Page 26 of Drama Queen

“After all you’ve endured today, maybe we should let you both rest.”

“No, I’m fine, really,” I insist, wanting to get to the bottom of all this.

“Nonsense. Why don’t you take a seat in the dining room, and I’ll order some food, so neither of you have to worry about cooking. There’s a wonderful restaurant not far from here that does a simply divine wonton soup. That’s your favourite, right? Evie told me.”

Evie? My very prim and proper mother has never been called Evie, let aloneEvelicious. I look over at my mum—who seems completely calm now that this little whirlwind weirdo has arrived, although she is still looking quite pale and drawn—and try to take my queues from her. “Sure, that sounds great. Thank you.”

“Robstar, why don’t you take Ari to the front window so she can confirm that none of the team out there were responsiblefor today’s events, then settle her into the dining room, while I speak with Evie and order the food.” It wasn’t really a question.

Robert bows his head slightly before gesturing for me to follow him out.

“Did you drug me,Robstar?” I ask as we walk out of the kitchen.

He stops and laughs at me. Not exactly the reaction I was expecting. “Abigail has that effect on people. But, no, I did not drug you.”

He leads me to the large front bay window and pulls the curtain back. “Do you see him out there?”

I carefully run my eyes over the team out the front of my house, packing up equipment with military precision. They are all male, young, and extremely fit. My creep is not amongst them.

“No. He’s not one of them,” I confirm.

Letting the curtain drop closed, Robert again gestures to follow him to the dining room. He pulls out a chair for me and then sits opposite once I am settled.

“Rough day?”

“You could say that,” I reply. Understatement of the century.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Nope,” I say, popping the p.

“You will both be safe now that the security system is up and running. I can get the live feed of all the cameras set up on your phone, and turn on the alerts, as well as the panic button.” He holds out his hand expectantly.

“I left my phone up in my room,” I say, starting to rise.

“No, stay. I will go and get it for you. Abigail told you to rest. If that’s okay with you?”

“Thank you for asking,” I reply. “It’s on my desk, just inside the door.”

Robert leaves, and I just take a moment. What a day indeed.

He returns a few minutes later, with a stormy look on his face, but holds my phone out to me as soon as he is close enough. “If you could put in your code?”

“It’s—” I start.

“You should know better than to tell anyone the security code to unlock your phone,” he admonishes, but the twinkle in his eye tells me he isn’t really mad.

I take the phone, putting in my super-secret code—Mum’s birthday—and hand the phone back. “Pretty sure you could hack it in about five minutes, if you wanted to,” I say.

“Two, if I am having an off day.” He winks whilst his fingers fly over the screen.

“Are you single, Robert?”

His hand stills instantly, and he looks back up at my face in shock.

“Oh, no. Not for me!” I say quickly, realising what he thought I meant. “For my mum.”

“Your mother is not the type of lady to go for a grunt like me,” he says, surprisingly quietly.

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