2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Anna

" H ave you seen Toby?"

Juggling a crazy amount of crap in my arms, I manage to tuck my phone between my ear and shoulder before it tumbles into the snow. Or worse, I lose my travel mug . "No, why? What did he do now?"

I hate that my first assumption is Tobias Jeffers has done something incredibly screwed up, but that's the persona he's given himself .

"He— Uh. " My caller huffs, and I feel it down to my exhausted bones, doing my best to walk the snowy parking lot without losing my balance in these heels. They aren't stripper tall, but they're tall enough to make slick weather difficult.

But they're also one of my favorite pairs.

"Let me guess," I say as my car beeps with the unlock. "He's disappeared again."

I settle my files that didn't fit into the leather binder in the passenger seat, my heavy purse following close behind. The load is probably heavy enough that the seat belt sensor is going to go off again, but I'd rather have it all within my reach. Even if I'm driving.

"Uh … Kind of. But that's not all."

I adjust the travel mug in my grip so I can hold the phone with my now freed hand and stretch out my neck.

Calls involving the bassist no longer get me amped up.

"So spit it out, Leo." I round the car and open my own door to drop into the driver's seat.

"Just … Can you get here? It's hard as fuck to explain."

That's not good.

Sighing at the situation and my boss, I engage the engine, the Bluetooth taking over the moment the car is on. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Okay, we're at—"

"Really?" I scoff at Leo's nerve, click my seat belt in place, and put the car in gear to pull away from my spot. "Did you forget who maintains your calendar?"

"Right." There's a subtle chuckle that flitters over the line, but then it's gone.

Boy, this is bad.

"See you in nineteen."

I press the button on the steering wheel to disengage the call, my mind already running over all the possibilities of what the entitled rock star could have gotten up to, but there're too many options. I settle on listening to the soft rock song coming from the stereo instead.

The music eases more of my nerves than I care to admit. I feel like I am both walking into the hornet's nest, and preparing to calm Leo's over-exaggerations once I arrive.

He tends to freak out first these days, his mind too focused on all the things he could lose as an indie band manager making deals for his own label for the first time ever.

It's been almost two years. He hasn't crashed and burned yet.

But since I'm the only connection from the label world he kept, we've both had to wear every dang hat imaginable. Had to make uncomfortable sacrifices to keep up with the As Above reputation.

Like my salary and my move to a studio apartment that doubles as my office instead of the constant five-star hotel stays.

Or my ability to slip away for personal reasons.

Honestly … I hate it.

I mean, not the job itself. It allows me more access and freedom to the things I need. It's just …

It's a thankless job even before the compromises. The perks I got helped deal with the overworking conditions for a long while until eventually that wasn't quite enough.

Nothing feels like quite enough these days.

But going with Leo got me out of a terrible contract with a sleazeball, and for that, I'm willing to put up with the crap.

For now.

Including the unruly rock star that prefers to test the patience of everyone around him regularly.

With the car parked and a mad dash through the freezing temperatures, I secure the essentials just in time for the door to open and my pace to not slow.

Keys.

Phone.

Hot cocoa.

Pocket sanitizer?

All secured.

"Thanks for coming," Leo says, closing me in the house with the rest of his band—As Above. While I used to be intimidated by the massive muscle and rebellious ink covering each member, I've grown to ignore it.

Mostly.

"I was heading out to get some work done anyway." I shake my head against Leo's offer to stow my coat and instead tighten the furry material around my body. "So why am I here?"

"Well." Leo leads me through the foyer to the back of the house where I know an addition was added and Fin agreed to share the space with Leo for band meetings . "Ian found something in the mail and I wanted you to see this shit before it got any worse."

"Oh, boy." Coming around the back of the original portion of the converted condominium built in the late 1800s, Leo leads me into the modernized version of the house where a massive formal dining table takes up the room.

It might be modernized—as in recently built—but this place looks like it's straight out of an old Victorian home. It matches Fin's significant other perfectly.

Gothic and dark.

The table is not the only thing that takes up space in the room, calling all attention to it like a volcano warning of eruption.

"What's this?" I gesture to the mountain of mail left on the wooden surface.

All of As Above converges, including the band's resident security members from Sentry Protection.

Everyone speaks at once, all drawing together in a way that deflects around in my head until I hold up my hand for silence. "One at a time."

Clearly, whatever this pile of mail contains has everyone on edge.

It's my job to get ahead of whatever it is.

"Sentry sorts the mail. Checks it—"

"I know this," I add, cutting off my boss's explanation.

"And a few included what seemed like innocent declarations," Leo explains.

"That's not abnormal. As Above's fanbase is insanely attached. They practically grew up with the band."

"Uh-huh."

"So this one in particular has been going on for a while." Ian, Sentry's head of security for their contract with As Above and Rex Thompson's main protection detail, steps up to me with a stack of envelopes in his hand. I stretch my neck all the way back to maintain eye contact. "We originally dismissed most of it. We see so many names that it's hard to keep track. Anything remotely threatening gets archived, and anything the guys may want to see gets sent over for them to look at when they can."

"Fan mail. This is all about just some fan mail?"

His lips flatten into a thin line as he tilts his head in confirmation. "It's what came through the mail."

Ian presses a particularly bulky envelope into my offered hand. "This is just the most recent development. I found everything I could."

I nod and step aside to place my travel mug of hot cocoa on the table. Then I peek into the already open parcel and pull out the contents. Unfolding the page, I can't help the squeak of surprise that escapes my lips when I'm met with a pregnancy test taped to the page.

A positive test.

I'm going to need that sanitizer now.

There are only two sentences on the page accompanying the capped stick. " Toby, it's yours. Call me. "

I'm already spinning headlines in my head, debating which ones the media would eat up first, as I replace the worst attempt at gaining fame I've seen back into the envelope, ignoring the included phone number.

I hand the note over to Leo and fish the travel-sized bottle of sanitizer from my pocket, only mildly concerned about the bacteria I might be transferring to my coat as I reach inside. Squeezing some gel into my palm, I rub my hands to dissipate the remaining moisture. Meeting Leo's glacial gaze, I frown.

Because he's offering up another envelope similar to the last.

This one bulges in a different way, appearing to hold two more pregnancy tests.

"That's not all, Anna."

That tone. That's the one that makes me purse my lips and sigh at my boss.

"There's another tape."

"Okay," I draw out.

"And a fucking DNA test that looks awfully … official ."