by Rosa Foxxe
“Ah, Michelle, good to see you.” Aleksis stared at me as I took my seat. “Are you all right?” I sighed and shook my head.
“He gave me a bodyguard, Aleksis,” I moaned.
“Is the bodyguard attractive?” asked Aleksis. I scowled at him, my eyes narrowing. Aleksis ducked behind his wife as she walked up to the counter. Looking down at him, Sasha shook her head and smiled at me.
“I said I would teach you to fight. You refused, and now you deal with the consequences,” said Sasha. Her smile widened into a mischievous smirk as she turned away from me.
The door opened and Cindy and Taryn rushed in. Taryn’s hair brushed the top of the door frame. I looked at her feet. She was wearing heels, I noticed, which would explain the extra height. Not that she needed it - Taryn was as tall as Sasha. That made two Amazons in my life – both tall, strong, and always wearing little smiles that made me wonder what they were thinking.
The first words out of Cindy were, “A bodyguard?” Taryn was practically cackling as she slid into our usual booth across from me. Cindy slipped off to the counter to grab drinks. Leaning over the table with her head in her hands, Taryn grinned at me.
“A bodyguard?” she echoed. “Are you sure? Is it because of last night?” At her own question, she lost the smile on her face. Her eyebrows knitted together in time with mine. I sighed and leaned back against the booth seat, staring up at the ceiling.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I don’t even know if he knew about that before he saw this.” I gestured to the bruise. Taryn’s eyes followed my hand and she nodded. “But now I’m stuck with a bodyguard. Who is probably outside right now, actually.” Taryn leaned around the booth and peaked out the window. Her eyes flicked left, then right, and she bit her lip.
“Is it the one with the broad shoulders and the military hair?” she asked. I nodded. Fanning herself, Taryn fell back into the seat, grinning. “God, if men had looked like that when I was in the army I wouldn’t have left!” She laughed. “But he doesn’t strike me as army, though.” She shrugged.
“You can tell?” I asked. I leaned forward, purposely not looking out the window. Before Taryn could reply, Cindy slid into their seats. She had a tray of drinks in one hand and a tray of pizza in the other. We snagged our drinks from her and Taryn slid over to let her in.
“So, a bodyguard?” asked Cindy. Taryn pointed out the window and winked. Following her gaze, Cindy glanced out as well and obviously saw Tom, as she came back with a flushed face.
“Wow.” She grinned. “Military.”
“Navy, I bet, he carries himself more like a sailor than a soldier,” said Taryn. “But God that means he is strong and smart and not to mention fine.” I rolled my eyes at both of them.
“My father said he was a Navy SEAL, actually,” I said.
Taryn’s eyes went wide and her lips parted slightly. “Wow,” she breathed.
“Have you two stopped to think about what this means beyond having a hot guy to talk about?” I asked.
“So you do think he’s hot,” said Taryn.
“Of course I think he’s hot, you’d have to be blind not to,” I snapped. Then I sighed and slumped back against the seat. Scrubbing a hand over my face, I groaned. “I don’t think you guys get it. I was finally getting away from my Dad and all his stupid senator shit. I was going to be independent and not have to ask him for help anymore. Then I get assaulted and this stupid bodyguard thing happens. I don’t want a bodyguard. I don’t need protecting. And if I did, why wouldn’t I just ask you?” I looked Taryn in the eye when I said this. “You’re probably just as good as him, and not nearly as obvious.”
Taryn shook her head, “As much as I love the compliment, girl, I’m not as good as him. SEALs are an entirely different class from regular military. Besides, I didn’t keep up with my training, just my running. Plus, your father is overprotective but-“
I cut her off. “There is no but! This is an invasion of my privacy.” I scrubbed my face again and bit savagely into a slice of pizza. “God, I don’t want this. I don’t need this. I am independent and I will not be made a mockery of!”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Cindy asked. She was nibbling on a slice of her own. I thought about it. I couldn’t very well go back to my father and tell him about how I felt – I’d tried that earlier and it had had no effect. I couldn’t just tell Tom to fuck off, he was being paid to listen to my father, not me. That left a few options, but only one of them really appealed to me.
