Under His Protection
Chapter 7

Zane reached her just as the light above snapped and came crashing down. Grabbing her he pushed her up against the wall, shielding her with his body. Women were screaming and people running all over as the equipment shattered into pieces, and glass went flying in every direction. With his back to it, he protected her, covering her head with his hands while his body covered hers. He never wanted to let go of her, glancing over his shoulders he knew how close he came to losing her.

After things settled down he moved back and cupped her face in his hands, looking into her eyes that were filled with horror. “Are you okay?” he asked as he checked her over for any sign of injuries.

Her voice shook, body trembled as she nodded. “Yes, I think so.”

“Stay right here while I take a look,” he ordered. Taking out his cell phone he dialed the police, telling them what had happened and to send some officers over. He kneeled down to look at the wiring but dared not touch anything as there were some live wires. Looking above and back to the light he noticed something about the cord, it looked like it had been cut.

Turning his head back to Jade he got up and went over to her, removing his jacket covered her up. “Go get dressed okay?”

“Ok,” she answered back. “What do you think happened?”

“I’m not sure, won’t know till the experts arrive.”

Clutching his jacket she walked back to the dressing room on wobbly knees. She had never known lights to come crashing down in all the time she had been modeling. Reggie will be furious when he finds out what happened. Mainly due to the fact of all the money he’d lose for lost of time, every minute delay could cost him thousands of dollars. She couldn’t help but wonder where he was, he rarely missed a photo shoot.

Joe Brown showed up along with the others. “What the hell went on here?” Joe asked as he and Zane stood watching as someone examined the fallen light.

“This was deliberate, someone cut the wires in order to make it fall during Jade’s shoot. We’ve got to find the bastard and soon,” Zane said and felt his anger rising. It was driving him mad with trying to figure out who was behind this, as of now they had no proof that any of their suspects were involved.

“You’re right, someone did cut this wire,” The man examining the equipment said as he looked up at the two.

“Well we’ll speak to everyone who was here,” Joe said. Turning to another officer told him to get the surveillance tapes. “It ought to show us if there was anyone hanging around that shouldn’t be. You take Miss Edwards home and I’ll be in touch with you later.”

“She’s staying at my place until tomorrow.” He ran his hands through his hair. “If you find something, no matter how small let me know. Make sure to question all the suspects on their whereabouts today.”

They turned their heads when there was a commotion coming from outside and a large man burst in, it was Trevor Frost, Jade’s ex. Two officers were trying to restrain him but were dragged along as though they weighed nothing. “Where is she? Where’s Jade.” Trevor shouted.

When he saw her he flung off the officers and made his way over to her before Zane could stop him. He grabbed her, crushing her against him. “Fuck baby I heard what happened, are you ok?”

Jealousy coursed through Zane’s veins and with a strength he never knew he had managed to pull Trevor away. “Get away from her.” He got in between them. “It’s really weird that you just happen to be here on the day the light came crashing down almost killing Jade. You wouldn’t be the one responsible, would you? You’re strong and I bet you’d have no problem cutting through these wires.”

Trevor looked over Zane’s shoulder to Jade. “Baby you know I’d never harm you. Tell this shit I wouldn’t hurt you.”

“Why are you here Trevor? You’re not allowed to be anywhere near the set,” she cried out, peeking over Zane’s shoulder.

“I’ve been worried about you ever since I heard what was going on. I know you’ve been staying with this cop. Come home with me baby. I can protect you better than he can.”

Jade stepped out from behind Zane. “I’m not going with you, Trevor. You have to forget about me and move on, I don’t love you.” She looked at Zane. “Can you take me home now?”

Before anyone knew what was happening Trevor lurched forward, grabbing her arms and holding on so tight she winced from the pain. Zane and Joe both tried to pry him off her as he started yelling and shaking her. “You bitch, you’re fucking him, aren’t you. Tell me,” he said, shaking her as if she were a rag doll.

It took Zane and Joe along with two other officers to get him off Jade and he was put in handcuffs. “Get this prick down to the station and book him,” Zane cursed and put his arm around her.

“Book me for what? I didn’t do anything,” Trevor yelled.

“For one thing attacking Miss Edwards and once we check the surveillance tape we’ll be able to see just what you were up to.” He turned to Jade. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“As soon as we find out something I’ll let you know,” Joe said, watching as Trevor was being dragged out.

“Come over tonight,” Zane said over his shoulder as he walked away, leading her out and to the parking lot. Reaching the car he opened the door but stopped when she placed her hand on his arm, her eyes lowered.

“You saved my life, thank you,” she said, shifting her eyes to look up at him and felt the heat from his hand when he touched the side of her face. Their eyes stared into each other's eyes for a few minutes.

