by J. Nathan
“A shadow under the door is a dead giveaway that you’re in there,” a deep voice said.
I looked down at the shadow caused by my feet. Ah hell. I opened the door and my breath caught in my throat.
The guy from the bar was standing in the hallway with Marco.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
He looked at me with those teal eyes but showed no sign of recognition from our run-in outside the men’s room. “Excuse me?”
“We met last night.”
His bottom lip jutted out like he had no idea what I was talking about.
Seriously? He was gonna pretend he didn’t know me and hadn’t insulted me? Well, if that’s how he was gonna play it, so was I. “Now that you mention it…” My eyes moved over his black cargo pants and black T-shirt molded to his broad chest. “The guy I met last night was a lot better looking.” I drank in his dirty blond hair which was more tousled than it had been at the bar, like he’d just woken up. “And, he was taller. And a lot more built.”
“This is my partner, ma’am,” Marco explained.
I glared at Marco. “Kresley.”
Unaffected by my annoyance with his use of ma’am, he continued. “This is Tristan Stone. He’ll be with you when I’m not. We take turns securing locations before you arrive.” He looked to Tristan and leveled him with his eyes. “Like he did last night at the bar.”
I turned my glare to Tristan. Asshole.
He stared back at me, unfazed and not about to apologize for being deceptive.
“We were just discussing the week ahead,” Marco explained to me.
“Oh, great. I have a request.” My eyes moved between them. Tristan was younger and less bulky than Marco, but no less athletic—even though I tried to make him feel less than. “Could you maybe try to look more like college students? The dark clothes make you stand out and, frankly, I don’t want to be known as ‘the girl with the bodyguards’.”
“You are the girl with the bodyguards,” Tristan clipped.
I cocked my head. “It’s a request.”
“Requests don’t have to be granted,” he fired back.
I opened my mouth to respond—
“We’ll do what we can,” Marco interrupted, clearly the calmer of the two. “As long as our weapons are concealed, I don’t see why we can’t try to blend in a little more.” He turned around and walked to his room without another word.
I expected Tristan to follow him, but he didn’t.
Perfect. “Let’s just get this out of the way now then,” I said to Tristan as Marco’s door closed. “I don’t know what your problem is with me—”
He scoffed. Scoffed.
I trudged on, getting more pissed by the second. “You work for me. A little common courtesy is not too much to ask.”
He rolled his eyes.
God dammit. “If I can’t trust you to protect me if things go wrong, my parents can find someone else who can.”
His eyes narrowed. “What the hell does that mean?”
“This whole not knowing me thing after you blatantly disrespected me last night. Maybe I didn’t know who you were at the bar, but you knew who I was. So, what gives?”
“Girls like you are what gives.”
My head shot back so fast I was surprised it didn’t slam into the door behind me. “Excuse me?”
“You were almost taken in France.”
“Thanks for the recap. But I know what happened.”
He shook his head, his teeth clenched and jaw ticking. “You’re careless.”
I pointed to myself. “I’m careless? I’ve got two bodyguards for Christ’s sake.”
“You get one life to live. Think about how you want to live it.”
“Wow. So, now you’re a philosopher?”
“It’s no secret there are people out there who still may want to get to you.”
“Yes. And that’s why you’re here.”
“So, why the bar? Was it absolutely necessary to go out last night?” he asked.
“What I do is none of your business.”
“The hell it isn’t. I had to be there an hour and a half early—with added security—securing the place, not to mention overseeing every fucker they let in there.”
I hated that I was being reprimanded. I’d only wanted to make friends and find a way to sleep. But maybe he was right. Maybe I should’ve considered how it would affect them. Maybe I should’ve considered the work they needed to put in every time I went somewhere.
“I could have been someone trying to get to you,” he continued. “But you were standing there all drunk gazing at me like you would’ve gone home with me if only I asked.”
My mouth parted, too stunned by his words to respond.
“And then that ridiculous necklace you wore. It must be worth tens of thousands of dollars. Way to stay off people’s radars.”
“I’ve been through enough counseling to know what happened to me was not my fault.”
“The thing was like a damn beacon signaling that you’ve got money.”
“Fuck you,” I spat, unsure what had come over me. I’d always been taught to remain proper and composed, even in the most difficult situations.
His features remained stoic, totally unaffected by my words. “Not a chance.”
My eyes widened. “You’re fired.”
He crossed his arms across his chest. “Some might say that’s sexual harassment.”
I gasped. “You’re insane.”
“You just fired me because I said I wouldn’t sleep with you.”
I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks as my body trembled with rage. “We’ll see what my parents say about this.”
“Yeah, I’d love to hear what they say about their daughter propositioning an employee.”
My words wouldn’t come fast enough for the way I felt. “I…did not…proposition you.”
He quirked a brow. “Didn’t you?”
I spun around and stormed into my room, slamming the door behind me so the entire hallway wall rattled with the force of it.
Asshole!