“I sneak out. We go to a party, get drunk, have fun. I prove that the assault was a one off thing and that it won’t happen again.” I grinned and felt the pull of the bruise again. A curse slipped passed my lips.
“You sure? That’s a pretty nasty bruise,” said Taryn. I almost rolled my eyes at Taryn. I didn’t need reminding from her when it was doing a good job on its own.
“Hey, I’ve got you, don’t I?” I asked. I looked to the window and grinned. “Besides, if Tommy-boy is going to guard me, then he better know just what he’s getting in to. I’m not going to make this easy for him. Not at all.” A low chuckle built in my throat and I only just caught the way Taryn and Cindy glanced to one another.
“All right,” said Taryn. “We’re in.”
“Good,” I said. “Tomorrow night then.”
“Tomorrow night,” agreed Cindy.
Chapter 3
At two in the morning my watch started beeping. I grinned and threw back the bed covers. My boots were at the end of the bed – no more heels for me for a long while. I slipped across the floor and went to my window. It was only the second storey, so I swung out and rolled when I hit the ground. An old trick I’d picked up in high school. My father never had figured that out, and since he was insisting I stay with him for a few days, I figured using it was fair game.
I slipped through the shadows around the edge of the building and bolted for the road. Half a block down was Cindy’s car – a sleek red thing with white rimmed tires. Cindy and Taryn were sitting in the front seats. Taryn’s dress was done up in dark green with little patterns that made me think of the army; whereas Cindy was dressed like something out of a spy movie. Both were fitting, considering who I was running from tonight.
“You ready?” asked Cindy. I looked back at the house – at its darkened windows and imposing size, at the house that I had once called home, and at two men who probably didn’t know I was gone.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m ready.” I climbed in the backseat and we sped off. Taryn cranked the radio as we drove, making it almost impossible to speak. I didn’t mind. My mind was too wrapped in today’s events, and even here, on the way to a party, I was thinking about my father. I just couldn’t figure out why he was so absolutely insistent on my having a bodyguard. It seemed like such a huge overreaction.
“You guys see that behind us?” asked Cindy. I looked back. Her voice was high and worried. Headlights from a car behind us burned into my eyes and I winced, looking to Taryn and Cindy. Behind the driver’s seat, Cindy was pale and shaky. I didn’t understand why until I realized how close the car was. “Why is he so close?” Her voice cracked at the end. I looked from the car behind us to Taryn, my own eyes widening.
“Take the next left,” said Taryn. “Let’s see if they follow us.” Cindy swung into the next street. For a second, we were alone, and then the headlights reappeared.
“Taryn…” I leaned forward and gripped Cindy’s shoulder as she whimpered Taryn’s name. Taryn was frowning, her fingers playing with a piece of her afro.
She said, “Let me think.” The car grew closer and closer. I watched through the rear view window and gripped Cindy’s shoulder more tightly.
“Just don’t stop. We should be fine,” I said. I hoped my voice didn’t betray my doubt. The car grew closer and closer and as it did, Cindy accelerated. With a sudden burst of the speed, the car slammed into us. I jolted forward. My head banged against Taryn’s shoulder. Cindy screamed. The car slammed
against us again. It got right up to our bumper and pushed. Cindy kept screaming. Her car moved even as she slammed the breaks. Taryn pulled the emergency break, but it kept moving. The car behind us pushed us faster and faster down the empty city streets. I pressed a hand to my head and breathed deep.
“Please, please, stop,” sobbed Cindy. She clung to the steering wheel, tears pouring down her face. I gripped one of Taryn’s hands, my own vision blurring with tears. What did they want? What were they going to do to us? I bit my own lip hard enough to taste the familiar old-penny-tang of blood.
