Protecting the Movie Star (The Protectors Book 4)

by Samantha Chase

  Color me surprised. No one really took the time to think about me. I normally fended for myself. I could feel myself scowling at her and forced myself to relax. “Thanks,” I murmured and motioned for her and the quiet chick to lead the way to the dressing room.

  I opened the door when we got there—without knocking—and let Cali enter first. In less than a minute, our plates were set out, and both Cali and Malcolm left without hardly uttering a word. Janelle stayed for a minute and went over the revised schedule for the afternoon before scurrying from the room. Once the door closed, I turned and faced Evangeline and instantly noticed that she didn’t look pleased.

  “So, Emmeline, how’d the reading go?” I asked casually, walking across the room to the table where our lunch was waiting.

  “It’s Evangeline,” she corrected but stayed standing on the opposite side of the room.

  “Whatever,” I said as I took my seat and eyed the giant sandwich and potato salad Cali had plated up for me. The food definitely looked good, and if I was any kind of gentleman, I’d wait for her to sit down.

  But I wasn’t.

  She stood there and stewed for a solid minute, and I was three bites into my lunch before she finally walked over and took her seat. She was looking pretty annoyed and… prissy. I couldn’t help but snort and chuckle.

  “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

  “You. Why don’t you take the stick out of your ass for a few minutes? It might make sitting easier.”

  “What?” Then she huffed. “You’re a real jackass, you know that, right?”

  “And there’s no fish stinking up the room, so lose the face too.”

  “Excuse me?” she snapped, clearly offended.

  Putting my sandwich down, I leaned in a little closer. “Look, Maybelline, you asked for protection from my company, and you’ve got it. By sitting here and treating me like I’m something beneath you, all you’re doing is making yourself look foolish. You don’t think I’m worthy of being in your presence? That’s fine with me. I’m not thrilled with being in yours either. But while I am, you damn well better lose the attitude.”

  I could see her lush little mouth trying to form words. I didn’t care. I went back to my sandwich. It was actually quite good. Ham, Swiss, a little of the spicy brown mustard that I happened to enjoy and…

  “Screw you.”

  Now that got my attention. How adorable. The actress was trying to offend me. Once again, my sandwich got put down as I leaned back, crossed my arms, and studied her. “Screw you? That’s all you got?”

  “Unlike you, I don’t need to be vulgar.”

  “Sweetheart, I haven’t even begun to be vulgar around you. When it happens, you’ll know.”

  “Every time you open your mouth, you’re vulgar.” She picked up her fork and stabbed it into her salad, believing she’d gotten the last word.

  She thought wrong.

  “I’ve actually been on my best behavior all day,” I said sweetly. “If you don’t believe me, listen to this.” I paused for dramatic effect. “I’ve looked all around this fucking dump of a movie set. Your security team is a bunch of overweight, overpaid pussies. Not one of them is man enough to take down even one of your teenybopper fans lining the fence outside. By the time Malcolm or one of his guys got to you if the stalker got through, they’d find you either getting slashed or fucked.” I stopped and raised a brow at her. “Vulgar enough for you?”

  She paled. I kind of felt guilty—since a scenario like that wasn’t anything to joke about—but I needed her to see the difference.

  “Like I said, I wasn’t vulgar earlier. I’m here to do a job, and worrying about proper etiquette and being politically correct aren’t going to help.”

  Once again she tried to find a comeback and failed.

  Good.

  “Are you going to be in the room with the cast for the rest of the day?”

  She nodded.

  “Okay. For today, Malcolm will be outside the door while I finish getting a feel for what’s going to be going on around the set. When you’re done with the reading, I’ll have Malcolm bring you back here so we can discuss how tomorrow is going to go. I want you to be aware of anyone who’s hanging around unnecessarily. You need to be prepared for the fact that we’re going to be changing things on a daily basis. If whoever is watching you doesn’t know your routine, he can’t get to you.”

  She nodded again, but her eyes were as cold as ice as she looked at me.

  “So you understand what I’m doing, right?” I asked, anxious to finish my lunch.

  “Yes,” she said quietly.

  We ate the remainder of our meal in silence.

  ***

  Reading must have been exhausting because when I met up with Evangeline later in the day to talk to her, Cali, Malcolm and his team, she looked ready to drop.

  Not my problem.

  “Okay, you’re due on the set tomorrow morning early, I’m told,” I said, looking directly at Evangeline. When she nodded, I added, “I want you here thirty minutes before that.”

  “Thirty?” she objected. “That’s…”

  “Five o’clock. In the morning. I’m aware.”

  “But it’s ridiculous! Why would I want to be here that early in the morning?”

  All eyes were on me, I could feel it, but my eyes never left Evangeline’s. “Because everyone has a copy of the schedule for tomorrow. That means if your stalker is part of the cast, crew, or whatever, or even if he gets a glimpse of the schedule, he’ll be expecting you at five-thirty. We’re going to start throwing things off.”

  “You can’t mess with the production schedule,” Cali said, sounding concerned. “It could lead to more trouble or Evangeline losing her role.”

