Deadly Obsession (22 page)

“Yes, sir. I believe it is.”

What were they were talking about? “Is it what?”

“Looks like blood to me, ma’am.”

Nic inhaled sharply and gripped the countertop, his face ashen.
The blood
. “Let’s get him out of here,” she said to Kaden.

“I’m fine. Was there anything about this in the police report?”

“No sir.”

Nic closed his eyes, took a deep breath and expelled it slowly, as if fighting off a dizzy spell. He then opened his eyes and turned to the mirror. What was he doing? Why was he forcing himself to look at the blood?

After staring at the message for almost a minute, Nic pulled his arm back and smashed his fist into the mirror. “Fucking bitch!” She jumped back as he continued to hit the glass, shattering it into hundreds of small pieces.

When he was done, he turned to her. “Sorry,” he muttered.

She raised her brows. “Feel better?”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “I do.”

Kaden laughed.

“Good.” She grabbed a towel and wound it around Nic’s hand before he could see the blood dripping from it. “Do you have a first aid kit somewhere?”

Kaden nodded. While he jogged off to get the kit, Nic and Lauren walked downstairs to the living room. When he flopped onto the couch, Lauren took a seat beside him and rubbed his shoulders. “Are you all right?”

His cheeks darkened and he turned his face.

“Don’t be embarrassed. Even big tough guys are allowed to have their quirks.”

“I bet Todd didn’t have any.”

“Are you kidding?” She laughed. “Todd was terrified of wasps. One time he actually jumped out of the car when one flew in. Good thing I was the one driving.”

Nic’s eyebrows shot up. “Was he hurt?”

“Nah, we were in a parking lot so I was going slow. But I’m almost sure he would have jumped even if I’d been going fast, or if he’d been driving.”

He shook his head. “I doubt he would have let you or Jason get hurt. He would’ve fought off his fears.”

“Like you did today.” She kept her tone soft and even. Nic smiled crookedly.

Kaden returned with the kit and handed it to her.

Nic grimaced. “I didn’t leave much evidence, but call the detectives. And run a check of the security system.”

Kaden nodded. “I’ll get right on it, sir.”

“And Kaden?”

“Sir?”

“Stop calling me sir.” Kaden opened his eyes wide and angled his head in her direction. Nic laughed. “It’s okay. Lauren’s one of us now.”

Kaden grinned. “Glad to hear it.”

“Later today, I want the three of us to discuss a plan to find Summer.”

When Kaden left, she took Nic’s hand. “Lean back while I clean this.” He closed his eyes. Small stress lines had begun to curve around the edges of his mouth and between his eyebrows. Poor guy.

After everything that had happened to him in the last few weeks, it was a wonder he could still function. She’d have been a hysterical wreck by now. Quickly, she wiped off the blood and disinfected the cuts. Thank goodness none needed stitches. Even the hounds of hell snapping at his heels couldn’t have forced Nic back to the hospital.

As she put the kit on the coffee table, Nic opened his eyes. “You’re very good at this.”

She chuckled. “Jason has a tendency to leap before he looks.”

“Sounds like me.” He grinned.

Scooting over to the end of the couch, she patted her thighs. “Come here and relax for a bit.” Nic removed his tie and loosened the collar of his shirt before lying down with his head in her lap. As she began to massage his temples, he moaned and closed his eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, she shook Nic’s shoulder. He peered at her through one eye. “The cops are here.”

He rubbed his face with both hands, then sat up. While Kaden opened the door, letting Anderson and Becker in, Nic got up to greet them, and she followed.

“We were hoping not to see you again so soon,” Anderson said. “Your bodyguard mentioned something about a message?”

“Yes, but unfortunately, there was a problem with the evidence.”

“Does this problem have anything to do with your new accessory?” he asked, eyeing the bandage wrapped around Nic’s hand.

Kaden turned away from the detectives and smirked. “Sir, I’ll take care of this. Detectives, this way, please.”

