The True One

Chapter 3

This guy was unbelievable. "Oh my God, you are truly a terrible bodyguard." I made no effort to hide the disdain in my voice. "You should have called them a half hour ago. Now, it's too late!"

He bit his lip and hunched his broad shoulders like he'd just figured out how royally he'd fucked up. "I'm sorry Verity. I just..."

He paused and I waited for him to come up with an excuse.

"You didn't collapse to the floor. Your pulse was normal."

"You checked my pulse?"

"Yes. Your breathing was fine too. I didn't think—"

"You got that right."

He took a breath. "I didn't think you'd want to have your tour delayed. If I'd called 911, it would cause a whole scene. Your dad would find out, and he'd tell your manager, and before you know it, you'd be on bedrest or in the hospital having tests run. Do you want that?"

I absolutely did not want that. I wanted to get back on the road and forget about blackout trances or whatever it was that was happening to me. "Okay, if that's really what you were thinking—I have my doubts on that, but let's just say it was—that's not terrible reasoning."

He straightened his shoulders and flashed me the carefree version of his smile. I looked away before his dimples could persuade me to hate him less.

"It was still an odd choice for you to make and I still don't have complete faith in your motives," I said. "Even so, let's agree to keep this between us for now. I'm probably going to tell one other person—that's it."

"What other person is that?"

"The only one I can trust."

#

My father, being an early to bed early to rise type, was lights out before Flora arrived. I led her into the living room and swore her to secrecy.

"Please tell me this isn't about that fanboy from Houston." She shook her head. "You swore to me it was over the moment you left town."

"No, it's not about him, and it was over. Practically before it began. Why do you have such a problem with Chip anyways?"

"Well, for one thing, his name is Chip."

"That's so elitist, Flora. It's just a name."

"And his beard. Totally unkept."

"I kind of liked it. He's got a wild side. That's not so bad."

"Then, there's the totally creepy fact that, after knowing you all of one night, he kept calling you his mate." Flora wrapped her arms around herself as her body shook with revulsion. "How gross is that?"

I waved her off. "He was just a fun, temporary distraction for me. A weird one, I'll give you that. But so what? Where's the harm?"

"I guess there'd be no harm, if he hasn't tried to get a hold of you repeatedly since then, written about you on social media, told your fans he's planning on moving here to be with you, and then showed up at your house, telling everyone he's here to see his mate. Since none of that has happened, we're all good, right?" She gave me a stare down that reminded me way too much of her mother.

She was referring to, of course, the Holy Shit Incident from a few days back. Thanks to Chip's overzealous and misguided antics, I now had to live under the watchful and yet still inept eye of Alek Sinclair.

"Okay, fine. He went a little overboard. I've given him clear boundaries now, though, and he hasn't come back."

She threw her hands up. "Because he hasn't been able to make bail, Verity."