The Assignment (Massey Security Duet Book 1)

by S. Nelson

  “How… how do you know anything about me?” he stuttered, and it was then I caught a glimpse of the real him. A guy who portrayed one version of himself to the world, someone who appeared to have it all, but he was really a guy who didn’t have the first clue about himself.

  I’d retrieved Kurt’s last name, Mansfield, from Emily on the ride home the night before and had given it to Owen, instructing him to find out as much as he could. With a bit of digging, calling on the special skills of Cal, one of the other guys in our firm, Owen was able to obtain some pertinent information about him.

  For starters, he’d been in and out of rehab several times over the past few years, his father footing the bill each time. But dear ol’ dad, who was the CEO of a well-known tech firm, had a gambling problem, and threatened to cut his son off if he relapsed again. I supposed he needed all the money he could get for his own addiction.

  A glimmer of fear pulsed behind Kurt’s blown-up pupils, and it was enough to let me know he’d listen this time. He lived off his father’s money and spent his time partying as much of it away as he could. No way he was gonna risk that.

  “Stay away or else.” I released him before turning to face Cara. Surprisingly, she was still there. Most likely intrigued by my encounter with her little boyfriend. Or should I say ex-boyfriend? Or whatever the hell he was to her. No matter, he wasn’t allowed anywhere near her. Both by my threat and by the threat of her father. Even if she did try and contact Kurt, my gut told me she wasn’t worth more to him than him keeping up his lifestyle.

  I walked toward her with purpose. Silence ensued. A good ol’ fashioned standoff. But because I wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as humanly possible, I spoke first. “Are you ready?” My question had so many meanings. Are you ready to leave this house? Are you ready to stop rebelling against everyone close to you? Are you ready to grow up? Are you ready to stop pissing me off?

  “Hmph,” was the only sound she made before she disappeared through the broken door. The sashay of her hips did nothing to suppress the disappointment I held toward her and what she’d done here today. If I had any question whether she’d snorted that shit, all I had to do was look into her eyes. The same as Kurt’s. Blown. The blush of her skin was another indicator. As well as the speed with which she raced down the driveway, barreling toward the driver-side door.

  Once I’d realized Cara had taken off, I’d grabbed Owen and we’d left the house. I’d almost forgotten about Emily until I’d seen her through the kitchen window. Once my brother had filled her in on what happened, together, we were on our way to find her sister within minutes.

  My brother and Emily were waiting for us in Emily’s car. My quickened long strides had me standing next to Cara in seconds, snatching the keys from her hand.

  “I don’t think so.”

  She reached to take them back but failed. “I can drive myself back.” She tried once more to retrieve the keys, but when she saw I wasn’t giving in, she gave up. But instead of getting in the Porsche, she took off down the driveway, rushing like she’d just set the place on fire.

  “Hey!” I shouted, but she kept going, so I hopped in the vehicle and took off after her. She was fast, but she wasn’t faster than the expensive hunk of steel I navigated behind her. I rolled down the window. “Get in.” Nothing. She ignored me and kept speed walking. “I mean it, Cara. Get. In.” More insolence. “If you don’t get in right now, I’ll be forced to tell your father what happened and insist you cancel your little birthday trip to California.” That got her attention.

  “You wouldn’t.” Although she didn’t phrase her response as a question, it most certainly was.

  “You know I will.” I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel.

  “Why? Why do you keep sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong?” I opened my mouth to answer, but she shook her head, showing me the palm of her hand. “Never mind. I don’t care why.” Her right foot propelled her forward and I cleared my throat.

  “Don’t call my bluff,” I threatened. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head, working through every possible scenario until she’d mentally exhausted herself in the span of a few seconds.

  She pulled on the door handle of the rear door, but it was locked. My eyes were glued to her while she waited for me to let her in, and had she not slammed her hand against the doorframe, I would’ve kept watching her.

  “Open. The. Door.” She was angry, but instead of continuing with the odd struggle for power, I clicked the locks and she jumped in. Truth be told, I was shocked she didn’t ride back with Emily and Owen.

  She stared out the window, no doubt to avoid my eyes in the mirror each time I looked back at her. Several times, I heard her sniff, then witnessed her pinching her nostrils.

  I often wondered if I’d had more conversations with my sister if things would’ve turned out differently. If I’d been more attentive, taken her calls more, or put aside my need to earn more money and had checked in on her more often, would she be alive today? Expressing those thoughts to Owen, over and over after her death, earned me a stern talking to, reminding me it wasn’t our fault. That we didn’t know she had a serious problem. But I called bullshit every time he spewed those words. We should’ve known. Julia was our baby sister and because of our neglect, she was dead.

  Or to be more accurate, her death happened because of an argument I had with her. But the last thing I wanted to do right then was rehash old memories because I needed to focus on the issue at hand. The woman sitting behind me. Someone who refused to take accountability for her actions because she was self-centered. And immature, to boot.

  Before I could stop myself, my mouth opened, and words flowed freely. Too freely.

  “You’re selfish,” I blurted. So many other words could’ve been spoken, but those two were the ones forced from my throat.