After examining the bathroom, Anderson and Becker returned downstairs. Anderson took out his phone. “I’m going to get CSI over here to take some samples. I found a larger piece with some writing on it. Based on the smell, I’m certain it’s blood. We’ll run the DNA through our database and the team will dust for prints. I can confirm there was no message on the mirror when we searched your house yesterday.”

“Can you give us a list of the people who’ve had access since Thursday?” Becker asked.

Nic nodded. “Vivian Carmichael came here today to pick up my clothes, and Lauren was here last night with Kaden.” Turning to Kaden, he asked, “Can you pull the records from the security system so we know when it was enabled and disabled?”

“Already done, sir.” He picked a sheet of paper off the table. “The system was disabled Thursday evening at 11:35 PM, reset two hours later. It was disabled and reset on Friday morning and Friday night as expected. Unexpectedly though, it was disabled and reset twice this morning.”

Anderson pulled out his notepad. “The Thursday night hours match up with the eyewitness accounts of when you left the bar with Ms. Rayne. We imagine she used your key and you gave her the code to get in.”

“Then she made a copy and let herself in again this morning,” Nic said. Lauren took his hand and squeezed it.

“Ms. James, what did you do while you were here?” Anderson asked.

Her eyes flicked to Nic. “I cleaned up Nic’s room.” She arched a brow. “Then I tidied up the mess left by the police.”

Anderson cleared his throat. “Sorry about that, ma’am. The CSI guys are focused on collecting evidence. Did you see anything unusual?”

She pictured the message dripping with blood and shuddered. “There certainly wasn’t anything written on the bathroom mirror.”

Becker questioned her, then Kaden regarding their whereabouts during the past twenty-four hours. “Ms. James, you had a window of opportunity between leaving the hospital this morning and your return during the press conference. The timing matches when the security system was disabled.”

“But I don’t know the code.”

“You could have seen Mr. Christiansen enter it last night.”

Kaden crossed his arms and frowned at the detectives. “That didn’t happen. And even if it did, how would she get a key?”

Nic stepped up behind her and pulled her into the comforting circle of his arms. “What’s this about, Detectives? Why are you hassling Lauren?”

Becker didn’t bat an eye. “Everyone is a suspect… until they aren’t.”

“What happened to innocent until proven guilty?” Nic snarled.

“Only in court. During an investigation, it works the other way.”

Nic walked to the door and opened it. “You don’t want to solve this case. You just want to close it.”

Anderson shot Lauren an apologetic look, then turned to Nic. “Mr. Lamoureux, we don’t want to offend anyone, but we do need to be thorough. We haven’t ruled out that the stalker is someone close to you.” Nic paled and shut the door.

An hour later, after the detectives and the CSI team left, Nic joined Lauren in the living room. He paced between the large picture window and the stone fireplace, his frustration visible in the tight lines around his mouth and in the stiffness of his shoulders.

If it were winter, she could light a fire, put on some soft music and offer him a glass of wine. She wanted to help him relax, but didn’t know him well enough to know what to do. Vivian would know. Her stomach twisted with jealousy. She pushed those thoughts away. Vivian might be Nic’s best friend, but she wasn’t the one he’d brought home.

She hugged his waist from behind. “It’s going to be all right. We’ll find Summer soon.”

Turning until they were face to face, he wrapped her in his arms. Her hands roamed his back, massaging the tight muscles while he nuzzled her neck. “Summer might not be the stalker. The text messages and the sightings began before I even met her.”

Lost in the pleasure of exploring his strong back, Lauren didn’t hear him at first. Then his words sank in. She pulled back to see his face. “You think there’s more than one person involved?”

His lips thinned and a tic appeared in the sharp line of his jaw. “It’s a definite possibility.”

Nothing she could say would make it all better. She rubbed his eyebrows with her thumbs, smoothing out his frown, and kissed his lips. “You don’t deserve this.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“What do you mean?”

“For all you know, I could be a very bad person.”

