by M. S. Parker
“What does he want?” she asked.
“I don’t know!” I shouted the words.
She paled and I swore. Spinning away, I shoved my hands through my hair. Dammit! I just kept fucking things up. Yet another reason it would be the best for all involved if I was far away from her.
“I’m sorry,” I said, quieter this time. “Look, I tried to tell you this was a bad idea. This will all end up reflecting badly on you. It’s my fault. Just...we’ll call it quits now. No harm, no foul, right?”
Saying those words hurt more than I’d thought it would.
“Not so fast.”
I hadn’t even made it five feet before Carly’s voice, calm and controlled, split the tension.
I turned around and glared at her. “Don’t you get it? I’m trouble, Carly. As in big. Fucking. Trouble. With a capitol T. If I’m in the car with you and local cops know it, they just might pull you over for the fun of it now. For all I know, they’ll decide to start doing drug searches every time they see us. Ever had your car searched for drugs?”
She jutted her chin. “Yes.”
It took a few seconds for her answer to penetrate. “Ever had anybody...wait, what?”
She stormed toward me, a fury in electric blue. She poked me in the chest with her finger, and I had a feeling that if she’d had her purse, she probably would have hit me with it...again. “You heard me. The answer is yes, Bobby. I’ve had my car searched for drugs. My mother considers the law an optional thing, and half the cops around town think I’m just like her.”
Something in her expression shifted and she suddenly looked years older.
“Remember me telling you about how I met Ryan? That he was a cop and I’d been dating this guy? Well, the guy I was dating, he was a cop’s kid. He tried to rape me one night, and when I got away from him and called the police, the only one who listened to me was Ryan. The rest of them said oh, she was asking for it. You see how that little slut dresses. Oh, they had a few too many drinks...” She glared at me. “Want me to go on?”
I caught her arms. My fingers curled into her skin and I had to remind myself not to squeeze. I didn’t want to hurt her. “Somebody tried to rape you...”
I was going to kill him. Cop’s son or not. I was going to find him and kill him...
Her lashes swept down. “That’s not the point.”
The hell it wasn’t! I’d beat the shit out of any guy who tried to force himself on someone, but the thought of someone trying that with her...it made me sick.
She reached up and cupped my face, bringing my attention back to the present. “Some cops are just assholes, Bobby. And some aren’t. But you got into this mess because you were with me. So I’ll be going with you.”
“With...no.” I let go of her and backed away, shaking my head. Turning on my heel, I recounted the events of the last few days through my head. How had I gotten into this mess? I’d just been walking home. I’d gotten fired from my job and I’d walked home. That was it. I should’ve been in my shitty apartment, trying to find another job. I couldn’t drag Carly down into my world. “You can’t go with me.”
“I don’t see why not.”
Of course she wouldn’t. I had a feeling Carly Prince pretty much went wherever she wanted to go.
But my PO’s office would not be one of those places. No way in hell.
* * *
Somehow, a woman with pin-up girl curves and twisty blonde curls had steamrolled her way into controlling my life, and I had no idea in hell how it’d happened.
It was roughly two hours after I’d gotten the call, and we were sitting under the harsh fluorescent lights while everybody stared at us. Well, maybe it wasn’t everybody, but it sure felt like it. Even in my nice clothes, it was clear I belonged. Just as it was clear the rest of the people with me didn’t.
We would have been there earlier, but Jake had gotten a call that his replacement would be landing at the airport in a half hour, so he’d said we’d wait to go see my PO since I apparently wasn’t going alone. I’d told him this wasn’t one of those things I could put off, and that I was perfectly fine going alone. He’d just smiled and told Ryan to make some phone calls.
Those phone calls somehow included taking my phone, so I had a feeling he’d made a call to my PO. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Beyond pissed off, obviously, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a bit like I was one of the team for real, not just a temporary replacement.
