Snow White and the Seven Hunks editedbymegan .wps (28 page)

“Sort?”

She looked uncomfortable. “This pile is for the Hunks. That pile is for Snow

White and Rose Red.”

“And Glenda has somebody that handles responses?” Gabe asked, an edge to his

voice. Leaning across the desk, he snatched up the stack she’d indicated for Rose Red and headed back to the couch. Basil and the others followed him.

The receptionist gaped at them. “You can’t do that!”

“Why the hell not?”

“That’s for Rose Red.”

“You just said Glenda has someone answering it,” Gabe said grimly.

Ignoring her, he planted the stack on the couch and grabbed the one on top. Basil, who’d settled beside him grabbed a handful and passed them down.

Gabe felt the blood leave his face before he was halfway down the single page

letter. Dropping it to the floor, he flicked a hard look at the receptionist and opened another one. It was worse than the first. Every letter he opened described in vivid detail what the man who’d written it wanted to do to her. That was bad enough, but the third one made his blood run cold. He made a frantic search for the envelope and studied the return address—none, he discovered without much surprise—but it was postmarked in the city. Shooting to his feet abruptly, he stalked to Glenda’s door, ignoring the receptionist’s frantic attempt to head him off, and stormed inside.

“How long have you been getting these god damned threats to Nicole?” he

bellowed at the woman behind the desk.

“I’ll have to call you back,” Glenda said, hanging up her phone abruptly. “It’s SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN HUNKS Kimberly Zant 125

just a letter, for god’s sake!”

“Describing how he’s going to kill her …
after
he’s done every filthy,
horrible
thing he can think of to do to her!”

Glenda paled slightly. “Let me see it!”

Gabe flung it down on her desk. “How many of those have you gotten?”

“Give me time to look at it!” Glenda snapped.

“I just told you what was in it, god damn it! Has she gotten any other threatening letters?”

Glenda shifted uncomfortably. “I talked to the police about it. They said it was probably nothing. Men have fantasies about women in porn movies.” She shrugged.

“It’s the price of fame and fortune … or hadn’t you considered that?”

“
Sane
men talk about making love to her, or fucking her. They don’t talk about

… the things in that letter. He’s stalking her! Have you even warned her?”

“I haven’t seen her since she left the set. I told Brandy. She didn’t seem worried about it.”

“Nobody, obviously, is worried about it—not you, not her damned sister, and not the fucking police!” He glared at her for several moments and finally glanced around her office. Spying a filing cabinet, he strode to it and began snatching the drawers out and glancing over the files. “Where’s her personnel file?”

“She doesn’t work for me anymore!” Glenda snapped.

“Where does she live?”

“I don’t know! You’ll have to ask Brandy!”

Gabe glared at her.

“You needn’t glare at me for not keeping up with her! You
might
have asked her if you hadn’t been so busy playing musical beds!”

The urge to throttle her washed over him. Unfortunately, she was right … up to a point. He hadn’t been too busy trying to get in her bed to think about it. He’d just been too fucking confident that there wasn’t going to be a problem running her down when he was ready. He’d figured to give the others time to head for other pastures before he swooped in to snare her.

“Where’s Brandy?”

“She’s around here somewhere—probably in the break-room. We have a

meeting!” Glenda yelled at him as he strode from the room.

SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN HUNKS Kimberly Zant 126

The knock on my door nearly gave me heart failure. It wasn’t just that it was

unexpected so late in the evening, but the imperious framing was startling in itself. I was tempted to pretend I wasn’t home since it reminded me unpleasantly of a visit from the cops. Unfortunately, I had the TV going. When whoever it was hammered on the door again, I got up and grabbed my trusty hammer, moving close enough to peer through the viewer. I couldn’t see anything but a chest, but it was obviously a male chest. “Who is it?” I asked in a quavering voice.

“It’s me—Gabe.”

My heart executed an uncomfortable somersault. “Gabe?”

“Gabe O’Connor.”

