Free Miss Congeniality by Marie Garner Page B

marks.
    “Lance—” she started, but he rounded on her.
    “No. The public doesn’t deserve to know shit.” He turned back to the photographer. “And neither do you. Now, I am telling you for the last damn time to leave us the hell alone.”
    “Free country.” He was like a yappy dog, circling around them while he continued to take pictures.
    “I’ll give you a free country.” Lance jerked away from her and grabbed at the man’s camera. They grappled for a minute, but Lance was fueled on anger, and he quickly wrestled the camera from the guy. Lance opened the camera, taking the memory card out before he threw the camera on the ground and smashed it.
    “Are you fucking serious? You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.” The photographer gestured for the nearest security guard, who was trying to make his way through the crowd which had begun to form.
    “And you’ll be hearing from mine.” Lance reached back and grabbed her hand, pulling her through the crowd. Brea wanted to die from embarrassment; she had no idea what in the world possessed him to act like that. He was like a crazy person, so focused on getting the memory card he didn’t pay attention to anything else around him, even her. She could have been mauled by the crowd and he would have been none the wiser. She had wondered earlier where he got his reputation but with that display, Brea no longer had to question. She concentrated on keeping up with him because he was practically running while on the phone with who she presumed to be his agent.
    “I don’t fucking know!” he screamed into the phone. “I flipped the fuck out! Fix it!” Lance stopped abruptly, pinching his nose while he took deep breaths to calm down. She could hear the other person speaking in even tones but didn’t know what they were saying.
    “I know,” he answered in a more civilized tone than before. “I’m sorry; I just went a little crazy. Okay, I’ll call him. Love you, too,” he murmured before ending the phone call.
    Love? Brea thought. Now I really want to know who he’s talking to . She kept quiet. The ball was in his court, and he was the one who acted like a crazy-ass maniac when the guy started taking pictures.
    “So, did I imagine what just happened?” he asked sheepishly, fiddling with the buttons on his phone.
    “Nope,” she answered. “I’m wishing I did because I don’t know who in the hell that was.”
    “I freaked, okay?” Someone was clearly still upset.
    “Ya think? What the hell was that about? And who was that on the phone?”
    “I really don’t want to talk about it.” He continued to fiddle with his phone so she grabbed at it, wanting him to look at her.
    “You don’t want to talk about it? Well, I didn’t want to witness it. Or be a part of it. But I was, and I can almost guarantee you we’ll be on the news because one of those tourists had a camera and probably taped the whole damn thing! So, I’m sorry if you don’t want to talk about it, but I don’t really give a shit!”
    “Keep your damn voice down!” he hissed, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them.
    “Let’s go.” He grasped her hand and tried to move, but she dug in her heels.
    “Don’t touch me.” He grabbed it again, pulling her toward him. “Listen to me. You want to argue with me? That’s fine. But you are in the middle of Disneyland, and we are two of the most recognizable people on television, so if you want to avoid attention and videos, as you yelled earlier, then I suggest you get your ass in the car. We can argue about this later.” She clenched her jaw, ceding his point and tabling the discussion until they got in the car.
    Two hours later, they slowly made their way home. What had started as such a great day had ended in a pile of shit. First, he had to speak to his agent, his lawyer, his PR rep, Disney security, and his mother, who happened to be the person he was on the phone with earlier. Yeah, this date was fun , she