A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts 2)

He knew from the times that he went with Edward to catch a game or grab a drink that the man wasn’t playing around. He wouldn’t so much as look at another woman and whenever someone mentioned Dana his expression said it all. There would never be another woman for him but Dana. Dana would never have to worry about Edward coming home late or smelling like another woman, which was good because if he ever hurt her, Nick would beat the shit out of him.

Jamie deserved to have a man like Edward by her side and as much as it pained him to admit this, he wasn’t that man. He couldn’t trust himself not to revert to his old ways when things got tough or he got bored. It would kill him to hurt her so he wasn’t even going to try. He’d let things die out between them and the moment it did he would step back, wish her luck and move on.

Shoving away the rather depressing thoughts he took a quick shower. Twenty minutes later he was stepping out of the bathroom, wrapping a towel around his waist when something on the floor in front of the door caught his eye. He didn’t give the large white envelope much thought as he picked it up, figuring that it was just promotional paperwork one of the venders had the front desk slip under his door.

When he turned the envelope over he felt his heart drop in his stomach.

YOU CAN’T HIDE

The words were written in big bold black letters and he didn’t need to open it to know who it was for. Cursing under his breath, he quickly pulled on a pair of pants, grabbed his key card and left the room, ready to kill someone. When he didn’t find anyone in the hallway he ran and checked the stairwell at the end of each side of the building, hoping to find someone lurking in the shadows, but he didn’t.

The son of a bitch hell-bent on tormenting his little recluse had been close, too damn close and he hadn’t been able to do a damn thing to keep the sick bastard away. Realizing that he’d left his little recluse all alone when the sick f**k was nearby had him rushing back to his room.

Once inside he had to make sure that she was okay. Once he saw her curled up on her side, fast asleep he pulled the covers up over her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He watched her for another minute before he grabbed his cell phone, double checked the lock on the door and shut himself in the bathroom.

Praying that it was just a coincidence and some kid’s sick idea of a joke he carefully opened the envelope, trying not to f**k up any evidence just in case he needed to call the police.

What he found inside had him reaching for his phone and making that call.

******

“I don’t care who you are you’re not watching those DVD’s without my presence!” Jamie snapped, surprising the heck out of herself and judging by the curious look Nick shot her, him as well.

For over two hours she’d waited patiently in an interrogation room while Nick paced like a caged animal. The only thing they were told when they were shown into the room was that they needed to make some calls and call the police department back home to look into their story. Being forced to wait after reading and re-reading that letter had been one of the worst experiences of her life.

Even in this decent sized office she couldn’t’ shake the feeling that someone was watching her. When she’d opened the death threats the other day at the office she consoled herself with the fact that this happened to a lot of people in the spotlight and that it was no big deal. The truth was she’d been too freaked out to actually give it the proper attention it deserved. She’d hoped that if she ignored it that it would go away. She’d been wrong. Not only had it not gone away but it had followed her to Texas.

“Miss. Harris, perhaps it would be best if you allowed us to view the video first,” Detective Mathers, a middle aged man with a friendly smile, said gently.

As much as she would love to leave and pretend that this never happened, she couldn’t. She took a steadying breath as she shook her head. “No, I’m staying. I want to know what’s on those discs,” she said firmly.

Nick’s hand tightened around hers as he said, “I’m staying as well.”

With a resigned sigh, the detective picked up the disc marked, “Jamie Harris the whore” and placed it into the computer drive. He typed something and seconds later an image of the pool from the hotel popped up on the flat screen television mounted on the wall in front of them. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched Nick storm into the picture with her over his shoulder.

“Oh no,” she mumbled weakly.

“Stop the movie,” Nick demanded, getting to his feet, but thankfully keeping hold of her hand.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Quinn?” Detective Mathers asked as he paused the movie.

Nick gestured to other three men and the woman in the office. “I really think it would be best at the moment if we cleared the room for this.”

“That’s fine, Mr. Quinn, but please realize that this video may have to be viewed by other officers at a later time,” the detective explained as he gestured for the officers to leave the room.

“That’s fine, but I don’t think they need to be here this time,” Nick said with a nod of thanks as he sat back down and put his arm around her.

Once the door was shut the movie began to play again.

“Why are we down here?” the recorded version of her asked as Nick double checked the lock.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Nick asked as he moved towards the pool and she felt the air in her lungs freeze as the camera moved with the action.

Someone had been in the pool room with them last night. Thanks to the dimly lit area, changing rooms and equipment there apparently had been plenty of places to hide.

“Nothing’s wrong!”

“Do you by chance have your cell phone on you at the moment?” Nick asked as he walked towards the deep end of the pool.

“No, why?” she asked, sounding confused.

“No special reason,” he said before he tossed her into the pool.

Knowing exactly what was coming, Jamie dropped her face into her hands and listened as the entire event that occurred in the pool area played out.

When it was done she almost fell out of her chair in relief. That is until Nick practically jumped to his feet and started flipping out. Wondering what had him mad, well besides the obvious, she looked up and nearly cried as she read the words on the screen.

You’ll be dead within the month, but before that happens I thought the world should know that the famous J.L. Lewis is nothing but a whore.

By 10:00 AM this video and the lovely audio I recorded of your bedroom activities will have already hit the internet.