O’Conner, I thought blankly? It sounded like my Gabe, though. I hadn’t realized until that moment that we’d all not only been on a first name basis, but I didn’t have a clue of what their last names were.

I looked down at myself in dismay. I was wearing a ratty t-shirt that had seen way too many washings and pair of jeans that looked almost as bad. Should I make him wait in the hall while I dashed to my room to change? Or invite him in and then dash to change?

What if he gave up and left while I was primping?

“Just a minute.” I fumbled with the locks and finally got the door open. “Come

… in,” I finished when he barraged past me and into my living room. Basil, Hunter, and Shaun were right behind him. I turned to look at them in bewilderment and discovered they were looking my apartment over curiously.

Except Gabe. He was staring at me.

Remembering the hammer, I shut the door and locked it and moved back to the

couch, shoving the hammer between the cushions. “I wasn’t expecting company,” I said, plucking at my favorite t-shirt a little unhappily. “Can I get you anything?”

I met each man’s gaze and got a negative response. I was tempted to get up and get something for myself anyway, just to have something to do to cover how awkward and uneasy I felt having them all there. Beyond that, I was still trying to wrap my mind around them being there—all four. If it had been any one of them, I might have made a fool out of myself by leaping to the conclusion that the visit was private and personal. As unhappy as it made me to acknowledge that the four coming together pretty much nixed that possibility, I knew I’d have to be a total idiot to believe anything else.

“Would you like to sit down? I can get another couple of chairs from the

kitchen,” I added after I’d mentally tried to fit the five of us on my small couch and the living room chair.

They didn’t seem inclined to, which probably meant they had no intention of

staying long at all. Basil finally took the chair across from the couch. After a pause, Shaun settled on the opposite end of my couch. Gabe looked more like he wanted to pace, but my apartment hadn’t actually been designed for pacers. Folding his arms, he SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN HUNKS Kimberly Zant 127

found a place along the wall to prop. “What were you doing with the hammer?”

I stared at him blankly. “What hammer?”

He gave me a look. “The one under the cushion by your leg.”

I looked down at it. “Oh!
That
hammer! I was hammering something when I heard the knock. This whole place is just falling apart! And it’s worse than useless to call the landlord. I’ve been thinking about moving. My lease was up last month and he’s been pestering me to sign another one.”

I bounded off the couch with the hammer and headed into the kitchen to put it up while I babbled mindlessly. When I’d tossed it under the sink, I grabbed one of the chairs at my little table and carried it to the living room. After looking around for a place to put it, I finally set it in front of the TV cabinet and turned off the TV. I’d muted it when I heard the knock, but the moving images were distracting.

I decided to take the chair, since it wasn’t very comfortable, and leave the spot on the couch open. I discovered when I’d settled that the guys seemed to be trying to carry on some sort of silent communication.

“We’ve got a spare room at our place,” Gabe said abruptly.

It took me a few moments to connect the comment to what I’d said. I felt my face heat at the lie. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie. It had crossed my mind several times to move before signing a new lease. The problem was I didn’t actually have moving money and I was afraid running wasn’t really an option anyway. The internet was everywhere.

“Really? How much are you asking for it?”

Gabe stared at me blankly and turned to look at the others.

“Two hundred a month,” Shaun said.

I lifted my brows. “Sweet!” I exclaimed before I thought better of it. “Uh …

was that an offer?”

Gabe was glaring at his brother, but I couldn’t decide if it was because he’d

quoted too low a price or because he hadn’t actually meant to offer it—to me.

“It’s available if you’re interested,” Shaun answered.

“Does it come with a private bathroom?”

“Yeah.”

I frowned. “Was that two hundred for everything? Or is that just the rent and everybody splits the rest of the bills, too?”

“That’s everything included. And you’d get kitchen privileges, of course.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I swept a look around the group. “Is that going to be shared, too? Or am I going to have to be chief cook and bottle washer for the deal?”

“Shit!” Shaun said, smiling faintly. “I didn’t think about that. I should’ve said the rent’s two hundred if you also do all the cooking and handle kitchen clean up.”

