She was still afraid and had been ever since the day of the shooting.
And yet she still stepped onto that stage and did the damn thing anyway.
I wanted to tell her how proud I was of her, how admirable it was to push past your fear and do something even when you were terrified.
But I couldn’t, and it was killing me and the very dissatisfied alpha instincts inside of my head.
The same alpha who seemed intent on pushing me right over the edge of reason and into Lennon’s arms—Collier and the president be damned.
A loud clanging sound filled my ears over the din of chaotic cheers and my entire body stiffened, already on high alert.
“The barricade is down!” Zeke shouted from the front of the little circle we naturally formed around Lennon and one glance around her showed that he was right.
About ten feet of the barricades had flopped over under the weight of the people leaning over it and several people had fallen with it, the people behind them stumbling into our path. The same path that led back to the bus and back to safety.
“Shit,” I muttered as I tried to figure out the best way to get back to the bus.
“Lennon!” a girl who had managed to slip around the barricade shouted as she held up what looked like an autograph book. “I’m such a huge fan!”
“Sorry, she doesn’t do autographs,” Dallas said, cutting her off.
Zeke and Brooks were doing similarly to others who felt entitled to Lennon’s time.
My gaze, which was scanning the crowd, shifted back to Lennon just in time to see a guy in an oversized trench coat and a blue baseball cap about to put an arm around her.
He looked familiar enough that it set off alarm bells in my mind.
“Back off!” I growled and despite knowing it was probably a bad idea to do so in front of so many people, I plucked Lennon off of her feet and into the air, cradling her in one arm as I grabbed the other guy by the back of his coat with my other.
“Hey! I just wanted a picture is all!” The guy protested but my eyes were already moving to the stacks and stacks of polaroidsthat were tumbling to the ground at his feet… and the shiny pair of scissors in his hand.
Every polaroid was of Lennon.
Every. Single. Fucking. Polaroid.
Lennon walking Ginny, Lennon outside of hotels, Lennon younger at what looked like university.
“Zeke,” I said, my voice cold as I tucked Lennon’s face into my neck so she couldn’t see. “I need you to call for backup. Immediately.”
The guy was trying to twist out of my grasp, but I wasn’t having it.
“You better knock it the fuck off before I break your skinny neck,” I growled, low and quiet so only he could hear.
His eyes widened. “You can’t say that to me!”
“Try me, asshole,” I said before shoving him at Brooks. “Deal with him.”
“What was it?” Lennon asked, confused. Her breath was hot on my neck and I could feel the fast beat of her heart and the fear coming off of her in waves.
“Don’t worry about it,” I soothed, lifting my now freed hand and cupping her face against my neck. “Just keep your eyes closed and it will all be over soon.”
Hours later I stood in my hotel room staring at the face that I’d known looked familiar.
After all, I spent every morning looking at the watch list that intelligence sent me. All of the people who had spoken aboutLennon online or had been identified as a potential threat to her or the Holloway family as a whole.
This guy had been around for years but there had never been anything to actually hold or charge him on… until today.
According to the agent who questioned him, he said he’d purchased the polaroids of Lennon online and that all he wanted from her was a bit of her hair and when the barricades went down he saw it as an opportunity.
