Page 19 of Call Sign: King
“What is really bad?!” Khloe almost shouted, drawing attention from the other passengers around them, now passing by them toward the exit.
Shoving his phone into his jeans pocket, Trevor finally looked up at Khloe. The two had known each other for years — even longer than she’d known Ryder. It made reading him easy.
“I’m in danger, aren’t I?” she asked, oddly more comfortable with that news than she had been when thinking it had been Ryder who’d been hurt.
“Not necessarily. I’ll explain when we get to the limo.”
“No. I need to know now,” she pressed, crossing her arms over her chest to make her point.
“No, Khloe. We need to get you behind closed doors where we can speak openly.”
She saw the determination in Trevor’s face just as her second bodyguard, Michael, stepped up next to them after having been stuck sitting back in economy.
“We need to move now,” Michael reiterated what Trevor had already said.
A quick glance at Ricky’s face got Khloe moving. If all three of them were this adamant, it was time to listen. Khloe pulled her large sunglasses from her bag and shoved them on.
Just before they exited the long gangway that would spit them out into the gate area, Trevor rearranged the group.
“Ricky, you go first. We’ll need to get through customs first. Then head to the luggage carousels. The studio’s driver should be waiting there. Khloe and I will be right behind you. Michael, take up the rear so you can keep an eye out. If things are smooth, stop for the bags. If not, leave them behind.”
“But I need to stop and pee,” Khloe interjected.
“No. You need to hold it.”
“Oh, for crying out loud. This is ridiculous,” she complained.
Instead of arguing with her, Trevor held out his smartphone. Filling the screen was a grainy photo of her and Ryder holding hands at the premier the week before. Typed words on the screen said, ‘Who is Khloe Monroe’s mystery man?’
Fuck.
Ryder would be losing his shit right now. This was his worst nightmare come true. They’d been so careful, barely touching the entire evening. The damn photo was taken in that tiny window when she’d comforted him at the end of the movie. The theater had been dark. She’d been sure no one would be watching her instead of the climax happening on the big screen.
“How upset is he?” she asked, letting Trevor pull her back into motion.
“On a scale of one to ten, he’s at one thousand.”
Khloe’s heart raced, thinking of the implications of this new twist. She knew this might shake things up for a bit, but unlike her husband, she just couldn’t be that upset. She hated having to hide their relationship.
“He’s overreacting,” she groused, wishing they could stop at the ladies’ room they were passing.
“Maybe… maybe not.”
“I get it. He’s protective, but that doesn’t mean this is the end of the world.”
“No, but it does mean we have to take security up a notch or two. Now, speed it up. I want to get us behind closed doors so I can make a few calls.”
Their brisk walk through the airport was uneventful but it felt like it took forever to make it through the lines at customs. As they waited with their passports, Khloe was more aware than ever of the people recognizing her and snapping photos with their cell phones.
Only one teenage girl braved approaching for an autograph. Normally, she would have been happy to stop for a selfie and signature, but she knew not to even ask Trevor today. She had her right hand tucked into his muscular arm for support as he hustled them through the public areas so fast, she had to almost jog to keep up with his long strides.
Khloe was out of breath by the time she dove into the back seat of the waiting town car. Michael had stopped to grab their luggage, so Trevor left her long enough to interrogate the driver, making the poor man pull out his driver’s license and photo ID to compare the names to the expected driver’s credentials.
“I think you’re going a bit overboard, don’t you?” she questioned when Trevor took his seat beside her.
“And I think you’ve forgotten how scared shitless you were when you had a stalker threatening to kidnap you.”
“That was different. That was just a hoax,” she complained.
