Read Security for Free Online Page A

every giant slice of pizza up with his fingers and ate it like a Neanderthal. He folded the pieces up, jammed them into his mouth, and chewed with his mouth open. There was cheese on his lips and grease on his fingers. She wanted to look away, but she also wanted to know where he was going to wipe his hands. She knew it would be the bed or his trousers. She wasn’t sure she cared about his trousers; the suit was awful, grease wouldn’t worsen it at all. She watched him get up and reach for a tissue from the box on the dresser. That was unexpected.
    “It’s good,” he said, his mouth full.
    “What?”
    “I said, the pizza’s good. You should eat some.”
    “I’m full.” Autumn put the plate on the bed and closed her knife and fork together.
    “Full! You’ve only eaten two small pieces. Don’t you have to get up to five?”
    “Don’t mock me.”
    She was close to tears again. What was the matter with her? She wasn’t this person. She was capable, a professional, a music artist at the very pinnacle of her career. That’s who she needed to be to keep her sanity. Yet, since she’d been herded out of the hotel by this uncouth individual in a second-hand suit, she had gone to pieces. She needed to speak to Janey. Janey would know what to do. If there was one thing her PA was good at, it was knowing what to do for the best. She didn’t believe Nathan’s accusations about her friend and Juan. It was unrealistic. What could Juan possibly get from Janey that Autumn couldn’t give him?
    “Where’s my new phone?” Autumn asked, distracting herself from her thoughts by picking up the plate and putting it on the dresser.
    “I threw it out the car window remember?”
    “No, my new phone. You told my mother you would tell her my new number,” Autumn reminded.
    “Yeah, well, I lied about that,” he said, pulling the chair away from the dresser and positioning it to the side of the bed, facing the television.
    “I need to call Janey.”
    Nathan looked at his watch. “Oh, she’ll be putting her clothes back on right about now,” he said.
    “I don’t believe what you said. She wouldn’t do that to me, Juan wouldn’t do that to me.”
    “No?”
    Autumn moved to stand in front of him. “Just let me call her,” she begged. “Let me tell her I’m okay, please.”
    “She doesn’t give a shit about you. She’s sleeping with your boyfriend,” Nathan retorted, taking his eyes away from the television and looking at her.
    “I don’t believe that. I don’t. I won’t.”
    Her voice didn’t come out the way she wanted it to. There was no real conviction in her tone. A seed of doubt had been planted in her mind, and she couldn’t help but wonder if the two people closest to her had been deceiving her. And if they had, for how long? Janey always spoke so enthusiastically about Juan, his music, his clothes, his schedule…she knew his schedule, just like she knew Autumn’s. She directed them together; she would be capable of directing them apart. She swallowed. No, this was all wrong, the whole situation. She needed to focus on what she knew, what she was familiar and comfortable with.
    “The only person you need to trust right now is me,” Nathan told her. He reached for the remote control and turned off the television.
    “Trust you ! I don’t know you, and… I don’t even like you!” Autumn screamed.
    “Those feelings are mutual, but you need to know exactly what my job is, and you need to understand and trust that I’m the best at what I do.”
    He reached into the back of his trousers and pulled out a handgun. He placed it down on the dresser and watched for Autumn’s reaction.
    “What? Am I supposed to throw my hands in the air and be shocked, like I haven’t seen a gun before?” Autumn folded her arms across her chest once more.
    “Do you know how to use it?” Nathan asked her.
    “Oh yeah, right up there with a microphone and a mixing desk.”
    Nathan shook his head and moved toward the