The new guy showed up at the hotel an hour after we’d heard he was coming in. His name was Ridley and, apparently, he’d been the one on vacation. Neither Jake nor Ryan seemed pleased to have called him in early, but Ridley hadn’t complained. Then again, he hadn’t said much of anything at all. I’d gotten the impression that he didn’t talk much in general, but he did thank Carly for calling him in.
Based on the look I’d seen on Jake’s face, it’d been her decision and he hadn’t agreed with it. If I hadn’t been trying to think about ways to go see Detoine alone, I might’ve tried to get a sense of the sort of guy Ridley was. But my head was already too busy.
It still was.
Detoine appeared in the door just as I was getting ready to get up and pace. I’d quit smoking not long after I got out, but sometimes, like now, the urge for a cigarette hit hard and strong. Pacing helped. Lifting weights helped. Other physical activities helped even more. Anything helped.
Well, maybe not anything.
Talking to Detoine and explaining that I was only here because Detective Dale Mitchell hated my guts for destroying his family definitely wasn’t going to help.
For a moment, his gaze lingered on the four people with me, and then he just gave a small shake of his head. “You’re sure keeping interesting company these days. You know that, kid?”
Too nervous to say much, I just shrugged as I stood up. While I never enjoyed coming to see Detoine, and I was always a bit anxious since he could get me thrown back in prison, I was even more keyed up than usual.
And I knew exactly why.
Carly bounced up right next to me. “Hi!” She gave him one of those smiles that managed to light up the entire room. “I hope you don’t mind that I came with Bobby. I think it’s probably my fault that he’s here.”
Detoine’s eyes widened as he took in the force of nature that was Carly Prince. “Ah...of course it’s not your fault. But I really need to talk...”
At that, several people started to crowd closer. Jake and Ryan calmly placed their bodies between Carly and everyone else. Ridley stayed at our back...and that was when it hit me that they weren’t only protecting Carly. Jake and Ryan were making it clear that I was with them, part of them.
My stomach gave a strange flip and I was starting to regret having eaten breakfast.
Detoine dragged a hand down his face, and then he smiled.
“Ms. Prince. Of course, you can come back.”
Somehow, I was sure she’d known that would end up happening, despite the fact that I’d told her the meeting would have to be between me and Detoine. Like I’d said before. She wasn’t the kind of person who was used to being told she couldn’t do something.
* * *
“So run this by me again,” Detoine said fifteen minutes later.
Instead of only Carly and me back here, it was Carly, Jake, Ryan and me. Only Ridley had been left outside the office. We’d needed someone to guard the door, after all, and he didn’t know me. I was certain, however, that he didn’t like me. The look he’d given me when I followed the others into Detoine’s office had been one I was all too used to.
“Just how did you get this bodyguard job, Bobby? By knocking her down?”
“I didn’t exactly knock her down,” I said, shooting her a look before she could interrupt me. Again.
Carly rolled her eyes and I narrowed mine. She grinned at me and reached into her purse – the deadly one – and pulled out her phone. Once she seemed occupied, I explained how I’d been walking home from the
body shop before I’d gotten caught up in the melee that was Carly’s life.
“So you were walking home from your former place of employment.” Detoine nodded. He cocked his head at me. “I know where your old job was and I know where you live. That’s a hike. Why didn’t you ride the bus?”
“I felt like walking.”
Detoine’s forehead wrinkled. “Man, it was like twelve degrees that day. I damn near froze my ass off just walking to the car. It’s gotta be close to five miles from the garage to your apartment.”
“For fuck...” I stopped and cleared my throat. Focusing on the wall past his shoulder. “Look, I just lost my job. I didn’t know how long it would be before I had another one so I wanted to make my money last, okay? It’s not like work’s a dime a dozen for guys like me. I didn’t want to waste money on the bus if I could walk it. It’s no big deal.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Carly’s hands slow on the phone. I could feel Ryan’s and Jake’s eyes on me. That just made me stare at the wall even harder.
