Deception (A Stalker Novel Book 2)

by Brittany Crowley

  “Where is everyone? You’re never without your entourage.” I laugh.

  “Yeah, that leads us into the conversation on why you’re here.” She wrings her fingers in front of her, a nervous habit she’s always had. “I don’t know who I can trust anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” I question.

  “I’ve been getting letters. At first it was no big deal, fans leave me stuff all the time. Some pay staff at hotels to drop a note in my room. Then they started getting personal. Too personal.”

  “How so?”

  “It started with what they saw when I was onstage, but the last one they quoted some of my lyrics.”

  “All your fans know your lyrics.” I bump my shoulder to hers trying to lighten the mood.

  “They were from my notebook in my room, not from a song that’s already been released or even made yet.”

  “Shit. Why didn’t you come to me sooner? Or talk to Dave?”

  “I told you, I can’t tell anyone because I don’t know who to trust. This happened just last night. The note was placed in my dressing room after a TV appearance.”

  “Ok, I see why that makes you uneasy. Luckily for you, you have a badass for a sister. I’ve got this covered, I won’t let anyone get to you. I’ll do some digging and see what I can find.”

  “Thanks Syd, I knew I could count on you.”

  “Do you have the letters?”

  She nods her head and leaves the room. A minute later she comes back with a manila envelope stuffed with papers. I wasn’t expecting this many.

  “You really should have come to me sooner.” I state after going through a few creepy notes complete with pictures of her up on stage. “That charity tour is coming up right?” I rub my temples trying to figure out a game plan to keep this contained. This goes beyond just one creepy note and straight into stalker territory.

  “Yeah, it starts next week in Texas.”

  I pull her into my arms and squeeze her. “Do mom and dad know?” She shakes her head. I push her shoulders back so she can see the seriousness in my eyes. “Good. No mom and dad. They don’t need to be brought into this.”

  “You think it’s dangerous?”

  “It’s hard to say how far a stalker will go, but I’m not leaving it to chance. Look at me.” She turns her head with worry in her eyes. “We’ve got this. Keep it between you and me, nobody else.”

  We hear a throat clear as Cross rounds the corner and props his shoulder on the wall looking every bit the pissed off Samoan. “Yeah, I think you can scratch Dave off the list of who to trust.”

  Chapter 5

  Cross

  “Who are you?”

  “You fucking followed me, asshole?”

  “Where’s Dave? What did you do to Dave?”

  “I swear to fucking god Cross, I’m gonna kick you in the balls.”

  These women are giving me whiplash. On the one hand, it’s bizarre just how identical they are. Minus the hair of course. They even have the same pout on their lips, although the words coming out of them are very different. While Ray-Ann is clearly distressed at my sudden appearance out of nowhere, she is still reasonably soft spoken. Not a cuss word in sight.

  Sydney is a whole other level.

  “You stupid motherfucking meathead. How did you manage to track me down! What the ever-loving fuck were you thinking?”

  Deciding I need to get a grip on this situation, I level Sydney with my shut the fuck up glare. She wisely stops with the verbal attack, although from the vicious glare I’m being levelled with, it’s reluctant. She sits back down next to her sister and puts an arm around her shoulder.

  Ray-Ann looks back and forth between the two of us, her head doing a great impersonation of a cartoon character. “Do you two know each other?”

  “Only in the biblical sense.”

  Another death glare gets shot in my direction and this time I can’t help but smirk.

  “I thought you were coming alone Sydney.”

  The sheer panic in this girl’s voice wipes the grin from my face. Looking her over, I can see she’s in a state. My eyes quickly skirt over the open envelope on the table, the contents spilling out and looking like a forensics experts wet dream. I heard enough from the hallway to know that the country singer is having a stalker issue but seeing the evidence in front of me has my brain screaming into overdrive. This isn’t just a small obsession.

  “I did come alone. This…” Sydney cocks her head in my direction. “Neanderthal is my own creepy stalker.”

