Page 14 of Guarding the Shadows
“Jesus Christ, just leave me the fuck alone,” I growled.
“I did and this is the result,” he said, turning up his nose while he waved a hand down my body. “And by the looks of things, I should have staged an intervention sooner,” he remarked, casting an arm out at the untidy state of my kitchen.
“Nothing wrong with me,” I argued again. Bodhi’s jaw ticked in frustration, and I figured, knowing how Bodhi, the organized, disciplined man that he was inside and out, must have been fighting to contain his inner neat freak.
“You’ve got to be in tiptop condition by later today. Levi’s got a job for us both.”
“Both? What happened to Mikey?” I asked, suddenly interested that he’d only mentioned the two of us.
“This has nothing to do with guarding the Shadows,” he explained. “Mikey’s at Korry’s and none of the guys have plans for the next few days.”
“Then, what is it?” I asked, more awake by then and intrigued about the mission.
“We’re going to guard Beth,” he replied. Hearing Beth’s name hit me like a bolt to my chest and it brought back an instantmemory of her face and the warm feelings I’d fought while I’d been around her.
I hadn’t seen her since the tour finished. The two weeks off we had originally been due to have turned out to be much longer because the guys had decided to take some time for family or individual projects. For Bodhi, Mikey and me, it had left us mostly free other than the occasional work gig or local transfer from place to place. It was an extensive break that came at the worst possible time for me because I would have had much more time to spend with Gwen. Time that hadn’t been welcome and had led me to wallow in dark thoughts of self-hatred.
Bodhi and my sister, Yvonne, tried to tell me that Gwen’s betrayal wasn’t my fault. My sister was furious because Gwen had used what I did for a living as her excuse to break things off with me, pointing out that there had been numerous times when Gwen had been given advance notice of my schedule and could have done more to request shifts to avoid my breaks.
When Beth had heard through the grapevine that Gwen had broken up with me, she’d reached out to say she was sorry. I still hadn’t deleted her voicemail, but I was afraid I’d do something on a rebound with her that I’d later regret. Fortunately, since then Beth had grown in popularity, partly due to her greater exposure as a famous guy’s little sister, I’d heard she was busy with gigs of her own that had kept her away from Miami.
“Guard Beth? Nah, dude. Now you’re fucking with me. Why does she need bodyguards?”
“She’s being stalked.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I shot up in my seat, put my hands on my knees, fully alert for the first time that week.
“Stalked,” I repeated. “Where is she?”
“Jacksonville for two nights.”
“What do we know?”
“I thought you said no to the job a minute ago?” Bodhi queried with a raised eyebrow and smirked knowingly.
“That was before you said stalker. What do we know?” I asked sternly, ignoring the goading question in his tone.
“Enough to know that he followed her to her hotel last night and even tried to have the girl at reception make a second passkey to her room. Luckily, Beth had made the hotel staff aware that he’d been hanging around outside the venue and gave a description to the staff at the front desk. The girl quietly called the cops but by the time they arrived, he’d gone.”
Pressing my weight on my knees, I stood, nodding. “Tell Levi we’re going to head up there while I grab a quick shower. We can take that class up in Jacksonville to clear my head, rid me of pent-up aggression and any lingering alcohol in my system. I just need thirty to sort myself out, pack a bag and then I’ll be ready.”
11
Beth
For most of the night I’d lain terrified that the guy from the small venue might show up unannounced at my hotel room door and want more than a signed CD or my autograph. Fortunately, Benny, my roadie was traveling with me and had seen me safely to my hotel room.
When his presence distracted me during my performance, I went with my gut because he looked out of place. The first thing that struck me about the tall, swarthy-looking, muscular guy with the scuffed, black cowboy boots, was that he wasn’t seated like everyone else. Standing off to the side of the stage with his arms folded, watching me, I’d initially tried to excuse this, thinking perhaps he had a bad back, poor eyesight or some other excuse that had warranted him being nearby.
As time passed, I spotted that he wasn’t engaging with my performance like the rest of the audience was, then I wondered if he might be one of the venue’s own in-house security.
When I mentioned this to Benny during the intermission of my show, he asked the manager about the guy, but he didn’t know who he was. As I had felt his attention distracting, a member of the venue’s security team moved him on. Reliefwashed through me when I saw him nod and respond positively to their request. Later, once my set had resumed, curiosity won out and I tried unsuccessfully to find him sitting in the audience again.
Benny had been great, pretending to be my boyfriend at the end of the gig, just in case he was hanging around. Then just as we had convinced ourselves the weird guy had gone, he stepped out of the shadows in the parking lot, then followed us most of the way to our transport.
“Get in the car, Beth,” Benny ordered after he’d popped the trunk and unlocked the doors. “When I close the trunk, hit the fob to lock everything up. Do not get out of the car no matter what, you hear? If he comes at me dial nine-one-one and tell the operator where we are and what’s happening,” he instructed, placing the car key in my hand.
Petrified, my heart pounded as I moved forward on jelly legs and climbed into the car. Benny closed my door, then quickly moved to the back and dropped my guitar in the trunk. Every second my roadie was behind the car I kept one hand over the horn while my eyes remained glued to the lurking guy, who stood less than thirty feet away.
