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The whispered words came on their own, “You really are a good guy.”
He smiled. “Nah, I just play one on TV.”
She returned the grin, and although realization of the crowd returned, it didn’t seem quite as overpowering. Then there was no more time for reflection as handlers hustled them along. She rubbed her hands, refocusing her energy. Time to pursue her mission.
They split into two groups, the major players like Julian, Zachary and the directors ascending the stage and the rest of the cast and crew moving to a group of chairs set to the side. Cheyenne picked a prime spot in the middle of several top suspects. It would take a few minutes for everyone to get settled, so she immediately set to work. “This is so exciting. Oh, hey Kevin and John.” She smiled widely, as if just noticing them. “Great to see you.”
“Hi Destiny,” they replied with matching cocky grins.
Out of the corner of her eye, Julian pivoted her way. Surrounded by celebrities, cops, officials and fans, he had thousands of people to occupy him – literally – but he focuseddirectly on her. His annoyance beamed like the laser swords the cosplayers wielded.
She ignored him. “Others may prefer front row seats, but I scored the best spot in the house.” She touched both their arms and winked. “The very best.”
They laughed. One placed his hand over hers, while the other puckered an air kiss.
Julian’s scowl turned thunderous.
“And how are you all doing?” She twisted, including the men in the row behind her. They rewarded her with a number of “Fines’” and “Great, now that you’re heres.”
“Do you know how attractive you are?” Peter, one of the men on her short list, grasped a lock of her hair and twirled it between his fingers. “I was disappointed when you left the body double role.”
Julian turned red.
“Why thank you.” Cheyenne giggled loudly. “I swear, this is the friendliest bunch I’ve ever met.” She shifted her body to include more targets. When she reached out to touch another man’s biceps, a commotion sounded by the stage.
“Excuse me,” a strong voice intoned. Cheyenne froze, as did a thousand or so others, as Julian jumped off the stage and stomped to them. He stopped before her, looming like an avenging warrior from a bestselling thriller. “Destiny, I need you. Now.”
Well, crap.
“Twelve shirts,seven pairs of pants and eight jackets,” Cheyenne hissed to the hapless clerk at the laundromat, playing every bit the part of disgruntled police detective and none at all of helpful personal assistant.
The freckled teenager gingerly reached for the receipt. “Was the service okay?”
Cheyenne sighed.Perfect.Now she was lashing out at innocent kids. “Everything is fine. I just got into an argument with an avenging warrior and lost. Temporarily.” She put a twenty-dollar bill in the tip jar.
The boy smiled gratefully and ran off to retrieve the clothing. He carried them in three trips before helping her out to the limo. Cheyenne would’ve much preferred to take her own car, but Julian had insisted she take his. No doubt so he could keep tabs on her.
The kid hefted the last load into her trunk and closed it. “I just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong, especially since Mr. Starcroft cancelled his normal delivery today.”
Normal delivery? Cancelled?“I’m sorry?”
“We usually deliver Mr. Starcroft’s clothing directly to his home, but we received a message that you were picking them up instead. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a reason.”
Oh, there was a reason all right, but it had nothing to do with the dry cleaning and everything to do with one very infuriating movie star.“No reason,” she gritted out.
“Great! Well, have a nice day then.”
Nice day? Not even close. After the dry cleaning, she stopped by his accountant, his lawyer, his pool cleaning service and then half a dozen additional locations for random errands. And at each one, the story was the same: the regularly scheduled service had been canceled. To top it off, she ran each errand in the ridiculous costume, which garnered more than a few stares. She donned a jacket, which didn’t do much, and by the time afternoon came she was deciding how many crimes she could charge him with.A lot.
She was about to embark on yet another dry-cleaning run (seriously, who had three dry cleaners?) when her phone buzzed with a text message.Return to the convention center.–J
Cheyenne gritted her teeth. No explanation or even a please – he simply gave a command and assumed it would be followed. He was used to people obeying his every whim. It would serve him right if she ignored him.
But… she would sabotage her mission if she did. She needed to get back as soon as possible to where a criminal was recruiting naïve women to join his little business. She texted back,On my way.
When she told the limo driver about the change in plans, he just smiled and said he’d already been informed. Of course. She should probably consider it a courtesy Julian told her instead of just spiriting her wherever his heart desired.
That was going to end. He was not in control of her. As soon as she got back to the center, she would resume her quest to entice every guy there. Every guy, that was, except Julian Starcroft.