A/N...Oh God! I love you guys so freakin' much! LOL I give you big hugs and smooches for all the love sent my way.
Someone asked why I didn't give an angst warning to this story. Well, because it doesn't have much, except for bits here and there.
This chapter starts the feel of the story, I think. There's a ton of info already, Edward deals with Kyra on his own, Bella lets a few worries surface, and best of all...there's Bethy and Sammy! :)
See me at the bottom...
CHAPTER 4
EDWARD
"Perhaps you weren't really listening to my wife," I snapped, yanking the phone out of Kyra's ear. Quickly, I took it apart, storing the pieces in my pocket for Alice to study.
My patience was running thin with her, because the drive back from Seattle to my dad's house in Forks had been complete and utter torture. She wasn't the Kyra I'd first met years ago. This was someone that was absolutely irritating. She barely acknowledged when my father had introduced Bella...as my wife. She bitched about the drive. She bitched about the forests we were driving through. She bitched about the possibility of losing one of her people, due to Bella's background checks. And she bitched that Teri was only staying one night, that she couldn't get ahold of her manager, and that her room at my dad's house was upstairs. On and on it went. I envied Cassie's fucking earbuds, where I noticed that she'd turned the music up so loud that even I could hear it from the driver's seat.
Alec and I drove her, Teri, Gator, and Cassie in his SUV, while Bella, Kurt, and Emmett went back to the office to start working on...well, everything. We had to fucking start from scratch with this case, because we'd had no warning. By the time Alec and I had dumped an ungodly amount of luggage up in her room, she had pulled out her cell phone and started texting, tweeting, and calling various people.
"Edward, I need that," she whined, holding her hand out for it.
"Not right now, you don't. The point of bringing you here was to keep you from being found. If you're telling everyone on Twitter what you're doing, it sort of defeats the fucking purpose," I explained, debating on whether to just shatter the motherfucker up against the wall, just to shut her up. "Once we've had a chance to look at your phone, you can have it back."
Kyra's face looked like a lost child as she gazed up at me, and I suddenly felt like a dick, because underneath the pampered star, there was a scared woman.
I let out a slow breath, running a hand through my hair. "Look," I sighed, trying to soften my tone. "I know that these circumstances aren't all that great, but you have no choice. If you want us to stop this guy, you'll have to do what we tell you."
"Did she mean it? Bella, I mean...about my stalker?" she asked, wringing her hands.
"Bella takes her job very seriously. She usually doesn't say things she doesn't mean. If she feels this guy will try to get to you, she's probably right. The girls in the office have extensive knowledge on criminal behavior," I told her, trying to not puff up with pride; sometimes, it was impossible. Bella's FBI training added into her natural ability to seek out bullshit and made her a force to be reckoned with.
Kyra studied my face for a minute. "How long have you been married?" she asked, suddenly changing gears on me.
"Five years," I answered.
"Kids?"
"Yeah." I grinned, just because I couldn't help it. "Two...a boy and a girl. I'm sure you'll meet them tomorrow. We'll have a lot of things to go over, and I believe Alec is bringing you over in the morning."
"Two," she mused softly, a sad smile just barely flickering across her features, before she looked back up at me. "And Bella knows about us?"
"There wasn't really an...us," I stated, which caused Kyra to flinch, but it was the fucking truth. "But yes, she knows what happened. There's nothing I keep from her. And she'd find out anyway, because she's not stupid."
"I'm sorry to just pop back up in your life..." she muttered, her voice trailing off. "I know you didn't want to see me again."
I wanted to groan, roll my eyes, and scream, but instead, I just rubbed my face roughly, only to grip my hair in order to get control. "Kyra, what I did back then... Well, I owe you an apology for how I treated you," I admitted. "It wasn't right, the way I ended things."
"I'm not sure I gave you much choice," she chuckled, turning away from me to set a bag on the bed of the guest room. "I was...young, in so many ways. I'd been sheltered, despite my career."
"I remember," I said with a nod.
"I thought about you, you know," she said, smiling and shrugging. "I was mad...hurt. You were the only person I've met that didn't care who or what I was. To this day," she tacked onto the end. "That's the truth. And you made me feel safe, something I hadn't felt since before my dad died." She paused for a moment, but glanced up at me. "You had no idea who I was, did you?" she asked, a wry smile playing on her face.
I chuckled, shaking my head. "No. Not at all."
"You still don't," she surmised with a laugh.
"Nope. Not a clue," I laughed. "Sorry."
"Don't be," she snickered, waving a hand at me, but paused for just a second. "You're still very handsome when you laugh," she said softly with a nod, almost as if she were confirming it.
That compliment changed the mood in the room back to tension-filled. And I felt that was my cue to leave. I wanted to get home to my family. I hadn't seen my daughter since she left for Mrs. Cope's that morning.
"Make yourself at home here. Esme will take excellent care of you, and Alec will keep watch tonight," I told her, starting to turn from the room. "Tomorrow, we'll go over what we find out and set up a schedule so that you can still...work."
I stepped out into the hallway, shutting Kyra's door behind me, only to run into Esme, dropping off towels to the guest bathroom.
"You'll have to watch how you speak to her," she whispered, raising an eyebrow at me. "She sees you as a protector."
"You listened?" I snorted, rolling my eyes at her shameless nod.
"Yes. I received a call from my somewhat jealous daughter-in-law, who filled me in a bit," she snickered, patting my cheek at my eye roll and groan. "I'm not sure Bella's correct in thinking this woman still has feelings for you, but it could turn into that. You need to be careful, son."
