by S. C. Ellen
I head into Tessa’s apartment with the spare key she gave me and see that she’s already knocked out for the night.
I put on my PJs, cuddle up next to her, and once my head hits the pillow, I’m fast asleep, as well.
“Al! Al, wake up!” I hear a frantic Tess and feel her adamantly tapping me on my shoulder.
“Go back to sleep,” I groan, putting the pillow over my head.
“Al, seriously, get up, I’m freaking out.” She shakes me.
“It’s probably nothing, Tess, just go back to—” I begin to ramble but immediately pause once I hear some ruffling coming from outside the door.
“What the hell was that?” I shoot up from the mattress and grab the baseball bat that I know Tessa keeps under the bed.
“Should I call the police?!” Tessa half shouts, picking up her phone and getting ready to dial 911.
We hear some more ruffling and footsteps coming closer to the room.
“No! You never involve the pigs, you know that! Now grab something to use as a weapon and back me up. I’m going to see what it is.”
Tessa grabs a nearby curling iron, and I all but slap her upside the head at what a ridiculous defensive weapon that is.
“Seriously? A curling iron?” I scold.
“I picked up the first thing I could find. Now shut up and let’s go before I have a panic attack and pass out!”
She pushes me to the door, and I quietly open it, tiptoeing out first to check the hallway.
Nothing.
I gesture to Tessa to follow behind quietly. We are at the end of the hallway now, and I realize that the shuffling is coming from the foyer.
I hide behind a corner and hesitantly peek around the edge. I see a tall man turned away from view, wearing a black hoodie and jeans, whispering quietly on the phone.
I point to show Tessa, and I hear her gasp silently with a hand over her mouth.
Time to make our move.
I come out into view and switch on the light.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” I yell, raising my bat high into a hitting position.
The man’s shoulders stiffen, and he turns around, hanging up his phone.
Tessa moves to stand next to me, holding her curling iron like a damn wand when she suddenly freezes with a question. “Uh… Al? Why is that Blizzard guy standing in the middle of my living room?”
I must look as confused as I feel. “Carson? What the hell are you doing here?”
“It’s not what it looks like.” His eyes run over my bat and down over my PJs. He has a sensuous look on his face as he takes in my tiny boy shorts and the tank top to match.
“Oh, really? Because it looks an awful lot like you trying to break into my best friend’s house!”
I am furious; who does this guy think he is?
“What are you even doing here and how exactly did you get in?” Tessa is a ball of nerves next to me, and I can tell how frightened she is. Her safety has been compromised, and it’s all my fault. There’s only one reason, and one reason only, as to why Carson would be here right now…and that reason is because of me.
“Apparently he’s my new bodyguard.” I drop the bat and head into the kitchen to take a pain reliever because I can already feel the start of a migraine coming on.
“Uh… Okay, but that doesn’t answer how the hell he managed to get into my house?” For an extremely odd and tense few seconds, Tessa and Carson have a stare-down. Carson looks like he wants to say something, and Tess looks like a deer in headlights.
With the clearing of his voice, Carson answers, “I picked the lock.”
“And how did you know she was even here in the first place?”
“I tracked her phone,” he calmly voices, like breaking and entering while stalking a person is the most normal thing in the world to him.
“Well, here I am. You found me! Now leave.” I open the front door for him and motion my hand for him to exit.
“Can’t. Not unless you come with me.” He crosses his arms across his chest and takes a firm stance in the living room.
“There’s absolutely no way I’m going anywhere with you. So, you might as well save yourself the effort.”
I stand my ground, too. I refuse to let this man win. This is my freedom that’s on the line.
“We can do this all day, Princess, but at the end of the day you know there is no way around it,” he states, eyeing me sternly. “So, we can go about this in one of two ways…the hard way or my way. Pick your choice. I’d choose wisely if I were you.” And the sneer that works its way across his face has tiny little goosebumps rising against my skin.
“Hmm, which option do you think I should go with, Tess? I’m thinking both ways sound pretty lame to me, don’t you think?” I state, sounding a lot braver than I feel.
She throws down the curling iron and picks up her cellphone. “Al, I think you should pick whatever gets this guy the hell out of my house faster, before I call the fucking SWAT team on his ass!”
I stifle a laugh and agree.
“So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” Like a predator after its prey, Carson’s whole demeanor turns almost animalistic as he slowly makes his way over to me. I back up from him cautiously and realize he’s managed to back me into a corner.
“How-what’s going to be?” I falter because of his proximity, breathing harsher than usual. I wish I could say it’s mostly because of fear, but it isn’t. It’s mixed with the complete opposite.
He’s so close to me I can smell his exotic and hypnotizing scent, mixed with aftershave and the mint on his breath.
It’s enticing. It’s overwhelming. It’s purely him, and I will myself not to get so enthralled by it, but I’m failing miserably.
