Needing Arella

by Browning, Terri Anne

  I sat up and reached for my phone before it could wake Arella. I’d worn her out all evening, only pausing long enough to feed her before we’d both fallen into an exhausted sleep less than an hour before.

  Seeing it was Detective Kirtner, I quietly got to my feet and left the bedroom so I didn’t disturb her. As I closed the door behind me, I answered. “Moreitti,” I clipped out.

  “Going to ask you a question, and I want you to be honest.” His tone was matter-of-fact and possibly even a little accusatory.

  I tensed at his tone but mentally reminded myself that this guy was a cop and was trying to help keep Arella safe. “I’m listening.”

  “Yesterday, did you and Miss Stevenson happen to do anything in her dressing room that might have been…intimate?”

  “Why does that matter?” I gritted out.

  “Because after the executives cleared out yesterday, I had a forensic team come in and sweep it just to be on the safe side. They found evidence that there might have been a hidden camera in the room. The camera itself was missing, but there was a piece of the device left behind.”

  My blood ran cold, and I dropped onto the couch in the living room in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Wish I were. The remnants of the device suggested it was high-tech, very expensive, and not easy for the technologically challenged to install.” Kirtner exhaled heavily. “So, I’m going to ask you again. Is it possible that you and Miss Stevenson may have been intimate in her dressing room? Because if you were, that would explain the violent way the place was destroyed. Seeing her with someone else, on top of her show ending, which has effectively taken away seeing her as part of his regular routine, could have caused him not only to escalate yesterday, but could also mean that she is in even more danger now.”

  “Not to mention there could now be a sex tape floating around out there,” I muttered to myself, but I heard his curse.

  “I’ll take that as a yes, then. Hadn’t considered the potential for that.”

  The thought of someone else watching me fuck Arella, their eyes on her as she was lost in the throes of passion as she came on my cock and then sucked me off, made me see red. And now that sick fuck could have already put it on porn sites and countless other places. The entire world could have been watching my woman being fucked right that moment.

  “I have to go. I need to make sure she isn’t all over the damn internet right now.”

  “I’d worry about yourself too, Mr. Moreitti.”

  “Who the fuck cares about me?” I snarled, and I disconnected the call before I started yelling at the man.

  I didn’t matter. It was Arella whom I couldn’t stand being hurt over what we did in the privacy of her dressing room going viral. Any more than I could handle the thought of the population fucking their hands to the sexy sight of Arella’s ripe ass and juicy pussy as she squirted all over my cock.

  Calling Mia, I jumped to my feet and began to pace. When she picked up after the third ring, I didn’t even give her time to speak. “Who is the person your mom calls when she needs to pull something off the web about one of her clients? Is it Mieke?”

  “Um, hello to you too, Mr. Grumpy.” I heard her yawn and realized I might have woken her up. It was only after ten, but she did have Emerson to deal with, and the little hellion was a handful, not to mention Mia was pregnant again. “What did you do that Mieke needs to have erased from the dreadful interweb?”

  “Mia, just give me her number.” When all I heard was tense silence on her end, I muttered a quick, “Please.”

  “Fine,” she huffed. “But I want answers tomorrow. I’ll text you her contact information, but she lives in Nashville. It’s going to be after midnight her time.”

  “Noted,” I bit out. Not that I cared. I needed this dealt with now, and I knew if Emmie Armstrong had Mieke on her payroll, then she was the best of the best at what she did. “Thank you,” I told her and hung up just as the text came in.

  When I made the call to Mieke, it rang twice before she answered. “Who is this?” she snapped in greeting. “And how the fuck did you get my number?”

  “Jordan Moreitti,” I introduced myself. “And Mia Barrick gave me the number.”

  “Mia did?” She grumbled something under her breath I didn’t catch, and I didn’t care enough to ask her to repeat. “Jordan… Yeah, okay. I remember you. Gabriella’s cousin or nephew or whatever. I guess that makes you part of my family, on the rocker side. What can I do for you?”