I thought it over. “Actually, that still wouldn’t be a bad deal,” I said slowly. It was only four of them—plus me. The moment I realized that, my enthusiasm took a nosedive. I had to be an idiot even to have considered it for five seconds! I’d be living with them! That wasn’t going to work. I could see all sorts of complications arising out of such an attempt.

My mind, of course, had leapt instantly to the scenario where I was convenient

and I got bedroom privileges to go with the low rent. That might be a possibility and it might not. What
was
a possibility, a strong one, was that I was going to have to watch a traffic jam as all four of them traipsed in and out with girlfriends.

SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN HUNKS Kimberly Zant 128

“I don’t know,” I said finally, drawing my knees up and looping my arms around

them to keep my heels from slipping off the front of the chair. “I see a potential for disaster here. I mean, it’s sweet of you to offer and I appreciate that, but four single guys? I could really put a crimp in your love life. You saw how Brandy freaked once she got the idea that David and Scott and Daniel were her property! Anyway, I haven’t actually decided. I was just babbling.”

I changed the subject abruptly to let them off the hook. “How are things going for y’all? Sales still good? Have you started working on your new project yet?”

“Fine,” Gabe said, an edge to his voice. “How about you? Any problems?”

I felt my belly flutter and it was only partly because I couldn’t look at Gabe or hear his voice without suffering. I wrestled with the uneasiness that had been dogging me, but I didn’t want to sound paranoid. I forced a smile. “No, not really. I … uh … I guess I’m sort of a celebrity. I’ve had a couple of people recognize me.” I forced a laugh. “I guess I don’t need to cut my hair and dye it—or wear sunglasses and a big floppy hat. Brandy tells me she meets people all over everywhere that recognize her.

She’s really enjoying it.”

“But you aren’t?”

I forced a smile. “Well, I’m not Brandy, that’s for sure!” I shrugged. “I guess you guys maybe noticed I’m not exactly an extravert. I’m not going to miss my five minutes of fame if that’s what you’re asking.”

Gabe frowned. “Has anybody been … bothering you?”

I hesitated. “No, not really. Brandy brought this weird guy back to the apartment right after we got back. He was a real fan and I discovered it was pretty uncomfortable dealing with that … sort of interest, but she’s moved out and I haven’t seen him but once since. He came by looking for her, but I didn’t let him in. Honestly, he gave me the creeps. I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it, which probably means it was pure imagination, but ….” I shrugged. “The show’s hot right now. I guess it’s to be expected. Everybody will have forgotten all about it a month down the road.”

I glanced at them in embarrassment when I realized how that sounded. “Or it

could become a cult classic! I was thinking that just the other day. You never know about these things!”

Basil studied his hands. “Actually, you’d be doing us a favor to take the room. It would help with the rent.”

Dismay went through me when he said that. It seemed to imply that they were

having money troubles. I winced. “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten a job yet. I haven’t really been looking,” I added hastily. “I’ve got money in the bank to hold me till I do …

probably, but I don’t know if I’d be the most dependable roomy you could get. And there’s still the girlfriend factor. Of course, I could stay in my room, I guess. I suppose we could work something out with that—unless you had live-ins.
I’m
not dating right now so that wouldn’t be a problem for me—until and unless I met somebody,” I added hastily, “but I’m not really worried about that. I never really liked bringing guys back to my place … which is why it pissed me off when Brandy did—You’re sure I couldn’t get you something to drink?”

“What sort of work are you looking for?” Gabe asked.

“Anything,” I said, smiling faintly. “I guess secretarial. I’ve got a fair amount of office skills. I was Glenda’s receptionist.”

SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN HUNKS Kimberly Zant 129

“Well that would work out well,” Gabe said decisively. “We need a secretary to keep things in order. We’ve got a spare room and it would be a definite plus to have somebody around who could actually cook. We’re too busy a lot of the time to stop and fix meals. Think about it.”