Page 41 of You Found Me
What if he was in the crowd?
What if they were right, and she was wrong? What if this guy was a lot more than just a fan?
She lost her breath, the beat, and her words for a half second. Disoriented, she looked to Piper for a cue.
Piper gave her a quizzical look as she took the lead for the last verse.
Della offered her a half smile of apology and shook off the gnawing sense that something bad was waiting. She couldn’t give a good show if she was jumping at shadows.
She missed her mark for the bridge, but picked it back up for the finish.
The crowd roared their appreciation. They hadn’t noticed anything was wrong. She hoped.
Piper gave her shoulders a squeeze. “My sister Della!”
Della waved with both hands. “Thank you! Be good to my sister, y’all! She rocks!”
The crowd chanted, “Piper rocks! Piper rocks!” as Della left the stage.
Ward and Greg escorted her off the stage, rushed her past the dressing room and down the hall. She was in the backseat of a waiting SUV with Ward before she even caught her breath from that last high note. Greg climbed into an identical SUV, and the drivers of the two cars pulled away while the stadium still rocked with Piper’s next set.
Nobody saw her leave.
She snapped her seatbelt into place and fumed.
Her warden hadn’t even let her change clothes. She’d been rushed out of the building like an embarrassing relative. She had a feeling if he could shove her into a box and ship her off to some deserted island, he’d do it just so he wouldn’t have to deal with her.
He was high-handed, arrogant, and way out of line.
No. It was worse than that. He’d thrown her off. He’d spent the past few weeks making her feel small and paranoid, and she’d screwed up the show because of it.
“Dammit.” She smacked the seat next to her with a fist.
Ward raised an eyebrow, but didn’t look at her.
She glared out the window. She could see his profile in the reflection, a ghost that refused to stop haunting her. All of the frustration and pent-up energy she’d been suppressing for the past weeks boiled over and the words spilled out.
“You arrogant, obnoxious asshole! You made me so freaking paranoid that it messed me up. I couldn’t get your damn lectures out of my head. I couldn’t focus. Tonight was the first time that I ever gave a show less than my all, and I hate that feeling. I hate it even more than I hate sitting in that house day after day after day, and you know what? I’m done. I’m done with worrying about this, I’m done with pretending there’s something wrong when there’s not, and I’m done—absolutely, one-hundred-percent done—with you.”
She hadn’t meant to shout, but by the time she’d run out of words, she was pretty sure people in the car next to them could hear her.
Silence roamed the car while the wheels turned and the city zoomed by.
Her warden didn’t say a word. Didn’t even shift in his seat. He was doing his stoic statue impersonation.
She looked over at him. “In case that wasn’t clear, you’re fired.”
He stared straight ahead. “With all due respect, Ms. Bellamy, you’re not my client.”
“I don’t care.” She turned in her seat to give him the full force of her anger. “I don’t give a shit who hired you. I want you out of the house. Tonight. I’m leaving tomorrow and you’re not coming with me. I’m going to see Lizzie, and I don’t care what the hell you do as long as you get away from me.”
Several muscles along the side of Ward’s jaw twitched as if he were clenching and unclenching his teeth. “You realize that’s what he wants, right?” he said in a low tone that shot a chill straight through the heat of her anger. “He wants you to think you’re safe so you let your guard down. Get back to your routine. Make it easy for him to infiltrate your life.”
“Safe?” She barked out a laugh at the absurdity of that statement. “I’ve never felt unsafe on a stage until tonight.Youdid that. Not him. I couldn’t even hit my marks. All I could think was, ‘What if he’s in the crowd?’”
He met her gaze with a stony glare of his own. “Good. I’m glad you were worried because it was a real risk to be there tonight. All it takes for someone to get to you is determination and skill, and the guy who’s stalking you has both, with a healthy dose of obsession thrown in. There’s no amount of security that can stop someone determined to trade his life for yours. Do you get that? Crazy trumps prepared every single time.”
“I couldn’t do my job!” Tears pushed at the edges of her eyes. “I’mnothingwithout it.”