“So how did you end up near the Seelbach?” Detoine asked. “That’s a block or two south out of your way.”
I answered honestly, knowing better than to lie about something like this. If Detoine thought for a minute I wasn’t telling the truth about why I took a detour, he could make my life even more miserable. “There were cop cars blocking the street. Several of them on East Mohammed Ali, a few on Fourth near the bars.” I shrugged. “Me and cops don’t get along. You know that.”
Carly winced. “Shit.”
I looked at her.
“That’s, um, that’s my fault. I was over there. And, well.” She looked at Detoine, and then at me. “They blocked it off for crowd control. Bobby, I’m sorry. You were out there walking in the cold because of me.”
“I was walking anyway,” I said. Irritated with all of it, I drummed my fingers on the arm of the chair. “I cut up Fourth by the Seelbach. It’s usually quiet there this time of year, but it was crazy busy. I was too cold to care. A bunch of reporters were grouping up there. Then somebody bumped into me. It was her. I didn’t...” I stopped, tucking my tongue against my lower lip, unsure of where to go at that point.
“He didn’t know me.” Carly smirked, looking completely delighted with herself now. “I was pissed off because one of the reporters started asking me about my little sister. She’s my step-sister, actually, and the poor kid is in rehab again and they just won’t leave her alone. Then they go asking me if I’ll be joining her. I do not need rehab, but they are always running at the mouth and...” She sighed, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was giving way more information than Detoine needed. “I let it get to me. I wanted to get away from them, so when we got inside, I told the guys I needed to use the restroom, then I ducked out a side door. I know better. Really. But I was just going to take a few minutes, walk it off. Maybe tell a reporter off. Then I crashed into Bobby. I wasn’t paying attention at all, and if he hadn’t grabbed me, I’d have been a pancake.”
“I saw the video,” Detoine said. His voice was dazed.
I looked at him. He was staring at Carly, looking, well, spellbound. He had good reason. Carly was like a whirlwind.
Abruptly, he shook his head and then leaned forward, pinning me with a look. “Okay, she bumps into you. You grabbed her, kept her from walking in front of a car, and then she pays you five thousand as, what, a thank you gift?”
“No!” Carly cut me off before I could attempt to answer.
“Carly,” I said, gritting my teeth. “Believe it or not, I can speak for myself.”
She made a face at me, and I heard Jake smother a laugh. “Fine.”
I turned back to Detoine. “There were reporters. We made a commotion, me yelling at her and her yelling back. The reporters started rushing us, and well, I tried to stop them from hassling her, and then they all asked if I’d help out.”
“After he broke Jake’s arm,” Carly interjected.
“For fuck’s sake!” I closed my eyes.
“You broke...” Detoine glanced at the two men who’d been mostly silent up to this point.
“Jake’s arm,” Jake supplied with a wry smile. “To give Bobby credit, I tried to grab him. He caught my arm, locked it, warned me not to move.” He shrugged. “I didn’t listen.”
I stared hard at the surface of the desk and waited for the ax to fall.
Then, to my surprise, Detoine started to laugh.
I snapped my jaw shut before looking up.
He leaned back in his chair and laughed until there were tears running down his dark cheeks. It took him nearly five minutes to get it under control. “Boy, I will tell you what, you land yourself in some crazy predicaments, but this has to be the funniest one by far. And the best.”
He leaned forward and snagged a tissue from a box, dabbing the tears from his face. He tossed it into the trash can by the door and then looked from me to Carly and then back. His face got serious.
“Now, as entertaining as this is, I do have questions that I need to have answered. By Bobby, and only Bobby. Let’s get them over with so you can be about your business.”
“Will Bobby be able to come with us?” Carly asked.
She sounded like a damn kid asking for a cookie before dinner. And I was the cookie. I didn’t know how I felt about that.
A smile tugged at Detoine’s mouth. “Just let me do my job, Ms. Prince.”