“It was my pleasure and I’ll always be here for you.” He wrapped his arms around her when she leaned against him. He held and stroked her hair till she finally moved, he could have stayed like that forever.

When they arrived back at his place there was a message for her saying that her apartment would be ready in the morning.

“You can always stay here if you want,” he said while they both started making dinner.

“That’s very kind of you but I want to go back. I have two bedrooms and it’s not fair that you have to sleep on a couch, it can’t be very comfortable.” She knew it wasn’t, could tell by the way he stretched and rubbed his back in the morning.

Joe showed up later that night and once they were seated with coffee and dessert he told them what he found out, or didn’t find out.

“We talked to everyone who was there, no one heard or saw anything. As for Mr. Frost, the camera showed that he had been there for a few hours, he snuck in through a side entrance. But nothing to indicate he was near the lighting. He was hiding in the shadows watching you Miss Edwards.”

“Please, call me Jade.”

“He did disappear from time to time but not long enough to have done any damage. I spoke to Lilly Segal. She did say there was a man she hadn’t seen before fixing some of the equipment but didn’t think anything of it. She is not a fan of yours Jade. Miss Segal thinks it’s you doing it, says you hired someone to stalk and leave you death threats.”

“Lilly has always hated me, ever since I beat her out for the top spot. I’m allergic to peanuts and one day she put some in my salad but luckily I saw them before taking a bite. There were other things she did to try and get me fired.”

Joe scratched his chin, looking serious. “Do you think she could be behind it all?”

“Honestly, I don’t think she’s smart enough to pull it off,” Jade answered.

“We haven’t had a chance to talk to your manager yet, he seems to be out of town for some business. Trevor, I’m not sure what to think about him except that he’s in love with you and really pissed off that you’re staying with Zane.”

Still shaken up and feeling tired she excused herself, saying she was going to bed.

“I don’t know Zane, we aren’t getting any closer to finding the person responsible. I want to ask you something and I don’t want you to get mad.”

“Depends on what it is,” Zane answered.

“Is it at all possible that what Lilly said could be true, could Miss Edwards be behind it.”

Zane pointed his finger at Joe. “You listen to me, partner. There’s no way she is. Seriously, Joe, she wouldn’t risk her own life. Jade is not like that, she is kind, forgiving and hasn’t got an evil bone in her body.”

“Oh shit man, are you sleeping with her?” Joe barked.

“No.”

“But you like her and want to.” Looking at the expression on Zane’s face knew he had hit on the truth. “Damn, you know better than to get involved with a case. If you don’t keep it in your pants pal you could be putting her life in danger.”

“I know what I’m doing. I’m not discussing this with you anymore,” he snapped. “If you need to get a hold of me we’ll be back at her apartment tomorrow.”

He walked Joe to the door. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. You’re right, I do like her more than I should. She’s so different from all the other women I know. She’s special and we have to find the bastard who is trying to harm her.”

“Ok buddy, just be careful and don’t go breaking her heart.”

Morning: “Ready to go?” Zane asked as he picked up their bags.

“Yup,” she shouted through the bathroom door. “We’ll have to stop and pick up some groceries. I don’t have much food at home.”

Jade shook her head at Zane, it was like taking a child into the store. “Stop putting all this junk food in the cart,” she said as she put the box of cookies back on the shelf. Every time her back was turned he would throw other treats into the cart which she took out. Laughing she finally relented and let him get some chips.

With bags of groceries in hand, they stepped from the elevator and Zane dropped them to the floor when he saw a man with his back to them trying to get into her apartment. He was behind the man in a flash and put him in a headlock.

“Zane stop, It’s only Kenny,” Jade shrieked.

He released a shaken Kenny. “You wanna tell me what you’re doing?” Zane hissed at him. There was still something about the man that bothered him. If only he could put his finger on it.

“I was just checking to make sure everything was finished and making sure the new locks were working.” His head started to bob and his arm twitched. He looked at Jade. “I had special locks installed and an alarm, here is the code, you can change it anytime,” he said, handing her the paper.

“Thank you, Kenny, that was very thoughtful of you and I’m sorry for Mr. Warner’s behaviour. He had no right to attack you like that,” she said, giving Zane a dirty look.

“That’s ok Miss Edwards. If you need anything just give me a shout.”

“If she needs anything I’ll be here to get it for her,” Zane said angrily.

“You're staying here?” Kenny asked as his ticks got worse.

“Yeah I am, you got a problem with that?”

“I’m under his protection Kenny since there have been more death threats against me. As soon as they find the culprit things will get back to normal. Thanks for all your help and I’ll change the code right away. Night Kenny.”

He limped away, getting into the elevator looked back at Zane. His eyes grew dark and he cursed the man who was with Jade. The door closed and he banged his hands against the wall and swore out loud. “Son of a fucken bitch,” he said over and over till the elevator stopped and the door opened.

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