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I rarely shared details of my own sexuality. These days it wasn’t so much that I hid it, it was just that I was so used to not disclosing it, it was a habit for me now. Something in me craved talking honestly with him though. It felt good to be working on a policy of full disclosure between us.
“These days I’m just too fucking busy. This business has been my baby and my life since I started it. It’s finally at a point where I can offer work to fellow ex-Army like me, and I can take a back seat almost. I focus on getting the work in and leave the heavy lifting to the team.”
Lennox looks at me with a glimmer of confusion on his face. “You don’t usually do the security part of it yourself anymore?”
I sighed. “No, not usually. I will keep my hand in to ensure that I’m not getting old and rusty. I tend to be more behind the scenes these days. I mean, having my own business has to have some perks.” I shrugged with a smirk.
“I see.” Lennox smiled back, the twinkle in his dark eyes told me he might have a suspicion about something. But for whatever reason, he wasn’t ready to voice it for now, and I appreciated that about him.
“So, tell me.” I changed the subject. “What made you come back to the music industry after it burned you the first time?”
He laughed, and his whole face relaxed and lit up. It was delightful to watch. “I’m a glutton for punishment?” He sighed and ran his fingers through his loose curls.
“I guess it was like a part of me was missing. I needed to get back to it, and it sounds a bit silly given the music business is what started all my troubles with booze. But I suppose I thought about it for long enough and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t the music that was the problem. It was the people from the music business that I had been surrounded by.
“That’s why I went with Alex and Johnny, and their team at 45RPM Records. They are true to who they are, and they don’t piss around or hide, for better or worse I really respected that about them. I trusted they were the people to trust me enough to be myself too. No more hiding, no more bullshit, just me and the music I wanted to write that tells my story.”
He looked so serene when he was talking about his music. There was a passion within him, and he clearly enjoyed what he did. I admired that and recognised it within myself. It was a weird comparison, but I enjoyed my job. I thrived when busy and I ultimately loved the fact that I was helping people.
Without me and my business, people were in danger. It wasn’t something I liked to admit, because it made me sound like I was a cocky twat with a bit of a superhero complex, but it was the simple truth of it. Like this assignment now, without me, Lennox might well be in danger because of a woman who never quite got over her childhood crush. My brow furrowed as I thought about it and Lennox noticed.
He tilted his head and fixed me with a stare. “What happened there?”
“Huh?” I tried to deny that I had any idea what he was talking about.
“That look,” he said, waving a finger in front of my face. “You were listening and then a thought crossed your mind, and you clearly didn’t like it.”
In a split second, I decided not to lie to him. We were starting on a bed of truths and might as well keep it that way. “I was just thinking that you clearly love your work, and I thought about how I love mine.”
He was studying my face. Part of me wanted to flinch away from his attention, part of me wanted to bask in it.
“Makes me sound like a cock if I say that I like the risky business of personal protection, but I do. Then I thought about the job I have here with you and the danger that might involve, and it brought me back into work mode I guess.”
He bit his lips and absently nodded, clearly contemplating what it was I had said. “Do you think she could be that dangerous?”
“I won’t let her be.” I wasn’t sure it was the most appropriate response to someone I was meant to be looking after, and barely knew, but it seemed right to lean and touch his arm. To comfort him, reassure him that I wouldn’t let anything happen to him.
Thoughts of how I wanted that to also be the case after the situation with his stalker was over also flooded my brain. My thoughts were interrupted by Lennox’s hand coming over mine and giving it a squeeze.
As I looked up at him, there was a moment where neither of us wanted to break the contact between us. Ever the idiot, I moved my hand away first. I cleared my throat, checked my phone, and pretended I needed to nip out into the hallway to make a call.
CHAPTER 7
TOM
I stuck a post-it on the connecting door and left Lennox in the capable hands of Levi while I did my usual pre-concert checks on the venue.
Talking to every member of staff there, I provided each with two things: an explanation for what was happening and a photo of Natasha. We all wanted to be as prepared as possible. Just in case.
Lennox still wasn’t awake by the time I got back to the hotel. It had just been an exhausting few days. The food he’d eaten last night, hopefully mixed with a sense of reassurance coming from the security he now had around him, was providing him with the comfort needed to catch up on his rest.
I kept myself busy in the meantime. While I knew that I probably wouldn’t be hearing from Eric again for a day or so, I took the opportunity to email him and ask when he was anticipating more information.
I briefed Levi on the plan for that evening and discussed the usual routines of prepping for the venues ahead, staff lists, floor plans, and everything else that we usually did. We never went to a venue without knowing the layout and having some sort of plan about what we were doing and how.
While Levi and I were the ones next to Lennox at all times, we also had our own team of standard security below us that we took everywhere. It was safer than relying on the security people at the venues. Our guys worked with them; the venue’s security focused on their usual jobs, and our guys blended in beside them, looking like they belonged there. In reality, though, their only task was to watch out for our client.
When Lennox was ready, we headed out to the venue. Levi driving, me watching everything when we arrived by the stage door.