  I still didn’t lose eye contact. “No one’s going to lose their job. All the schedule changes are going to happen so they don’t have a conflict with production, and if I find it necessary to, I’ll talk to the producer or the director or whoever else I need to.” I don’t think Evangeline has even blinked since I started talking. “Do you trust me?”

  “Not a chance.”

  I sighed, realizing it would have been smarter to play a little nice so she would be easier to work with. But I never made smart decisions. “Do you trust me to do my job?”

  “I don’t know,” she said.

  “That’s fine. You don’t really know me but, believe me, you’re going to learn to. And fast.”

  “Arrogant much?” she mumbled.

  “Enough with the name calling,” I said, filled with annoyance, the passing thought about playing nice completely disappearing. “I realize you’re immature and all, but really, it’s enough.”

  “I’m immature?” she said, her voice raising as she stood. “You’re the one who keeps lashing out for no reason. What gives you the right to call me names and yet act like I’m not allowed to do the same?”

  “Rubber and glue.” I picked up my copy of the production schedule for the next day. “Malcolm, your guys are going to be on fan club detail in the morning. This is where I’m going to need your guys to be more observant—are we dealing with a bunch of overzealous girls or is there someone in the bunch who doesn’t seem to fit? Take video or pictures or whatever you can in case we need to identify someone later on.”

  Malcolm nodded. “I’m on it.”

  “Wait,” Evangeline interrupted. “Malcolm stays with me in the morning. Both he and Cali are nearby.”

  “Well, now you’ll have me,” I said and gave her a fake, tight smile.

  “No,” she said, her shoulders stiffening in defiance. “You go and watch the crowd. I want Malcolm with me.”

  “Newsflash, princess. You’re not calling the shots. I am. And I say I’m going to be with you. Get used to it.”

  “Since I’m the one who hired you, I’m the one who gets to make the final decisions. I’ll call Sebastian and get it worked out.”

  That was it. I reached out and grabbed her arm before she turned
away. Malcolm and his guys were instantly on their feet ready to defend her. One look from me and they all relaxed. “Listen, you are not going to call Sebastian every time you don’t get your way. This is why I called you immature. Only a child feels the need to tattle when they don’t get what they want. Like it or not, I’m the guy here to protect you. Quit fighting every damn thing I do and say. I’m not asking to be your friend or confidante, but dammit, you’re going to listen to me and do what I tell you. Are we clear?”

  She stared at me for so long with eyes filled with such fire and hatred that I felt like she was burning my skin off. Abruptly she yanked her arm free. “If you call me a child again, when you’ve done nothing but act childish yourself, I promise you won’t like the consequences. You have no idea how much I despise you.”

  Part of me was kind of impressed—since most people didn’t put up much of a fight when I was trying to intimidate them—but the other part of me was just annoyed.

  “Oh yeah?” I said through clenched teeth. “I don’t fucking care. I guess I’ll have to cancel my fan club membership and rip up my glittery card.”

  She was so furious she was shaking with it, but there was also a glint of tears in her eyes.

  Shit.

  In a flash, she pulled herself together and looked over at Malcolm. “Let’s go,” she said and walked away to pick up her jacket and purse. And then, as regally as any member of the royal family, she stood by the door and waited for her entourage to take their places before leaving the room.

  She almost pulled it off except for her last-minute twist around to flip me off.

  And damn if she didn’t look sexy as hell doing it.

  Three

  Evangeline

  I was never going to forgive Sebastian for this.

  I suppose I might have had a privileged, overindulged life, but I tried every day to be nice and not take advantage of the people around me. I sometimes spent too much money, and I’d had a few wild times in the past, but I was never one of the tabloid-princess celebrities who are always pouring money away or belittling the people around them. I don’t think I’d done anything to deserve the way Cole was treating me, and at present there wasn’t anything I could do to change it—except fire Sebastian and his whole company, which I was on the edge of doing all week.

  I liked Sebastian, and I trusted him, and I was in a bad situation with the stalker. After I cooled down that first day, I’d determined to give it a week and then decide if I was going to get rid of the asshole.

  Fortunately, Cole seemed to be not quite so offensive after the first day. He was cold and gruff and irrationally grumpy, but I figured that was his normal attitude. If he’d continued to act as horribly as he had the first day, I never would have made it through the week with him.

  I was scared of the stalker, but there were other security firms out there—with men who would act like professionals—and it was only my faith in Sebastian that was keeping me from switching to one of them.

  Sebastian said Cole was a good guy. So far, I hadn’t seen any evidence of that.

  The week was spent reading and blocking for the most part, although they filmed a few exterior scenes I wasn’t a part of near the end of the week. Filming my scenes wouldn’t begin until next week, and on Saturday I was looking forward to some time at home—mostly for some free time from the obnoxiousness of Cole Langham.

  It wasn’t really my home, of course. It was a rented, furnished apartment on the top floor of a downtown high-rise. It was going to be my home for the next month or so though, and what mattered was Cole wouldn’t be anywhere around.