“They’re pulling back,” said Taryn. Sure enough, the pressure of the car lessened and we slowed down. With both the breaks on the car slid, spinning around to face the car. Their headlights blinded me from seeing the driver. Cindy’s car slammed into a building behind us – slow enough not to cause damage, but fast enough to jar us. I groaned, head resting against the seat in front of me.
Two figures climbed out of the car and came at the car from other side. They pulled open the doors. I stared at them. They were wearing masks and waving guns. I blinked a few times. Why did they have guns? My head was fuzzy, too fuzzy to put together what was going on. I was pulled roughly from the car and tossed to the ground next to Cindy. There was blood coming from her head. Had she hit it?
“Come with us,” said one of the figures. He pointed his gun at Taryn. She stared at me with wide eyes. Her mouth was dropped open in surprise. “Or your friend gets it.” The pieces slid together. They were attacking me because of my father. I tried to push off the ground but fell. The world spun around me.
“Michelle!” cried Taryn as they hauled her by her hair. The rumbling of a motorcycle roared behind me. The engine cut and a figure leapt over my prone form. I was sure it was Tom. I stared as he dove at one of the men, tackling him around the legs. The gun pointed at Taryn fell away as she kicked the man who had been holding it. A gun went off – Tom’s – and the figure he was fighting dropped like a sack of bricks. Taryn kicked the man again, but he grabbed her by her hair and threw her against the car. She gritted her teeth and spat at him. He released her and came at me. Tom shot, but it went wide and the man grabbed my arm. He yanked me to my feet and pressed a gun to my temple.
“Drop the weapon.” Tom froze; his eyes were wide. He raised his hands, gun in one and looked over the man’s shoulder. His lips curled up into a small smile and he shook his head. Cindy was on the ground and Taryn was against the car, but I realized the kidnapper couldn’t see Taryn. The man looked over his shoulder and I took the opportunity to elbow him in the gut. The kidnapper spun, but by then he’d lost his grip on me.
“Tom!” I shouted. Tom shot and so did the kidnapper. The bullet caught the kidnapper in the neck and he dropped in a fountain of blood. I scrambled over to Cindy’s fallen form, checking her head. The sound of Tom crumbling to the ground raised my gaze. He was lying near Taryn. I crawled over to him and checked his pulse. It was slowing.
“Are you all right?” he asked me. His eyes were unfocused.
“I’m fine, are you?” I asked. My fingers flew to his neck, finding his pulse. Cindy was as stable as I could make her and Taryn were cursing behind me, so she was conscious. Tom was my first priority now. “Tom? Are you hurt? Where were you shot?” He groaned and rubbed at his head. His hands were shaking. Bit by bit his eyes slid closed, his gaze finding its way back to me. He cracked a weak smile at me, and then his eyes fluttered shut.
I cursed under my breath and dialed for an ambulance. “Hi, I need an ambulance to…,” I checked the street signs, “The corner of Carter and Wellington for three people.” The operator asked me for the injuries. “Head wound, concussion with possible broken ribs, and a bullet wound – location unknown, blood not found.” I hung up when they told me it was on the way and gripped Tom’s hand.
“Damn it, Daddy,” I muttered. This would have never happened if Tom hadn’t been hired. But if he hadn’t come, well, I didn’t want to think about what would have happened to us. “Hang in there, Tom.” I waited for the ambulance, praying that Tom would survive. I felt so terrible when I realized how disrespectful I had been towards the man who had now saved my life.
Chapter 4
My father was furious. He was justified of course, but that didn’t excuse his shouting and banging around like a child.
“You snuck out,” he roared. “You snuck out and you nearly died. And why? Why did you sneak out? Because you decided to rebel against my wishes.” He rounded on me, his face red with fury. “You are not a child, Michelle.”
I twitched, fists clenching at my sides. “No, I’m not. So why do you treat me like one?” I said, my voice rising into a high-pitched shriek.
“Because you act like one,” he shouted back. He sighed and his shoulders slumped forward. “I’m just trying to protect you. You have no idea what I have to go through to do that.”
