Thief of Hearts

Chapter Four

Thief of Hearts
Chapter Four

That old bat! If she had not been under contract with her, she would have found another agent by now. But Megan had been new to the business when she had first signed. Now she must fulfill her contract before moving on.

Quickly, she readied herself in a personal record time of ten minutes! She sped over to the laptop and noted that the on button was blinking signaling that she had left the computer on though in sleep mode. She pressed the button once to bring it live before she shut it down then something caught her eye. The word Thief jumped out at her…an instant reminder of her dream. She caught herself from pressing the button again and began reading. Had she written this last night? Surely, the page had only had a title when she had gone to bed.

The title Thief of Hearts blazed across the top and she couldn’t help but read a few sentences. Her eyes widened. “So I dreamed what I must have already written,” she whispered to herself as she read only to the shower scene. “Was I that damned drunk? Thief… ‘remember your thief’ my dream guy said. What’s that all about?” she laughed at herself closing the laptop. “At least I had the good sense to change the names. Don’t want the readers to know everything about me.” Without another thought, she stuffed the computer into the case, leaving it in its place and headed out the door.

******

“Miss Hemmerson, could you sign my book pleeeeease and take this picture with me?” a fan eagerly begged as she pressed closely to Megan. The room was small and stuffy and the woman’s strong perfume didn’t help matters any. Her head throbbed in protest. Please kick in, she silently begged the Tylenol she had taken only moments before the signing had begun.

Anywhere but here would be nice. “Sure thing,” she smiled politely and posed for the shot. The woman giggled tripping away in gleeful delight.

“Ruth,” Megan hissed under her breath, “are we almost done?”

“Just a few more shots and signings and you’re free to go. By the way, what is the title of the new book you’re working on?”

Momentary panic filled her until she remembered the title she had read. “It’s called Thief of Hearts.”

“Oooh, sounds promising. You’ll have to tell me a little about it.”

“Nope. Not this time. It’s a surprise,” she hedged.

“It better be a good surprise. You barely made it with the last ‘surprise’. You’re lucky some of those critics are partying buddies of yours.”

She bristled at Ruth’s words. The woman really got on her nerves. She couldn’t wait for the opportunity to dump her.

“I assure you that this one will be the best one yet. You’ll see.”

“Excuse me, Ms. Hemmerson, but you have a phone call at the desk. Should I take a message?” the bookstore clerk asked.

Relieved to be excused Megan jumped at the chance to get away, “No, no, I’ll take the call. Do you know who it is?”

“No, he didn’t say. He just said that you were good friends.”

Megan reached for the phone. Which one of her buddies could this be? At least one of them usually called during a signing. It was kind of an unspoken promise to save her from mostly Ruth’s presence. “Hello? This is Ms. Hemmerson.”

“Megan…”

“This is she. Who is this?”

“You have not forgotten me, have you?” questioned the sexy masculine voice.

Goosebumps raced across her skin. This wasn’t one of her buddies. “Who is this?”

“You know who this is,” whispered the husky voice.

Against her will, Megan’s panties instantly moistened for him.

“Ah…wet for me, are you? I suppose you remember your thief after all. See you later, my dear…”

“But, but….,” Megan tried to stall him but the line went dead. My thief? How did this guy know about her dream? Just what all had she done after drinking that wine? Did she bring someone home with her? Well, if she had then why did she only remember trying to type up that damned story?! The story!!!

“Ruth,” she called out. “I’ve gotta go! I don’t feel well at all….”

“I told you to take better care of yourself. Need a lift?”

“No, I’d rather walk…you know…clear my head and get some fresh air.” Besides, I don’t know if I could handle a double dose of Ruth right now, she thought.

“Ok, I’ll call you later!”

She didn’t respond as she hurried out the door to freedom. She had to get home. She had to read that story on her laptop. Maybe it could offer some sort of clue.

She must have hurried all the way because she arrived home in record time. Quickly, she raced up the apartment stairs and fumbled with the keys to get in. She made a beeline to the computer case yanking the laptop out. It seemed like forever before it booted to life. A quick search showed it had been saved under its title. With a double click, the story appeared before her.

As she read each line, her heart plummeted to her stomach with strange unease. Not only was it exact in every word and scene, but it had also gone on into chapter two about her waking up with the headache, Ruth, the signing, his call, and now her arriving home. Even her thoughts were on the screen! Megan stumbled backward to slump onto the couch. “Wh…what is going on here? I’m cracking up…that’s it. It’s all gotten to me! I’m nuts.”

She jumped up and slammed the computer shut. Nuts or not, some guy had just called her and said he would see her later! “Bullshit! I’m not letting some psycho fan get to me!”

She closed and locked every window then checked the many locks on her door. No way in hell is anyone getting in here, she thought with a nervous smile. She checked her phone then checked her cell phone. “Everything’s workin’ fine. That psycho can kiss my ass!”

With satisfaction she turned on the tv and popped in one of her favorite workout tapes. She really needed to work off some stress or the extra energy that seemed to have just filled her.


McKinzie S. Heart
~Live to write, write to live~