"Yes, ma'am," I sighed, kissing her cheek. "Bella has no need to be jealous."
"I know that," she chuckled, "and you know that. But you have to understand how Bella feels," she said, walking down the stairs with me. "This Kyra woman is rich, beautiful, and talented. She's famous all over the world for those things. That is intimidating for any woman. And here her husband has had a relationship with this woman. It's one thing to know about someone's past. It's another to have it shoved in your face. And now Bella has to protect this woman."
"We've run into women from my past before," I stated, hating that we even were having this fucking conversation, but at least I could trust Esme.
"The key to that sentence is 'run into,'" Esme pointed out. "As in...saw them and they went away. Kyra will be around for awhile." She paused for a moment, patting my upper arm. "Think back to when Jacob Black was under the same roof as us when we were protecting Bella. How did that make you feel to see a man Bella clearly didn't want constantly throwing himself at her?"
"I wanted to castrate him," I growled, my hands balling up into fists at the memory. The fucker just wouldn't leave Bella alone, no matter how much she tried to avoid him. "I should have let her shoot him..." I muttered, smirking at Esme's soft laughter.
"No, you did the right thing," she corrected, shaking her head at me. "Now the roles are reversed, so keep that in mind these next few weeks as Miss Bailey is around all the time."
"'Kay," I said, sounding a little like Bethy, but I felt lost in this situation. I wanted my wife – no other. But I felt bound to do my job in protecting Kyra, and my guilt made me feel like I owed her something. It was a daunting feeling.
"Now," she chirped, kissing my cheek, "I think your dad needed to speak with you before you head back to your house. He and Alec...and that adorable Gator are out on the porch."
"Gator's cool as shit," I chuckled with a nod. "I have a feeling all the girls are going to swoon all over him."
"Maybe," she chuckled. "Go...and kiss my grandkids goodnight for me. Tell them they're playing with Gamma tomorrow."
I nodded and stepped out on the porch, where I was greeted by Gator, Alec, and my dad. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes. I need you to let Bella and the girls know that Teri will be traveling back to California tomorrow," my dad answered. "She has other clients she must attend to, so I'm going to be taking her place at Kyra's side."
"Okay. Why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "You want to play agent to her?"
He laughed, shaking his head, but he gestured to Gator, who started to explain. "You remember Raulson?" he asked me.
"Kyra's manager? That prick's still around?" I asked, sitting down in the chair next to him.
"Not only is he still around, but he's just as fat and sassy as ever," Gator drawled. "I've never liked the man. Ever. But he'll be coming around soon, especially once she starts recording. I think if Kyra presents him with a new 'agent,' then he'll get a little nervous. Teri will still continue to do it, but she'll just do it through Carlisle here."
My eyebrows shot up, because it wasn't a bad idea to have my dad in on this case. "You don't think he..."
"I don't know," Gator interrupted me, holding up his hand. "I'm not really sure he'd jeopardize his most precious meal ticket, so I can't imagine it's him."
"Ike Raulson works solely for Solstice Music," my dad added. "His main priority has been Kyra from the beginning. Now that it's been bought out, I've had Angela start a rumor that no one's job is safe. Not that I'll clean house, but I've heard terrible things about this man. I want to know his story, so I want him nervous."
"Okay," I conceded with a shrug, standing up, because my dad was a fucking shrewd and brilliant businessman. I turned to Alec. "I guess we'll see you in the morning with a plan," I told him, giving him a fist bump.
"You get to have all the fun without me," he chuckled, smacking my arm. "I'll miss the girls picking these people apart. You'll have to bring me up to speed."
"You're smart. I'm sure you can keep up," I laughed, heading out to my dad's car. He'd pick it up in the morning when he rode over with Alec and company.
It wasn't even a five minute drive from my dad's house to mine. I parked his car next to Bella's, smiling at the familiar squeal of laughter coming from the yard.
"Daddy!" Bethy gushed, running to me as fast as her little legs would carry her.
"Hey, little sweetness," I chuckled, scooping her up and planting loud kisses to her neck, just to hear her happy laugh. "What are you doing outside this late at night?"
"Mommy said I could watch for you," she explained, her cheeks a sweet pink as she panted in my arms. "Then she told me I should give you loud, sloppy 'mooches." With that said, I received a loud raspberry kiss to my cheek.
I pulled her back, raising an eyebrow at her. "Hmm," I mused, tsking at her just a little. "That was weak, pretty girl. I'd rank it as maybe a five...six, at most."
She grinned, grabbing my face and planting another louder, wetter kiss to my cheek. "What's that one?"
"Eh, better. Eight," I scoffed with a shrug, rolling my eyes at her.
"Dad-dy!" she whined, giggling at the same time. "One more..."
The last one was really loud, leaving my face covered in slobber, and I cracked the fuck up, because I just couldn't help it. My silly girl wanted to be the best, do the best at all she did. She would have never been satisfied with an eight if there was a chance a ten could be achieved. And that came from Bella, pure and simple. In fact, Bethy looked just like her mother as she bit her bottom lip, smiling at me with a slight tilt to her head as she waited for my judgment.
"Yuck!" I scowled dramatically, wiping my face, which caused her to giggle adorably at me. "Okay, okay. A ten!"
"Yay!" she cheered, both arms shooting up in the air like a touchdown signal, a gesture that she'd picked up from all of her uncles.
