That was absolutely the truth.Iwas happy she wasn’t bothered all that much by this prick, butIwas on her behalf.Therewere so many people out there in the world who just needed to mind their own business.Thisguy seemed like a piece of work.
“Oh, and don’t forget her boyfriend,Giovanni,”Taliaadded. “Thoughhe mostly just emails to say she is beautiful and awesome and wants to marry her.”
Just because thisGiovanniguy wasn’t angry like the other didn’t meanIdidn’t need to keep an eye out for him.Thelast thingIneeded while trying to keep her safe from a mafia hit was also dealing with a crazed stalker.Itexted both names toAxeljust to be sure.
The show went off without a hitch, as did the rest of her shift.
She had a dinner break but was busy catching up on work, so we just got food delivered.Sheworked on her show, andIworked on my laptop to get caught up on some invoices thatRuthiehad sent me to fill out and approve.
Ace had just finished her final show later in the night, and we were about to head back to my place.Shewas packing up her bag when my phone buzzed with a text.
Vince:
Dad was able to dig up some interesting intel.WadeandIare on the way to your place.
Archer:
It’s almost midnight, you wanna just fill me in tomorrow morning?
Vince:
No.Mydad andJackwill meet us there too.Seeyou in 15.
Shit.Notonly was it not a good sign that it couldn’t wait until the morning, but he was also bringing the cavalry.Vince’sdad was a retired bounty hunter and former cop, but he still had a lot of friends in the business and had reached out to them on my behalf to find out what he could about the bounties placed on our heads.
I didn’t want to worryAce, soIfiguredIwould just tell her right before we arrived at my house.
We walked out of the building withTaliaandDan, my focus on scanning the parking lot,Acebehind me as we’d discussed.
“Ugh.It’salmost midnight and it’s still so hot,”Aceannounced to the group. “Fallis my favorite season, but it’s so hot latelyIfeel likeI’mbeing cheated.”
“It’s supposed to cool down later this week, so don’t go complaining when the temperature drops by thirty degrees,”Taliainformed us.
“Don’t you threaten me with a good time!”Danshot back. “I’msweating in placesIdidn’t knowIcouldsweat, and it’sOctober!”
They all chuckled, and then we said our goodbyes and left for home.
Buckled in, we made our way through the gated exit, andItried to break the deafening silence in the car.
“So, is it everything you thought it would be?”Iasked her.
“Huh?”
“Your career,Imean,”Iclarified.
There was a thoughtful pause before she responded. “Ithink so, yes.It’shad its ups and downs for sure.”
“How so?”
She chuckled darkly. “Itcan be cutthroat sometimes, with people trying to make their mark in this business.I’vemet some divas—both male and female—but not as bad as some storiesI’veheard.I’vebeen fortunate to be able to find some really good coworkers and friends at the placesI’veworked—ones who wanted to help advance each other’s careers instead of one-upping them.”
I was happy she had found good people to surround herself with, thoughIwondered if that was just a side effect of her personality.Shehad such a friendly, helpful aura about her that it made it hard not to like her and want to be around her.IfIwere a betting man,Iwould say other people could see that too.
“One of my very first assignments my news director gave me at my secondTVstation was to go cover the new aquarium that opened in town.Iwas really excited about it because usually most of my job is covering all the terrible things that happen in the world.Foronce, this would be a fun story.Idecided to have fun with it and asked the staff ifIcould go into the penguin enclosure.”
Her pause had me looking briefly her way.Shehad her eyes closed and was shaking her head as though she couldn’t believe what she was about to tell me.
“I take it that it didn’t go the way you planned.”
