Page 11 of Backstage with a Billionaire Rockstar

“Is that everything you needed to talk to me about?” I ask.

Mia nods, then rises from her place on the couch and taps her phone. “This is a start, at least. I’ll start getting in touch with people on your team, see what I can find out and try to get the threat taken care of.”

I’m about to disappear into the large room that me and Jace will be sharing, since Brent and Julia have a room of their own, and Mia calls my name softly.

It’s much softer than her tone has been, so it startles me for a moment and I turn around with my eyebrows raised in surprise.

She clears her throat, that serious expression taking over her features once again, and says, “I’m here to look after you, so don’t worry about anything.”

“I’m not worried,” I say too quickly.

Before I turn away from her, I let my gaze pursue the length of her body until my head catches up to me and I silently curse at myself. Once I’ve rounded the corner and disappeared into the double room, which is smaller than my damn closet at home, I groan loudly and flop onto my bed.

“You good, man?”

Jace isn’t normally talkative. He’s the type to get on with the show, then disappear into his own head and it repeats the next show. It took Brent and I a while to adapt, since we were so used to Ryker’s infectious personality, but Jace is growing on us the longer we spend time with him.

I look over at him and nod. “I’m great.”

“I’m sure we’ll get it figured out, don’t let what’s happening get to your head. The fans are counting on us, we wouldn’t want to bring them down.”

It’s weird hearing him say that, like he’s stealing the words right from my head, and I only nod in response before turning onto my side and keeping my gaze focused on our door. We can hear Mia talking over the phone, demanding to get any information she can from our social media pages that would hint at the intruder from tonight.

There've been plenty of incidents with fans throughout the years – ones who hide out backstage waiting for our show to end, others who manage to find us whenever we go out somewhere in the city like they’ve been following our every move – but I’ve never seen anything like this from them.

“Maybe we should start calming down on our socials, let Lance know to post something once a week – or every other week.”

Jace grunts in response, leaving me to believe that’s all he’s got to say back to me. Then, he surprises me by giving an answer. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, our socials are climbing the charts and they’re only going to get higher the further into the tour we get.”

I sigh heavily. “I don’t know, man, I’m just trying to think of a way to make sure no one else gets hurt throughout this whole thing.”

“Mia wasn’t able to get anything from the security footage?”

“It got blacked out around the time of the incident, no one could figure out what happened. It only came back on when the guy, or woman, was long gone.”

If this is how the intruder is going to start out, I can’t imagine Mia will be here for a short amount of time. I think about the image she got sent.

The last thing I would’ve imagined was that Mia is a mother.

I wanted to ask her so many more questions – what her child’s name is, how old he, or she, is, how often they’ve been away from each other like this and if it’s taking a toll on Mia’s emotional state.

She wouldn’t allow me the opportunity, though. My guess is that she likes to keep her personal life private, which is perfectly fine with me. The more I know about her, the easier it will be for an attachment to form and that’s the last thing I need right now.

Jace’s snores pull me from thoughts of Mia, reminding me that I need to keep my mind focused on getting to the bottom of things instead of on Mia’s life – it’s not my business.

When I close my eyes, though, an image pops into my head of blue eyes staring at me while we’re surrounded by flashing neon lights – the same blue eyes that Mia has. I snap my eyes open, wondering where the hell that image came from, then shake my head with a frown.

It’s only because she’s been around a lot lately and I’m going crazy from it.

Another image comes across, this time in the apartment I used to own before joining Raising Havoc, and those same blue eyes.

What the hell?

There’s no way I know Mia from years ago, This has to be some crazy fantasy I’m conjuring, and that’s all. Which only makes this situation much more dangerous because she’s my bodyguard, not a random woman I should be having thoughts like this about.

Another snore echoes in the room, and I grab an extra pillow to put it over my head. If only Ryker were still here, then I wouldn’t have to worry about the walls rattling with his deep snores. On the other hand, if Brent were in here, and I voiced the images floating in my head, he would pull in the right direction.

After what seems like forever, and once I can’t hear Mia’s voice through the thin walls, my eyes finally droop closed. I can’t even bother to worry about the image that meets me when they do, only that I’m falling into a deep sleep — or not...

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