I chuckled, bending her backwards and planting my own obnoxiously loud raspberry to her neck, causing her to squeal, laugh, and writhe in my arms. "Ten," I growled against her sweet smelling skin as she sagged in my arms. I stood her up straight. "Where's Sammy?" I asked, using the nickname that Bethy had dubbed him with from almost the day he was born.
"Wif Mommy," she said, pointing toward the office, and I nodded, starting to walk us that way.
"What color star today, Bethy?" I asked her, raising another eyebrow at her, because Mrs. Cope doled out behavior stars at the end of the day. The color determined just how she'd behaved. Gold was good, silver was average, and red was not good at all.
I'd finally sat down with my baby girl after the incident in the park. As much as I could completely understand her feelings on protecting not only her brother, but her friends, too, I didn't want her to become a hot-head like myself. I thought raising a boy would prove to be more difficult, but it was Bethy we needed to watch. Samuel was our sweet, shy one. He was the one with a temperament more like Bella's – calm, introspective. And he was painfully bashful, like I'd been before my mother died.
"Gold!" she chirped proudly. "Because I helped Mrs. Cope clean up today. I smacked ewasers together. Dust went everywhere!"
"That's my girl," I praised softly, kissing her forehead and setting her on her feet. "That's what I like to hear."
I opened the door to the office to find the place a beehive of activity, a stark contrast to what it had been prior to getting a call from my dad earlier. It seemed everyone was busy on computers, tacking shit up on the board and the walls, and putting notes together.
Jasper and Emmett were studying what looked to be building layouts. Rose, Makenna, and Kurt were setting out pages on the conference table. Alice and Wes were in deep conversation in the computer room. Mickey and Bella were side by side, studying the same laptop screen. Even Caleb was working, posting pictures of various people on the bulletin board.
But it was the other loud, singing, "Daddy!" that just completed my fucking day. It made up for the fucked up shit the day had entailed as Samuel scrambled down from his mother's lap. Short, chunky legs pumped furiously around the conference table, dodging Emmett and Jasper, and poor Kurt had to lift a leg to let Sammy run underneath so he wouldn't run into him.
"Hey, buddy," I laughed, due to the obstacle course he'd just maneuvered. "Were you a good boy for Aunt Rose?" I asked, smirking when Rose nodded and rolled her eyes, because he was the easiest kid to watch.
"Yeah," he whispered, smiling like sunshine and all things good, but he broke into a wide, heavy, body-shuddering yawn.
"You're the man," I told him, holding out my hand for a fist bump, which he gladly gave with a sleepy smile and watery eyes. "Is it time for bed, little soldier?" I asked, glancing up at Bella, who was watching us with a sweet smile and a slow nod.
"No, Daddy," he yawned again, clinging to me. "Not bed..."
I sighed, because I wasn't ready to give him or Bethy up for the night just yet, so I sat down next to Bella, whispering, "Just a few more minutes, bud, okay?"
He nodded, laying his head on my chest and watching his mother's fingers fly over the computer keyboard.
"I'm not sure who's cuter...you or him," she chuckled, leaning over to kiss me quickly. "You spoil him."
"I spoiled Bethy, too," I countered with a chuckle and a shrug.
"Mmhm," she said with a pursed-lipped and ever so indulgent smile. "Yes, I know," she chided, turning back to the computer. "How's the pop diva?"
I grinned, hearing her sarcasm loud and clear. "Running out of things to complain about," I chuckled. "And most likely eating humble pie made by Esme at this point, because she was not impressed by Kyra."
"Well, she's really going to have something to bit...complain about when she sees how much her schedule and her security measures have changed. And we aren't finished with the prelim background checks yet," she said, looking over at me and reaching over to brush a curl off of Samuel's forehead as his eyelids got heavier and heavier.
"Which reminds me," I said, and explained to her about Ike Raulson, how even Gator mistrusted him. I also let her know that my dad was going to be joining in on the case as a favor to Teri Foley.
"Oh, okay," she muttered, pulling the contact list to her. "That may be this IR on the list. I'll check it out." We both stopped when a contented, deep sigh pushed out of Samuel against my neck. "Bedtime," she sighed, reaching for him.
"No..." I pouted dramatically, turning our boy from her. "I got this," I growled softly, smiling when she giggled and tugged at me.
"Okay, well, take the pretty girl with you...and Caleb, because I'm not sure how long Rose and Em will be here."
"I said I've got this, sweetness!" I reiterated in a whisper against her neck, placing a kiss there before getting up. "It's not like I'm any good at this shi...stuff," I said with a gesture to the computers, correcting myself quickly and quietly. "You can fill me in when I get back. I'll just set up the baby monitors, yeah?"
"Yeah." She stood up, kissing me and Samuel, whispering to have sweet dreams – not that he heard it, because he was out like a light. "And put the boys together, or her Royal Highness will have a gender meltdown."
I chuckled and nodded in agreement, because Heaven forbid a lowly boy enter into Bethy's room. Not even her brother was allowed past the doorway. "Little sergeant, bedtime. Come tell Mommy goodnight," I ordered, trying not to wake Sammy up. "You, too, little man. You're bunking with Sammy," I said, pointing to Caleb.
"'Kay, Unca Edwurrd," he conceded, and slowly climbed down from the chair he was standing on in front of the bulletin board. He ran to Rose, and then Emmett, kissing them goodnight.
It was the norm around here. If we were all working, then we took turns with the kids, whether it was babysitting, putting them to bed, or feeding them.
After Bethy kissed her mother, I marched the kids across the yard to the house.
