Tough Luck (A-List Security 1)

Autumn’s mouth thinned to a tight line. I wasn’t going to get much more out of her.

“Okay. Where is the outdoor security cam? The one that faces the driveway?” I gave Daniel’s shoulder an absent pat. I wouldn’t have done that with someone in the field, but something about him said he needed lots of petting. My buddies would laugh themselves silly at the idea of me being a comforting influence, but right then, I simply wanted Daniel to feel better.

“There isn’t one.” A guilty look crossed his face. “This was a single-owner house for decades, then a big renovation pre-sale. There was an ancient system when I moved in, but I didn’t replace it when it broke.”

“Damn it, Danny” was on the tip of my tongue, but I bit it back. “And when was that?”

“Few months back.” He waved his hand, but an ominous feeling slithered up my spine.

“Uh-huh. Make sure you mention that to the police. The system breaking might not be a coincidence.”

“Oh God, I am so stupid.” He put his head in his hands and slumped forward.

“You didn’t know.” I rubbed his shoulder. “I’m gonna make that call to the cops while Autumn calls her boss.”

“Already on it,” Autumn reported, holding up her phone. “I texted. He says cops are bad for business.”

“You’re staying,” I said firmly, pulling out my phone.

“Cops mean paparazzi,” Daniel moaned. Fuck. I hadn’t thought of that, and I probably should have. But would-be gossip breakers undoubtedly owned police scanners, not to mention nosy neighbors catching wind of what was happening.

“We’ll deal.” I made my voice extra-confident, intentionally adding the we so he’d stop beating himself up. “You need police presence. This is serious business.”

“Can you at least request they be discreet?” His eyes were very big and very pretty and probably the reason he’d earned so many roles as a kid. My stomach did a weird flip that I absolutely did not have time to analyze.

“I’ll try.” I made the call, requested discretion, but I didn’t have the highest hopes on them listening. Remaining behind Daniel, my senses were on high alert for more trouble. I kept shuffling my feet, itching to do a full sweep of the property, but Autumn kept glancing at her delivery van like she’d make a run for it the second I turned my back. Not to mention that abandoning Daniel wasn’t an option. “Tell me all about what’s been happening, and don’t say nothing. You’ll have to tell the cops. Might as well tell me first.”

“Fine.” He slumped farther against the bench. “Some weird fan mail reached my PO Box, then two letters showed up in my actual mail. I got super paranoid then, thought I was being followed or maybe that I’d left the location information on my social media posts.”

“You’re active on social sites?” I asked as Autumn plopped down on the ground, busy with her phone.

“Of course.” Head tilting back, Daniel blinked at me. “Isn’t everyone?”

“Not me. The navy severely limits using social media, especially while deployed. I never saw the point much anyway. Liking pictures and coming up with one-liners sounds boring.”

“Oh.” His lower lip came out as he exhaled hard. “Not sure how I’d manage without it some days.”

“Whatever gets you through.” I gave him another pat. “What about comments on your apps? Anything weird?”

“Odd is a regular thing for me.” He laughed lightly. “You wouldn’t believe some of my DM requests.”

“Try me.” I didn’t like how the image of him doing the whole sexting thing with random fans poked at me. Not like I wanted to sext him. I’d never slid into anyone’s DMs, let alone someone famous. But Daniel seemed dangerously unaware of his own safety. Someone needed to look out for him, online creeps included.

“Oh, I didn’t say I responded to all of them.” His tone was inching toward flirty like he’d picked up on some of my thoughts. Damn it. I took a subtle step to the side as he continued, “But you know, people who want to buy my underwear or some piece of TV memorabilia or have me father their IVF babies. And then there’s the whole class of fans who only address me as Mikey Poindexter from Geek Chorus and seem to have a very loose grip on reality.”

“Anyone weirder than usual? Threats?”

“Depends on how you define threat.” Daniel studied his long fingers. Piano hands, my grandma would have called them, but I was more concerned with his cagey tone. I could see his face better from this angle, and the tightness around his eyes had me even more on edge.

“I’m gonna need to see your phone. And I bet the cops are too.”

“Ah.” He licked at his lower lip, a delicate flick of a pink tongue, a harmless nervous gesture, no reason at all for my pulse to speed up. “About that…”