Bad Nerd Falling

by Grady, D. R.

  Very few people saw this hour. Even the hoodlums had already made for their beds. With the dawning light shining on their deeds they shuffled away since the light was their enemy.

  The same restless feeling that awoke with him increased and he picked up his pace again. He was a block from the palace when Tigger fell into pace beside him.

  “Sit rep,” he requested as they increased their speed to a jog. Neither of them breathed heavy. Both were far too accustomed to physical training. He asked for the situation report because it was obvious Tigger had been on patrol.

  Derek Shively offered a quick report on what he had seen during the night, which was nothing unusual.

  They expected that.

  “Did you get any sleep?”

  “I took a combat nap.”

  That meant he put himself into REM sleep and woke refreshed after only a half hour or so. It sufficed.

  They entered the palace through a side door, keeping watch the entire time. When the door closed behind them, he made certain it locked. There was no use advertising trouble by allowing an open entry.

  The talk with Prince Aleksi about the palace treasures got him to thinking. Likely those valuables were definitely well hidden. At the moment, they didn’t have time to go searching for them. Even if they did, he doubted they would. They had more pressing matters to attend to.

  Like keeping everyone alive.

  “I have to pick up Helena,” he announced after their first report.

  Ben sipped coffee while Beaumont pounded away on the computer. Tigger was busy eating some eggs. He appeared to be savoring them. He helped himself to more bacon and then rose.

  “You’re taking her to work?” Ben leaned forward to snag the coffee carafe.

  “Yes. Since yesterday’s incident, I decided to make certain she gets to and from work safely.”

  They all nodded, like that was logical.

  He headed out soon after and took the car Aleksi offered for their use. It was a roomy sedan, and would afford some protection.

  After he parked, he took a moment to assess the area before he alighted. He listened, watched, smelled, and felt the pertinent things around him. When he concluded all was well, he headed to Helena’s apartment.

  After a quick knock he waited. When she opened the door, and stared at him like her experiment had come to life, he smiled. “I’m here to escort you to work.”

  “Why?” She held her hair in a long ponytail in one hand and a hair band in the other.

  He stepped forward while she fell back. Once he was inside the apartment he locked the door and then watched with interest as she finished her hair.

  In lieu of answering her question he instead gathered her close and kissed her. Repeatedly.

  “Good morning,” he finally whispered when he let her go.

  “Good morning.” She sounded strangled. She sent him a look that might have indicated she had no idea what to do with him this early in the morning. He didn’t mind.

  She paced back into her bedroom, looking a little bemused, to finish getting ready for work. He took note of her hospital scrubs before he investigated the coffee pot.

  “Help yourself to coffee.”

  “Thanks.” He finished pouring some into a mug.

  A few minutes later she padded into the kitchen. “Did you have breakfast?”

  “I ate a little with the guys.”

  She eyed him for a moment before lifting the lid of a pot on the stove. “I have porridge.”

  “That will work.” He’d inhaled eggs and bacon earlier. This would round out the meal.

  With a minimum of fuss, Helena ladled the hot cereal into bowls and handed him both. In moments they were seated at her table, enjoying the fare. Not that porridge was his favorite breakfast, but it was food and it was nice to be eating it with Helena.

  They didn’t talk much, but he appreciated the easy, comfortable silence between them.

  She got up to snag the coffee pot and refilled both their mugs. He enjoyed the homey atmosphere. So this is what he’d been missing all these years. Glancing at Helena, he didn’t want to eat with any other woman.

  This one. And only this one, his subconscious whispered.

  He concurred. Yet he wasn’t certain how to go about convincing her of that. Maybe she didn’t need convincing though. She had shown her feelings all along. Perhaps it was merely a case of sitting down with her and actually communicating.

  The military was big on communication, but it wasn’t all that good at it at times. He’d definitely seen a few examples of how not to communicate. He needed to pull out his best communication skills, but they were among those he lacked.

  The main thought in his head was that this was the most important no-fail mission of his life.

  When it was time to leave for work, she collected her things and left the flat. It was odd to have Vlad right behind her. He checked that everything was secure in a far more extensive fashion than she used. Still, it was nice to be protected by this big, capable man.

  They hit the stairs and met up with Beau. “Did you have breakfast?”

  He shook his head. “No, I’ll grab something on my way to rehearsal.”

  She nodded. “You’ve been up working all hours.”

  “It’s what I do. When an idea comes, you have to get it down.” Beau didn’t sound in the least bit put out by this.

  He and Vlad exchanged nods and mutual respect, she thought a bit sarcastically, because there was an easy air about them as they traversed the stairs. Beau turned toward the garage behind the house and she turned to start her walk to work.

  Vlad steered her toward the opposite end of the street. Beau waved to them as he reached the garage and entered it. With the same casual elegance, Vlad returned the wave before ushering her into a sedan parked along the street. It was already turned in the direction they needed to go.

  “We’re driving this morning,” he announced as he slid in behind the wheel.

  She finished hooking her seatbelt. “I can see that. Why?”