~oOo~
BELLA
"Edward's back," Alice muttered, pulling her laptop from the desk in the computer room. "Let's get this show on the road. He's going to flip the fuck out with what we found."
"I know," I murmured back to her, pulling my own computer from the desk and joining everyone at the conference table. "Are we calling Carlisle and Alec for this?" I asked Edward when he walked in, but he shook his head no.
"Nah, we can catch them up with Kyra tomorrow," he said, sliding what looked like several pieces of a cell phone across the conference table toward Alice. "It's Kyra's. Thought you might want it," he told her.
She nodded fervently, automatically putting it back together and turning it on. "She was tweeting? Is she trying to get killed?" she tsked, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "Well, that shit must stop..." Her voice trailed off, but she waved a hand at me to go ahead.
"Fine," I sighed, slapping down the little bit of information we were able to collect on such short notice and with the limited shit we'd been given to start out. "We had no choice but to begin with the people that are around Kyra every day...including the woman herself," I started, shaking my head. "And that shit wasn't easy, because we had to sift through her tabloid life to get to her real life."
"Was there much of a difference?" Kurt asked, chuckling a bit. "'Cause that woman is on TMZ just about every night."
"Oh yeah," I laughed humorlessly once. "In fact, it was a shocking background check," I said, giving Edward a pointed look. "Kyra Bailey was born Kyra Lynn Hardwick from Pittsburgh. She took her mother's maiden name when she started working for a local television station at ten years old. It snowballs from there. The children's show she started on was picked up by a national network, so she was uprooted to Los Angeles by the time she was thirteen. When she reached the age of sixteen, the show was finally canceled. However, she was already making movies and had recorded her first album."
I paused, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, because Edward wasn't going to like what he was about to hear. I tossed a piece of paper down in front of him.
"At eighteen, she got married while on tour for her second album. He was a band member...Roger Armstrong. That relationship lasted about a year, but the marriage lasted three," I said, raising an eyebrow at Edward.
He grimaced, shaking his head, because that meant Kyra was still married at the time of the USO tour. "Fuck," he hissed, shaking his head. "I swear I didn't know," he vowed, his words only meant for me, but Mickey snorted and rolled her eyes.
"No one knew, pretty boy, so don't sweat it," she said, her voice sincere and a touch sympathetic to this current topic. She slid another piece of paper to him. "The divorce was ugly and hushed up. How they kept it hidden when her face was on everything from t-shirts to pillow cases is beyond me, but it's true. Dear Roger tried to sue her for half of what the girl was worth. They finally settled out of court. Want to know when?"
"No," he groaned, because he wasn't stupid, by any means.
"Yup," I said, setting another page down onto the table. "The finalization of her divorce was two days after her return from her USO tour of Afghanistan." Edward's gaze snapped to mine, and I raised an eyebrow at him. "It appears you made an impression, baby," I told him, shrugging once.
"Oh damn," Jasper whispered, pulling the papers closer. "I remember you two, but Ed..."
"Don't fucking say it!" he snapped, standing up from the table and starting to pace behind Emmett, Jasper, and Rose. "She never told me this shit, Bella," he groaned, his hand gripping his hair.
"No, I can't imagine she would have," I told him, keeping my voice calm for his sake. I wasn't mad at him, but he needed to know that he hadn't just used her back then; they'd used each other. "Every single part of that marriage, court fight, and final divorce was sealed, due to her being a celebrity. Pay enough money, and anything can just...go away."
"Well, sealed for some," Alice chuckled, which caused a few snickers throughout the room. "Edward, if it makes you feel any better, she was the one that asked for the dissolution of the marriage. She'd filed the original paperwork almost on their one-year anniversary, but Roger wanted his paycheck."
"Did we check out this Roger asshole?" Emmett asked, taking the pages from Jasper, but giving a still pacing Edward a side glance.
"We did." I set down another couple of pages. "He's clean. As in squeaky. He's living in New York, working for a different record label as the company's house guitarist. He hasn't traveled, he's been at work every day, and he's now remarried, with two children...boys. He's removed himself from Kyra's life completely. So he's not like...out for revenge." I glanced up at Edward, who was leaning against the wall and staring at the floor. "Not your fault, Edward. If she didn't tell you, then you would've never known. No one knew. Please sit down for me."
He took a deep breath and let it out, before giving a brief nod and falling back down in his chair. "What else?" he asked, looking livid, but I'd have been willing to bet it was her keeping the truth from him more than the fact that she was married when they'd been together that was bothering him. And I had a funny feeling she'd be asked about it tomorrow.
"Well, things slow down with Kyra after Afghan... her divorce," I said, changing direction and taking the focus off of him. This was bad enough as it was. "She did what she told you she was going to do," I explained to him. "She went back to LA, recorded a new album, made a movie or two, and laid low. That is, until the Oscar buzz started. By the time she was twenty-three, she'd won various awards, started touring heavily, and her career skyrocketed way past the teeny-bop shit she'd started out with. She was considered a legit talent by this time. Her love life was a publicized mess. She dated several big names in Hollywood, including a director from one of her movies, a co-star, and a producer."
"Which brings us up to date, really," Alice said with a shrug. "Her last breakup with some English actor was nasty. He cheated on her. She tried to ruin him for it. But they weren't married, they each had their own wealth, and the only thing to come out of it was that the guy went from an unknown to a household name almost overnight." She stood up, spinning her laptop around. "Financially, she is swimming in it – merchandise, movies, three platinum albums, and a cosmetic line. She's not hurting for money, but I'd be willing to bet it's one of the draws of her stalker."
