by Nikki Rose
“It was my mother’s favorite celebration.” She turned to face me, holding herself on her elbow and wiped away her tears. “Some of my best memories are of our Memorial day parties. Most kids count down the days until Christmas because that’s when they get tons of presents, and don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and all our traditions, never cared as much about the presents as the time I got to spend with my parents since they were both off work, but there was always something special about Memorial day.”
Caroline scooted closer, resting her head on my thigh as she wiped away one last stray tear. My body tensed at the intimacy, my mind telling me it was a bad idea to get this comfortable with the Director’s daughter but the rest of me wasn’t hearing it. I scooted closer, resting my hand on her shoulder, offering her the comfort of human contact she so desperately needed.
Her body relaxed instantly under my touch and she released a sigh before continuing. “Every Memorial day my parents would plan a huge party for all their friends and even some of the higher ups at my dad’s work. Most of their events were stuffy. Everyone would always wear suits and fancy hors d'oeuvres would be served but not for our Memorial day party. Everyone would wear shorts and t-shirts. The kids would bring swimsuits and play in the sprinklers on the East lawn. My dad would set up several grills for hamburgers and hotdogs. And, at the end of the night, they would always have a huge fireworks show. It was amazing. We’ve continued the tradition ever since and it's the one time of year where I feel like I get my old dad back. The one I had before my mom died. But, now that’s gone too.”
Her body shook as she fought back tears again and my chest ached. I pulled her up into my arms and held her close, soaking in the warmth of her body.
“I think I’ve convinced your dad to continue on with the party.”
“What? Really?” When she looked up at me her beautiful blue eyes shimmered with the unshed tears and I couldn’t help but stare. Words left me and I simply nodded until the use of my voice came back.
“I talked him into just upping security. He’s going to have me ask for volunteers from work to act as back up as well as guests so you will be surrounded by safety, but also able to have your party.”
“Oh Chris, thank you. Thank you so much.” She wrapped her arms around my neck in a tight hug. I let myself relish in the moment of her happiness, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close.
My body heated at the feel of her curves pressed against me. I had to get out of this situation or I was going to get myself into more trouble than I cared to imagine. I pulled her away and forced a smile, hoping she couldn’t tell that what I really wanted to do was to pin her to the bed and claim her lips with mine until her body writhed under me, begging me to take her.
What the hell has gotten into you?
I had to pull myself together. I took a deep breath and racked my thumb over her cheek to wipe away a stray tear and she smiled up at me.
“There we go. I like that smile much better than tears.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For everything.” She readjusted herself, bringing her face closer to mine and I knew I had to get out of there. Being there in her bedroom, sitting in bed with her was already blurring the line of professionalism. I couldn’t let it go farther.
I needed to put some distance between us. I liked the new side of Caroline. I enjoyed the closeness and I wanted to make sure she didn’t shut down again but I needed to avoid such intimate situations as being on her bed after the thoughts that kept running through my mind.
I slid off her bed and got to my feet. “It’s been a long night. I should probably check in with the office and let you get some sleep.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty tired. Thank you for talking with me and for helping save the party.”
“Goodnight, Caroline.” I smiled back at her from the doorway before heading back to the study.
Chapter 8
“Up and at ‘em, princess.” Chris’s voice along with the pounding on my door woke me from a deep sleep.
I glanced at my clock — seven a.m. on a Saturday? He knocked again and I threw my pillow over my head. “Go away.”
“Come on. I’m not going to stop until you get up.”
“It’s Saturday. Let me sleep.”
“You are sleeping the whole day away. Come on. Get up.”
“No.”
The knocking stopped as did his consistent nagging. I relaxed back into my mattress, relieved he had finally given up, but that didn’t last long. Seconds later, my blanket was torn from my body. I gasped and sat up, startled by the invasion and saw Chris dressed in gym shorts and a t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off.
“What the hell, Chris?”
“It’s time for your training.”
“Training? What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?”
“You’ve got someone after you, Caroline.”
“You don’t have to remind me. I have this annoying nagging shadow following me around all the time to make sure I don’t forget.”
“Ha. Ha.” He crossed his arms and looked down at me on the bed. “You need to learn how to protect yourself. Besides, I thought this would give us something to do other than sit around the house.”
“Why when I have you here to protect me? It’s obvious that my dad doesn’t think I can take care of myself so what’s the point?”
“You don’t seem like the type to care what other people think about you.”
“I don’t.”
“Then why does it matter if your dad thinks you can take care of yourself or not? What matters is that you know you can. Besides, I’m not going to be with you twenty-four seven for the rest of your life. It’s good to know how to protect yourself.”
I had to admit I liked the idea of being more independent and learning how to protect myself. My dad would never let me learn how to fight. He said he would protect me. He was afraid if I learned, I’d be over confident in my abilities and I’d go get myself into trouble I couldn’t handle.