He traps me in with both of his muscled arms straining against the wall on either side of me. He leans in closer, causing me to shudder beneath him at the feeling of his warm breath hot against the sweet spot on my neck. He takes a step closer, and we are now almost touching. My nipples strain hard against the material of my shirt from his close proximity, and with having no bra on to cover them, I’m sure he has a full view. My lips part in awe at the way his eyes dilate a darker shade of green as he stares down at me with a smirk. “I love a good chase, Alayna, but you should know, I always win. Always.”
I push away from the wall, taking a step away from him. Damn my traitorous body. Luckily, he doesn’t know that two can play at this game. “Is that a threat or a challenge?”
An evil glint sparks in his eye, “Care to find out?”
Before I can even process my next thought, I am lifted into the air and thrown effortlessly over his broad shoulder.
We are out the door in a matter of seconds, and the cold night air hits my exposed skin as a shiver wracks the entire length of my body.
“Put me down!” I shout, struggling against his hard shoulder and pounding furiously on his firm backside.
“Not happening.” He walks past a bunch of parked cars until we reach a Mustang.
He opens the passenger side door and throws me in, already sitting in the driver’s seat before I can even yank the door open to escape.
I pull hard on the handle, but it’s no use because he’s already locked it.
“Let me out of this car right now, Carson,” I angrily demand. “Kidnapping me was not a part of the deal!”
“Put your seatbelt on,” is all he says before he pulls out of the parking spot and speeds out onto the road.
“Whoa! Slow down!” I shriek as I hurriedly put on my seatbelt.
He smirks and accelerates to one hundred and five.
I’m all for driving fast, hell, even I do it. But this guy takes it to the extreme. I look up and hastily regret my decision, seeing as he passed a stop sign and a red light altogether.
“Who gave you your damn license?” I place my hands over my eyes, getting nauseous from just looking out of the window and seeing how fast everything is flying by.
We finally
pull into my driveway, and I have never been so thankful to see it in all my life. I don’t even question how he knows where I live; all I know is that as soon as he unlocks the door, I’m out of it in seconds. I run up to the garage to get out of the freezing night air and punch in the code.
I hear a car door shut and see Carson taking a bag out of his backseat, heading my way.
“What are you doing?” I ask. Does he really think I’m going to let him stay here after all that he just did?
“You heard your dad, Alayna, this is going to happen whether you like it or not.” He runs a hand through a lock of his hair, looking tired and in need of a bed.
I finally sigh out in defeat, feeling too tired to go on, as well. I put up a good fight, but he’s right, it’s going to happen whether I want it to or not, and I obviously can’t do anything about it. He may have won this battle, but it won’t happen again.
“Upstairs, last door to the right can be your bedroom. The bathroom is two doors down from you and my bedroom is right across. Stay out of my way, and we won’t have a problem.”
I hear him follow me up the steps, and I suddenly wish I was wearing something a little less revealing, but my exhausted mind won’t allow me to dwell on it too much. I enter my bedroom, and nearly face plant on my bed.
This has got to be the most tiring and eventful day of my life. Not only do I have a strange man who has been a mystery all my life living with me, but I have a strange, sexy man who just so happens to be the big scary fighter whom everyone worships, and I can’t help but be attracted to.
Not to mention the independence I have worked so hard for has now been brutally ripped away from me, and there is nothing I could do to stop it. It’s back to being sheltered and living in that lonely void again, where my life isn’t my own to live how I want to. It’s cruel and absolutely humiliating.
I was teased with the life I always wanted for myself, and now here I am. Back to square one.
I check the clock on the table…3:32 a.m.
With a heavy mind and even heavier eyelids, I fall into restless sleep where the only dream I have is one of me being imprisoned by a pair of enchanting green eyes with no way out in sight.
Alayna
I’m awoken by the smell of fresh coffee brewing, which has me a bit confused. Flashbacks of last night appear through the fog in my memory, and I inwardly cringe.
I head straight to the bathroom, in desperate need of a shower to wash away the stress of last night, and also the makeup I forgot to wipe off that has now smudged all over my face.
After my shower, I head downstairs and find Carson perched on one of the barstools, drinking a cup of coffee and with a newspaper in hand.
“Glad to see you’ve made yourself at home,” I mock, walking past him to pour myself a cup.
He puts the newspaper down, and I see that he’s shirtless, donning only a pair of workout shorts, looking like he just came back from a morning run.
I involuntarily gulp, trying not to get distracted by his array of tattoos and defined ab muscles.
“Glad to see that you’re a real ray of sunshine in the morning.” He retorts taking a long sip of his coffee.
Touché.
He returns to his reading, and I grab a mug from one of the counters, and fill my cup. Three spoons of cream and a crap ton of sugar. The breakfast of champions. Just how I like it.
I lean on one of the kitchen counters and stare out the window above the sink, taking a sip.
After a few minutes, my eyes trail back to the beast of a man sitting in my kitchen…
“Do you usually not wear a shirt?” I blurt, cursing my tongue for having a mind of its own.
He peeks over the newspaper with a raised brow. “When I work out, no, I don’t wear a shirt. Is that a problem?”
Yes. For my mental well-being.
“No, not at all.”
He gives me a pointed look, “Good. Any other questions?”
“A few.”