"Why?" Edward asked, glancing up from the financial statement. "I thought stalkers were disillusioned into thinking that they're with the object. Romantically." He grinned when we all stopped to look at him. "Alice teaches me shit, too!" he huffed, rolling his eyes.
"Usually, yes," Alice answered him, nodding and chuckling a bit. "But it's the type of flower we're dealing with that causes me to think her wealth might be involved. Marigolds mean cruelty and jealousy. What I'm not sure of is which description applies to Kyra."
"Cruelty," Rose muttered, shooting a wink at me across the table when everyone chuckled, but she decided to back that statement up. "No, think about it. I'm not saying she's awful, but I haven't met her. I'd be willing to bet that she's busy as shit, so one wrong look, one bad day, and she goes and says the wrong thing to the wrong person. It's all over. This guy may have only been looking for an autograph, and she snaps at him or ignores him, and he takes it as complete and total rejection. I mean, we've seen it before...that girl on that sitcom..."
"Yes, and her stalker ended up killing her," I said, shaking my head. "We can't let that happen," I sighed, leaning on the table.
"There's not much I can do, Bellsy, if I don't have a suspect," Wes piped up. "If you can get me a name and proof, we'll put a restraining order out, just like we did with you and Lilith."
My nose wrinkled at the sound of that woman's name, but I nodded. "I know, but I wanted you aware of this case. I may need you at some point to do just that."
"Always," he said with a grin and a wink.
"Okay," I said, pulling a picture of Kyra and sticking it up on the bulletin board. "There are a few people in her past – and probably her present – that could mean her harm. It's not the ex-boyfriends, or the ex-husband...all of them check out and were nowhere near her at the time of the last few flower deliveries."
"Maybe it's the ex-chopper pilot," Emmett chuckled, elbowing Edward, who couldn't help but crack a smile, because we all laughed.
"Don't think I didn't rule him out," I said, trying to sound serious, but snorted into hysterics when my husband flipped me off. "Well, you were in China when the last flower was delivered," I reasoned, shrugging one shoulder.
"Sweetness, go on, please," he groaned, still smiling, and I was grateful to Emmett for lightening the mood completely. The air had seemed too heavy in the room.
"Which leads us to Kyra's agent, Teri," I said, posting the woman's picture up on the board. "Now, Carlisle says that he's known this woman for a long time. He's vouched for her character, which goes a long way with me...not that it stopped me from checking into her. However, she does check out as far as her background goes. She's pretty damn clean for an agent. There are no dirty deals under the table, all taxes are paid, and there aren't any red flags. She's been with Kyra since she turned eighteen."
"Yeah, but she's left for California again," Jasper pointed out.
"I'm watching her," Alice stated. "If she catches a flight, rents a car, or even takes the bus this way, I'll know about it."
"Next," I said, posting Cassie's picture. "Cassandra Winters. Cassie was an intern at the LA television studio back when Kyra first moved from Pittsburgh. They've been together ever since." I turned to Edward, because he was the only one in the room that had met the girl before now. "What was she like when you met her the first time? Because there's not much on her, besides her travel records with Kyra. She even lives with her, so there isn't any record of her owning a home or paying rent. She's never been married, no kids...nothing."
Edward's brow furrowed, and he dragged his thumb across his bottom lip as he studied Cassie's picture on the board. "She was quiet, shy, and really nice," he started with a shrug. "But she was surrounded by loud and famous people and military personnel. She kind of faded into the background, to be honest. She shadowed Kyra, would show up when needed, but otherwise, she stayed out of the way."
"I saw her today, Bells, spoke to her," Kurt piped up. "She's truly worried about Kyra. I don't think she's your problem. She's quiet, because she's overshadowed by Kyra's personality. She got interrupted speaking with me left and right."
I nodded, agreeing with him, because I'd noticed the same thing. "On paper, she'd be my first concern, because she would be subjected to daily abuse...the endless, thankless job. She makes okay money, but she's nowhere near Kyra's wealth, so I was just checking. I guess she has no time for a life, for dating..."
"Well, she doesn't like men," Mickey piped up, snickering a bit when we all snapped our attention to her, but the boys' smirks told me everything.
"You...met her?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Only met, but I knew what she was," Mickey laughed, getting shoved by Emmett.
"Oh, the good ole days," Jasper mused wistfully, shaking his head and rubbing his palms together. "Mickey was better than those letters to Playboy," he said with a crooked ass, cheesy grin.
Edward barked a laugh, but looked down the table to Mickey. "That's right...you were on the security team at the Afghanistan show."
"I was," she agreed, still ignoring the razzing from Jazz and Em. "I worked the stage area. They put me there because they wanted them comfortable with another woman. They almost sent me with you, but Em, Jazz, and I had got called on a different run."
"Nympho," Emmett coughed loudly, dodging her punch to his arm. "Aw, chill, Mick. You have to admit you didn't exactly care what gender you were with back in the day."
"Hush, all of you," Rose laughed, shaking her head. "Love is love...leave it alone," she said, blowing me a kiss, which just broke the table up all over again, because they all knew that we'd drunkenly made out with each other years ago in order to teach one of Rose's old boyfriends a lesson.