  He didn’t seem any more inclined to answer her now than he had earlier when she asked the exact same question.

  The thing was, she didn’t really need an answer. It was rather evident that he intended to drive her to work.

  With a quick, sardonic glance in her direction he returned his attention to the morning traffic. “You have to ask that?”

  “Wasn’t the incident last evening a fluke? A wrong place, wrong time kind of scenario?”

  “No.”

  When he didn’t elaborate, she exhaled loudly. “Are you certain?”

  “It wasn’t an accident.”

  Really, highly trained military men were quite annoying.

  “Would you care to elaborate?”

  To his credit, he did think about it. “No.”

  “Vlad,” she managed through clenched teeth.

  The traffic light in front of them turned red, so he glided the car to a neat halt. It was really amazing to watch him do anything. Always coordinated, fluid, and graceful. In many ways it wasn’t fair that this man had been given so many gifts.

  “We’re being careful because we know it wasn’t an accident. Since you’re wearing scrubs that means you’re working at the hospital today?”

  “That’s correct.”

  The light changed, so Vlad accelerated through the intersection and turned left to take her to the hospital.

  “Once you finish at the hospital you’ll work full-time in the palace?”

  “Yes. But we have to finish out some projects in the hospital and train our replacements.” She sighed. “It’s ridiculous because they’ve been working in our positions since before Tia came.”

  “It’s probably a technicality.” Vlad turned at the next corner. “How long do you think you’ll be at the hospital?”

  “We’re scheduled to remain for a business week. I doubt I’ll need that long.” She hoped not. It was going to be awful as it was.

  “No
one will be in the palace lab then?”

  “We’ve worked out a schedule so that one of us will check on things and such.”

  He slowed as they approached the hospital. “What time do you get off?”

  “Four o’clock this afternoon.”

  “I’ll be here waiting for you. In this car again.”

  She nodded.

  Vlad made the turn into the parking lot then slid into a spot. They were here. Her stomach dropped in response.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m missing Tia, your mom, and Jorge.” She eased out of the car and stared at the hospital. This was the last place she wanted to be.

  “You’re not happy to be back here?”

  A knot blocked her throat so she doubted she could talk. Instead, she shook her head and swallowed hard.

  “Don’t you work with my mother and Jorge here?”

  “No. Different labs.” The problem was that she had loathed working in this lab. When the offer to move to the new palace lab arose, she jumped on it. Before that opportunity she actually started hunting for a new job. “Come in with me?”

  His eyebrows rose, but he nodded and then curled his hand into the small of her back. Vlad’s big body shielded her smaller frame as he walked with her through the many corridors that led to her old lab.

  When she swiped her badge, the ponderous door opened and she led the way through. The awful smell, a muted stench, assaulted them first. She breathed shallowly, that skill returning instantly.

  As they stepped inside she remembered another reason why she hated it so much. Everyone who worked here, in this particular lab, had sought to make her life difficult. Not outwardly. Definitely not in a way that she could use to file a grievance.

  But an underground, sneaky, nasty campaign that battered and disparaged. That had all changed when she moved to the palace lab. She wondered if Graham had been aware of her unhappiness.

  When she looked around, she actually saw several new faces. They appeared as happy to see her as she was to see them.

  “Hello.” The new people introduced themselves. Another young woman as well as an older one she had seen countless times in the corridors. An older gentleman she had never seen, and a young man who appeared a bit timid.

  “I’m Helena Dubrinsky.” Only to be interrupted by the jeering of the lab supervisor. A jerk she had particularly disliked.

  “Helena, baby, so you’re back. Why don’t we…” He hadn’t been in the room when he started spouting off. As soon as he entered the lab he came face to face or more accurately, face to bristling chest with Vlad.

  The idiot had the good sense to actually look up. Upon doing so, he encountered Vlad’s war face. Not a pretty sight in the best of times. Right now he was downright scary, which was the point of that face, she figured.

  She was really glad he was on her side.

  “This is Vlad.” Her colleagues had never believed she actually had a man she was waiting for. The son of their hospital director, no less. Her evidence now proved undeniable.

  It was hard to squelch the overwhelming urge to laugh.

  “Vlad?” Frederic repeated.

  “I didn’t make him up.”

  As she said it, the two other men who had likewise harassed her entered the lab. They looked prepared to harass her as well. Only Vlad swung his head around to stare at them, growling like a hungry wolf. Both men stopped in their tracks and tried to appear small, or better yet, not there.

  “This is Vlad,” she repeated. Was it petty that she enjoyed their discomfort? Probably.

  Now that Vlad had made an appearance, she hoped this week would be okay. With the four new faces, she had hopes anyway of if not a pleasant atmosphere, at least a manageable one. She turned to those same people now and smiled. “Vlad is Graham and Maria Wellington’s son.”

  Most people at least knew Graham, since he ran the hospital. Vlad sent glares with his war face at the three jerks before he guided her out of the lab.

  “Why didn’t you go to my father?”

