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“Xander,” Cass spoke, looking at me in confusion. “Are you okay? I can go if you want.”
“No, it’s okay. I just…”
“I know. Thank you for coming,” Cass admitted as she patted the sofa and pointed at the table. “This is why I called.”
“The letter.” Cass nodded as Charlotte just slumped back into the sofa. “I think you needed to see it.”
“I think you’re both...” Charlotte paused and looked between us. “Overreacting.” She ran her palms over her forehead before she began to massage her temples.
“I’ll decide that.” I reached forward and grabbed the letter and began to read.
Charlotte Baxterly,
Another fan note, ha you wish.
But I’m just not that person.
I think it’s time someone gave you a shock.
Took you down a peg or two and wiped that smile off your face.
I bet many of your fans celebrate your success. I don’t. I look at you in pity knowing that soon one day you’ll fall. Drop from that peddle stool you’ve been standing on and crumble. It’ll happen when you least expect it and I will be smiling with glee.
Don’t forget though that we all bleed; but no matter what you do, sometimes it doesn’t stop though.
I can’t breathe. I can’t think. It’s happening again. Why me? What did I do to deserve this? I dropped the letter to the ground and jumped to my feet before I let the feared words of the nightmares I never wanted to speak take hold. I was stopped from escaping as the door opened wide and Barrett stood in the entrance.
“It’s happening again. It’s happening again,” I chanted in a broken whisper.
ChapterFive
Charlotte
I’d had enough of Cassandra’s attempts to calm me down. I couldn’t believe the nerve of the pompous, stuck-up guy that she called. He thought he had the right to place some long-haired arsehole outside my dressing room to watch over me until he arrived. He looked like he should be behind the drums in a heavy metal band, not standing outside my door playing bodyguard. Who the fuck did he think he was? I didn’t know Xander at all and somehow, he’d managed to slot himself straight into my world and think that he could overtake everything I knew. He could think whatever he wanted because me being stalked by a crazy person wasn’t happening and the moment he arrived I’d be telling him that.
When a heated screaming match started outside my dressing room, it made my final piece of calmness snap. I flung open the door, ignoring Cass’s protests that I didn’t know who was out there. She was right of course, but I wasn’t some damsel in distress who’d collapse at a little scuffle. I’d fight fire with fire and tell the fuckers my opinion, whether they liked it or not. If Xander, the alpha-asshole, thought he could get me to bow down and whimper to his every command then he had no clue who I really was.
I just didn’t expect that it would be him standing outside the door, giving a heated opinion to Memphis and looking ready to commit murder at any second. What the fuck had made him so angry and why was I so turned on by it?
Xander was certainly one hot motherfucker sporting those dark rimmed glasses that made him look like a well-formed Clark Kent. I fought the urge to lick my lips as I imagined why the lean, mean, fighting wall of muscle had admitted that the angered display of fighting had been over me. What could possibly be so riveting about me to fight over? I was a nobody in both men’s eyes; except on the screen maybe but I was sure of one thing… Xander could make a man quiver in fear with one look and those eyes could make a woman tremble with need. He’d taken control of each one of us and I was helpless to resist until he caught sight of that damn letter.
It was just a joke! It had to be. The moment I saw Xander’s strength just dissipate from his body in an instant though, leaving behind the shell of a man he’d been moments earlier, I knew this seemed more.
“Xander, what do you mean it’s happening again?” I forced the words out as a guy wrapped his arm around his shoulder and whispered things to him. I flitted my eyes between Xander, the guy and Cass, taking in the sullen looks on their faces as they refused to retain eye contact with me. “Will someone fucking talk to me?!”
I could feel the anger burning through my veins and traveling quickly up my neck to my face. I jumped up and headed straight in their direction, gritting my teeth tightly and grinding them so much that my jaw began to ache. I screwed my hands together into small fists, knowing that my temper would soon explode if I didn’t get some answers.
“Miss Baxterly…” The guy indicated to the sofa. “I’m Barrett Hartford, a close friend and colleague of Xander’s. Shall we all just take a moment and catch our breath?”
“I don’t need another macho bodyguard attempting to tell me what to do. I want to know what’s going on,” I seethe. I felt Cassandra come by my side and she reached for my hand and pulled me back toward the sofa. I let her lead me to take a seat before I allowed my body to slump forward. “This is my life.”
“I know it is Charlotte and that’s why I’m now going to be by your side always,” Xander spoke up before taking a seat. I opened my mouth to retaliate but stopped when he placed his finger on my lips, silencing me. I tried to ignore the sparks that coursed through my body at his touch. “I need you to listen to me carefully.”
I could only let out a slight nod as I gulped back the unsettling feeling from deep inside.
“You need protection and I’m concerned for your safety.” He took my hand in his as he spoke the words with such concern. It was almost as if they came from the depth of his heart. “I may only have experience protecting singers but I promise you, the skills overlap. I will not letanythinghappen to you,” Xander said with a fierceness I’d not heard him use yet. I squeezed my hand tightly as I took in the seriousness in his locked gaze. “Nothing will happen to you. Okay?”
“I don’t need this. I’m fine. This is all a mistake.” I huffed before standing and pulling away from his touch. It felt like it had ignited a forbidden want within me. “I’m just me.”
