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Her earlier annoyance at being left out of the loop was still there, but she also appreciated what Callum was trying to do. “I do trust you, and I know you won’t keep anything from me.”
“Damn straight, I won’t.” Callum tightened his hold on her, and she closed her eyes, letting him take her weight.
She had no idea how long they stood there, but soon Callum loosened his hold and when she looked up, she noticed that fewer people were mingling around. Ox was still there with a couple of the officers, and Astrid suspected he was taking that over, seeing as she was monopolizing all of Callum’s time.
“Shouldn’t you be over there with Ox?” she asked.
“If I was, I would be, but you’re my priority.”
“I’m so tired, Callum,” she whispered. “I just want to go to sleep and wake up with it all over. Is that too much to ask?”
“It’s not and I promise you, we’ll figure out a way to make it stop.”
A buzz sounded overhead, and she looked up to see two drones flying over the house.
“What the fuck?” Growler rushed Astrid back to the car before she could comprehend what was happening. “Stay here.”
“It’s fine, Callum, it’s the paparazzi. They use drones,” Astrid responded tiredly. “News must have got out that there was police activity here. Wouldn’t surprise me if they’re lurking in the street as well.”
The price of fame.
It had never bothered her before, but right this second, she wished she wasn’t well known. This pity party wasn’t how she normally reacted to situations. Normally she took a moment to take in, and then she pushed it aside and moved onto the next thing. It was getting harder and harder to do that.
Callum growled his displeasure. “Fucking vultures. Still stay here. They don’t need to see you so they can exploit your fear and stress.”
She loved that he worried about what the public perception of her was. In that moment, her love for him grew even deeper. With every little thing he did, he showed that he cared more and more about her.
“It’s fine. I think I’ve said it before. I knew when I signed up for the show and all the endorsement deals that it put me on the radar for this sort of thing.” Astrid pointed to the sky where the drones still buzzed around like annoying flies. “They’ll get bored and move on to someone else. Or some other piece of juicy information will pass through their channels.”
Callum moved so he stood in front of her, hiding her from everyone’s gaze. She wouldn’t tell him that she could still be seen through the windshield.
“The officers are heading down the driveway to shoo off the paps that are hanging around,” Ox said as he came up to them. “Irish called to let me know that he passed a few vans as he left.”
“What about the buzzards in the sky?”
Astrid chuckled quietly, liking Callum’s names for the drones.
“I think once we get rid of the vans out the front, they’ll disappear too.” Ox glanced up at the two devices now doing a circle around the house.
Astrid was tired and just wanted to get inside. She pushed against Callum’s chest—he moved immediately. “Is it all good to go inside now?”
Callum dropped a kiss on her head. “Yeah, Comet, it’s all well and if anyone has a problem with it, they can deal with me.”
“Thank you.” She loved knowing Callum had her back, not just because she was a job to him, but because he cared.
She lifted her chin. If the drones wanted a picture of her, then she would direct the narrative of what type of photo they’d get of her.
If whoever had dropped the parcel at the door expected her to crumple, they could think again. Inside, she may be scared and ready to fall apart, but on the outside, she was going to project that she was in control. That whoever they were didn’t scare her.
“I can see why you like her,” Ox commented as Astrid walked away from them.
Everything in Growler wanted to rush forward and protect her from the prying eyes of the paparazzi, but he stayed where he was and admired the way she was giving them a big “fuck you” for thinking she was going to fall in a heap on the ground.
“She’s pretty damn special. But this is fucking ridiculous, Ox. How did this happen? She lives in a gated community. Anyone who comes in has to go through the guardhouse. Didn’t whoever was on duty think they were suspicious in their black van?”
“I don’t know. I know the police are going to question them and look at camera footage, but I’ll ask as well. Whether they’ll co-operate with me is a different matter, but if they do we can compare what they tell me to what they tell the cops.”
Growler couldn’t get the image of the severed ear out of his mind. He didn’t understand the message behind it. Or why it was in such a big ass box.
