Authors: D. Anne Paris
Dean’s jaw ached as he ground his teeth in frustration. After driving around with Hawk for almost twelve hours he knew that he lost him. He turned down a corridor in the hospital looked for room 12, the room where Anne was kept during her treatment.
A few feet down, he saw a door open, and a man and woman flanked Helen as she exited the room.
“Helen!” he yelled as his feet clanked against the tile.
She turned and smiled when she saw him. Her face showed signs of exhaustion and held out some hope.
“Dean!”
The man and woman walked right in front of Dean before he could reach her.
“He’s a family friend, for pete’s sake!” she muttered as she tried to pry between them.
He grabbed the studio issued ID and showed it to both of them and they moved aside to let Helen through.
“Go and wait for me over there,” Helen spat at them as the frustration became laced in her voice.
“Mrs. Stevens, we can’t…”
“Don’t make me angry, James, just go!”
The fire in her eyes made him and his partner back away a few feet which gave Helen some room. “You see that? I can’t go anywhere now without these two following me. Same thing with everyone else in the family. We can’t go anywhere without a bodyguard. I don’t understand why Anne hired them! This is insane!”
“She just wants you to be safe.”
“This doesn’t make me safe--it makes me crazy. Tell me that you caught the guy.”
A pit formed in Dean’s stomach. “He got away.”
Helen’s face grew pale. “He’s still out there somewhere?”
Dean nodded, “He nearly killed a bunch of people at a campground, then he carjacked another car and drove away.”
“Oh, no…”
Dean took hold of her arm and reassured her. “We’ll find him, Helen. Stan has a good description of him and the car. All the police are out there looking for him right now.” He decided to change the subject. “How is Anne doing?”
Helen sighed and looked back at the hospital room. “She’s fine, no concussion, just some minor bumps and bruises.” As she turned back towards him, he noticed tears form in her eyes. “Mentally, I think this has shattered her completely. Whoever it was that tried to abduct her may not have taken her physically, but he has taken away her spirit.” She wiped away a tear with the back of her hand and continued, “First Missy, now Anne. It’s like someone is targeting our family. Ken was right Anne should have never gone to Hollywood.”
A spark of sympathy for Anne came across his heart. “Helen, why don’t you go back and check on Missy. I’ll bring Anne over once she’s ready.”
“All right.” Her voice was merely a whisper as she walked over to James who led her down the hall to take her back to Missy’s room. Dean looked at the female bodyguard who was assigned to Anne in his absence.
“You can go with him, too. I’ll take care of Anne.”
“I doubt that. You’re the reason why she’s here.”
A flash of anger filled him as he stomped over to her. “You don’t know anything about what happened. Now get the hell out of my way.”
“Someone’s got it bad for Ms. Hollywood,” she smirked back at him. “Let me give you a little tip, Mr. Bodyguard, don’t get involved with these big stars. All you will get is a ton of heartbreak.”
With that, she turned on her heel and went off after James and Helen.
Dean brushed off the conversation and knocked on the door to Anne’s room. He heard a muffled, “Come in.”
Inside, the curtain was closed and beneath it, he saw Anne’s feet wearing only socks.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were getting dressed.”
“No, it’s okay.” Anne told him as she shimmied into her jeans. “Mom just left to go back to check on Missy. Did you catch the guy?”
Frustration laced his voice. “He drove his truck into a campground that was filled with people. Hawk and I had to ram it into a bunch of trees.”
The curtain flew open and Anne stood before him in only her jeans and bra. “Oh my God! Is everyone alright?”
Dean’s mouth went dry at the sight of her. Their one night inflamed such a passion for her that he just craved constantly.
He cleared his throat. “Everyone’s fine. Hawk and I managed to drive it into a bunch of trees.” His gaze went to the bruise on her forehead. Gently, he moved a lock of hair away from it. “That bastard hurt you.”
She smiled that smile that made so many men long for her. “I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt.” She pressed her body against his and took his lips softly in hers.
Dean wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss as he inhaled the sweet smell of her. Her body was crushed against him and he became acutely aware that she was half-clothed. His hands touched the soft supple skin of her back, then lower still until they rubbed her jean-clad rear. He was thoroughly convinced that this is what heaven was like— just drifting in the slow throb of passion.
The chirp of a cell phone broke through their cherished moment.
Anne looked at the bedside stand. “Crap, it’s my agent.” She pulled a shirt on that was on the bed, much to Dean’s dismay.
“Hi, Jacob.”
Jacob was so loud that he could hear the whole conversation as Anne sat down on the hospital bed and rolled her eyes.
“Jacob, I’ll be fine.”
“Fine!? Fine!?” Jacob’s voice screamed over the phone Anne moved the phone away from her ear. “You were almost abducted, Anne! I’m going to demand a full investigation as to what happened! You could have been killed! And where was your bodyguard!?”
Anne looked at Dean and saw the guilt and anger in his eyes. “I asked him to give me a moment of privacy so I could change.”
“You did what?” he screamed. “From now on, he follows you everywhere, even to the can. I want you safe!”
“I know. I’ll be careful.” Her defeated voice tore through Dean’s heart. She tried to bring the phone to her ear again but couldn’t.
“I’m getting some extra security for your house and the movie set! Until that lunatic is caught I want extra security around you at all times!”
Dean was glad this guy was in show business because someone as loud as him would have never been included on any secret ops team. With his bellowing voice, he would have given out their position to the enemy ten times over.
“Fine. I have to go. I want to visit my sister before I head home.”
“I heard she’s awake.”
Dean sighed. The whole world knew that Missy was awake. Well-wishers created a shrine to her in front of the hospital. Her website had more hits than the White House and Vatican combined and donations to her favorite animal welfare charity almost quadrupled overnight.