“I don’t want to be protected,” I replied, but the heat was gone out of my voice as well. “Daddy, I can take care of myself as long as you tell me what’s going on. If I had known people were after me I would have never gone out like that.” I sighed. “But you can’t expect me to go along with everything you do without knowing why you’re doing it. That’s not how I work, and I won’t do it.”
“Not even if it’s for your own good?” he asked. I shook my head. “Yeah, just like your mother.” Neither one of us spoke for a minute after that. I remembered my mother. A fiery woman from Korea who had never let prejudice get in the way of standing next to my father. I also remembered how she’d died. An armed man who’d attacked my father when he first became a senator. She’d taken a bullet meant for him and died on the stage in his arms.
I blinked a few times at the memory and jumped a bit when tears slid down my cheeks. I missed my mother, but I hadn’t cried about her in years. Embarrassed, I wiped my eyes and looked back at my father. He coughed, just as embarrassed as I was.
“So, how are they?” I asked. I hadn’t been allowed to ride along to the hospital. Now, Taryn, Cindy, and Tom were all at the hospital and I was here, standing in the main hall with my father.
“Stable, for the most part. Cindy has suffered a nasty head injury and will have to stay a few days. The doctors are waiting for her to wake up to see how it affects her, if at all. Taryn has a minor concussion and a cracked rib, plus extensive bruising on her upper body.” I nodded. I’d figured the first two – I’d been a vet long enough to spot most injuries on humans and animals. “As for Tom, he was wearing a bullet proof vest, that’s why you couldn’t find a bullet hole. He passed out from shock.” I almost smiled at that. It was funny in it's own terrifying sort of way. Shock instead of a wound. I wonder how embarrassed he was over that.
“You can go see them in the morning,” said my father. “But not before, they need their rest. Taryn and Cindy have the same room, so you don’t have to worry about them being alone. As for Tom, I’m sure he’ll survive.” I nodded. “As for the attackers….” He sighed. “I’m sorry for not telling you, and as long as you’re here, I want to explain it all to you. You see, I’m running for senator again, as you know, and there are those who don’t want me to regain my position. My adviser warned me that there were people after me, but I didn’t understand the extent of the danger until tonight. Do you see now why I hired Tom?” I nodded, and, without waiting for more explanation wished him good night and headed up to my room.
It was another hard night of sleeping. My dreams were filled with ‘what ifs’ and worst case scenarios. What if one of my friends had died? That would have been on my head. To never see Cindy or Taryn again would be torture. They were my best friends and I couldn’t stand the thought of losing them. I didn’t know Tom as well, but he seemed decent enough, and he’d saved us at just the right time too. That meant he’d been following us, and while I usually would be angry at that, I couldn’t help but be grateful he’d done so. What would have happened if he hadn’t? The images for the answer filled my dreams
as I tossed and turned in my too-large too-cold bed.
When morning came I couldn’t get to the hospital fast enough. First, I’d check on Taryn and Cindy and make sure they were okay. Then, if I had time before work, I’d go see Tom as well. It only seemed right, seeing as he’d saved my life. My lips twitched. A life for a visit – yes, that was completely fair. I almost laughed at the absurdness of it all.
Taryn and Cindy were awake when I walked into their room. They sat together on one bed playing cards and it took me a second to realize they were playing a trading card game. Something with elemental attacks and multicolored hamsters. At least, I thought they looked like hamsters.
“Are you two all right?” I asked, leaning against the door frame. Taryn looked up and flashed me a grin. She tossed another card into the pile.
“Flame thrower,” she said. Cindy groaned and threw down her cards, flopping back. As she did, I caught sight of where they’d shaved her head in order to stitch her up. The short cut hair around the new stitches made me wince. I was the one they’d been after and I’d been the one with the least amount of damage. There weren’t words for how unjust that felt. “We’re pretty good,” said Taryn. “Recovering nicely.”