  A girly giggle escapes Ray-Ann, something I can’t ever imagine coming from her sister. “Well, it looks like you got the better end of the deal.”

  I like this girl.

  “You didn’t answer the question, what happened to Dave?”

  I run a hand over my shaven head and direct an apologetic look to the sweet blond. “I waited for him to take a toilet break. Not that I’m trying to tell you how to run your security detail, but if he’s going to use the john, he really should have someone cover the door.”

  She nods. “Things have been quiet, or at least that’s what it looks like from the outside. As you probably heard, I haven’t exactly spoken to anyone about what’s been going on.”

  I take a seat on the huge comfy sofa across from the sisters. “And why is that?”

  Ray-Ann chews on her nail, her eyes going back and forth between me and Sydney. Reluctantly, Sydney nods to reassure her. With a drawn-out sigh, Ray-Ann leans back and tucks her long legs up. “Some of those letters, some of the stuff that’s written in them, there’s no way anyone that wasn’t involved in my day-to-day life would know about them. The lyrics from my notebook? I don’t just leave that lying around. Somebody was in my room. And my dressing room is always manned no matter what venue I’m at, even when I’m not in the room.”

  Shuddering slightly, she turns to her sister who reaches out to clasp her hand. “I just don’t know who to trust anymore.”

  “That ends now. You’re not going on tour alone, I’m coming with you,” Sydney reassures her. “You can trust me.”

  “Us,” I say immediately.

  Sydney shoots to her feet. “And just what the hell does that mean?”

  Shrugging, I pull out my phone and place a call I know is going to piss her off. She watches my every move, her eyes widening and then she lunges for me. Her long, sexy as fuck legs wrap around my waist as she practically climbs me like a fucking tree trying to pry the phone out of my hand.

  “Whatup Kriss Kross?”

  I don’t even bother telling Marcus he’s a dick, I just growl into the phone. “Get everyone together. We have a situation.”

  “You got it,” he replies, all humor gone from his voice.

  I drop the call and grasp Sydney’s hips. “You can call me all the fucking names you want babe, but you need us.”

  She jumps away from me, but not before landing a well-placed punch to my kidney. Hurts like a fucking bitch too.

  “You are not getting involved. You are not getting our friends involved either, do you hear me Hulk? This is personal, and I can handle it myself. Do you understand? This conversation is over.”

  Smirking, I stride back over to the sofa and sprawl out. That’s what she thinks.

  ***

  “Marcus, please stop dribbling all over my sister.”

  Ray-Ann giggles as Skylar shoves him over, putting herself between the pair and most likely saving his life from an angry looking Sydney.

  The woman isn’t talking to me. She agreed with her sister to come over and speak to everyone, since I’d made it clear something was going on, but not once did she make eye contact with me after cussing me out. I’m ok with that too because now she’s facing down the entire team and getting her ass whipped.

  Dave, the vacant and completely unobservant security detail, should be outside the room, thinking that Ray-Ann is having lunch with her sister and friends. Which is technically true. However, the fact that he didn’t even come in
to check on her room when they left has my senses on alert. He didn’t know I was in her hotel room in the first place, and when the girls left he was still MIA. A minute later I left the room, no security in sight and strolled towards the elevator without question.

  What in the fuck is that about? A star of this lady’s caliber should have an entire team watching her back. I was able to make it to our suites before them, knowing that I didn’t want this guy to have me on his radar. I’m a big man, and easy to remember, and for some reason I don’t want him to know who I am.

  Besides, I haven’t had a chance to check him out properly. This whole situation is making my skin itch.

  I look over at the newlyweds and feel guilty for calling a meeting. Not that they care. They would have been even more pissed if we’d left them out of the loop.

  Now, as plans are being made to make sure we can investigate this stalker, I can almost feel the hostility coming at me from Sydney. She’s just gonna have to suck it up though because there is no way in hell she’s going off to be a hero all on her own. I won’t let her, none of us will. We’re a team, and the sooner she gets to grips with that the better.