“Yeah, she is.”
His voice finally toned down enough for her to bring the phone to her ear.
“Thanks Jacob.”
With that she hung up the phone and grabbed the plastic bag with the prescribed pain medications.
“He’s right. I should have been there.”
Anne grabbed Dean and gave him a long deep kiss to knock him off his feet. When she released him she looked into his eyes. “There was no way that you could have known that someone was waiting for me in my trailer. It’s been guarded day and night.”
“And yet somehow he got in and bound and gagged you. If Hawk didn’t warn me, I don’t know what would have happened to you.”
Her fingers gently touched his cheek as if trying to ease his pain. “I’m okay, Dean. I just can’t believe that someone out there wants to hurt me that bad.”
He grabbed her hand and gazed into those warm eyes he learned to fondly love. “We’ll find him, Anne. Stan and the state police are looking for him right now. As soon as he pops up, we’ll nail him.”
She smiled and grabbed her purse. “Let’s go see how Missy is doing.”
*
As soon as the elevator doors opened Anne let go of Dean’s hand and they walked down the hall until they got to Missy’s room. They were lucky that no one else was in the elevator when they got there, and Anne used the moment to tenderly kiss Dean and ease some of his worry and her own.
The whole attempted abduction was terrifying to begin with, but also not knowing if Dean was okay kept eating at her until she got a text from him an hour before he arrived.
When they got to the room they dug out their IDs and the security officers let them in. The instant she walked in she was bombarded with the scent of a million flowers. There were gift baskets, balloons, and flowers everywhere. There was so much that there was barely enough room for the four chairs for the family.
Evan sat by Missy’s side, holding her taped-up hand. Her cheek had a three inch gash stitched up and one of her eyelids was bruised and swollen. Smaller scraps rounded out her face and her normally immaculate chestnut hair was filled with knots.
Dressed in a hospital gown and robe with an IV pump next to him, Evan looked worn and tired. Helen, Kenneth, Jeri, and Elle equally looked exhausted as they sat next to him.
Anne bolted to the bed and gently hugged Missy, who weakly smiled at her.
“You look good, Missy!”she said with a smile.
“No, I don’t. My life is over.”
“Stop saying that, Missy!” Helen snapped. “You are alive and you are recovering. You should be thanking God for that!”
“I’m a mess, Mom,” she practically whispered.
“No you’re not,” Evan told her as he brought her hand to his heart. “You’re beautiful.”
“A beautiful train wreck,” Missy muttered back at him.
A knock interrupted the conversation and a nurse walked in and looked at Missy and then Evan.
“Mr. Tensel, it’s time for you to go back to your room. Doctor’s orders.”
Before he could protest, Anne interjected. “Evan, go get some rest before you pass out on Missy. You can come back tomorrow when you have rested.”
“But I can’t…”
“More like you won’t.” Helen chimed in. “You need some rest dear.” She reached over and gently patted his cheek in a motherly gesture. “Go, Evan. You have stood guard over Missy since the moment you awoke. You need to rest yourself.”
He saw that he would not win that argument, so he leaned over and kissed Missy’s cheek careful not to touch her wound. “I’ll be back.”
Anne felt tears form in her eyes as she saw how deeply Evan loved her.
The nurse helped Evan with his IV pole and they walked out of the room.
Anne knew she had to say something to her.
“Mom, Dad, would you mind getting me and Dean some sandwiches and coffee from the cafeteria?”
They took her cue and nodded as they slowly headed out of the room.
Jeri stood to leave as well. “I should head on home too.” She grabbed her purse. “But I will be back tomorrow. If you need anything, Missy, just let me know, okay?”
Missy looked up at her and sighed. “Sure.”
Anne walked over to Jeri and embraced her. “Thanks for everything, Jeri.”
“Anytime. If you need anything, just let me know.”
They released each other and Dean opened the door for Jeri. “I will walk you to your car since the piranhas haven’t left yet.”
“Thanks.”
When they closed the door behind them, Anne sat down next to Missy and took hold of her hand.
“Everyone was worried sick about you, Missy.”
Missy’s expression was blank. “I know.”
“I think that Evan was on the brink of being suicidal when you were in a coma.”
Her silence confirmed Anne’s suspicion that she blamed Evan for the accident.
“Missy, the guy who tried to abduct me today was the same guy that cut the brake lines on Evan’s car.”
Disbelief filled her eyes. “What? How do you know?”
“I went to see Evan’s car after the accident.” she told her in a hushed tone.
“It told you?”
Anne nodded and took hold of Missy’s hand in both her hands. “Evan wasn’t to blame. If you need to blame someone, it’s me because I’m who this guy was after. Maybe he wanted to hurt me through you…”
“Oh, Anne, I don’t believe that! Who would want to hurt you?”
“Probably a lot of people. I got so famous so fast there are probably a lot of jealous people out there who would just love to get rid of me.” she snickered. “Also, don’t forget that I have an ex-husband.”
“Would he really want to kill you?”
Anne thought back a moment. Because of her excellent legal team, her divorce settlement entitled her to half of everything her ex owned because of the “emotional distress.” The final settlement was in the multi-million dollar range and none of her assets were even touched. Would he really kill her for it? Even after all the time she knew him, she wasn’t really sure if he was capable of killing her or even hiring someone to do the job.
“I honestly don’t know, Missy, and that scares me.”
“You have to be careful, Anne. Mom said that the guy got away so he might come back for you. Get a bunch of cars to watch over you.”
She shook her head as she heard Dean’s lecture coming out of her mouth. “I have to be careful about that with all the media around me.”