"Okay, okay," I chuckled, holding up my hands. "So Cassie's cool, yes? We all agree? I mean, yeah, she could be hiding something, but I'm just not getting a mean vibe from her. She seemed helpful and worried at Carlisle's office."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and we moved on down the list. Godfrey, the hairdresser, turned out to be George Labeski from Kansas City, which just caused another round of laughter at the things I'd said to Kyra about him. He was clean, no criminal record, no unusual travel habits, and from what we could tell about his Facebook page, he wouldn't touch a woman if you paid him – other than her hair. From the kid that ran errands and got coffee, down to the makeup artist, they all seemed clean.
No one was cleaner than Milo "Gator" Carson. He was a decorated, retired Army sergeant, bonded, trained, and insured as the personal bodyguard to Kyra Bailey. He'd been with her since her first album tour and had, on many occasions, pulled her from some serious situations. Considering he was the one that had brought up the security issues to Carlisle to begin with, he was ruled out immediately as a suspect. His instant cooperation with me, Edward's high praise of him, and the fact that I'd personally watched how he cared for Kyra gave me a pretty confident opinion that he was a damned good guy.
Which left one last person, the one that Makenna had been quietly studying since Edward had brought us the name.
"Ike Raulson," Makenna piped up, sitting back in her chair after spinning her computer around for us to take a look at him. "Ever watched the Muppets?" she asked with a giggle. "This guy looks like those old farts in the balcony."
I grinned, shaking my head at her, because it was true. Raulson looked cranky, too old to be dealing with pop music, and overweight. Apparently, following Kyra around for over ten years had fed him well.
"God, he was a dick," Edward muttered, sneering as he eyed the picture. "So fucking selfish. It was all about appearances with him. Was the shot right? Did Kyra look good enough? And he'd point out her mistakes onstage after each stop, not praise her. Like those meatheads in the desert cared whether she missed a note or not..."
"Well, he sounds...pleasant," Alice sneered, her lip curling in disgust. "Does she like the man? Or did she just put up with him?"
"She didn't care about the camera thing," Edward stated, "but the insults to her performance...that bothered her, whether she let on or not."
"Well, you can't knock the art or the artist," I stated, shrugging a shoulder. "I've seen her perform...she's amazing. And usually flawless. She sang the National Anthem for the Super Bowl last year, and it was just perfect. So if he's knocking her, then he's just...mean." I turned to Makenna. "What did you find out about sunshine there?"
She smirked, but turned her computer around. "He's been with Solstice Music since the seventies. He's managed some pretty big names and some flops. He took on Kyra when they signed her away from her first record company. They are responsible for bringing her out of Disney and into MTV." She studied her screen for a minute. "He's been married and divorced three times. He has kids from each marriage. The youngest son, Preston, works with him as his right hand. In fact, he's the only one that even speaks to Ike. He's got a daughter in St. Louis and another son in New York. There are no calls to California, no emails, no contact. It's like he doesn't exist to them."
"Preston?" Emmett groaned, rolling his eyes. "If that doesn't scream pretentious rich boy... Wonder how many wedgies he got in school..." he mused, his voice trailing off. "Or swirlies...those are fun..."
I chuckled, waving a dismissive hand at him. "Keep going, Mack."
"Ike pays his bills on time, trades in his car for a new one every year, and is registered Republican. He's made a considerable amount of money over the years, but with Kyra, he really raked it in. He's pretty straight-laced, actually. His criminal record is clean. He donates to St. Jude Children's Hospital once a year. And he's apparently good at his job, because they've kept him around for all this time. He may be an ass, but he's stable. Like a rock, actually."
The table came to a halt, because we'd reached the end of our list of people that surrounded Kyra – or at least the names available to us.
"Could this be a fan?" Kurt asked. "I'm asking, because there are those out of their minds fans that follow their object around for like whole tours and shit."
"From experience?" Jasper chuckled.
"Yeah, there was a girl in school...Backstreet Boys..." Kurt muttered, rolling his eyes. "She'd have left me for Nick or Howie or some shit, I swear."
We all chuckled, but I said, "Yeah, it most definitely could be a fan, or it's someone we aren't aware of. There are still names on this list that we can't get complete information on."
"So what now?" Kurt asked, glancing up and down the table.
"We protect her," I said simply. "We'll have to be observant, set up strict rules as to who comes near her, and she isn't to be left alone."
"Schedule?" Rose asked, holding up her calendar.
"Not tonight," I sighed, suddenly just exhausted of the whole topic. "We'll all meet back in the morning with Carlisle, Alec, and company. We'll go over everyone's responsibilities, where she's to be and when, and we'll let her know that so far, her people are good to go. That ought to make her happy."
"Not that you care about her happiness," Rose muttered with a chuckle.
I stopped, looking over at her. "Not particularly," I stated, shrugging a little. "Nor does she care about mine," I said, raising an eyebrow at my oldest friend, and she smirked up at me. "She chose to argue with me...not her bodyguard, not Carlisle...and Heaven forbid she argue with Edward... She's oblivious as to how threatened she really is, and the only thing that concerned her was her fucking hair dresser." The room grew quiet – silent, actually. "Look, she'll be here in the morning. You'll all get to meet the Oscar winner and see for yourself when we tell her just how little she's going to be allowed to do. Now...get out of here..." I commanded lightly, and the meeting broke up.
"Hey, Bells," Wes said, pulling me away from everyone. "Don't forget. If you can get ahold of one of those flowers, I'll most definitely send it to my lab. Okay?"
I smiled up at him and nodded. He'd become such a good friend to us since we'd met years ago during the Royce King situation. And he worshiped the ground Makenna walked on. He was so very handsome, standing tall with longer, light brown hair and a sweet smile.