  “How much to have you look for and take down anything…damaging to Arella Stevenson?”

  She sighed. “I usually get these requests from Emmie.”

  “I don’t want Emmie or anyone else to know about this,” I told her, trying and failing to keep my voice calm. It was hard, though, when I was pissed the fuck off. All I could think about were the sounds Arella made as she’d sucked my cock the day before and how billions of pervs could be listening to that same sound right that moment. “Especially not Drake or Lana Stevenson. Name your price. I’ll pay it.”

  “Dude, just tell me what I’m looking for, and I’ll take care of it. Geesh, relax a little before you blow a vessel or something.”

  “It’s…” I clenched my free hand into a fist. “There may be a sex tape of the two of us. Someone put a camera in her dressing room, and—”

  “Say no more,” she muttered, anger lacing her own voice now. “Fucking sick pricks. I got you covered.” I heard the click-clacking of rapid typing and then her sharp inhale. “Okay, this isn’t great, but it’s not too bad either. Don’t freak out. I can get this down in no time.”

  For the next hour, she stayed on the phone with me until the video was completely erased from the internet. It was already on more than one site, but she not only took it down, she also put up an alert so that if someone tried to upload it again, she would know immediately.

  “I actually have some IP information if you want to turn it over to the cops,” Mieke told me as the sound of her typing finally stopped. “I’m not some superspy, I can’t trace this guy completely, but this might lead that detective you were telling me about in the right direction.”

  “Email it to me, along with your bill, and I’ll pass the information to Kirtner,” I told her.

  “No charge, Moreitti. Family doesn’t have to be blood. If you think about it, we’re like cousins or some shit. My mom is Gabriella’s manager, and my dad is Liam’s bandbrother. So yeah, family.” I heard her typing again, but this time, it wasn’t nearly as rapid. “Email sent. Just forward it to that Kirtner guy, and tell him to contact me if he needs anything else.”

  “Thank you,” I told her again, my muscles starting to relax somewhat for the first time since the detective had called earlier. Now I just had to tell Arella about what had happened.

  Fuck.

  “You want to thank me, keep Arella safe. This spineless motherfucker obviously wants to hurt her any way he possibly can.”

  “I swear, I’ll protect her with my life.”

  Twenty-Three

  Arella

  Taylor was beyond efficient in finding Jordan exactly what he wanted in the person to be my personal assistant. Elliot was fabulous in every aspect. From the way he accessorized to ordering my coffee perfectly and everything in between.

  “Girl, those shoes do not go with that outfit,” he didn’t hesitate to inform me as I walked out of the bedroom the first day Taylor brought him to the apartment. “Go change them, or I refuse to be seen with you.”

  From that moment on, he became my second best friend, and I didn’t know what I would do without him. With his eye for detail, his fashion sense, and his mad makeup skills, I thought I might have even fallen a little in love with him. He took care of everything so smoothly that I honestly didn’t know how I’d survived without him. While he handled all the work-related details of my life that I didn’t have to worry about personally, it left me so much more time in my day-to-day that I actually got more
than a hot minute to myself.

  And with Jordan almost always around, I was enjoying my personal time even more.

  “You have a hair appointment and then a doctor’s appointment,” Elliot reminded me as we stepped outside the apartment building on one of the rare mornings Jordan had a work meeting. “Both before lunch. And then you promised that adorable sister of yours that you would have lunch with her and the feisty redhead with the delish, beast-like husband.”

  I lifted my coffee to my lips to keep from laughing at the way Elliot fanned himself every time he spoke about Barrick. Apparently, the overly muscular and hairy type was Elliot’s favorite flavor of man-candy. He’d only met Mia and her husband once so far, along with Nevaeh and Braxton, and that had been the week before, but Elliot had been all about Barrick ever since.

  It had been three weeks since Elliot had started working for me, and I already wanted to give him a raise. Not only did he take care of my work schedule, but my personal one as well. I’d even arrived on time more often than not, and for that alone, I thought he deserved a bonus at the least.