  Chapter 6

  Sydney

  I wonder if my earlobes can hold up Cross’s balls? One for each ear. It’s only fair I cut that shit off and wear it for jewelry after he followed me. Maybe I’ll take his dick too and wear it as a statement necklace.

  It’d be a statement alright.

  “She was planning to go at it alone.” Yup, definitely the dick too.

  All the eyes in the room turn my way but I refuse to back down. There’s nothing wrong with taking this on by myself if that’s what I choose to do. I’ve had worse cases I’ve done alone.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I have the situation under control and not to mention, Cross came in minutes after I found this all out. I didn’t have time to properly run everything through my head.” I snap a little too abruptly with a well-placed glare in the big man’s direction.

  “Hey Syd, can I talk to you in the other room please?” Briella asks walking out of the room without waiting for my answer. I couldn’t argue even if I wanted to.

  “Shit, I’m in trouble with mom.” I whine. “I’ll be right back Ray.” Then I point a finger in Marcus’s direction. “Keep your eyes and your dick to yourself.” He holds his hands up and crosses his legs in surrender before I walk towards the back bedroom where Briella’s waiting.

  When I enter the room, she’s sitting on the bed. I join beside her and take a deep breath.

  “You know…”

  “Hang on, let me speak.” She cuts me off. “Remember when I got that call from Calvin and decided to meet him alone?”

  Shit, she went there. When we were on the last job, the one that went terribly wrong, she met with an informant by herself. An informant who ended up completely blindsiding us when he kidnapped me at a party.

  “It’s not the same thing.” I immediately argue.

  “No, it’s worse. You know absolutely nothing about this situation. We had background checks, surveillance set in place, wire taps.”

  “Alright, I get it.”

  “You’re making the right choice for your sister’s safety, and we would have worn you down eventually.” She laughs and bumps me with her shoulder.

  I take a long drawn out sigh. “Let’s get this over with, and for the record, I’ll never admit to Cross being right.” We get up and walk back to the team and my sister. I lock eyes with Cross and feel warmth in my belly. Just one look from him always undoes me and it pisses me the hell off. How can I act unaffected if his eyes undo me every time? I shake my head because there’s more pressing matters to deal with.

  “I run this operation.” I state confidently. “Number one… she’s my sister.”

  “That’s the reason why you shouldn’t be involved, period.” Cross throws in the ring and I think there may be steam flying from my ears.

  “Don’t.” I say sternly letting him know to keep his mouth shut. My eyes meet everyone’s as I begin my demands. “Marcus doesn’t get within ten feet of her…”

  “Hey! I’m a grown man, I can handle myself.” I look over and see his arm draped around Sky, but also his fingertips are resting on Ray’s shoulder.

  “Some self-control you’ve got there.” I roll my eyes but start laughing when Sky smacks Marcus upside his head.

  Just then Cross gets up and stands next to me, like we’re some sort of duo. He followed you Syd, remember that he followed you because he’s a nosy bastard and clearly doesn’t think you can handle your own shit.

  “You can run it but I’m helping. No lip.” He faces me and when I’m about to open my mouth to tell him what’s up, he places his massive paw over my mouth. I’m so surprised I stand there speechless, not that I can talk.

  “Quiet.” He warns and if his hand wasn’t across my mouth I’d have something resembling a devilish grin sliding into place.

  “I think we need to look into the security for…” He starts but the second my tongue juts out and runs across the palm of his hand, his eyes cut to me. The rooms none the wiser but I’m letting him know two can play this game. He wants to manhandle me? He better be ready for the consequences.

  Cross clears his throat and continues on. “As I was saying, her security is shit, I got into her room without…” My mouth opens behind his hand then my teeth sink into his flesh causing him to cough in surprise.

  “Really, you want to play this game?” He cocks an eyebrow in challenge.

  “Man, are they always like this? I can cut the sexual tension with a knife.” My sister whispers to Sky.

