by Tia Wylder
As much as I wanted to forget all about the creepy phone call and go back to enjoying dinner with Barnes, I couldn’t. There was no way I could get that voice out of my head. It had been a man’s voice – deep and raspy and grunting – and it had sounded evil, like it wanted to hurt me.
I didn’t understand. I knew my parents were angry with me, but why would they want to hurt me? After all, I was an adult. I was twenty-five years old, and I had the freedom to do what I wished. Was my father angry because I’d gone to the bank and taken out the money? And if so, why couldn’t he just call me himself?
I was feeling very, very confused.
When my entrée arrived, I barely touched it. It was one of my favorite meals, filet mignon topped with lump crab and béchamel sauce, but I didn’t feel hungry anymore. I felt lost.
“Eyes bigger than your stomach?”
I looked up to see Barnes staring at me. I shrugged. “I’m just thinking, that’s all.”
“About whether you’re going to move in with me?”
I bit my lip. “About everything,” I said.
“Gianna, I can only protect you if you let me,” Barnes said. His voice was low and deep and serious. “And I very much want to protect you, do you understand?”
“I think I’d like to go back to my hotel room tonight,” I said softly. I pushed the plate of food to the center of the table. “You can have this boxed up if you want it. I’m not hungry.”
“Jesus,” Barnes said. “What, you think I need leftovers? Christ, Gianna, I’m just worried about you.”
I got to my feet and nodded, still feeling shaky. “I know,” I said. “Trust me.”
I was surprised Barnes let me leave the restaurant without a fight – I half expected him to follow me outside – and when he didn’t, I realized that I was almost disappointed.
This is so screwed up, I thought as I stood on the curb with my arm out for a cab. As much as I wanted to run back inside and throw myself into Barnes’s strong arms, I knew I couldn’t do that. I’d moved here because I wanted to be strong and independent, not throw myself at the first man who said he could protect me. But then again, I’d never thought I’d really need protection.
I barely slept that night. I tossed and turned in my giant hotel bed, wondering what I should do. Every noise and sound startled me. I almost expected a masked man to jump out of the shadows, wielding a gun, and threatening my life. I got out of bed six times to check the amount of cash I had left in the safe. Everything looked untouched, but if my parents were crazy enough to hire someone to threaten me with anonymous phone calls, did that mean they were crazy enough to hire someone to watch me?
In the morning, I felt terrible. It took a huge effort to haul myself out of bed and into the hot shower, where I stood under the water until it went from scorching to lukewarm. I had to be on the set of Heaven Cove in a little over an hour, and despite the shower, I still looked as bad as I felt. I tried to camouflage the dark circles under my eyes as best I could, but nothing could hide the strain and stress of a bad night.
“Gianna?”
I looked up to see Barnes getting to his feet in the hotel hallway. His suit was wrinkled, and he looked almost as bad as I did.
“Don’t tell me you stayed here all night,” I said. “You can’t possibly have done that.”
Barnes shrugged. “I told you I would protect you,” he replied. “And there was no way I was going to let you stay all alone. Someone could have broken into your room while you were sleeping.”
“I barely slept,” I said. “And I don’t know whether to feel violated or pleased that you did that.”
“No rules against being in the hallway,” Barnes said. He stepped closer, and I felt my heart start to beat faster. “So, did you make up your mind?”
Looking into Barnes’s deep eyes then, I knew I’d made a decision.
“Yes,” I said quietly. “I’ll move in with you.”
Barnes wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. “Good,” he said as he nuzzled my hair. “Because I don’t think I can stand another night of staying on the floor here.”
--
Over the next two weeks, I was busier than I’d been in my entire life. I worked long days on the set of Heaven Cove – Eric told me that my character was responsible for the huge uptick in daily viewings – and in the evenings, Barnes and I worked on his condo. It was nice, and it definitely had potential…but it wasn’t quite the level of luxury I was used to.
One night, I climbed off the couch and walked into Barnes’s office.
“Hey,” I said softly, knocking on the door. “You’ve been in here a long time.”
Barnes spun around in his chair and nodded. I saw that his phone was pressed between his shoulder and his ear, and he was frowning.
“I’ll be out soon,” Barnes mouthed. He motioned for me to leave and close the door.
I rolled my eyes before walking out of his office and leaving the door open. When I heard it slam closed seconds later, I groaned and flopped back down on the couch.
It was two hours before Barnes finally appeared.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “Still dealing with a lot of cases in Boston. It’s getting really hectic.”
“You should really just hire someone to do your work for you,” I said. “It has to be hard, what with the time difference and all.”
“Yeah,” Barnes said. He narrowed his eyes and sat down in a recliner, kicking his feet up. “I’m exhausted. Want to go to bed?”
