“What?”  She groaned.

“Can I come in?”

Well, at least he had knocked this time. “Sure.”  Like she could stop him anyway.

“Look, here’s the thing.  Since the paparazzi have found Ben’s house and this house, we need to find another place to stay.  Uncle Sal has an acreage.  We’re going to stay there for a while.”

Jess narrowed her eyes and looked at him. “Who is we?”

“All of us.  You, your mother, your brother Jamie, your brother Jake if he wants, Ben, me.  It’s a big house.”

There were many reasons for her to argue, and just as many to go along with the suggestion.  She was tired, there was a crazed lunatic stalking her.  The paparazzi had followed her and they had broadcast her trip to Kansas City on the web and the small screen.  Her powers of deduction told her it wouldn’t be long before the stalker was in Kansas.  Staying here could put her pregnant mother and the rest of her family in danger.

Since acquiring her own crazed fan, she’d done some research.  Most weren’t dangerous, just annoying.  But then there were the ones who killed the celebrity, someone else or even themselves.  You could never be too careful.

“Fine.  I’ll go. As long as staying at Uncle Sal’s doesn’t call in my favor.”  She said as she got up and headed toward her bathroom.

Joey shook his head.  He couldn’t believe his ears.  He had expected an argument.  He stood outside her bathroom door.  “No, I’ll owe Uncle Sal for this, or Ben will.  We’ll work it out.  Your mother’s packing a few things.  You should too,” he said as he left her room and closed the door.

She hadn’t brought much with her, and all she had in Kansas was winter clothes, things she didn’t need in L.A.  She was going to have to go shopping for real, as opposed to the pretend shopping they’d done yesterday for the paparazzi’s benefit.

Lane had finished changing.  She walked into the hall, meeting Joey as he exited Jess’s room.  She motioned to the suitcase in her bedroom, telling Joey that he could take it with him.

“I have to get to work.  Ben’s going to call me later.  I imagine we’ll see you tonight.”  She looked at Joey.  No one had actually told her, but she was certain Joey’s only purpose in Kansas was to guard her daughter. “You’ll keep her safe, won’t you Joey?”

Joey looked at Lane.  She looked tired and worried.  “As if she were a part of me.”  In other words, with his life, but he didn’t want to phrase it that way to Lane.  No sense in making her worry more than she probably was already.

It was 10:00 a.m., and Jess had showered and dressed before she left her room.  She found Joey in the kitchen.  “Okay, wise guy, let’s go.  I’m ready, but first I have to go shopping.”

Joey looked at her in disbelief.  Only a woman would want to shop while a crazed fan was stalking her.  He carried her duffle bag to the Escalade and threw it in the cargo area with his and Lane’s bags.  He opened Jess’s door and helped her in before going to the driver’s door.

Chapter 18

retail therapy

Joey drove to the mall.  It was no surprise to find they’d picked up a tail.  At least one of the paparazzi was following, as Joey pulled into the parking garage on the east side of the mall.

They made their way into the mall.  She’d dragged him through Macy’s, and Nordstrom’s before she finally picked up several pairs of jeans, underwear and some tops at H&M.  The sales associate was looking at them with eyes as big as saucers.  First, there was a Bellini man in the store, then there was a movie star and last there was the entourage of paparazzi that followed Jess.  Jess apologized for the circus atmosphere as the sales associate totaled the purchases.

Jess looked at Joey and smiled. “You’re buying.”

He reached into his jacket for his wallet.  “And why am I buying,” he said as he handed the sales associate a Black American Express card.

“It’s your fault I barely packed anything.”

He leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Next time a crazed stalker is after you, I’ll remember to give you more time to pack.”

She just smiled as he signed the receipt and picked up the bags.  “We finished now,” he asked.

“Yes, that’s everything,” she replied.

He held the bags in his left hand and put his right hand at the small of her back as he guided her through the store, out of the mall and into the parking garage.

There was a man standing near the Escalade.  He didn’t move as Joey and Jess approached.  The man was short, maybe five feet five inches tall. He was skinny and had longish, stringy, dishwater blonde hair.  He was wearing shades in the darkened parking garage. Joey had the keys in his pocket.  He took his hand away from Jess’s back, pulled the keys from his pocket and handed them to her.  They were still 20 feet or so from the SUV.

Joey tugged at the back of the shirt Jess wore.  “Slow down.  I don’t like the look of that guy.”

The man turned toward them.  “Kit you are such a slut.  You dragged Kate here so you could be with your boyfriend there.”  He pointed toward Joey.

Joey stepped in front of Jess.  “Hey, bud, we’ll have no name calling here.”

He was a wiry little guy and he’d pulled the knife before Joey could drop the packages. It was a lucky shot, but he’d stabbed Joey in the groin area and pulled back the blade as he continued to yell at Jess.

As Joey bent forward, Jess stepped around him.  “Hey, slime ball.  Who are you calling a slut?”  She pushed the blade from his hand cutting the palm of her left hand as she kneed the guy in the balls, grabbed his head and slammed it on her knee.  He went down and she turned to Joey.  He was lying on the ground bleeding.  She pulled out her phone and dialed 9-1-1 as she put her bloody hand on Joey’s bleeding groin.

“It’s gonna be okay, wise guy,” she whispered as she pulled something from the bag of new clothes and used it to stanch the blood.  “Come on, it’s little more than a flesh wound.  Stay with me,” she said as she patted his face with her right hand.

“Everyone out of the way, I’m a doctor.” Rang the familiar voice of Dr. Paolo Raffaele Bellini.

Jess looked at him as he walked toward them.  “What are you doing here?”

“You’re all over Twitter.”  He looked at her hand and pulled off his polo shirt to wrap around it, leaving him in his khaki’s and a wife beater t-shirt.  “You watch that little ass hole. Keep him down until the police get here.”

She smiled.  “It’ll be my pleasure.”  She walked to where the slime ball was doubled over holding his family jewels and put the five inch stiletto heel of her shoe against his throat.  “In case you’re wondering, that’s your carotid artery.  Move and I’ll show you what a real stiletto can do.”

“Freeze, Police.”

Jess turned her head to see Detective Lila Crane standing a few feet away, gun drawn and pointing in her direction.

“Detective Crane.  I never thought I’d be glad to see you.”

Jess moved her foot from the stalker’s throat.  He rolled over to look at her.  “You married him.  You don’t get to be happy, Kit.”

She’d had about all she could take.  She wasn’t Kit Hart and she wasn’t Kate Hart and she wasn’t married.   Jess looked at the little slime ball lying on the ground.  She stomped her foot.  “For the last time, I did NOT get married.  My mother married Ben.”  She said in a low voice that was barely controlled.

Lila looked at Jess.

“Your mother married Ben?”

“Yeah, last night.  We told the paparazzi last night, but they still broadcast that I got married.”

The paparazzi were still taking pictures at a frantic pace, and now an audience who had gathered had cell phones out and were all taking video.

“No, that can’t happen.  I broke them up.”  Lila shook her head.  She still had her gun out but had pointed it at the stalker.

“A little hard to do.  First of all, he loves her and secondly, they’re having a baby.”