“Okay, fine. We will train, but do we have to start at seven in the morning?”
“Yes. Now, get up and get dressed.”
“Just ten more minutes.”
“Now.” Chris grabbed my ankles at the foot of my bed and pulled me down to him. I squealed and kicked my feet to try to break his grasp but it was no use. Something inside me clenched and my heart beat faster from his touch but I fought with myself to ignore the flutter in my stomach.
“Let go.”
“See, if you were trained in self defense you could have gotten out of that.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll use what I learn against you?”
“I never said you’d be better than me. Just better than most of the bad guys out there so you can protect yourself.”
“Oh, because you are so great?”
“Exactly.” There was that cocky little grin again but instead of annoying me, this time, I found it almost — cute. God, what is happening to me?
I shook my head and rolled my eyes, finally getting out of bed.
“Get dressed and meet me down in the gym in ten.”
“What about breakfast?”
“We’ll eat after.”
I sighed over dramatically and rolled my eyes but in truth, I was kind of excited to learn how to protect myself. I went to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face before getting dressed and securing my hair in a high ponytail. The more I thought about training, the more excited I became. Perhaps having Chris around wasn’t so terrible if it meant him teaching me things like this.
I rushed down to the in home gym, ready for my lesson. Peeking in side, I stood in awe at his skill and form as Chris practiced punching and kicking a punching bag. He appeared so powerful. The muscles in his arms rippled as he extended to strike. He was fast, switching from punches to kicks and back again and I found myself entranced by his rhythm.
“You coming in or are you just go
ing to stand over there and watch me all day.”
Watching him all day seemed like a good option at this point.
“Sorry. Coming.” I pushed open the door and jogged over to him. “Those moves were pretty impressive.”
“Thanks. Let’s see if we can’t get you doing the same thing within a couple lessons.”
“You really think I could?”
“Absolutely. Why don’t you do a few stretches to loosen up first then we’ll get started.”
“Okay.”
Chris went back to punching while I worked on stretches. I could have sworn he was watching me even though every time I glanced over he was busy with the bag. I stretched my arms one at a time across my body, up above my head, and pulled my legs up to hold my ankle, letting my thighs burn as they stretched. When I bent down to touch my toes, I heard Chris coughing. I looked behind me to see him by a bench holding his bottle of water in one hand and his other hand to his mouth.
“You okay?” I jogged over to him to see if he needed help.
He was barely able to get the words out through his coughing as he worked to recuperate. “Yeah I’m good. You ready to get started?”
“Let’s do this.”
“Okay, first lesson. If you are going to fight back, you have to commit and follow through. If you hit or kick a couple times then stop, your just going to piss off your attacker and get yourself hurt.”
“So just keep hitting and don’t stop?”
“Exactly. Until you know you can get away.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
“You say that now.” Chris smiled at me and moved on to the next lesson. “There are four main places you want to aim when under attack. The eyes, nose, throat, and groin.”
“Ouch. Yeah I could see how that would work.”
“One easy move, if someone is coming at you from the front is just to grab hold of the face and shove them back, grip right around the eyes like this”
Chris lightly gripped my face in his huge hand. It felt silly but once he had me try it on him I was able to get a feel for how that could be effective.
“Now, if someone comes up from behind you...” He turned me around and wrapped his arms around my midsection, trapping my arms against my body and I tensed. “You want to grab the attackers arms, and pull your body in close to them.”
I followed his instructions as well as I could but it felt strange being so close to him, his body pressing against mine. When I spoke, my voice came out huskier than I meant. “Like this?”
“Close. Pull your body in closer to mine though. I know it goes against your instincts to get close to your attacker but sometimes that's the best tactic.”
“Okay...” I shifted my body, pressing my backside into his front and my breathing shuttered. My heart picked up pace and it was hard to not sound breathy when I spoke. “Like this?”
“Yes,” was it my imagination or did his voice sound deeper, more raspy — almost strained?
He cleared his throat and continued. “Next you want too —.”
“What's going on down here?” My father's voice was like a bucket of ice water being thrown on the two of us.
We jumped apart and I nervously straightened my clothes. We weren't doing anything wrong but for some reason I felt like we'd been caught.
Chris cleared his throat. “I was just teaching Caroline some self defense moves.”
“Why would she need those? That's what I hired you for.”
“Well, I won't be protecting her forever. Self defense is great to know even if you don't have crazy hackers after you.”
“I just don't like the idea of her fighting. It would be better for her to do what the attacker wants and wait for help.”
“With all due respect, sir —.” I knew my dad. He wouldn't give in with this and Chris was only going to get himself in trouble if he kept talking so I stepped in.
“Okay, dad. I'm sorry. We were just having fun.”
“Its okay. Maybe try a little safer fun next time though, hmm?”