“Well?”
“I guess we should start with the obvious one, how do you know my father?”
“I work for him.”
“Obviously,” I sarcastically note. “But how did you guys come to meet?” Setting my cup down, I grab a yogurt from the fridge and sit in front of him.
He sets the newspaper down and folds his arms across his chest. “Quite the curious one, aren’t you?”
I roll my eyes and lick the yogurt from my spoon. His eyes watch my every movement.
“Yes, it’s what I’m best known for. Now, are you going to answer my question or not?”
He picks up the paper, blocking his face from view again, and goes back to his reading, ignoring me.
I huff out in frustration. This man is so damn secretive, it’s driving me crazy. The pile of skeletons in his closet are probably as deep as the ocean. “You can’t hide from me forever, you know.”
“Who said I was hiding?”
He walks over to the sink and washes out his mug, clearly not going to give any information on the subject, any time soon. Feeling even more confused than I was before about him, I continue with my breakfast, until it’s time to leave for work.
“I have to get going, so…don’t wait up for me or hesitate to clean up around here.”
Hey, if he’s living here, I might as well get something out of it.
He wipes his hand off on a rag and turns toward me. “I was ordered to protect you, so that means anywhere you go, I go.”
I nearly spew my coffee all over my kitchen table. “You can’t follow me to work, you’ll get me fired!”
Carson must be delusional if he thinks I’m letting that happen. It’s one thing to interfere with my life, but with my career? He’s lost his mind.
I work at a therapist’s office as an assistant, and I absolutely adore it. There is no way this guy is going to ruin that for me.
“We have to set up some boundaries here. You can’t hover over me at my job, Carson. That’s crazy! What would my boss think?” I finish my coffee and rinse the mug out in the sink, putting it back where it was before.
“Fine. But I’ll be in the area, and I better receive a text from you notifying me of your whereabouts, every hour on the hour. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll come barging in there without hesitation.”
“Wait, who are we kidding?” I interrupt. “We’re not really going to follow through with this bodyguard thing, right? It’s ridiculous! As you can tell, I’m not in any danger, and if I were, I am more than capable of handling myself. So, we can keep up the pretenses in front of my father, but other than that, you stay out of my way, and I stay out of yours. How does that sound?”
He stares blankly at me. “If you don’t think you’re in any type of danger, then you are sadly mistaken and naïve, Alayna.”
“Excuse me?”
“Look, I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me to be here, but for fuck’s sake, can you just let me do my job? And I promise, once we’re done here, you’ll never have to see me again. I’ll be just as anonymous as I was before.”
“At least we’re on the same page about something.”
He rounds the kitchen counter and steps close to me. A sneer making its way across his face. “Trust me, sweetheart, if it were up to me, I’d take out the whole Russian mob myself if that meant ending this quicker.”
I get closer to him, placing a firm hand on my hip. “So, do it, tough guy. Who’s stopping you?”
His eyes shine bright with mischief, “Fuck, you’re right. Who’s stopping me from doing anything I want, really?”
I know what he intended just then, and it was to scare me. Little does he know, I don’t scare easily, but like a skilled hunter, hungry for his next meal, Carson eyes me callously, observing my every move, with a bloodthirsty gleam.
I stand my ground, staring menacingly at him even though my once-confident attitude is now fleeting at a rapid pace, under his stark gaze. “Others might cower in fear from you, Carson, but n
ot me. You don’t scare me.”
He is a breath away now, and I take a faltering step back. His sneer grows wide at the gesture, and soon I am backed against a corner. “I don’t, do I?” He gives a swift lick of his lips, like he can’t wait to sink his teeth in me and have a taste. He leans in close to my ear, “I have half a mind to take you over my knee and show you who’s in charge here.”
A shaky breath escapes me. “You wouldn’t dare.”
He brings his face closer to my own, sending shivers across my skin. “I’d love nothing more.”
I stay rooted to the floor, speechless, feeling my heart rate beat a lot faster than it usually does.
He takes a step back, putting space between us, still wearing that cocky grin of his. “Exactly like I thought. All bark and no bite.”
“You’re an asshole,” I taunt, attempting to regain control of the situation.
“And you, sweetheart, are a real pain in the ass.”
I take a sharp intake of breath and attempt to push him even farther away from me, but he doesn’t budge. My eyes narrow into slits. “You know, I used to feel sorry for you when I was younger. You’re nothing like the person I pictured you to be. Now I just feel sorry for ever wasting my time thinking about you!”
“Now you’re finally speaking some sense.”
“I despise you.”
“Good. It’s better that way.”
I turn my back to him and walk toward the front door. Before I leave, however, I state from over my shoulder. “Fine by me.”
And with that, I slam the door and head to work.
“Good morning, Alayna!” My cheerful boss passes my desk with a wink and heads into her office.
“Morning, Lisa!” I take a seat at the leather chair and start up my computer. Taking my phone from my bag, I find that there is already a text from Carson waiting for me. He must’ve somehow programmed his number into it while I was in the shower earlier.
Carson: Already forgetting our little agreement?
