Page 39 of Behind the Scenes

“Of course. I checked each of their backgrounds myself. I would never let anyone who could harm Lexi get anywhere near her.”

His tone became increasingly defensive, so Hunter quickly moved to calm him. “I’m not saying you would, Paul. That’s not what I’m thinking. I just wanted to ask to cover all the bases.”

Shaking his head, Paul repeated himself. “I would never let anyone harm her. She’s more than just my client. She’s like the little sister I never had.”

Hunter folded up the letter and stuck it back into his jeans pocket. “I know you wouldn’t. Don’t worry. I’m going to find this guy and stop him. In the meantime, you don’t have to worry about Alexis running off anymore either. I think she and I have come to an understanding.”

“I hope so. She’s a handful, Hunter, but I love her like she’s family. I know you think I was tough on her earlier, but that was more fear talking than anything else. If anything ever happened to her…”

His voice trailed off, and Hunter gave him a light pat on the arm as he moved to leave the kitchen. “I know. Don’t worry, though. Things are going to be better from this point on.”

From behind him as he walked toward his room, he heard Paul quietly say, “I hope so. My heart can’t take another day like this one.”

Hopeful he couldfocus on the case without any more distractions, Hunter closed himself in his new bedroom and called Gideon back at the estate for some help on finding out about a few people around Alexis.

“Hunter, how’s the life of the working man?” Gideon asked when he answered the phone.

“Fuck you. Don’t you know how to answer a phone call, for fuck’s sake?”

His friend laughed out loud in that way that made Hunter smile. Gideon was nothing if not a good time.

“Well, hello, Hunter. Aren’t you a ray of fucking sunshine today?”

“Yeah, yeah. Speaking of work, I need you to check out a few people for me. I want to know everything you can find out on them.”

“What am I? Your guy Friday, for God’s sake? I’m in the middle of something right now, but I can probably get to it later,” Gideon said dismissively.

“Whatever you’re in the middle of can wait until later. Just DVR the damn game, for Christ’s sake!”

“It’s not a game, and I think I have you to blame for that. Did you tell Persephone that all Xavier and I do is shoot pool and watch sports? Because she’s got me doing what amounts to busy work and it started right after you went to see her the other day. For fuck’s sake, she’s got him doing something with her office computer. He’s pretty insulted, actually,” Gideon complained.

Hunter had to chuckle. He had mentioned something about the two of them having it pretty easy lately. Not that he’d intended for Persephone to necessarily change that. He’d just been blowing off steam. Now that she had put them to work, though, he really couldn’t feel bad for either one of them. They still got to sleep in their own beds every night, even if they did have to do something other than hang out all day.

“I’m sure she just finally noticed that out of all of us, you guys are always sitting on your asses watching some game lately. She does have eyes, you know.”

“I don’t just sit on my ass, you son of a bitch. I’m up at five every day and in the gym before your sorry ass is even out of bed.”

“That’s only because it’s a habit for you from your time in the Navy.”

Gideon huffed his disgust. “Actually, it’s from my high school football days, but it’s neither here nor there. The point is that while you are still lying in bed giving your cock a few nice tugs, I’m up and getting shit done.”

“Yeah, I know. You do more before eight am than other people do all day. I think someone took that slogan, though, so you’re going to have to come up with a new one.”

Before he came to Project Artemis, Gideon had been a number of things. He’d been a Navy SEAL, and he’d spent a few months on a search and rescue team right there in New York. But he still seemed like that high school football player more often than not.

Hunter had to admit the guy was a hell of a physical specimen, even if he did seem to spend most of his time recently watching some sport or another on TV in the game room at the estate.

“So you called me to hear me say fuck you to the favor you want me to do for you?” Gideon snapped.

Hunter knew the time for busting ass was over. “Come on, man. I need your help with this. Alexis Marchand has someone stalking her, and I need to clear everyone around her so I can move on to who might be doing this to her. You’ve got the ability to find out anything about a person there. I barely got a bedroom here.”

His mention of Alexis made Gideon’s whole attitude change. “What’s she like? Is she full of herself or a bitch to everyone? Typical Hollywood diva like you thought she’d be?” he asked.

For a moment, Hunter thought about what he’d learned about Alexis so far. She’d treated her bodyguards like lapdogs, had one of her assistants lie for her, and she’d snuck out and worried the entire household needlessly.

Still, he couldn’t say anything bad about her. He looked around the room she’d furnished for him and smiled. “Not really. She seems to be like everyday people.”

“I like that. Is she as hot in person as she is in her movies?” Gideon eagerly asked.

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