I shook my head.
“You're so quiet tonight,” Barnes said. “What’s the matter?”
I sighed. “I got another one of those weird phone calls,” I said.
“What did they say?”
“Same thing as before. That unless I came home immediately, I’d be sorry.”
“Jesus,” Barnes said. He shook his head. “Your father is something else. What does he do again?”
“It sounds stupid, but I don’t know exactly,” I said. “I never questioned it. No one did – not even my mother, as long as the money was coming in.”
“Is your father involved with organized crime?”
“Of course not,” I said hotly. “Don’t you think I’d know?”
Barnes didn’t reply, and the silence made me realize that he hadn’t been kidding.
“I mean, I don’t think so,” I said, tossing my hair over one shoulder.
“It would make sense, Gianna,” Barnes said slowly. “It would definitely explain how weird your parents are, and why they kept you and your sister so sheltered.”
“But if he’s so angry with me, why doesn’t he just call me himself?” I asked. “I don’t get it – I don’t get why anyone would be threatening me.”
“I don’t know, either,” Barnes said. He looked troubled.
“Hey,” I said, sitting up quickly. “What if it’s about Heaven Cove?”
“What?”
“What if like, someone’s jealous that I got the role? What if they’re trying to scare me out of Los Angeles?”
“I don’t know, Gianna,” Barnes said.
“Come on,” I said. “It makes a lot more sense than my father trying to hunt me down and frighten me!”
Barnes frowned, but he didn’t say anything. “How many calls like that have you gotten?”
“Five or six.” I twisted my hands together in my lap. “I think I’m going to call the police – they can probably help, especially now that I know it’s someone jealous of my role.”
“Gianna, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Barnes said. “You don’t know who it is.”
“Yeah, and that’s why I want to call the police and have them get involved,” I said, standing up and putting my hands on my hips.
Barnes stood up and put an arm around me. “Gianna, I’m going to take care of you,” he replied. “You know I can – I can do almost anything. I’m a lawyer, I can write, I can direct…what can’t I do?”
I pulled away an
d looked at him. “Are you serious right now?”
“Well, yeah,” Barnes said. “I just don’t want you worrying.”
“How can I not worry? There’s someone out there who wants to hurt me,” I said. “What should I be doing, running around and dancing for joy?”
Barnes put his face in his hands and sighed. “No, Gianna, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant I don’t think we need to involve the cops when I’m right here.”
“You’re not right here,” I pointed out angrily. “You were in your office for two whole hours earlier!”
Barnes closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Gianna, I—“
“No,” I said, stepping back. “I’m not fighting with you about this. Not right now.” Turning on my heel, I stalked out of the living room and into the guest room where I slammed the door and flopped down on the bed. I was so angry that I couldn’t even think – who the hell did Barnes think he was, trying to tell me what to do? It was my problem, not his!
“Gianna, please open the door,” Barnes said. He knocked gently.
I pulled a pillow over my head. “Go away,” I yelled. “I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“If you don’t open the door, I’ll do it myself,” Barnes growled.
I didn’t move.
Barnes kicked down the door and burst into the room. Gasping, I sat up straight and stared at him.
“What the hell are you doing,” I demanded angrily. “Have you lost your mind?”
“No,” Barnes said. “But I want you to know that I’m here – that I’ll always take care of you, even when you don’t want me to.” He was breathing hard, and for a moment, I saw past my anger and realized that he meant every word. But when my eyes landed on the jagged wooden shards where the door had been, my anger came rushing back.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I said, shaking my head.
“Gianna, I don’t want there to be any secrets between us,” Barnes said loudly. “And I can’t have you running off and crying every time I say something you don’t like!”
“Anything I don’t like?” I repeated incredulously. “Are you kidding me?”
“I don’t understand why you’re so resistant to the idea of letting me handle this,” Barnes said. “I’m perfectly capable of hiring a private investigator on my own, without the cops.”
“And I don’t understand why your ego is suddenly bigger than my need for safety,” I shot back. “You’re a selfish pig, you know that?”
Barnes stared at me, slack-jawed and openmouthed.
“All you can think of is being great at something else,” I continued angrily. Somewhere, deep in the back of my mind, I knew I was being unreasonable and irrational. But that wasn’t enough to make me stop. I was so angry – angry with Barnes, angry with my father, angry with whoever the fuck was stalking me.
“I’m not talking to you right now,” I said, pushing past Barnes and storming out of the room. I heard Barnes’s footsteps behind me, and I knew he was following me, but I didn’t care. I stalked into the living room and stood by the giant windows, looking out at the street and trying to catch my breath. I can’t believe this is happening, I thought, putting my hand to my chest. My heart was thudding, and my stomach felt twisted and upset.
