Page 98 of Hideaway Heart

Suddenly he set me on my feet and launched himself off the porch.

“Xander?” Totally confused, I watched him sprint into the trees.

I ran down the steps and followed him as quickly as I could in my bare feet, wincing as I stepped on rocks and sticks and prickly things.

“Motherfucker!”

I followed the sound of Xander’s angry voice and found him screaming obscenities at a man lying face down on the ground while Xander pinned his arms behind his back.

“Gimme my camera back,” the man complained. “I’ve got a right to do my job.”

“You’ve got a right to shut the fuck up,” ordered Xander. “You trespass on other people’s property, you lose your other rights.”

A few feet away, I saw the camera. I picked it up and moved closer to them. He swung his head to look at me.

I recognized him. “Hoop?”

“See? She knows me!”

Xander looked at me. “You know this cocksucker?”

“I know who he is,” I said. “He’s one of the Nashville paparazzi.”

“That doesn’t sound like a reason I shouldn’t kick his ass.” Xander looked down at Hoop. “The fuck are you doing up here?”

“My job! I told you!”

“How did you know where to find her?”

Hoop said nothing at first.

“Answer me, you piece of shit.” Xander put more pressure on Hoop’s arms.

“Ow! I just figured it out!” Hoop blurted. “We do it all the time.”

“Xander, it was probably my stupid Instagram post,” I said, uncomfortable with the violence. I didn’t want to see anyone in pain because of me.

“Exactly,” said Hoop. “It was Instagram.”

Xander refused to let up. “That still doesn’t give you the right to come up here and harass her.”

“I wasn’t harassing her! I was just trying to make a buck. I’ve got five kids, okay? And one of them has medical problems. I’ve got a lot of bills to pay.”

“You should have thought about that before breaking the law.”

“Xander, just let him go,” I said.

Xander looked up at me. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.” I don’t know whether it was the fact that it was my fault he’d located me, or the mention of his five kids or the medical bills, or if I was just feeling generous because I’d just scored a big victory right before this happened—but I simply wanted this situation over so I could celebrate it.

“Can I at least smash his camera?” Xander asked.

I shook my head. “No. But you can delete all the pictures before we give it back to him.”

Hoop started to whine. “But I have some nice shots of the sunset over the harbor in there.”

“Fuck off, Hoop,” I said good-naturedly. “What you’re doing here is illegal, and you know it. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood today. Now stay where you are.” I handed the camera to Xander, who deleted all the photos at once before allowing Hoop to get up. It was almost comical looking at the two men standing next to each other—no wonder Xander had subdued him so quickly. Standing chest to chest with Xander, he looked like a flabby weasel facing off against an angry grizzly.