“Sure thing.” I grinned.
“I should be leaving. O'Neill will be here soon to escort me to work. I’ll be happy when this whole mess is over and I can go back to my usual drive to work alone. Having someone following you around all the time wrecks havoc on the nerves.”
“Gee I wouldn’t know what that’s like.” I smirked, looking from my dad to Chris and back again and he chuckled but Chris remained stoic.
“You two have a good day and be safe.”
The moment my dad left, Chris rushed over to me, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. “You can't seriously be okay with just waiting around for someone to come save you? This isn't some movie where the girl always gets rescued by some guy.”
“I know that and of course I'm not okay with that but arguing with my dad would be like arguing with a brick wall.”
“So you're just giving in?”
“Have you ever known me to give in that easily?”
“Hell no. You are always a pain in my ass about everything.”
“I'll pretend I didn't hear that last part.” I smirked at him and rolled my eyes. “As you've seen, my dad works a lot. We will have plenty of time to train when he's not home.”
“Sneak behind your dad's back?”
“What he doesn't know won't hurt us.”
“I thought the saying was he doesn't know won’t hurt him?”
“That too.” I shrugged and smirked before walking toward the door. “how about some breakfast? I'm starved.”
Chapter 9
I walked into my English class early as usual. Chris made sure we were always there before the majority of the class had arrived so he could get a good vantage point and scope out everyone as they came in. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get used to having a bodyguard following me around all the time. But, getting to know Chris better helped.
I settled into my new seat, away from Tracy’s constant distractions and prayed she didn’t follow me. I pulled out my notebook and pencil from my bag and situated them on the desk before taking a sip from my water bottle.
“You took my seat.” A male voice came from just above me.
I lowered the bottle from my lips and wiped the droplets of water from my lip before looking up at the extremely handsome, clean cut frat-boy who lingered over me.
“Excuse me?”
“You took my seat.” He nodded his head toward the desk I was sitting in, amusement and not irritation laced his words and a small smile tugged at the corner of his full lips.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I needed to move to get away from...curtain distractions.” I glanced over to where Tracy was sitting, chatting with one of the other girls nearby.
He let out a warm chuckle and plopped down into the seat beside me. “No worries. I was just giving you a hard time. I’ve actually been looking for an excuse to talk to you.”
“You have?”
“Yeah. I’m Adam by the way.” He offered me his hand and I took it.
“Caroline.”
“Nice to finally meet you.”
“You too.”
“So, Caroline. What’s your story?”
Before I had time to answer, the teacher came in and began class. I smiled,shrugged at Adam, and turned my attention to the teacher. Throughout the class, Adam would lean over and whisper funny little comments to me and I had to struggle to hold in giggles.
Once the teacher dismissed us, I began packing my things as I usually did.
“Well, that was a fun class.” Adam teased as he zipped up his bag.
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Yeah. You know, the reason I moved was so that I wouldn’t be distracted, right?”
“I was just trying to make the class more interesting for you.”
“You certainly did that,” I chuckled as I stood up and slung my bag over one shoulder. “I’ll see you next week.”
“See ya,” He called out as I headed toward the door where Chris was waiting wit
h crossed arms.
“Hey, ready to go?” I smiled at Chris but his scowl seemed permanently fixed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing and yes. I’m ready to go.” Chris ushered me out of class and into the packed hall where he took the lead to push through the sea of students.
I tugged on his arm to get his attention but he pulled me on through the crowd toward the exit. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just ready to get you back home.”
There was a tension in his voice I hadn’t heard before but I brushed away the thought. Everyone had off days sometime, maybe it was just one of those for him. We exited the building and I took a deep breath of the fresh spring air. The warm sun felt good on my face and I longed for the end of school and the memorial day party that would signal the coming months of freedom.
Just before following Chris down the steps that led to the lawn, a hand gently grasped my arm and pulled me back. I tensed, ready to fight like Chris had taught me but when I turned around, it was Adam. His smile dropped at whatever look was on my face.
“Hey. Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was calling you but it was too loud —.”
Before Adam could finish, he was yanked away. And, before I could say a word, Chris had him pinned to the brick wall with his forearm pressing against Adam’s throat.
“Chris! Stop it. What are you doing? Are you crazy?” I ran over to them and could only hear part of Chris’s warning.
“If you ever touch her again...”
“Chris!”
I yanked on his arm, trying to free Adam but it was like steel against his throat. I pounded my fists on his shoulder and he finally released his grip.
“Dude, you are crazy.” Adam sidestepped away from Chris. “I was just going to ask for her number. Didn’t know she had a boyfriend but damn, just give a guy a warning next time. You don’t gotta choke me out.”
“You don’t put your hands on her again.” Chris barked.
I tried to step toward Adam to check on him but Chris blocked me with his arm.