  Thankfully, during that time, there hadn’t been any other issues with the stalker. Which was a huge relief after the near miss with the video Mieke was able to keep from going viral. But with that near miss, I’d also given in and let Jordan get me a personal bodyguard.

  I didn’t like the guy constantly following me around, but he gave Jordan peace of mind when he couldn’t be with me, and I had to admit, Samuel did tend to keep the paps back when they tried to get too close. Elliot wasn’t too impressed with him, though, and tended to ignore him.

  Samuel was the complete opposite of Elliot. Where my personal assistant was slender and beautiful, my bodyguard was barrel-shaped, and his face looked like it was forever frozen in a half snarl that was nothing less than terrifying if you happened to be on the other end of his chilly gaze. He made me feel safe, and that was all that mattered.

  “You didn’t mention to Jordan or Taylor that I have a doctor’s appointment, did you?” I asked as we reached the SUV Jordan had chosen to me. It was built to withstand bullets and chemical warfare—which was ridiculous, but it had made my man grunt his approval when he bought the damn thing. But I knew Jordan was only trying to protect me, so I hadn’t put up a fight when he demanded I use the SUV instead of my beloved little car.

  Samuel opened the back door for me, and I climbed in. The big man waited until Elliot was in beside me before closing the door and moving around the back of the vehicle to get behind the wheel.

  “Girl, you know I don’t tell those two shit about fuck if you ask me not to.”

  “I adore you.” Blowing him a kiss, I placed my coffee in the cupholder in front of me.

  I’d been having Elliot order me decaf lately, and he’d only grumbled, “You’re going to turn into a cranky bitch, but whatevs.”

  So far, he’d been right. I was cranky without my caffeine, but it looked like I was going to have to go without it for a while.

  “How could you possibly not?” he gushed, and like always when he was close by, I couldn’t fight my smile.

  My hair appointment took all of twenty minutes since all I needed was a simple trim. The stop for the doctor’s was longer—and definitely more invasive. I’d missed my period, but I hadn’t even realized it until the week before. My doctor hadn’t had an opening until this week, and I’d been waiting for this appointment before I told Jordan.

  I’d made the appointment myself, then told Elliot it was a regular checkup when I had him add it to my calendar. I might adore him, but there was no way I was going to tell anyone but Jordan first.

  While I was in the doctor’s office, Elliot and Samuel stayed in the vehicle. Over an hour later, I walked out with my purse full of expectant mommy items that I couldn’t wait to show Jordan later. But the appointment had taken longer than expected, and I was late for my lunch date with Nevaeh and Mia.

  Elliot and Samuel both joined me as I entered the restaurant. I wasn’t the only one of the three of us with a bodyguard. Both Mia and my sister had one that drove them around whenever their husbands weren’t available to go with them. It annoyed Nevaeh, but Mia was used to it since she’d had one shadowing her from the time she was five.

  “Figured you would be late,” Mia said as she stood and embraced me. Her adorable baby bump was hard to miss, and I found myself rubbing my hand over it before she could pull away, while mentally squealing that this was going to be me in only a few short months. “So we ordered drinks and apps.”

  “Thank goodness. I’m starving.” I hugged my sister and then sat beside her while Elliot greeted them both and took the chair beside Mia.

  “I knew if Jordan ever got his shit together and you two got together, you would end up with a guard,” Nevaeh said with a smirk. “You can’t have a billionaire boyfriend and not need some extra muscle.”

  I gave her a tight smile. “Yup. Jordan brings all the crazies out.”

  I hated lying to her and everyone else, but I couldn’t tell her that the reason I needed the bodyguard was because I had a stalker. I trusted my sister with a lot of things, but I knew she wouldn’t keep this a secret from our parents, and I didn’t want to put that kind of stress on them.

  Mia was quick to change the subject, telling us about the gender-reveal party her mom was throwing that upcoming weekend. When Jordan told me about the video the stalker had tried to show the world, he’d confessed he’d asked Mia for advice on how to get me to agree to a bodyguard. I hadn’t liked that he’d gone behind my back and told her what was going on, but I understood.

