard, around the bed to Ricky’s side. “We’re done. Get out of my house.”
> “What? Y, y, yeah well, you pushed me to do this.”
“Pushed you to do this? You’re so full of it. How about the last time? What about the time before that? How many years have I been ‘forcing’ you to fuck these girls. When’s the last time you made love to me? You won’t touch me. You won’t look at me.”
Bristol felt very aware of the other people in the room. “Lucas, can you escort Ricky’s friend out?”
“You want me to escort Ricky out, too?”
“No, I can handle that myself.”
“Come in the hall with me for a sec,” Lucas said to Bristol. To Ricky and his lover, he said, “You two get dressed.”
Bristol went because she knew he wouldn’t ask if he didn’t have a good reason. “You want me to kick the shit out of him?”
His question took her off guard and she laughed. “Umm, well yes, but no. No way.”
“Bummer. But now just think about how it’s going to look if you throw him out. We saw the cameras when we pulled in, they’re out there tonight and they want pictures. You told me when you hired me that I’m here not just to protect you physically, but also make sure you are able to maintain your image. Right? How about I’ll see her out to her car, they won’t think anything is up except that your security guard maybe has a skanky girlfriend. As far as Ricky goes. I know what I would do if someone was this disrespectful to me, but that’s me. I don't have a multi-million dollar tour to promote right now. So I need to suggest that if you’re going to throw him out, be strategic about it. I don’t think tonight’s the night.”
She had noticed a few paparazzi hanging around by her gates. While the idea of dumping him out there in his underwear was appealing…she didn’t need the press. She prided herself in her good-girl image, married to her childhood sweetheart for almost ten years. No drug charges, she was never spotted staggering out of a club flashing her panties. She never cheated. She never got drunk in the public eye. She’d been a teen pop idol for most of her life until her career stagnated a bit. Now, though, as she closed in on thirty, people were starting to take her seriously. Her career had found new legs and she was more popular than ever, and she was doing it herself this time. She was writing her own music, mostly, and people loved it. Bristol couldn’t let herself do anything that could possibly throw a wrench into the momentum she’d been riding into this world tour.
Her good life was part of her brand.
Lucas was right.
“Thank you,” she said. “Get bimbo out of here, I’ll deal with him.”
He shook his head, and went back in for the girl, who seemed to wear a tube of mostly translucent cellophane as a dress. It creaked as she moved, and she wobbled in her red heels.
* * *
Lucas walked the girl out to her car without a word, his arm around her waist. As she got in, he leaned in to look at her. Someone flew a drone overhead with a camera on it so he leaned farther into the car. “Don’t come back here. I don’t care if he calls you. It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it.”
Terrified, the girl nodded, and drove out. Cameras flashed as she pulled away, but Lucas suspected they didn’t get anything usable. He waved to her as she sped away making sure the cameras caught him doing it. They didn’t know who the chick was. If they believed what they say she was just some girl a random bodyguard was probably sleeping with.
He heard shouting from inside the house.
She needed to ditch that guy. All he did was spend her money and bring her down. When’s the last time you made love to me? Lucas knew things weren’t good in the marriage, but damn. No wonder poor Bristol had that stick up her ass.
At first Lucas decided it wasn’t his business when Ricky cheated. Always a different girl, before tonight he’d always kept them in his “man cave” or out by the pool. Bristol would be devastated to know he defiled her special place out there.
She’d gotten pissed at him—at Lucas—when he told her after one of his guys reported three girls here at the house while Bristol was away. Something about her anger made it clear she already knew.
So how did Miss Bristol Maitland get her rocks off, he wondered. He’d never seen her look at another man but her husband, and they did a passable job of seeming to enjoy one another on the red carpet.
Not his business, Lucas had to remind himself.
Lucas lived in the guest house, which overlooked the pool and the patio. They’d talked about alternate arrangements, and he kept an apartment on the other side of town, but this was easier for all of them, at least in the meantime while Kyle Reed was Bristol’s latest stalker. A few nights a week he went back to his place, and let one of his crew handle the Bristol detail. Tonight he’d already planned to stay on site. There couldn’t be any more slip ups.
