Chapter 7: My Bodyguard's Mistake

Genevieve:

“Ms. Blake?” A male’s voice slashed through the foggy atmosphere that was my brain and my entire body seized up.

It’s not him, right? No, he wouldn’t be bold enough to waltz right up to me at a party like this.

Right?

Slowly, very slowly, I swiveled on my stool to make eye contact with the stranger that was only a foot away from me at this point. Where’s Raphael? Was he still close by? He didn’t leave me, right?

There he is. His dark, calculated scowl is within my peripheral, his arms at his side and hands in tight fists. He’s there for me. The tension in my own shoulders began to relax and I gave my attention to the stranger once more.

“Yes?”

“I have a delivery,” The man explained. He handed over a large manila envelope and I did my best to retrieve it while my hands trembled.

“Who’s it from?” My throat was closed up, my words garbled, but I knew the man’s answer before he even opened his mouth.

“Sorry,” he shook his head, “I can’t say. The order comes in, and I deliver.”

“Ah, yeah. I’m sorry.”

The man, his hair cropped short, bobbed his head in farewell before he pivoted and disappeared into the crowd.

Raphael was at my side before I could even register what had happened. His hand was on the lower part of my back, which stirred up the need that had awakened ever since we had met. Didn’t he know what that did to me? Does he even care?

“Vin, follow that delivery guy. I want to know where he works and make sure he really doesn’t know who dropped the envelope off.” Raphael lowered his head and I couldn’t help but look up; the intensity of his gaze held me in place. “Gunner, hold for instructions.”

I could barely hear their, “yes, sir,” through the ear pieces that they wore.

“Bab—Ms. Blake, please open the envelope. Knowing what’s inside might help us track him down.”

What was he about to say? His emotions disappeared and his features closed down, back into business mode as soon as he had cut off that first word. As he leaned forward, over my shoulder to watch as I swiveled back toward the counter, I caught Gunner’s comment through the coms.

“Were you just about to call her baby girl?” He cut off his sentence with a sharp laugh, but Raphael growled in response.

Well, okay, fuck me, then. I didn’t know I liked that sort of thing. The moment the rumble had left his mouth, my entire body awoke. Heat pooled between my legs, and I had to shift to clench myself in order to hold it all together. I can’t let him know how he affected me, or how much he allowed me to feel seen. Wanted. Even if it wasn’t real. I tended to read too much into situations.

After I took a quick and shallow breath to calm my nerves, I picked at the clasp that kept the envelope closed. The metal bent and I opened the flap. Should I really do this? Do I want to see what he had put inside of here?

I needed to know. At least Raphael and the others did.

As smoothly as possible, I pulled on the items within. They were sleek and thick, and as they appeared from the depths of the envelope, I realized to my horror that they were pictures. Of me.

And Raphael.

There were others of Gunner and Vin too.

I flipped through them as Raphael tensed against my shoulder. They were all images from our first encounter. Of them in my hotel room. He had chosen the most suggestive images he could have found and made them look like I was inviting three good looking men back into my room.

“What’s that?” Raphael asked as a small piece of folded up paper fell onto the counter.

I picked it up and tried to breathe, to keep my mind clear as I unwrapped it. In angry, haphazard writing, was scrawled ‘you won’t even look at me, but you’ll let complete strangers take you. I’ll show you how much better I am in bed than any of those cocky motherfuckers.’

He thought I had sex with them. He was still in my hotel. How? When Gunner and Vin checked out the cameras and the rooms just to make sure?

“Ms. Blake, Genevieve,” Raphael’s hand pressed harder on my lower back and I found myself leaning into him. I needed his strength right about now. I needed to know that I wasn’t alone in this.

I opened my mouth to respond, but that’s when another object slipped from the envelope and clattered against the wooden bartop. What–oh, a phone.

“A burner phone?” Raphael questioned. His brow was dipped down and he scrunched his nose in confusion.

I clicked one of the buttons and found that the phone was on. It was already open to the images that had been captured. As soon as I looked closely at the small images, my heart sank down to the depths of the abyss that was my stomach. They were all pictures of me. Of Raphael, Vin, Gunner, Karoline. Of me here, tonight, as I mingled with publishers and other authors. Of me as I got out of the car and Raphael stared down at me, watching as I resituated my dress. He was here. He’d been here the whole night.

“Gunner, that fucker is here. Get to the cameras. Check for anyone that gave Genevieve too much attention. Anyone that took pictures of her.” Raphael’s voice was filled with rage and his hand even quaked against my back. His fingers dug into my flesh even with my dress in the way.

“On it.” Gunner responded and I noticed him at the back of the room as he beelined it for the door, his face a mask of professionalism.

“Do you think he’s—”

“Ms. Blake, it’s going to be okay.” Raphael’s attention was back on me, and for some reason it gave me strength. His hand moved up to my shoulder, and a shiver bit at the nape of my neck in response. A soft gasp escaped my lips and I found that I was completely at the mercy of Raphael. My body wanted him, in any way that I could get him, even if he didn’t want the same thing. I’d still do anything he wanted. Strange, I thought that was something I simply wrote about, not what happened in life. Well, not for me, anyway.

“Are you sure?” The words were all that I could say, but my eyes roamed his features, taking in every single detail.

“I pro—”

Raphael jolted, his body pressed up against mine as someone brushed past.

“Sorry,” they murmured before they continued on their way.

His face, though, tightened, an anger that curdled even my own stomach with anxiety washed over him. Raphael froze, his eyes on the couple that were making their way to the exit, but also on the man that was just within the crowd. He wore a masquerade mask, black with dark shadows over his eyes, and his suit was cheaply tailored, too small on the arms. He grinned at Raphael before he pivoted and disappeared within the crowd. Could he be...?

“Stay here.” Raphael ordered with a quick point to my stool. “Don’t talk to anyone. I’ll be back.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but Raphael was gone before I could utter a word. He slipped through the crowd of party-goers and searched around for the man he had spotted. What if he was the stalker? Would Raphael catch him in time? Was it possible to believe that this would all be over soon?

As soon as I had those thoughts, though, the burner phone that now laid on the countertop began to vibrate. It bounced around on the wood, the screen lit with a call. My heart pounded in my ears as I grabbed for the device, my eyes blurred. No, why would he...why was he...

I clicked the answer button and cautiously raised the phone to my ear. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say, or if it was even him on the other line, but bile forced its way up into my throat regardless.

It was only a split second before a voice rang through the otherside, chilling me to the core. “Hello, darling.”