  Mostly.

  At least now I didn’t have to feel all territorial and jealous every time I thought about Jordan and Mia. For years, I’d been so jealous of their relationship, but now, I could see it was the same as Mia’s relationship with Jagger, and I didn’t know how I’d always missed those brother-sister vibes from them.

  “Is Emerson excited to be a big sister?” I asked, stuffing a piece of bread into my mouth.

  “It’s all she talks about,” Mia said with a laugh. “But I don’t think she understands that this baby isn’t like her dolls. She can’t just toss it aside when she gets tired of playing with it.”

  “Do you think she’s going to be jealous when she sees you with the new baby?” Nevaeh asked with concern.

  Mia snorted. “Me? No. I doubt she would even be jealous over Barrick and the baby either. No, I’m more concerned about how she’s going to react to seeing Dad with the baby.”

  “I’m sure Uncle Nik will handle it,” I tried to reassure her.

  “Enough about me and the party.” Mia put her hand on Elliot’s shoulder. “Tell us, Elliot. Has this one finally decided on a house yet or not?”

  He groaned. “Bitch, please. This girl is picky as hell. She loves everything, but she’s not in love with anything she’s been shown. She and that scrumptious man of hers have been looking for three-plus weeks now, and she finds something wrong with everything.”

  I rolled my eyes at him but grinned. “Hey, I can’t help that I have standards.”

  “You do know there are things called contractors who can remodel houses, right? You didn’t like that bathroom in the pool house last week. The bathroom.” He pointed his fork at me. “Do you understand that you could have had that small issue resolved in two weeks flat with the kind of cash your man has?”

  My sister’s eyes grew concerned. “What’s wrong, Arie? Why can’t you commit to a house?”

  “None of them have been our forever home,” I told her with a shrug. “I want the perfect place to spend the rest of my life with Jordan. And none of them have been close to that.”

  “Maybe you should just build your own house,” Nevaeh recommended. “Then you can control every detail. All you really have to do is decide where you want to build it.”

  Jordan had already suggested that, and I’d told him to start looking for an architect, but we’d still been viewing anything Pe
ter had that we might like. I knew Jordan had wanted us to have our house before we found out we were pregnant, but now I would be happy as long as we had it before the baby was born.

  The rest of the meal was nothing but girl talk. As the waiter placed my dessert in front of me, Nevaeh’s phone rang and she sighed. “It’s either Braxton asking when I’ll be home or Mom to ask if Conrad can spend the night.”

  “What’s the problem?” I asked with a lifted brow. “You know you don’t have to worry when he’s with Mom and Daddy, and you and Brax can start working on making the little guy a baby brother or sister.”

  “Start?” she said with a snort, then slapped her hand over her mouth.

  Mia and I both squealed at the same time. “Nevaeh Joy Collins!” I whispered. “Are you pregnant again?”

  “Maybe…” She pointed her finger at each of us. “You three better keep that to yourselves. I still don’t know for sure, and I haven’t told my husband. I’m picking up a test on the way home and taking it. Hopefully before Braxton gets home.”

  Elliot drew an “X” over his heart. “I’ll take it to the grave, girl.”

  She narrowed her eyes on Mia and then me. “Promise me.”

  “My lips are sealed,” Mia told her, and I nodded.

  “This conversation never took place. Now, get your slutty ass home and piss on a stick so we can find out if I’m going to be an auntie again.”

  She pinched my arm, hard, making me yelp. I slapped her on the ass when she got to her feet. But before she picked up her purse, she bent and put her lips to my ear, hissing, “You’re one to talk, hoebag. I saw how your face turned green even as you were stuffing your mouth with those fried pickles.”

  “Nevi!” I squeaked, turning pleading eyes on her. “Don’t you dare!”

  “Lips sealed, little sister.” She kissed my cheek then practically skipped out of the restaurant, her bodyguard right behind her.

  “What was that about?” Mia asked, watching her go curiously.