I slid a little lower. He started to slap me again. But this time I lifted my hand and slammed it, backhanded, into his, deflecting the blow just as Alex had showed me.
It shocked Gerald and I took advantage of that. It felt like slow motion as my body followed the movement of my hand, spinning around until I had my back to him. Then I elbowed him in the stomach and kept turning until I was facing him again. I kicked him in the shins and this time it made an impact. While he was reacting, I slammed my foot down on his instep.
He yowled in pain.
“I liked you better as Garth!” I shouted.
The door flew open and Derek rushed in, roaring at the top of his lungs. He yanked me out of the way and slammed his fist into Gerald’s face. I cringed at the sound of bones crunching, followed by an unearthly scream of pain. I saw blood spurt across the mirror and spatter on the wall.
I heard myself moan, right before I passed out on the floor in a dead faint.
? ? ?
They canceled the last three segments of the show, which meant that we would all get to come back on Monday and finish it up.
“You should feel a lot better by then,” Tom said to Randy, as we watched Gerald being carted off to jail.
“I feel better already,” Randy declared, even though he still looked deathly pale.
I was glad one of us felt better. I was still a little woozy and more than annoyed that once again, I’d taken the brunt of his stalker’s vicious anger. I decided I wouldn’t hold it against him, though, since he had his arm wrapped securely around Angie’s waist and they made the cutest couple.
Earlier, when I’d been locked up with Gerald in the dressing room, Derek had gone out onstage to find me. He’d run into Randy, who’d told him about the phone call he’d just received from the doctor at the hospital.
“He says I’ve been ingesting poison through my skin. That’s so weird. I can’t figure out how that could’ve happened.”
Derek had taken one look at his pasty complexion. “It’s in your makeup.”
They’d hurried back to find Chuck, but as Derek passed Randy’s dressing room, he’d heard Gerald’s howl of pain. That’s when he’d slammed through the door and rescued me.
Of course, by then I was doing pretty darn well on my own. I had made Gerald scream like a baby, and I was about to make my escape when Derek arrived. Everything would have been fine if he hadn’t gone and broken Gerald’s nose and cheekbone and caused all that pesky blood to go flying.
I never had reacted well to the sight of blood.
Still, faint notwithstanding, I was pretty proud of myself. I’d gotten out of trouble all on my own. I was lucky, though, to have a man rush to my rescue—even if I didn’t need rescuing after all.
Chapter Twenty
I slept remarkably well that night, probably because of the two heaping glasses of wine I’d consumed when we got home. I’d given Alex a quick call and begged off trying on dresses. She’d completely understood and suggested I come by in the morning and I’d promised I would.
I couldn’t wait to tell her how her cupcakes had played a role in unmasking a vicious stalker.
Saturday morning, after gulping down a hearty protein drink and a cup of coffee, I zipped over to Alex’s place.
“Come in,” she said, swinging the door open. She searched my face. “Are you feeling all right?”
“Sure, why do you ask?” She didn’t quite make eye contact and it didn’t take much to figure out why. “I see. Mr. Big Mouth told you what happened.”
“It’s not Derek’s fault,” she said. “After you called to cancel our dress fest, I was concerned so I texted him. He said you’d had a run-in with someone, but the guy is in jail.” She gave me a hug. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”
In the kitchen she made a café latte and served it with mini cupcakes while I gave her the whole scoop.
“My run-in last night wasn’t with the guy who attacked me. It was with the stalker.”
“The one who was targeting the host of the show?”
“Yes. Turns out it was the ex-host.”
“That makes sense.”
I gave her the play-by-play, and when I was finished she laughed and clinked her latte cup with mine.
“Congratulations—you did it! You fought back. You rock.”
“Let’s not get carried away,” I said, but I was beaming with pride. “Oh, what the heck? It was pretty exciting. Not the preliminary, psycho-chase-scene-where-I-was-scared-to-death part, but the part where my brain finally kicked in and I worked the moves you gave me. I was a fighting machine.”
“You’re awesome.”
“Yeah. Until I fainted dead away.”
She laughed until she realized I was serious. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” I sipped my latte and tried not to shudder. “It was the blood. When Derek clocked Gerald, it flew everywhere. It was gruesome. I blame Derek.”
“He left out that part.”
“That’s because he knows I would smack him if he told anyone I passed out.”