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The hurt from years of the same thing washed over her like the sea foam bubbling over her feet. Other people had mothers who nurtured and loved them. Why did she end up with the one mother who would rather steal from her than give her any kind of affection?
It wasn’t fair, and Riley swallowed back the bitter rise of emotion in her throat. As she grew up, it had been painful not knowing when her mother would show up next. But now, when her father was struggling with his health and she was working her butt off for every dime to help pay the bills, it was salt in an already open wound.
As an adult, Riley knew her mother had an addiction, and that was why she was the way she was. But that didn’t make it any easier. In her head she knew it wasn’t personal. Her mother was sick. But in her heart it was like a knife cutting her open. And especially now, when there wasn’t much hope of digging out of the hole they were in.
She walked the shoreline for another thirty minutes to clear her head before she started back to her room. She had to get all her anger out and let it go. It wasn’t good to dwell on things she couldn’t deal with currently.
After rinsing her feet from the spout outside her room, she shook the water off and slid open the glass door. The first thing she did was list out all the things she’d learned about Shadow. His age, the death of his parents at the age of ten, and how he’d entered the foster care system. If only there was a search engine for famous people she could type all this into. She imagined her computer whirring for a few minutes before spitting out his name on a small piece of paper.
Unfortunately it didn’t work that way, and after Googling for thirty minutes she had a list of people who matched one thing or another, but no one who matched everything. As the clock ticked and the time grew closer for her to leave, she wondered if unmasking Shadow was even going to be possible. All her prospects were either way too old, their body type didn’t match his, or they were already so busy working that there was no possibility they’d have time to do singing gigs on top of everything.
But then another thought snuck in her brain, and she pushed herself away from the computer. Shadow was elusive, but maybe one of his security guards had seen something or heard something. Maybe she could dig up information from them.
She ran a brush through her hair and pulled it back into the bun again, then grabbed her fake glasses and bag. Shadow hadn’t texted yet. There was still time to do some digging. It was time to act like a real reporter instead of hoping the information would just spit out of her computer.
Riley opened her door and exited to the hallway. The guard at Shadow’s door gave her a nod before stepping out of the way. Riley paused, staring up at him. “You look like you’re bored. How long have you been standing here?”
The man looked to be in his thirties. He had a close-cut beard and a tattoo of a bird on his massive bicep. He seemed surprised Riley had spoken to him. “Almost three hours.”
“How long is a shift?”
“Eight, but we get breaks. We trade off.”
“Eight hours? That seems long to me. Do you need a chair? I think my knees would lock up if I stood for that long.” She flashed him a grin.
He chuckled and scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “No, I don’t need a chair.”
She stuck out her hand. “I’m Riley.”
“Evan.” He shook her hand, and she couldn’t help but think that she was glad he wasn’t tossing her out of Shadow’s room. He could do some damage. Of course, if her job as a tabloid reporter was revealed, she really could be on the tossing end of that stick. She frowned at the thought.
“Have you traveled a lot of places with Shadow?”
“Quite a few. I’ve been on tour with him five times, twice out of the country. It’s a good job. We get paid well, and he and Jalen are easy to work for.”
Score. Riley was so excited to find someone who had worked closely with Shadow for so long that she forgot her schoolmarm persona and grinned like a fool. “That’s good. Do you see a lot of crazy people trying to get close to Shadow? Or is it a pretty tame job?”
The door opened, and Shadow poked his head out. “Riley? I thought I heard your voice. Are you ready?”
Was he upset that she was talking to Evan? It kind of looked like it, but with his mask on she couldn’t be sure.
“I’m ready,” she said to Shadow. With her face heated from a massive blush, she shot a glance at Evan. “We should chat later.”
Evan simply nodded.
Shadow walked with her down the hallway toward the conference room. He glanced at her as they entered the room. “Do you know Evan?”
“No, we were just talking. I hope that’s okay. I didn’t want to distract him from doing his job. I was just curious what it was like standing there like that. It would be uncomfortable for me, but he didn’t seem to want a chair.” She laughed at the silliness of the suggestion.
Shadow cocked his head to the side, like he couldn’t quite figure her out. “You really care about people, don’t you?”
A fair amount of guilt rose up in her throat as she tried to think of what to respond with. Of course, she cared about people. She wasn’t totally heartless. But in all honesty, she was just digging for information. Trying to find out who he really was. And that made her feel pretty low.
Another member of his security team stood outside of the conference room. Shadow nodded to him as they passed.
“Hey, look. You have a canvas at the front of the room.” Distraction was probably best right now, as she could feel the blush deepen over her face. Luckily, no one had come in yet, so they were still alone.
Shadow smiled, like he knew she was deflecting, and took a step closer to her. She could feel the heat of him, or maybe it was simply her embarrassment. Whatever it was, it was making her heart beat funny.