"Yeah, Gator is trying to get one for me," I told him, "but I can't promise as to what condition it'll be in. Not that I want her to get another one, but a newly left marigold would be better."
Wes nodded in agreement. "Well, call me if you get one. And when you guys narrow this shit down, we'll legally set things in motion."
"Thanks," I told him.
No one really put anything away, because we were only going to pick right back up in the morning. Once the office was locked up, Caleb was scooped up by Rose, and everyone left for the evening, I walked down my hall, first checking on Sammy, who was almost laying sideways in his bed. I tugged the covers back over him as best I could while he was in that position and kissed his sweet, chubby twitching fingers. But I found myself staring at my daughter as she slept peacefully.
I walked into her room, placing the lightest of kisses to her temple and gently brushing a lock of hair from her face. Carefully, I picked up a dropped stuffed animal and put it back in her arms. Mr. Bunny had long been replaced by the now very handsome, very overly dressed Mr. Bear. Bethy loved the bright red bow tie on the dark brown teddy bear. It was a prize Edward had won her at the Halloween fair the night he'd saved me from Lilith.
After shaking off the slight sadness, worry, and pride that came with the thought that my baby girl was starting school in a few weeks, I snatched up discarded clothes, sneakers, and a few stray socks, taking them down to the laundry room. I walked into mine and Edward's bedroom, to find him sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Kids okay?" he asked softly, looking up from where his elbows were resting on his knees. He'd taken off his hat, so his hair was in an adorable disarray.
"Yeah, and I swear if you watch closely enough, they're growing...right now," I chuckled lightly, walking to him. He immediately reached out to pull me between his legs. "Especially Bethy," I whispered with a long sigh. "I want to count, document, and kiss every freckle on her face so I don't miss out on anything."
Edward grinned up at me, nodding slowly. "I don't think she'll hold still long enough."
"No, probably not," I snickered.
His smile fell quickly, and his gaze fell to his hands on my waist. "I-I d-didn't kn-know sh-she w-was m-m-married, B-Bella," he sputtered, and it was worse that his usual nervous speech. "I-I w-wouldn't h-have t-touched h-her."
I cupped his face, making him look up at me. "The marriage was over by that point."
"The papers weren't signed," he countered. "The marriage still existed. I was an ass back then, but I wasn't...that. That shit was off limits...boyfriends didn't count, but that most definitely did."
I sighed deeply, smiling sadly at him. "You two used each other. Plain and simple. You'll have to ask her why she wasn't honest, but I'd be willing to bet that she didn't even consider herself married at that point. It wasn't like you had honorable intentions, Edward."
He grimaced, his nose wrinkling, and it was so fucking adorable that I couldn't help but kiss it.
"How was it really when you dropped her off?" I asked him.
He huffed a laugh once through his nose, tilting his head up at me. "Torture. She complained the whole way. The drive was too long, there wouldn't be hotel room service, about you possibly taking away her employees, and even more when I snatched her phone from her, because she started to use it."
I smirked down at him, but waited patiently for him to finish.
"Sh-She s-said I-I w-was h-handsome w-when I-I l-laughed," he said again, his stutter loud and clear, and he looked just like his daughter when she thought she was in big trouble.
Laughing, I said, "Well, she's right. Though, I'm not sure how I feel about her just tossing that out there at you."
"Me, either," he admitted, toying silently with the edge of my shirt. "Esme thinks you're jealous, sweetness. Please, please don't be," he begged suddenly. "I want nothing to do with Kyra...other than get through this case. I swear."
"Ugh, maybe I am jealous. I don't know," I groaned, rolling my eyes, "but I see her...and she's beautiful and there's this history with you...and..."
"Mention her looks again, Bella, and I'll hold you down in front of a mirror just to show you how fucking perfect you are to me. Naked. Got me?" he snapped, his green eyes blazing with frustration, anger, and endless love.
The sound that escaped me made him chuckle and wrap his arms around me to keep me from either stepping out of his embrace or tackling him. It was a cross between a laugh at the mere idea that he'd actually do that, a moan of sheer want of watching us in front of a mirror, and a sigh of contentment at just how he truly saw me.
"Yes, sir," I breathed, giggling a bit at his carnal smile and sexy ass raised eyebrow.
"I don't want her, baby," he whispered, dragging the backs of his fingers down my face. "I don't care about what happened years ago between us, what that woman does for a living, or how she looks at me," he stated, and I nodded, extremely grateful that he saw what I saw when it came to how Kyra had stared at him. "And I certainly don't fucking care what she looks like. I apologized to her, so as far as I'm concerned...it's ancient fucking history," he ranted, slipping his hand into my hair at the base of my neck.
I leaned into him, placing my hands flat on either side of his face, letting my fingers revel in the slight stubble on his face. Deep, concerned, and utterly vulnerable green eyes gazed up at me through long, beautiful eyelashes. God, he was so fucking handsome, and so very sweet. And that's when a touch of comfort started to settle over me, because there was no way that Kyra knew anything about the young boy I knew once, the one that occasionally showed himself to me. Like right then.
"She doesn't know you," I whispered, my brow furrowing a bit.
He shook his head slowly. "Only you, sweetness. I've told you that a million times."
I nodded, whether in acceptance of his statement or simply that I'd heard him – I wasn't really sure – and I let out a slow deep breath. I wanted to crawl inside of him, cling to him, or maybe just kiss him senseless, but my love for him was overwhelming. I wasn't normally the jealous type. I knew what Edward was when we first started admitting our feelings for each other and our pasts. I had faith enough in him to know the love he had for me was real, true, and so very fucking strong. It could be felt, like another entity in the room.