  “Because I didn’t have anything concrete. And there were seven of them who hated me, not just the three jerks.”

  “So you came to work every day and worked with seven nasty people?”

  She rubbed his arm and enjoyed his masculine, familiar scent. “Yes, although not at first. There were nice people when I started here. But over time it ended up deteriorating into a toxic environment.”

  His mouth thinned.

  “I was really eager to move to the palace.” She smiled. “And now I work with your mother and Jorge and Tia and it’s wonderful.”

  He nodded. “I have to go now. If you have any trouble, call me.”

  “Trust me, I’d love to watch you in action all over again.” Her lips curled up in a happy smile as she replayed Vlad quailing the three jerks.

  Vlad kissed her, and that gave her the final courage she needed to get through this day.

  Now she could breathe a little easier. Although still shallowly.

  Chapter 28

  Vlad drove out of the hospital parking lot, aware that he was still growling under his breath. That wouldn’t do. Not at all. He needed to take a firm grip on himself. Never before had he come so close to losing control.

  Those men had made Helena’s life miserable for years. He wanted to rip their heads off. The growls revved up again, so he cut off those thoughts. He had done what he could to ensure she was protected today. All he needed was one little excuse to stomp them into the tile.

  With a faint trace of humor, he was willing to believe those men were well aware of the fraying leash of his control. They better learn fast that he would not tolerate them anywhere near Helena. He’d make them fertilizer faster than they could blink. Hopefully the idiots understood.

  If not, he’d be happy to reteach them.

  He caught sight of his smile in the rearview mirror. It was feral.

  “That man was your boyfriend?” the new woman, whose name she couldn’t remember, asked. She sounded awed and a little fearful. They were working at an island bench across from each other.

  “Yes.” She looked up with a smile and was startled by the cold look in the woman’s eyes. It disappeared so quickly it might not have been there, but its affect on her, the resulting chill, lingered. That meant she hadn’t made it up. The cold black benchtop couldn’t have been icier than the look in the woman’s eyes.

  She hadn’t been expecting to see that look in a colleague’s eyes. Especially in a woman who worked in a lab and appeared on the geeky side. Did she have a rival for Vlad’s affections?

  Hopefully not.

  The carnage that ensued would not be pretty. She’d take out SEALs in her attempt to keep Vlad. He belonged to her.

  Just as she belonged to him. She paused in extracting a sample to be tested, her pipette hanging in the air, tube open as she stared off into space.

  Yes, definitely they belonged together. Despite her doubts, she was feeling better about that. And it wasn’t just that she appreciated his help with the jerks. It went deeper than that. It wasn’t even that he was unbending on the matter of her safety. The man was obsessed with her remaining safe at all times. To where it seemed he went overboard on his measures to ensure this.

  The thing was, he hadn’t gone over the top with any of his measures. He protected her yesterday from that car. Today he did the same, only from speeding, obnoxious mouths that spoke before they thought. At least that’s what she always told herself about the threesome in this lab. The other four had been marginally better, but the three woman had all hated her for some reason, and the last man had been interested only in climbing to the top and hadn’t been concerned about who he stepped on to reach the pinnacle.

  There had been no ally in any of them. After she left she heard one of the women’s husband had been transferred, while another decided to retire. She didn’t know or care about the fate of the third. That one in particular had been nasty. A single woman, not unattracti
ve physically, but she became outright ugly when she opened her mouth. Helena also heard that the position climbing man ended up changing careers. Whether that was true or not, she didn’t know. Or particularly care.

  The woman across from her smiled gently. “Do you need help over there?”

  “What?” She glanced at her, and then at her pipette and the sample tube. “Oh, no. Sorry, got lost in my thoughts.” She reddened, chagrined that she was caught woolgathering at work. There was no sign of the frigidity now but she better stay on guard anyway.

  Not that woolgathering hadn’t happened in the palace, only the audience there was a lot more forgiving. This lab wasn’t conducive to forgiveness. Of course, they had now met Vlad, so maybe they were more understanding about her tendency to slip into thoughts about him.

  A happy warmth surged through her. With a smile, she took her sample and continued her work. This wasn’t as complicated as their tasks at the palace, so she gave herself a break on her thoughts.

  This was routine at best, really boring at worst.

  She grimaced and set about taking the rest of the samples. With little effort she managed to breeze through the samples and move on to the next chore. Yet she couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling that the woman working across from her wasn’t harboring any warm fuzzies for her.

  ***

  “I met the creeps in Helena’s old lab.” Vlad glared at the computer screen as he announced this.

  “Creeps?” Shively swiveled to look at him.

  He offered a succinct rundown of his impressions of Helena’s current colleagues. Like the trained professionals they were, he was certain the SEALs each filed his information away for future use.

  “You hated leaving her there,” Ben stated. It certainly wasn’t a question.

  “You could say that.” A tight feeling of unease had followed him out the door and remained.

  “What is your gut telling you?” Beaumont didn’t look up from the computer in front of him. He appeared enmeshed in whatever data ran on the screen.