AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His shoulders tensed and he reminded himself that she didn’t need more stress on top of what she was feeling. But he also needed her to know what was out there, just in case. “There were a few comments that raised some red flags for your security and I want him to check them out.”
She lifted her head and her brow furrowed. “Do you mean death threats?”
Shit.He didn’t want to spell it out for her but now that he’d started this he wasn’t sure how to back out of it. Ginny was right, you really can’t put the cat back in the bag. “Yes. But they were extremely disturbing.”
“Let me guess.” She started counting things off on her fingers as if she were listing the days of the week. “There was dismemberment, torture, being burned alive—”
“Yes,” he stopped her, not wanting to hear her describe anymore. “You read them?”
“No, not today, but I get them all the time. Most people in the public eye do.”
“What kind of people would write those things?” He hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“Oh, they’re not people. They’re trolls.”
He’d heard of Internet trolls but he had no idea that it was this disturbing.
“Those people probably have never listened to one of my songs, and they certainly don’t care whether or not Derek and I were a real couple. They just sit behind their computers and whenever there’s something that’s trending they jump on the bandwagon and say horrible, evil things.”
Ginny spoke as if it was a normal thing. Annoying, but normal. Like traffic. Or the DMV. Just something that you had to put up with. Never in a million years would Dax understand how that behavior had become an accepted part of society.
A buzz sounded and Ginny looked down at her phone. She pushed off his lap and he could see that she looked a little nervous. “I need to take this.”
He watched as she answered, and he noted her voice was a little higher than normal and if he wasn’t mistaken, her lip was trembling. There were tears in her eyes when she answered, “Hello.”
His mind was racing trying to figure out who could be on the other end of that phone. Was it a reporter? Was it Derek?
“Yes, that sounds great.” Her voice was shaky. “I can be there in half an hour.”
Half an hour. Where could she be in thirty minutes? He had no idea but he knew he sure as hell was going to be with her.
“Okay, see you then, bye.” When she lowered the phone, she just stared at it blankly.
“I know this is a stupid question, but is everything okay?” he asked.
“What?” She glanced up at him and her eyes looked a million miles away. When she saw his expression, which he was sure looked concerned, she smiled and shook her head. “Yeah, everything’s fine. That was The Colonel, or…um…Grandpa J. He’s agreed to be interviewed for my video montage.”
“Oh.” Dax would never have guessed that was the person on the phone. One thing was for sure, she seemed more off balance now than before he’d called. “Is that good?”
“Yeah.” She nodded but neither her tone nor facial expression backed up her positive answer. “Um, I have to go get ready. Do you need the bathroom first or is it okay if I…?”
“Sure. Go. I’ll jump in when you’re out.”
She nodded again and started walking into the kitchen but then realized she was going the wrong way and headed to the hallway. She seemed distracted and anxious and for some reason his gut was telling him it had nothing to do with her bad press.