It didn’t take too long before Lucas didn’t hear any more yelling from inside the house. There probably wasn’t too much more to fight about. Ultimately, what could a guy like Ricky say as an argument for himself. He was an asshole that was taking advantage of Bristol. Anyone who had the chance to see behind the sparkling veneer of Bristol’s pop star image immediately knew it. It was getting harder and harder for Lucas to not just say screw her public image and toss Ricky over the gate. He wouldn’t even let him pack a bag since Bristol paid for everything he had anyway. That wasn’t the job though, and every time he caught himself thinking like that he started to realize that this Bristol detail was becoming something more than a job.
Last time he’d seen them fight, Ricky wound up crying and Lucas caught a glimpse of Bristol soothing him. Apologizing to him. She had too much of a soft spot for Ricky. It’s true they grew up together, and Ricky probably knows more about who she was than anyone else in the world, but does that mean he has any clue about who she is? For some reason, it seemed like Bristol had long ago changed, grew up, her new music was a reflection of that, and Ricky just stayed a spoiled child. Lucas understood that when someone played a big part in your life you needed to cut them some slack, but enough was enough. Bristol needed to lose this baggage now and move on. Lucas tried to remember what that last fight was about. Right—that was after he got wasted and crashed the Lamborghini. Nobody was hurt, but Ricky lost his license, which is probably why that girl drove her run down Camry to Bristol’s house. Bristol apologizing to her piece of shit husband after he wrecked her $200,000 car.
Lucas had to shake his mind off of this situation though. Shower, TV, bed. None of this was his business. He didn’t like that the guy at the venue gotten so close to her tonight. He’d not been doing a good job. Pete was garbage, Lucas would never do on the job training like that again. Pete’s uncle said he had experience. Pete’s uncle was full of shit. What if the guy had a knife? What if the guy was Kyle Reed who most likely would have had a knife or maybe something even worse? Lucas let himself into the tidy little guest house. He took a shower, threw on a clean pair of boxers, and headed to the bedroom. He paused as he crossed the living room. All his lights were out, but Bristol had the pool lights on, bathing the area in a greenish blue glow. He caught sight of her emerging from her pool, illuminated from below by the underwater lights. Her bathing suit wasn’t much, three strategically placed triangles.
She spent a lot of time, energy and money keeping her body fit and toned, and damn did it show. He caught a few extra glances whenever she was by the pool, which was usually in the day time, but here at night, with all the lights out in the guest house, he was able to look at here without her possibly catching him staring. She rang the water out of her long, red hair. She colored it, a fire-engine red he and most of her male fans thought was smoking hot.
It was his job to watch her, but he shouldn’t be watching like this, yet he didn’t move from his dark window. She settled herself on a cushy chaise lounge, and pulled out a paperback. She loved to read. She played that side of herself down in the media mostly, didn’t want to come across as nerdy, especially because she mostly loved sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, but Lucas also caught her reading more than
a few trashy romances on her kindle. After all, if it had been that long since anyone’s made love to her she probably needed the release. He thought it was super-hot. Other than the trashy romances Lucas knew he read the same books as her. He didn’t talk about what he liked to read because for some reason it seemed like it would be intrusive. When he served overseas, it seemed he always had his nose buried in a book. All the bases had graveyards of abandoned novels, and he read them all. The one she was reading now? He’d read it last year when it first came out, had ploughed through the sequel, and was anxiously awaiting the third. He wanted to ask her what she thought…but he was here to keep her safe and keep her fans adoring her. She didn’t need one more asshole doting on her. He watched a moment longer, gazing at the wet curve of her thigh and the slender dip of her stomach, then closed his curtains and went to bed. He felt like he needed his own release now.
2
“Hey, wake up.”
Bristol didn’t know where she was. She was cold, started shivering. Ricky?
No. She couldn’t imagine Ricky gently shaking her and speaking so softly after the fight they’d had.
“Bris. It’s after three. Go inside.”
“Lucas?” Her eyes cleared and she realized she’d fallen asleep on the chaise lounge by the pool, book flopped on her chest. He crouched next to her head, his warm hand resting on her shoulder. She started to shiver.
“Yeah. Good idea.”
“I got up to take a piss and saw the lights were still on out here. Then I saw you. Figured you didn’t want to spend the night out here. Jeez, you’re shaking.”
“I’m okay.”
Her teeth were chattering now. “Just need to get some clothes on.” She realized she was almost naked and very, very close to Lucas. Her nipples were like bullets against the thin cloth of her bathing suit.
He didn’t care. What was she thinking? His face, as usual, presented as a flat mask. She was pretty sure he didn’t notice that she was even female.