  “Oh yeah, it’s like a soap opera. They just got together for the first time last…”

  But I don’t hear Sky finish her sentence because in the next instant I’m over Cross’s shoulder with him storming towards the bedroom. Once we’re through the door, he shuts it and places me back on my feet with my back to the door.

  “You want to play games?” His nose runs the length of my jaw leaving my flesh burning, sensitive to his touch.

  “I’m not playing games.” I moan and I could smack myself for letting him know he has an effect on me. His thigh comes between my legs to hold me in place, but the contact further spurs me on. I sink down and grind into him. “Would I have done that if this was a game?”

  His eyes turn molten and I realize I’ve taken this, taken him, too far. “Listen, bullshit aside, I want you.” A sly smile crosses his handsome face. “Don’t get too excited Chief. I want you, but I can’t have you. So please, let’s keep things professional.”

  “Tell me why.” He growls into my ear and lifts his thigh higher and making me pant.

  “You’re different and I’m not ready to deal with different. Especially now with all that’s going on with my sister. I can’t even be in the same room as you without getting distracted. So we need to stick a pin in this.”

  His face gets impossibly closer to mine and as I stare into his brown eyes, I pray for the strength to stay away.

  “Fair enough, but know this Blue.” He leans in and nips at my ear. “We’re going to happen again…” Lick. “And again…” Suck. “And again…” Bite.

  I’m visibly shaking, my restraint barely being held together when he takes his thigh along with the warmth of his hard body away from me.

  “Let me help you with this.” He says it more as a command.

  “You don’t understand this world, I’ve lived it. You don’t want to be thrown into this lifestyle…”

  He shuts me down with a piercing look. “I know more than you think. Trust me, you’re gonna need me.”

  Chapter 7

  Cross

  The room quietens when we walk back in, me resigned to a fate worse than death and Sydney prodding my arm trying to get me to talk.

  “That’s it? Explain Cross.”

  Swinging round, I scoop her up and practically throw her onto the seat next to her sister. “If I’m goi
ng to have to do this, I’m only explaining myself once.”

  I can feel everyone’s eyes on me and I don’t like it. I’ve never liked being the center of attention, they all know that and usually respect it. What they’ve never known, is why.

  “Ray-Ann, this world tour of yours, its part of the Shaping The World tour, right?”

  She smiles and nods her head. “Yes! You’ve heard of it?”

  I nod, less than enthused but before I can continue she turns to the others and launches into a promo speech. “It’s so exciting and for such a noble cause. The Shaping The World foundation is all about giving disadvantaged children help to achieve their goals. Whether that be academic, sports related, music… you name it. There are lots of ambassadors for the charity, myself included. This is just one of the ways we fundraise to keep the foundation going. We have centers in almost every city across America now. Its huge.”

  Chantel sits up straight and snaps her fingers. “Oh my god, yes! I remember that cross country relay the football teams did last year. They ran the width of the country and raised thousands, right?”

  Clapping her hands and looking the image of angelic, Ray-Ann laughs. “That’s it! Now it’s time for the music industry to do their part. It’s a two-month tour, and each venue is practically sold out. I’m so proud to be a part of it.”

  Feeling impatient, I cross my arms over my chest and clear my throat. “My point is, with so many big stars on the road at the same time, security is going to be tough to breach. We need to get on the inside and so far, Sydney is the only one with an in.”

  “Exactly why I should go it alone…” the stubborn woman starts, only to clam up when a cushion sails through the air and smacks her in the face.

  “Shut the fuck up bitch, we’ve done this talk already,” Briella yells from her perch on Colby’s lap.

  “Colby, you and Briella are gonna have to sit this one out. It’s too soon after your mugs were splashed across the tabloids, you’ll be recognized.”

  They nod, not looking happy about it but knowing it’s for the best. Although the finer details have never seen the light of day, they were an integral part of bringing the Boston mayor down for his crimes. It was all fun and games seeing their faces on the front of The Globe and it made them local heroes for all of five minutes. Unfortunately, right now, they’re too high profile to blend in.