Then he looked back at me. There was humor in his eyes, but if I wasn’t imagining things, I thought I also saw relief.
“So you played knight errant, if I’m not mistaken.”
I shrugged, not really agreeing with his choice of words.
He picked up a pen and started to tap it on the desk. “At some point, did you let them know you’re a convicted felon?”
“Yeah.”
He nodded. “I figured as much. You aren’t the kind to hide things.” He glanced past me for a moment and then came back to me again. “Did you tell them what you were in for?”
“Yes.”
He nodded yet again. “Okay, then. Seeing as how they’re here with you, I guess it didn’t matter much to them. How long will this job last?”
“Four days–” I started to say.
Carly interrupted. “That’s still under consideration.”
I turned my head and glared at her.
She smiled innocently. “I never said the job offer wouldn’t be extended.”
“Hmmm.” Detoine tapped his pen harder.
Pushing Carly and her stubborn head out of my mind, I looked back at my PO.
He asked his next question, “What does the job entail?”
“Watching her.” I jabbed a thumb at Carly, hurrying to answer before she did her thing. “I keep reporters back, watch for suspicious activity, and if she needs protection, I provide it.”
“I can see you providing the protection. Even watching for suspicious activity. You’ve always had an eye for trouble.” He rocked back in his chair. “Problem is, instead of avoiding it, you usually dove right in, fists up and ready for blood. Are you certain this is the right job for you?”
“Mr. Sampson.”
Ryan leaned forward and now I could see him as a lawyer, all slicked up and polished, ready to argue with some judge, or another lawyer. “I’m sorry, I know you need some answers from Bobby, but if I could...”
Detoine held out his hands.
“You didn’t see him that night.” Ryan smiled. “We did. He didn’t know who she was, and even though she tried her best to knock his head off his shoulders with her purse, once he realized there was a problem, he waded through a good twenty reporters and put himself between her and them. That’s what a good bodyguard does, puts himself between the person he’s hired to guard and harm. More than that, he took both Jake and myself down.”
Detoine’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that supposed to be a good thing?”
Ryan chuckled. “I’m a former cop. Jake did eight years in the army.
And Bobby took both of us without breaking a sweat. That proves he’s strong, determined, and a survivor. Plus, he cares about Ms. Prince.”
I tried not to shift in my seat. I couldn’t believe Ryan was saying that with a straight face after what he’d caught Carly and me doing. Almost doing.
“If I was being offered five thousand dollars, I’d care too,” Detoine pointed out.
“He’s tried several times to walk away,” Ryan countered. “He says with his past, he’d bring more trouble than he’s worth. I believe he’s wrong.”
I hadn’t known I was going to have to listen to them talk about me like this. I could feel the heat creeping up the back of my neck.
Detoine’s focused shifted back to me. “You want to walk away from a job that pays five grand, Bobby? That’s more money than you’ve seen in a long while.”
My head was pounding. Rubbing the back of my neck, I stared out the small rectangle that served as a window. “I just don’t want anybody to have trouble because of me. I’ve caused enough.”
Moments ticked by.
Detoine finally blew out a rough breath. “Kid, I just don’t know what to make of you, you know that?”
Since I didn’t know how to answer, I didn’t bother.
“Okay, I’ve just got one more question.”
I looked at him.
He stared at me with grim eyes. “You’re not going to like it.”
“I haven’t much liked anything about being here, sir,” I said honestly.
“Then you’re really not going to like this, but I have to ask.” He very pointedly didn’t look at Carly so when he first said it, I wasn’t quite sure what he meant.
The question was just so…so…bizarre, it didn’t make sense.
Finally, I leaned forward and spoke in a carefully controlled voice. “Would you repeat that?”
“Bobby.” Elbows braced on his desk, Detoine said softly, “I need to know if you’re providing any other services to Ms. Prince. Anything other than what you’ve explained here.” He hesitated, and then added, “Personal services.”
