Page 37 of Scorned Queen

“Contained?What does that even mean?”

“I think it’s best if he explains, but he said to tell you to relax.He’s got this handled.All is well.He sent you a message.”

I snake my purse from my shoulder, where I stuffed my phone after silencing it, and yes, there’s a message from Damion:Remember when you used to make me prove you could trust me by falling back into my arms?You can trust me.I promise you, I have this handled.I will not let my father get in between us again.Ever.I’m in meetings all afternoon, one that will run until about seven.Walker will get you to your former apartment.Pack up.I’ll pick you up there, and then we can go HOME and order pizza and get naked.I’m crazy about you.See you soon.

I stare down at the message and sink into a memory from the past.I have fallen backward and know Damion will catch me.And he had.But when he wanted to do the same with me, I was afraid he was too big and I was too small for me to actually catch him.I’m still afraid of the exact same thing.There is a dark side to Damion—a dark past I don’t begin to understand—that I feel in my gut could come back to haunt him.What if he’s so busy trying to protect me that he falls, and I don’t know how to catch him?

Chapter thirty-one

It’safterfive,andI’m in my dressing room gathering my things, and those damn sweet flowers bite at my senses and just drive me crazy.I shove my purse onto my shoulder, open one of the dressing room tables, pull out a candy bar, and exit the dressing room to where Adam waits on me.I offer him a Mr.Goodbar, my personal favorite.“Can I bribe you to throw these damn flowers away?”

“As much as I want that candy bar—I’m starving—I can’t leave you to throw them away.”

I blow hair from my eyes.“Take it anyway.You deserve it for putting up with me and Lana.”

He accepts the bar and rips it open.“Thanks,” he says, already shoving a big chunk in his mouth.“Can you leave a note for janitorial?”

“I should just give them to someone.”Right about then, Lana heads our direction.

I groan.“Not again.I need a bite of that candy bar.”

He holds it out, and I break off a bite and shove it in my mouth.“Don’t look like you just saw your worst nightmare,” Lana reprimands.“I know I’m a ratings whore, but I’m just trying to keep us all working.I came to apologize.I know having a stalker is scary.I’ll do better.You want me to get rid of those flowers?”

“Yes.Please.I hate the smell.I never want to see another rose in my entire life.”

Lana surprises me and pulls me into a hug.“I’m a bitch.I’m sorry.”She catches my shoulder and pulls back to look at me.“And we got an extra season, babe.You’re rocking it.”

“We’re rocking it,” I say.“And I appreciate your hard work.We wouldn’t be here without your skill.”

“Thanks for saying that, Alana.We’re a good team.Go get some rest.”She winks.“Tell Damion I said hi.”

I shake my head at her and say, “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

“I wouldn’t be me if I could.Go home.”

I motion to Adam, and we fall into step together.“We have a ride waiting,” he informs me.“Damion said you need to go to your old place and pack up.”

I laugh.“Did he really call it my old place?”

“Isn’t it?”he asks.

“As of this morning, when I said yes to moving in.”

“Sounds like a man who doesn’t plan on letting you forget you said yes.”

He’s not wrong, and this warms me in all kinds of ways.I settle into the backseat of an SUV with Adam in the front next to a driver, a man with dark, wavy hair and a muscular frame, who lifts a hand and eyes me over his shoulder.“I’m Kelvin, also with Walker.Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you,” I say, but I’m uneasy over just how much manpower is going into protecting me.Damion says he’s got everything under control.He tells me not to worry, but he’s clearly worried, and in a big way.

The vehicle begins to move, and my cellphone rings.Hoping it’s Damion, I retrieve my phone from my purse to feel a punch in the gut at the sight of my mother’s number.After what Damion told me at lunch, I’m in knots just thinking about talking to her, afraid to hear what she will say.But I’m also afraid of what I need to know and might not if I don’t answer.

I swallow the cottony sensation in my mouth and answer.“Hello, Mother.”

Kelvin and Adam don’t react, but I can almost feel their unease, their alertness.They believe my mother is a threat, and I don’t know what to do with that information.

“Hi, honey.”Her voice trembles, and I steel myself for what’s coming.“Your father and I had a major fight.I really need to talk.I need to get him under control once and for all before something really bad happens to him.”

My world spins with her words, and with the implications behind them that are so much worse after I found out she was with Damion’s father this morning.Anger burns in my belly and roars to life, but I manage a cool voice as I ask, “What does that even mean?Before something really bad happens to him?”

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