A smile curved her lips as her eyes roamed his gorgeous, distraught face. “You may not know me very well, but I’ve known you for years. No one in your position can keep deep dark secrets for long. If you had done anything worthy of making you a bad person, everyone would know about it by now.”

Somehow, instead of reassuring him, her words had the opposite effect. He kissed her on the nose. “I have to make some calls.”

Lauren followed him with her eyes as he headed up the stairs to his office. This was the second time she’d described him as a good person, and both times he’d become uncomfortable.

What skeletons were rattling around Nic The Lover’s closet?

She trembled with rage at what had been done to her Nic. Anger sat on her chest like a heavy weight. The fear of losing him had literally driven her to her knees. There could be no life for her without Nic.

And there would be no life for that stupid, conniving bitch who’d drugged him.

It was all over the news. The awful photo had gone viral on the Internet. The police claimed Summer wanted everyone to think Nic was
her
boyfriend. But she knew the truth. He’d never willingly have sex with the porn star. Drugging him was the only way she’d ever get near his bed.

Summer was only supposed to dance with him, get one or two Paparazzi Kisses. The photos would have drawn the media’s attention from the photographer. Instead, the slut had played her; she’d had her own plan all along! And to make matters worse, the paparazzi had photos of the fucking photographer at the hospital.

Her fingers curled around the pen she held in her hand, breaking it.

The press was calling her a stalker. But it wasn’t true. Didn’t they know that Nic was hers? That he would only ever be hers?

Nic was a lucky boy, even if he didn’t know it yet. As the red ink from the broken pen dripped down her arm, she smiled. She would take care of Summer. The bitch would never hurt Nic again.

And she’d take care of the photographer, too. Very soon.

Her blood thrummed with excitement. Nic would be thrilled with her for taking care of his problem, taking care of him. After this, he’d understand she’d do anything for him. Even crawl through broken glass.

Grabbing the newspaper, she rubbed her hand across the photograph, leaving a red smear of ink over the whore’s face. She’d take away anything, anyone that caused him pain. For him, she’d wash her hands in blood.

CHAPTER 11

Nic paused at the top of the steps, hearing the muted voices in the living room. He stretched his shoulders, trying to relieve the tension building in his chest. His life was such a fucking mess. He sucked air deep into his lungs as he descended the stairs and entered the living room. “Kaden, can I have a word with you?”

Lauren jumped up. “I’ll get some drinks while you two talk. Pop okay?”

“Thank you,
chérie
.” Nic followed her with his eyes, enjoying the sway of her hips as she walked to the kitchen. She was probably confused about his behavior, but he’d make it up to her later, when they were alone.

Hearing Kaden chuckle, Nic dragged his gaze to his bodyguard’s knowing grin. He shrugged and grinned back. He’d been so excited to come home and spend time with Lauren, he’d all but forgotten Summer was still on the loose, and even worse, she had his keys and the code to the alarm system. Were he and Lauren safe here? He had to be sure. “Get a locksmith to change the locks. And after doing a full inspection of the security system, change the codes. I don’t want anyone but you and me to have access to this place.”

“I’m already on it.”

“One more thing, can you work for me full time until this situation is resolved? You can have the spare bedroom.”

“Absolutely.” Kaden nodded.

“Is Beth going to hate me for this?”

Kaden threw his head back and laughed. “No. She’s a huge fan.”

Nic smiled. “Is there anything I can do to thank her?”

When Kaden hesitated, Nic made a get-on-with-it motion with his hand. “She’d love an autographed photo.”

“The ones I have on hand are all pretty racy. Can you handle the competition?” Nic teased.

“You might play a soldier, but I’m the real deal.”

Laughing, Nic left Kaden to his work and went back up to his office. The photos Lauren had taken in D.C. lay on his desk. As he sorted through the pile, his heart filled with pride. These were damn good. With her talent, she deserved to have her photos on the covers of all the major magazines. Someday people would be begging to work with her.