Just as I was about to face Barnes and tell him off, once and for all, that was when I saw it. A quick flash of light, no longer than half a second.
“What was that?” I shrieked, jumping into the air. “What happened?”
“What?” Barnes rushed over to my side. “Gianna, what are you talking about?”
“There was a flash, out there,” I said, pointing into the darkness. Leaning close to the window, I cupped my hands around my eyes to block out the indoor light. I gasped when I saw two men scurrying away from our property, long-range cameras held in their hands.
“Oh my god,” I said. “Those men, they just took a picture of me!”
“They’re probably paparazzi,” Barnes said. “You’re getting famous.”
“No,” I shrieked. “It can’t be that – if anything, I bet those people are connected to the creepy phone calls I keep getting!”
“Gianna, calm down,” Barnes said. “There’s nothing to worry about, everything is going to be fine.”
Something inside of me snapped, and I whirled around, glaring hotly at him. “No,” I said. “No, Barnes, everything is not going to be fine. I can’t believe you’d even have the nerve to say that right now! Someone is stalking me, and they want to frighten me, and make sure I stay frightened! And I’m fucking terrified! And you’re doing nothing to help!”
Barnes’s face fell, and he stared at me. “Gianna, please, I—“
“I don’t care!” I yelled. Grabbing my purse from the table, I shoved my feet into a pair of heels and ran out the front door.
“Gianna, wait! It’s too dangerous!”
“Fuck you!” I yelled over my shoulder as I ran down the long driveway and into the street. My feet ached almost instantly – I’d never gotten used to running in heels – but I kept going, pushing on. I could hear Barnes’s footsteps behind me but that only motivated me to go faster. Soon, I was nearly blind with my own tears. When I felt drops of rain pelting my hair, I ran under the cover of a giant tree on the corner.
“Gianna!” Barnes yelled. He sounded panicked, and for a moment, I almost stepped out from my cover. As he came into view, I saw that his face was contorted with grief and worry. Under the yellow glow of the streetlights, he looked like a man who had lost everything. My heart ached, and the tears were coming harder than ever as I finally gathered my courage, dismissed my pride, and stepped out onto the street.
When Barnes saw me, he stared. “Gianna, come here,” he said. “Please.”
I took a deep, shuddering breath and slowly walked over to him.
“I’m so sorry,” I said softly. I couldn’t even look Barnes in the eye – it was too painful. He slipped his fingers under my chin and tilted my face up to meet his.
“I know,” Barnes said in a low, throaty voice. “Gianna, if anything ever happened to you, I’d be devastated. Do you know that? Do you know how much I love you?”
I gasped.
“Yes,” Barnes said. He took me in his arms and kissed me passionately. When he pulled away, he pressed his forehead to mine. Like me, he was breathing fast and hard. “I love you, Gianna DiFaba. You’re the only woman for me.”
“I love you, too,” I said softly. As soon as I said it, I knew the words were true. “I know it’s crazy – I know we barely know each other. But I can’t help it. I can’t stay away from you, Barnes.”
Barnes kissed me again, and I melted into his arms, resting against his hard, muscular body. As we kissed, I began to cry again.
“Gianna,” Barnes said softly, pulling away and stroking my hair. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said, wiping my cheeks. “They’re not sad tears,” I added softly. “I’m just…I’m so happy, Barnes.”
“I love you,” Barnes said. He slid an arm under my knees and scooped me up until I was cradled against his chest.
As Barnes carried me home, I wondered what would happen between the two of us. We were madly in love, even if we barely knew each other. I knew that we were perfect together. We were both strong and pigheaded and stubborn and willful…and both of us hated to be wrong. But I also knew that if we were going to make our relationship last, it would take a lot of effort from both of us. And somehow, I was going to have to learn to compromise.
Chapter 10
Barnes
It sounds crazy, but after the fight I had with Gianna, I felt like our relationship was stronger than ever before. It was the first time we’d really bared our souls to each other…and the first time I truly realized Gianna was every bit as strong as she acted.
Months passed. It was strange – in Boston, the weather would have changed. The leaves would have turned from green to brown and golden and red. Snow would have fallen
from the sky. But in Los Angeles, it almost felt like living inside of a snow globe, except a snow globe where it never actually snowed.
Heaven Cove was going well. It was even nominated for a few daytime television awards, although Eric and I were both confident that it wouldn’t win. Gianna’s career was really taking off, and soon she had to start wearing sunglasses everywhere just so pictures wouldn’t appear in the papers. But my happiness felt like something that was larger than the sum of its parts. I’d gone from being miserable in Boston to have a perfect life.