  So it was a very unpleasant surprise when I came out from my bedroom at about nine o’clock on Saturday morning to find Cole sitting on a stool at the kitchen bar.

  I was wearing a camisole and soft pajama shorts. I was barefoot, and my hair was a mess.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded after a moment of shocked paralysis.

  “My job.” He arched one dark, annoying eyebrow at me.

  “Who let you into my place?”

  “Malcolm.”

  “Why are you here?” I did my best to moderate my tone out of general civility, but I wanted to scream and push him out of here. How dare he think he could invade my privacy for no good reason?

  “There was a call last night.”

  “What?” I’d been about to put a mug under the high-class, one-cup brewer, but I paused and stared at him instead. “What call?”

  “You had a call. It was concerning.”

  I felt a familiar drop to my stomach and a chill of fear. “What did it say?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It damn well does matter. Tell me what the call said.”

  “It was nasty, and there was mention of something else happening today, so that’s why I’m here. It’s sure as hell not because I wanted to get cozy with you or anything.”

  He didn’t have to sound so offensive all the time. He made it sound like I’d actually thought he was interested in me, but there was no way in the world I could be that stupid.

  He clearly disliked me as much as I disliked him.

  I wasn’t used to people disliking me. Sure, maybe some of them faked it since I had money and a certain degree of power—although not nearly as much power as people thought. But I don’t think most people held me in aversion the way Cole seemed to do from the first moment he had met me.

  Actually, he seemed to hate me before he’d even met me, and I had no idea why.

  He wouldn’t even say my name, which was petty and immature as far as I was concerned. It wasn’t my real name—my real name was Eve, but my mother had decided it wasn’t distinct enough to work for an up-and-coming actress, so I’d adopted the stage name that everyone used when talking to me now. But Cole wouldn’t even use that.

  I rolled my eyes as I waited for the coffee to brew, telling myself that on Monday I could make the decision about whether to go in a different direction with security. I could handle Cole for the weekend, and I could get rid of him Monday if I wanted.

  Then something occurred to me. I whirled around. “Are you intercepting my phone calls?” I demanded.

  He arched his eyebrow at me again. “I said I’m doing my job.”

  “But what right do you have to intercept my calls without even clearing it with me first?”

  “My job is to protect you and to find out who this stalker is.” His voice was rough and edgy in a familiar way. He always sounded that way when he was angry with me. “I do anything I need to do to make sure that happens. No one forced you to hire us, so don’t give me that poor-little-rich-girl-victim routine.”

  I turned back around, mostly so I didn’t slap that arrogant look off his face, and I breathed deeply to control my anger.

  Only until Monday. I just had to put up with him until Monday.

  When I’d felt mostly under control, I turned back around, sipping my coffee. “So you’re just going to hang around here all day?”

  “I’m going to stay close to you. What are you plans?”

  “I was just going to take it easy. I’ve got some work I can do here, and then I might visit a day spa this afternoon.”

  I should have expected the faint sneer that showed up on his face at the words. Naturally, he would think I was some sort of diva for visiting a day spa, even though my appearance was vitally important for my work, and without semiregular massages, tension would make my neck unbearably painful.

  No use trying to explain any of that to Cole though.

  Without another word, I took my coffee out onto the large terrace. It was beautifully furnished with outdoor seating and a table and some potted trees. There probably would have been more plants, but February wasn’t an ideal time of the year for making things grow in Baltimore.

  I might have hoped for something different, but I wasn’t surprised when Cole followed me out onto the terrace.

  “It’s freezing out here,” he muttered. “
Get back inside.”

  It was chilly—probably in the forties—and I was just wearing the little pajamas I’d slept in. I would have gone back inside immediately, but some sort of contrariness sprung up inside me at his bossiness. “I’ll go back inside in a minute.”

  “What the hell, princess?” He reached out to take my arm. “You’ll freeze your tight little ass off. Get inside.”

  I jerked my arm out of his grip. “I’ll go inside when I want. I might have to suffer having you around all the time, but you don’t get to control my every step. If you’re too much of a wuss to stay outside when it’s nippy, you can go inside and curl up under a blanket.”

  He made a throaty sound but didn’t articulate any words. He just stood right next to me, glaring at me.

  I did my best to ignore him as I walked close to the railing, still drinking my coffee. What the hell had I been thinking coming out here without any shoes? And now I was stuck for at least a few minutes, or I’d have to admit that Cole was right.

  “It’s just Baltimore,” Cole said, still sounding bad-tempered. “Not much of anything to stand and gawk at.”

  “I’ve never been to Baltimore before,” I told him. “I grew up around DC, but I never had any reason to come out this way.”

  “Not much reason to come here at all.”

  I heard something different in his tone and glanced over to check his face. “You’ve been here before?”

  “I grew up here.”

  “Oh.” This was new information and vaguely interesting. I tried to keep my teeth from chattering from the cold as I asked, “What part of the city?”

  “Not a good part. Definitely on the wrong side of the tracks. Pretty much exactly the opposite from where you were raised.”