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"I've seen parties and I've seen parties gone bad, Sheldon. This wasn't either of those. All of your glasses were in pieces of the floor. Plates looked like they'd been thrown across the room. Your liquor was dumped and the bottles were in pieces too. Your bedding was ripped, as if someone had taken a knife to them. Your clothes were on the floor. A knife was taken to them too. The car tires were slashed. Someone used a poker on your couches. We couldn't find a place to sit down in that house, and you have a very large house." She folded her hands in front of her and heaved a deep breath. Her flat eyes seemed even flatter that morning. "Someone wants to hurt you."
That hadn't even happened from my first stalker. Holy… "I don't know what to say…"
"Do you have insurance?"
"I…yeah, but…" Someone hated me that much.
"I thought Bryce would go back to your place. He's not staying with you?"
"Um…he is, but he stayed here with me last night." Why did I lie for him? "After that, I don't know. He might've gone to find Corrigan."
"What about Corrigan? Where does he live now?"
"At a fraternity house."
Officer Sheila snorted. "Corrigan's in a fraternity? Why does that not surprise me?" She sighed and sat beside me. "Look. I'm just going to give it to you straight. I know you'd want nothing less. You have a stalker, and it's a female. Some bitch really hates you, and she's going to keep making your life hell. She's going to do small petty shit like this. I've seen other female stalkers and they're all the same. She's probably obsessed with Bryce, and you took him away from her. That's what she's thinking. Could that be true? You got beef with anyone else over Bryce?"
A dry laugh escaped me. "Before he became a jock star or after?"
"Has someone been sending him creepy letters? Or did he…did he cheat on you with anyone?" She held off whatever else she wanted to ask. The silence seemed so heavy.
With a sigh, I lifted my head. "I don't know. Maybe." He'd had six months. He could've done anything with anyone and I wouldn't know. "He hasn't said anything about creepy letters, but I'm sure he gets them. I know you want me to give you names, but honestly—I have a lot of enemies. It could be anyone."
"You're not the father!"
Officer Sheila glanced up at the television when the talk show erupted in screams. She grunted, "I was watching one of those gossip shows before." At my look, she held up her hands. "It was only because I was forced to. There was a story on you and Bryce in there. They're saying some model from Spain is here, Guadalajera or…"
"Guadalupe." I was starting to hate that bitch.
"Does she seem crazy and obsessive?"
I closed my eyes, grateful she hadn't asked the obvious. "I don't know. We exchanged words a few times in Spain before I left, but that was it. She was at the club yesterday trying something with Bryce. It looked like he was holding her off."
"Okay." Officer Sheila stood up and ran her hands down her jeans. She scratched the back of her neck and looked out the window. "I'll, uh…I'll find out where she's staying and go have a chat with her. I'll keep you posted. Tell me anything about anyone if you think of it."
I nodded. I still couldn't understand why this was happening again.
"Middle of the night, you can call me. I mean it. I'll be awake." She chuckled to herself. "That's how sad my life is. Take care of yourself, Sheldon. You got someone coming to pick you up?"
"Yeah, sure."
When she left, I grimaced as I grabbed the small bag and headed out. No one was coming to pick me up. No one knew that I was cleared to go home, but now I couldn't go home. So I called the one person I never thought I would call in my life.
Bryce's agent answered with a suspicious hello.
"Mathias, I need a favor."
"What kind of a favor? Thanks for not scratching Guadalupe's face, by the way. I know her agent. She would've ripped me a new one."
"What hotel is she staying at?"
"What? No way. No way, Jose. You stay away from her, Sheldon."
"Relax."
"You relax. I'll tell Bryce. I'm hanging up right now to call him."
"Stop!" I rolled my eyes. He was such a pansy. "I know you don't want any trouble from me, but I want to apologize to her. I won't even see her. I'll leave a note at the front desk, but I need to know which hotel so that I can do that."
When he started to argue some more, I groaned. "Come on, Mathias. I don't trust anyone else to do this. You know how things end up in the media's hands. Just give me the name. That's it."
There was a long silence, but he asked, "Are you sure? That's all you're going to do."
"I promise." Why did people always ask that of me? Did they not really know me? Of course I was lying.
"What do you think? Do you think that's a good idea? I thought Bryce would know that I'm not too jealous of her then."
"Well…okay. She's staying at the Wilshire, room 618. Don't—just…don't mess things up with Bryce. He's close to Guadalupe. I know you don't want to hear that, but they're close. They're friends, Sheldon. I know Bryce would be upset if she were upset."
Bryce would be upset? This guy really was stupid. I was barely able to stop myself from snorting in disbelief. "I'm going to make things right. Just watch."
"Okay." I heard his relief over the phone. "Good. This means a lot to me, Sheldon. It's nice to see that you're making an effort." He started to say something else, but I ended the call abruptly.
I couldn't stomach anymore of his stupidity.
Wilshire, huh? I grabbed my bag and went to check out. After I signed my last sheet of paper and had taken care of all that business, I hailed a cab. I didn't want to go back to the mansion, not yet. Officer Sheila made it sound like I didn't have any clothes left, so I stopped at a store for some new ones. I bought a couple of basic hooded sweatshirts and jeans. Then I got a big pair of sunglasses and went back to the cab. Once we were at the Wilshire, with my hood up and sunglasses over my face, I asked for room 617.
After I got to my room, I sank down on the bed. It was a beautiful room with white blankets, white tiling on the floor, and a patio that overlooked their pool. I didn't care. That's when reality started to hit me. What was I doing? No matter how bad everything was, I had always had Bryce and Corrigan to back me up. Then Grace came along too, but now I couldn't turn to any of them. It was just me and me alone.
Hell. I studied the liquor cabinet, grabbed a bottle of vodka, and guzzled. Halfway through the bottle, I heard the door open across the hallway and stumbled over to look out my peephole. Guadalupe emerged with two other people. One guy wore a tuxedo and he held her hand as another girl patted down her hair.
When they started down the hallway, I grabbed my purse and followed down the stairs. I waited near the door as they stepped off the elevator.
"And where are you off to, Miss Guadalupe?" The clerk handed them a packet and smiled graciously.
The tuxedo dude spoke for her. "Miss Bennett has a very important meeting. Thank you, Concierge." Then they headed out. The tuxedo guy held his hand on her back. I watched through the glass doors when they ducked inside a limo.
Should I follow them? Should I become the stalker this time? My gut sank as I remained there. I had become pathetic. When had that happened?
"Are you a fan of hers?" The concierge asked me. He was over six feet tall with classic handsome features. There was a hint of Latin heritage. He seemed friendly, but I saw eagerness in his eyes. I didn't like that he was eager.
"Not really."
"She's beautiful, isn't she? I have a friend of a friend to her make-up girl. They're going to have dinner with Bryce Scout right now. Have you heard of him? He's a big soccer star. They both just moved here. She came for a movie, and he followed her here. She could do so much better."
