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“Yes. I didn’t realize buying paint was such a high-stakes mission that it required two bodyguards. They’re constantly breathing down my neck.”
“Literally? Like right now?”
I sigh. “Not literally. They’re downstairs. If you tell Leo I left them on a separate floor—”
“I would never betray you like that. You know, you have to tell him if you don’t like the guys. He’ll get—”
“He’ll get new ones,” I finish for her. “But I don’t want guards, Eva. I want to buy paint.”
“They’re not going to stop you from buying paint,” she soothes. “You just moved back into your place. The guards are only temporary.”
I snort. “They are not temporary. There are even more of them in the apartment across the street.”
“It’s because—”
“Because I had a stalker.” I make air quotes with my free hand even though Eva can’t see me. “Now I shall forever pay the price.”
“He hasn’t come back into your apartment, has he?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Daphne! That’s not funny. Has he been there?”
“No,” I promise. I turn a corner onto another row of canvases.
That’s when I feel someone watching.
The hair on the back of my neck rises before I can fully register the sensation, but that’s what it is—someone is watching. Goose bumps flare between my shoulder blades. I whip my head around, looking over the aisles.
Nothing is out of place. An old lady with shaky hands compares two canvases at the other end of the shop. A couple has a hushed debate over which size to buy. A store employee carries a box out from a storage area in the back.
“Daphne?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you still hear me?”
“I can.” My heart pounds.
“Did something happen?”
“I thought someone was looking at me. It’s probably the security assholes creeping up from downstairs to make sure I’m safe from this old lady and all this canvas.” I turn back around and hunch over, dropping my voice. “I can’t live like this forever. I can’t have people constantly watching me because Leo’s paranoid.”
“I’ll talk to him.” Eva’s decisive. A problem-solver. “See if you can go back to the way things were. As long as nothing shady has happened, it should be—”
“No, don’t do that. It’s fine.” I don’t want Leo to think I’m being an ungrateful brat. I also don’t want him to think I’m not capable of speaking up for myself. “Just vent.”
“You want to come over when you’re done at the store?”
I’m about to say no when all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “What about lunch? I know it’s kind of late, but…”
“Late lunch is perfect.” She names a restaurant not far from the art supply store, and I agree. I leave the canvases and buy some paints. My two shadows are posted at the exit in their suits. One of them opens the door for me and I push past while the other hurries out ahead of me. Two bodyguards and a separate driver, all to buy a little paint.
“Did you come up to the second floor to check on me?” I ask the one who’s closing the car door.
He blinks. “No, ma’am. Was someone bothering you?”
“No,” I say quickly. “No one bothered me.”