CHAPTER FOUR
Kresley
My mom called the following morning after I’d just slipped on my cutoffs and T-shirt to wish me luck on my first day. I think the call was a lot less about wishing me luck and a lot more about hearing my voice. I knew it made her feel better to know I was okay. We chatted for a few minutes, but I was too embarrassed—and still pissed—to mention the encounter with my new bodyguard. But one more bad encounter and his ass was fired.
I said goodbye to my mom and threw my backpack onto my back. I stepped into the hallway and stopped short, nearly turning back around when I found Tristan against the wall in black cargo pants and a black shirt with his arms crossed.
“So much for granting requests,” I grumbled as I walked toward the stairwell. Given the sound of footsteps behind me, he’d followed me.
“Nice to see you left off the jewels today,” he mumbled behind me.
I said nothing, my insides twisting with so much hate I didn’t know what to do with it. How could one person elicit so many negative feelings in such a short period of time? Was it his total disregard for my feelings? The fact that he pushed my buttons whenever he spoke? Or, that he thought I was high maintenance and desperate?
I stepped outside the building, instantly greeted by a thick wall of heat. I’d forgotten how warm September in Southern California could be. I stopped on the sidewalk in front of my dorm and glanced from left to right as other students moved in all directions around me. Unfortunately, I had no idea where my first class was. I figured Marco would know, but Marco was nowhere to be found. And there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d ask Tristan. I shoved my hand into my back pocket, grabbing my phone and searching my email for my schedule. It had to be there somewhere.
“It’s this way,” Tristan huffed, taking off to the left and onto a path that led away from the dorms toward the heart of campus.
We wa
lked in silence as students hurried by us in a rush to get to their classes. Tristan and I didn’t walk side by side up the slight incline; it was more like he followed me.
“Where’s Marco?” I finally asked, not looking back for his response.
“He thought it would be better if I accompanied you to your classes. You know. Blend in more.” He definitely said the last part to spite me.
“Let’s get something straight,” I said, stopping in the middle of the path and whirling around to face him. “You chose this job. I didn’t choose this life.” Since we now blocked the path, students needed to move around us to get by. “I was serious about you not working for me,” I said, lowering my voice. “You clearly don’t want to.”
He said nothing, just stepped around me and kept walking, his head moving from side to side while he took in everyone who walked near us.
We finally reached the quad, a grassy expanse surrounded by beautiful old buildings with stone exteriors and Coral trees lining the perimeter. If I wasn’t so aggravated with Tristan, I would’ve stopped for a minute to take in the beautiful view.
He eventually stopped outside a two-story cobblestone building. He buried his hands in his pockets, and his eyes averted mine. “You’ve got Communications in room 125.”
“You’re not coming to class with me?”
“It’s already been checked. Marco’s inside looking over the class roster.”
Thank God for small favors. I walked past him and entered the building. Relief washed over me knowing I was away from him and his negative energy. I began to search the numbers on the plaques outside each classroom until I spotted Marco standing outside a classroom at the end of the hallway.
“You two settle your differences?” he asked as I approached.
“That was a set-up?”
He shrugged.
“I don’t like him.”
“He’s a good man to have on your team,” Marco assured me.
“He’s rude.”
“You don’t have to like him. You just need to know he’s looking out for your safety.”
I didn’t respond as I walked into the small classroom of no more than thirty desks. Some students were already there, so I took a seat in the center of the room. Away from the windows and away from the doors. Just inconvenient enough to give Marco time to stop any threat before it got to me.
It was sad I’d been taught things like that early on. Sad that my father’s real estate business—the one that made him one of the richest real estate moguls in the world—had caused such chaos in my life. I didn’t ask to be brought up in a rich family. I didn’t need the big house, fancy cars, or private jet. I just wanted to be like everyone else. But I knew as much as I wanted to be like everyone else, I wasn’t. I was someone’s shortcut to fortune if they could get to me. So, as long as I stayed safe, they wouldn’t win.
The chatter of students around me caused me to glance around at all the unfamiliar faces in the classroom. Most of them seemed to already know each other or at least have a friend in the class. That’s what happened when you transferred. You started all over again. At least I’d met Elodie and Alice who’d adopted me as their own.
I pulled up my schedule on my phone and a campus map. I needed to know which way to go when class ended so I didn’t need to rely on Tristan. I wasn’t helpless, desperate, or high maintenance. And the sooner he learned that, the sooner he and I could coexist.
***
I stepped into the hallway after class en route to my accounting class across the quad. I followed the flow of students hurrying out of the building. I knew Tristan was nearby, but didn’t give him the satisfaction of a glance.
“Kresley!” someone called.
My head whipped around in the direction of the voice.
“Hey,” I said, grateful to see Elodie’s familiar face.
“How was your first class?” she asked, walking alongside me while I assumed Tristan followed us.
“Not bad. Yours?”
“Well, as a chem major, I’m in science labs all day. So, if science is your idea of fun, it’s been great.”
I laughed. “Where you headed?”
