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Teddy wanted nothing more than to go straight up to his suite once he arrived back at the hotel. But after tossing his keys to the valet and striding toward the lobby, Matthew walked out of the building, right into Teddy’s path.
The moment Matthew saw him he jammed to a stop. For half a second, he looked like a kid caught in the act of sneaking out of a house.
Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the surprise vanished from his face, and a smile that didn’t reach beyond his lips took its place. “Good evening, Mr. Barnett.”
“Hello, Matthew. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I just stopped by to see Adriene and Stacy, but they’re not around.”
“I think they’re scheduled to shoot for another hour.”
“Oh. That explains it.” Matthew laughed at himself. “I must have misheard her message. I thought she said they were getting off early.”
Something was definitely up. Matthew was trying way too hard to act cool.
“This is the movie business. No one ever gets off early.”
“I was going to see if she and Adriene were up for getting a drink tonight. I guess I’ll come back later.”
Matthew started to move around Teddy, but Teddy stepped in his way. “I haven’t had the chance to thank you for what you did last night. I really appreciate it.”
“It’s okay. Really, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, that’s all.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. What you did was very brave.”
Matthew smiled sheepishly. “I couldn’t let him steal all your stuff.”
“Thank you for that. I’m curious, how did you know to follow him?”
“Oh, well, I noticed him when I was waiting at the bar for Stacy, and realized he was one of the guards from the set. And then when you walked through the lobby on your way out, he fixated on you. It was strange. I thought hewas going to follow you out, but instead he went to the elevators.
“It seemed fishy, you know. Gave me a bad feeling, so I followed him up to your suite.” Matthew shrugged, then quickly added, “I mean, I didn’t know it was your suite at the time. Tessa told me.”
“How did you know he was in the room?”
“The door was propped open, and I could hear him opening drawers. I knocked. I was going to pretend I’d gone into the wrong room if it turned out I’d made a mistake about him.”
“That was quick thinking on your part,” Teddy said, hiding his skepticism from his voice. Matthew’s version of events definitely did not match what Teddy had seen on the video. Matthew had most certainly not knocked.
“Yeah, but then he attacked me before I could even say hello.”
Teddy could see the hint of a bruise on Matthew’s face, peeking out from under a layer of makeup. Interesting. “How do you feel today?”
Matthew touched his side. “My ribs ache a bit, but I’ll be okay.”
Teddy smiled sympathetically. “Maybe next time you should think twice before doing something that’ll get you beaten up. Not that I don’t appreciate your efforts.”
“I’ll try to remember that.”
Teddy patted him on the shoulder. “I need to make some phone calls, so I won’t keep you any longer. But I owe you. I won’t forget. Thanks again, Matthew. Have a good night.”
“You, too.” Matthew started to walk away, then hesitated and looked back. “Mr. Barnett?”
“Yes?”
“I might be wrong, but I thought I saw him walking by the pool a little while ago.”