  “Excuse me.” It was the first time she looked forward, her eyes catching mine in the mirror.

  “You heard me. You’re not thinking about anyone but yourself. It’s the definition of selfish.” As usual, my sunglasses shielded my eyes, which worked to my advantage because I was harder to read that way.

  “What business is it of yours to even be concern—” She turned her attention back toward the window. “You know what? I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of answering you. What I do is my business. Not yours. How I act and who it affects is of no concern to you. I don’t understand why you care so much anyway. You’re hired to watch over me and nothing more. You shouldn’t be talking to me otherwise.” She swung her eyes back toward the front of the vehicle, toward me. “And for your information, I need to be a little selfish. Who the hell else is going to take care of me? Huh? My parents won’t be there to always help me out, and my sister has her own life, one she obviously doesn’t want to include me in seeing as she’s sided with them over me.” She rambled on for another twenty seconds before finally saying, “So if I’m selfish, there’s a good reason for it.”

  I couldn’t help myself. “So much for you not answering me.” The corner of my lip curved, and she gasped, most likely angry she’d done what she hadn’t wanted to, which was engage me.

  “Smug bastard.”

  “I’ve been called worse.”

  The rest of the drive back was in silence.

  * * *

  Cara

  The chime of the doorbell drove me down the stairs and toward the front door, needing to explain everything to my best friend like never before. The past two days had passed by in a blur, mainly because all I did was sleep and lose myself by binge-watching Netflix shows.

  I opened the door to find Naomi on the porch, but she wasn’t alone. Ford stood right next to her. In fact, he blocked her entrance into the house. I cleared my throat, and he half turned in my direction, but not enough to fully look at me.

  “All visitors have to be cleared beforehand.” The gruff of his tone prickled my awareness he was so close, but his voice, paired with the rigid
ness of his posture, reminded me I was beyond infuriated with him, and as such, I wouldn’t pay him or his absurd rules any mind.

  “That’ll never happen.” I reached around him and grabbed Naomi’s hand, pulling her into the house behind me. Normally, we’d sit in the living room or hang out by the pool, but I wanted some privacy, if that was at all possible with Ford watching my every move.

  “What’s his problem?” she asked, flopping on top of my bed to get comfortable. “He’s hot as shit, but he seems very moody.” Naomi twirled the strands of her red hair around her finger a few times before she jumped up, sitting Indian-style and looking like she had the biggest secret.

  “What?”

  She hesitated. “I’m not sure I should tell you.” Her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth before she shook her head. “Forget I said anything. I don’t want you to be upset.”

  “Upset about what?” She shook her head again, keeping her lips sealed. “What is it?” I prompted, curious to hear what she didn’t want to say.

  “It’s about Kurt.”

  “What about him?” My mind went crazy, thinking of all the possible things she could have to tell me about him. Had he told anyone what happened at his house with Ford the other day? Had he made threats toward him?

  “Are you sure you want to know?”

  “Oh my God, Naomi. Out with it.” I sat in the chair in the corner, the same one Ford had pulled next to my bed and had passed out in.

  “He was hanging all over some skank at the club last night.”

  “So.”

  “So?” She leaned across the bed and stared at me, reading my expression for my true feelings. But there they were, out in the open for her to see.

  “Yeah. So. I don’t care who he sleeps with.”

  “Wait, I’m confused. Aren’t you two a thing?”

  “Not anymore. Ford saw to that.” If I were honest, having Ford warn Kurt to stay away from me, and hearing that Kurt had already moved on to someone else didn’t upset me. It was the fact that Ford had overstepped and humiliated me in the process that I had issues with. I wasn’t in love with Kurt, far from it. He was just a guy to pass the time. But I had thought he liked me more, although having someone like Ford threaten him probably squashed whatever feelings he did have toward me.

  Naomi swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “What do you mean?”

  Before I got into the story, the one I’d been dying to tell her about, I needed something to take the edge off. “Do you have any candy?” I was referring to cocaine, and by the way she glared at me, I knew she wasn’t happy I’d asked.

  “I stopped doing that shit, and you should, too. It’s no good for you.”

  My bestie had met a guy a couple of months back, and ever since then, she’d changed a few things about herself. Nothing for the worse, only better. And while I was happy that she was happy, I wasn’t like her. I liked the way I was. I enjoyed my lifestyle. I had no plans of altering my life any time soon. Well, more than the required amount since the inclusion of our security.

  “Do you have anything?”

  “I think I have a Valium. Do you want that?”

  “Please.” She scrounged around in her purse until she found it. I had no idea how old it was, and I didn’t care. After I swallowed it, I joined her on the bed, the both of us relaxing and lying side by side.

  After a short bout of silence, she reached over and squeezed my hand. “So, what happened?”

  I released a breath and started from the beginning. Some of it she knew and some she didn’t, mainly what happened at Kurt’s house.

  “After I found out that Ford was the one who ratted me out to my father, putting the thought in his head that I shouldn’t date anyone, especially Kurt, I was furious. So I took off to his house.”

