Page 42 of Awestruck


Font Size:

Holding up okay?

If my old ODA knows about theHot Scoopslideshow, it’s no surprise that Derek knows about it too. But Iamsurprised that he’s worried about me.

I should really be sleeping—today was exhausting even though it went as smoothly as an unplanned excursion could have gone—but sleep is going to elude me for a while. I prop up a pillow against the headboard and get comfortable as I type out a return text.

Elliot:

Aside from being tempted to murder Freya, I’m all good.

Derek:

When she gets an idea, she doesn’t like to deviate.

Elliot:

I’m learning that.

Derek:

Was there any trouble? I noticed you were the only protection agent in the photos.

Of course he caught that. Thankfully, no one on the internet has mentioned that there weren’t other guards around, and I would like to keep it that way. If someone decides to stir up trouble because they thinkI won’t be enough to keep Freya safe, they might actually have a chance to get to her. A slim chance, but a chance nonetheless.

Elliot:

No trouble, but I’m attributing that to luck. She got the drop on me, or I would have made better arrangements.

Derek:

She’s good at that.

“Oh good,” I mutter, not really needing confirmation that Freya is going to be more of a handful than I anticipated.

I wonder what someone like Wade would do in a job like mine, or North. Knowing North, he probably would have started flirting with Freya immediately and lasted less than a day as her bodyguard. Wade is more sensible, but he’s not one to take charge unless he absolutely has to. Freya would walk all over him.

“What about you?” I ask my phone, as if my words might reach Derek. He played a bodyguard in a movie once, and he has the muscle mass to at least look intimidating. That’s all the tabloids seem to care about, though theHot Scooparticle makes me itchy. I guess I should be flattered that whoever the author is, they think I’m attractive?

Yeah, I’m not flattered at all. There’s something slimy about that website.

Elliot:

Is this Hot Scoop’s nasty side coming out?

Derek:

Not in the slightest.

Elliot:

Did you read the part where they talked about Freya?

Derek:

That’s tame for them.

I swear again.

“You’re worse than Hex,” a voice says at the door.