Maybe the way we'd reunited after meeting the one time as kids made me feel possessive of him, but he'd been the only person that could get through to me after my ordeal with Miller. We'd had the occasional run-in with women from his past, and it hadn't bothered me, but Kyra did. A lot.
"Talk to me, love," he said softly, dragging a thumb across my bottom lip. "Don't hold this in. I need to know what you're thinking."
"I look at her, and I look at you...and I see you together with her," I said cryptically, but he understood it, because he grimaced slightly. "If the situation were reversed..."
"Yeah," he sighed, kissing me quickly to stop me from finishing that sentence. "I'd be a caveman. I know."
I giggled, my head falling back, and I felt warm, wet, smiling lips against the skin of my throat. Strong, calloused hands settled on either side of my face, making me look at him.
"She had me for five minutes, baby. I've had you for five years," he stated firmly, raising an eyebrow at me. "And I want five hundred more with you. I wouldn't change that. I don't want to change that. Never in a lifetime would Kyra and I have worked. I knew it then, and that shit hasn't fucking changed."
"She's going to try, Edward," I whispered, because I'd seen determination in her eyes when she'd gazed up at him Carlisle's office, and that might have been what was bothering me the most. No one else from his past had ever looked at him the way Kyra had, because they'd moved on. I wasn't so sure she had.
"She will fail."
"Swear?" I asked him, kissing his lips softly, slowly, before pulling back to wait for his answer.
"All the fucking time," he chuckled, finally pulling me to his lap when I laughed with him, but I knew that he meant it.
"She's coming to our house tomorrow," I groaned, rolling my eyes.
Edward grinned, squeezing me closer. "Yes, she is. And we're going to treat her like any other case, sweetness."
I growled dramatically, my lip curling at just how long this shit was going to take. It was most likely going to test my patience to its very limits.
"Your dad so owes me one," I grumped, folding my arms across my chest.
"Yeah, he does," Edward laughed, tugging at my wrists until I finally relented and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "Tell him that. Repeatedly. Maybe that new Camaro you've been eyeballing will be his way of making it up to you."
I giggled evilly, biting my bottom lip. "Ooh, I do have a birthday coming up..."
"Mmhm," he purred, dragging his lips across my own, the mere flicker of his tongue tasting me. "And what do you want, love?"
"You. All to myself. No kids. No friends. No exes. I don't care where or how."
He pulled back, gazing at me like I was his next meal. He smirked, his eyes darkening to an evil, carnal black as his tongue glided slowly across his bottom lip.
"That sounds like a damn fine idea, sweetness," he crooned, his hands ghosting down my back, only to cup my ass and squeeze. "On one condition..." He raised a deadly sexy eyebrow at me, tilting his head just a bit.
"And that would be?" I asked, matching his eyebrow with my own.
"We work...as a team...and we get this shit done quick, fast, and in a hurry," he stated, his voice almost gruff. "Together."
I smiled, kissing his lips softly. I could see what he was trying to tell me, what he was asking of me. He wanted our flawless teamwork to solve this case in order to get it done. He was an amazing force of protectiveness. I was good at seeing through bullshit. Together, we were strong, almost invincible. If we worked together, there was no chance in hell anything could come between us, and that was truly what he was trying to get across to me. We'd worked together to take down a mafia leader, and we'd worked together to get our daughter back when she'd been kidnapped. And this current case came nowhere near that dangerous, especially if our team ran things the way we always did, so if we were smart, cautious, and determined, we'd be unstoppable.
I nodded once, kissing him again, just because I could, just because he was mine. I kissed him as a thank you for settling my fears like he always did, even when I didn't really know what my fears were. I kissed him, because he was so very sweet, something I'd be willing to bet Kyra knew nothing about. And that last thought caused another smile to creep up my face.
I sat up on my knees, straddling his lap and threading my fingers into his hair. Without warning, I claimed his mouth, hard, deep, and wet. Not one to fall behind, Edward let loose my favorite sound – a deep, longing, sensual moan – and he gripped my hair almost roughly to turn my head, his tongue sliding slowly against my own. I pushed him back onto the bed, bracing my hands on either side of his head as we lost ourselves for just a moment. Pulling back, I pressed my forehead to his, reveling in just how much, how quickly his want for me was making itself known – or he was pressing me against it, I wasn't sure which. Our breathing was heavy, but I finally had to give him an answer.
"Deal."
A/N...I'm thinking when those two make a deal that it's pretty cemented. Don't you?
Okay, so lots of info on this one. Everyone around Kyra checked out, but the diva herself was quite the little liar, huh? She was married at the time she toured the military bases. Edward was not happy. Care to bet on whether he calls Kyra on it the next time he sees her? LOL
Ah, and Bethy and Sammy time. God, I just love those two. And they get to meet the famous singer in the next chapter. Ah...the honesty of children... lol
Okay, so big thanks to JenRar for helping me smooth this out. To GooberLou, who really wanted Mercward to smash Kyra's phone, via Kyra's face, but yeah...no. And to MedusaInNY for keep my blog up and running better than I could.
The ladies over at Slice of Lemon blog made me December's Author of the Month. Big hugs and thanks to them. However, if you'd like to read the interview, here's the link... aslicelemon(dot)blogspot(dot)com
Well, the next chapter is ready to go, so the next posting will be Wednesday. Let me know what you think... Until next time, Later. :)