She hitched her thumb toward the building to our right. “Most of my classes are in there. But I do have a break for lunch at noon if you’d like to meet up.”
“Sure. Where?”
She pointed to a building across the way with a tall flagpole in front of it. “I’ll meet you inside at twelve.”
“Sounds good.”
We parted ways, and I made it to my accounting class with minutes to spare. Marco already stood outside the classroom.
“All clear,” he said as I moved past him.
“Thanks,” I said, before stepping inside the classroom. This one was bigger than my first class and had tables instead of desks with two stools at each. I took a seat at an empty table in the center of the room.
A guy with dreadlocks who smelled of patchouli oil walked over and placed his hand on the stool beside me. “Is anyone sitting here?”
I shook my head. “You are now.”
He smiled as he slipped onto the stool. “I’m Jeff.”
“Kresley.”
“Cool name.”
“Thanks.”
The professor walked in. Her navy pant suit was designer, and her shoulder length gray hair was perfectly straight.
“I hear this class is a killer,” Jeff whispered.
“Great.”
“I also hear there’re a lot of collaborative assignments which means you may be stuck with me for the semester.”
I flashed him a small smile and class began.
An hour later, my head spun with an impending headache. I struggled with math, but since accounting was a requirement, I needed to suck it up and try my best. It wasn’t like my parents were on me about my grades. Hell, they would’ve been happy if I stayed home and helped with my dad’s business. They never pushed me to get a degree. That was what I wanted.
“Where you headed next?” Jeff asked as we walked out of class together.
I caught sight of Tristan out of the corner of my eye in the hallway trailing us out of the building, but again I didn’t acknowledge him. “Oh, I have an hour to kill before I’m meeting my friend for lunch. How about you?”
“No class until later. You wanna chill on the quad and get some sun while you wait?”
“Oh, I…” My counselor’s voice popped into my head telling me to live in the moment and not assume every person who is kind to me is out to get me. I sighed. “Sure.”
He pointed to a grassy area in the corner of the quad, away from the crisscrossed paths students took to classes. “Looks like a perfect spot.”
We sat down, Jeff lounging on his back using his backpack as a pillow and me tucking up my knees and wrapping my arms around them.
“So, where you from?” he asked.
I looked around the busy quad and spotted Tristan watching us as he stood under a tree in the shade. I looked back to Jeff. “California. You?”
“Montana.”
“What brought you here?”
“I like exploring new places. This is my fourth college.”
“No way.”
He nodded. “A new school every year. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be at eight before I graduate.”
“Why eight?”
“Not all my credits transfer over when I start a new school. But it’s no biggie. I’m in no rush to get into the real world.”
I laughed, wishing I was that much of a free spirit. I’d thought I was when I packed up and left for France. But now I see that being free had just been an illusion. A foolish dream that didn’t actually exist in my world.
***
At lunch with Elodie, I learned that everyone on my floor had questioned her about my bodyguards. I would’ve been surprised if they hadn’t. She explained I was a pop star from overseas who was laying low and trying to blend in. Oddly, they bought the story and my need to keep my presence
there quiet.
After lunch, I struggled to stay awake during special events marketing, not having slept more than a couple of hours the previous night. Once the professor dismissed us, I hurried out of the building in an effort to get back to the dorm so I could nap. The campus was less lively in the afternoon, so it gave me a chance to admire the Coral trees as I made my way toward the path leading to the dorms.
“That guy you were with,” Tristan murmured from behind me once we were alone on the path. “He doesn’t stay in one place for long.”
“I know,” I said without turning to look at him.
“He’s moved around his entire life,” he continued.
“So?”
“So, there’s got to be a reason. People like that come with a lot of baggage which means they may be willing to do whatever it takes to make things happen.”
I spun to face him, my long hair whipping over my shoulder. “I’m not sure if this is your first gig or what. But in my world, I meet people and get to know them. I don’t need a guy’s dossier from you. He’ll tell me what he wants me to know.”
“And what if he doesn’t? What if he lies about who he is?”
“Like you did at the bar?” I countered.
“I didn’t lie.”
“You omitted. Just as bad.”
He rolled his eyes. “As I was saying, you have no idea what that guy’s intentions with you are.”
I scoffed. “His intentions? Who even talks like that?”
Anger brewed in his eyes. “I meant money talks. Those men who tried to—”
A girl brushed by us and Tristan stopped speaking until we were alone on the path again.
“Those men could reach out to anyone. They could offer anyone money to get close to you. Have you ever thought of that?”
“How do I know they didn’t offer you money to pretend to be my security?”
He dropped his head back and growled. “They didn’t.”
“You sure? Where’s your dossier?”
He didn’t say anything.
“See? Sometimes you just need to trust your gut and trust people.” I turned away from him and walked toward the dorm, knowing if I’d trusted my gut about him, I would have fired his ass for real. But I trusted Marco who’d vouched for him. And I trusted my parents who hired him because he was the best out there.