  “To the one person you were forbidden to see. Typical Cara,” Naomi chided, flashing me a quick grin.

  “I suppose.” I smiled back. She was right, of course. Tell me not to do something, and I’d go out of my way to do it. “Anyway, I was only there a short while before Ford barged in. Literally. He broke the front door.”

  “Holy shit!”

  “Yeah, holy shit is right. At first, I thought he was just going to make me come with him, but then he saw Kurt and attacked him.”

  “What did he do?” Naomi turned on her side, and I mimicked her posture so we faced each other. Growing up, many people often thought Naomi was my sister. While I couldn’t see the resemblance, we did share the same shade of blue eyes and similar shaped nose, hers dusted with freckles.

  “He slammed him against the wall and threatened him to stay away from me.” I broke eye contact for a moment before looking back at her. She knew I partied, coke my recent drug of choice but unease unfurled in my stomach about telling her this part of the story. Probably because she’d just reminded me of her disapproval. “He saw the coke on the table and told him that he’d tell his father all about it if he ever came near me again.”

  “How does he know his father?”

  “I don’t think he does, but he knew enough details to put the fear into him. To make him believe his dad would find out if he didn’t listen. And I have no doubt Ford would do exactly as he threatened, if need be.”

  Naomi rolled onto her back and stared at my ceiling.

  “What?” No response except for a slight tilt of her lips. “What?” I repeated, hitting her thigh with the back of my hand. “Tell me.”

  “I don’t know anything about Ford other than he’s gorgeous, tall, mysterious, and moody.”

  “Sounds to me like you know a lot about him,” I joked, mirroring her expression. Her description of Ford was accurate, but she didn’t know about all the other stuff. Like the way he watched me. He seemed uninterested, like having to look out for me was a bore, but then there were a few times I caught a glimpse of something else on his face. Most of the time he had on those damn glasses, but the few times I looked into his eyes, I thought I caught a glimpse of something else there. Curiosity? Interest? I couldn’t be sure because it always disappeared before I could dissect it.

  My best friend also didn’t know about the times he’d overstepped his security detail. Showing up in my bathroom while I was bathing, although I’d essentially done the same to him, catching him walking into his bedroom in nothing but a towel. She was present when he’d embarrassed me when I’d thrown the pool party, so she had some idea of what I was dealing with. I’d filled her in here and there, but most times I’d been so frustrated with him—and always having him around—that I glossed over the topic, wanting to discuss anything else.

  “I’m just saying if it were me, I wouldn’t be complaining about having to look at him every day.” Her smile widened, and all I could do was shake my head.

  “He is nice to look at.” I couldn’t believe I admitted that, but it was to Naomi. She wouldn’t hold it against me. “It doesn’t mean I like him. Not one bit. In fact, I’m counting down the days until this is all over with and he’s gone for good.”

  “But until then….” She bit her bottom lip and gyrated her hips, mimicking sex.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Tell me you’ve never thought about him while you flicked the bean.” She laughed when my mouth fell open. Not because I was embarrassed to talk about sex, because I most certainly wasn’t, but the thought of masturbating with the image of Ford in my head… was so wrong.

  “There hasn’t been much of that these days.”

  “So, you’re not denying it, then.”

  “I’m saying that there are cameras in every room of the house, minus the bathrooms. So, it’s not like I can do it before bed like I used to.”

  Naomi’s nose crinkled. “That sucks.” I nodded. “You’ll just have to take longer showers.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek before hopping off the bed and heading toward the bathroom.

  My eyes zoned in on the camera above the window and were fixated there until Naomi reemerged. I tried to think
of ways to get back at Ford for everything he’d done, to get under his skin in some way, and I believed, thanks to my bestie, that I found a way.

  * * *

  Ford

  Minus the incident with Cara’s friend Naomi earlier, I made sure to lay low these last couple of days, simply because I didn’t have it in me to get into any more altercations with Cara. The woman drained me, and I berated myself for letting her get to me. When I discussed my issues with Owen, he told me I was all worked up because I liked her. Like… liked her. He earned a punch for saying that stupid shit. He rubbed his arm and grinned, leaving me to brood by myself.

  After finishing up an episode of some crime show, I decided to call it a night. I’d finished my last set of rounds an hour ago, avoiding Cara who was hunkered down on the couch watching TV. I’d barely paid her any attention as I walked through the entire house.

  As it was almost midnight, my brother had already turned in. I double-checked the locks to make sure the place was secure before heading into the spare room, which had been converted into a makeshift surveillance room. I checked each camera to ensure everything was quiet when I came across the one set up in Cara’s bedroom.

  I’d been respectful, always looking away whenever I saw her emerge from her bathroom in a towel or her loosely wrapped robe. She knew I could see her. Hell, she’d even accused me of watching her, which I never did. Not for long, anyway.

  But for some reason, my eyes stayed glued to the screen. She wasn’t doing anything different than she had before, with the exception that every move she made loosened the belt of her robe. But she never retightened it, like she normally did. Instead, she let the silk material part, exposing the fullness of her tits before the flat of her belly appeared. Then her robe widened even more until it had completely come undone.