The Point Guardian

by Liza Brown

  “You keep telling me that, but I don’t know if I can be all of that, for you.” I felt the sting of tears in my eyes.

  “What are you saying?” he asked.

  I looked away before he saw the tears. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing the drops to stay in my eyes. “Are we right for each other?” The words I’d been thinking finally escaped.

  The grip on my hand loosened and he slowly pulled his away. I watched him bite his lip and look to the floor.

  The plane landed without another word. Elsu got my suitcase from above my seat and we walked silently through the airport. Millard was close behind. The media didn’t know Elsu wasn’t with the team so we were able to get through without any disruption.

  The team’s flight from Boston hadn’t landed yet and we were to meet them at the airport for Elsu to ride with them to the arena. Millard and I would take a taxi to the hotel where I was to wait for Elsu. I didn’t want to not talk to him, but his body language made me know that he was not interested in speaking to me.

  A few minutes passed and Elsu received a text from Brent letting him know they had landed and that he had Elsu’s suitcase. The team showed up to greet us and Elsu walked away without a word.

  At the hotel, they were not ready for us to check in yet, so Millard and I sat in the bar and had some coffee. I pulled my phone from my purse and turned it on. There were texts from the stranger. “He texted me again,” I said to Millard. The first words we’d spoken since the plane.

  “Oh? What is it this time?” he asked.

  JUST SO YOU KNOW, MAE, I OWN YOU. JUST THINK OF ALL THE PICTURES I HAVE SITTING HERE. IF YOU DON’T WANT THEM TO GO PUBLIC, YOU MIGHT WANT TO DO AS YOU’RE TOLD. AND DON’T TELL YOUR BOYFRIEND.

  The next text contained a picture of me sitting on the bed with Elsu while he held me close. If it weren’t for the fact that the picture came from such a horrible source, I’d admit to actually liking it. How in the world could I honestly live without those hugs? Without that man? He had taken over my world and I was being forced to choose between the life I had before him and the life I wanted with him.

  “What does the next one say?” Millard’s question jolted me out of my thoughts.

  I THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE THAT ONE, BUT I BET YOU WOULDN’T LIKE THIS ONE TO LEAK OUT.

  The next message contained a picture of me standing beside the bed completely nude getting ready to get between the sheets as I held my phone to my ear, talking to Elsu. It was a profile picture, but it was obviously me. “I can’t show you this picture, Millard. I can’t let anyone see this picture. What am I going to do? This could ruin Elsu.”

  “You really think naked pictures of his girlfriend are going to ruin him? Think back, what’s the worst picture this guy could have?”

  I thought and then I remembered. “I did something to him, Millard. I gave him a…”

  “Got it,” he said as he held up his hand. “That’s all? Is that the absolute worst thing?”

  I couldn’t think of anything more embarrassing than that. “I think so. Oh my God!” I nearly screamed.

  “What?” asked Millard.

  “I don’t know if this guy has video or not and I don’t know how much he could see with that camera, but the other night after you took me home, Elsu came to my room and…I can’t believe I’m telling anyone this! You’re never going to look at me the same.” I covered my head in shame.

  “Mae, tell me so I can be prepared. We can try and put out some of these fires before they start.”

  “Apparently Elsu came in and was watching me sleep. I woke up and didn’t know he was there and I. I.” It was so hard to say my next sentence. “I took off my jeans and masturbated and he got a free show and he did the same thing.” I felt my cheeks burning.

  “Stop being embarrassed. That’s all he did?”

  “Yes. Then we argued. Then we made up. But Millard…”

  “It’s probably not an ideal situation, but it’s not too too horrible. You just removed your jeans?”

  “Yes, but the angle would be right on my butt.” I shivered knowing anyone had seen me like that.

  “Well, now that we know there’s a chance they’ll come out we can alert the media. Wait a minute…what about that Stevens guy.”

  “Harold?”

  “Yeah, he’s part of the media.”

  I pulled out my phone, but Millard stopped me and indicated that he was making the call. “Harold,” said Millard as I leaned in to try to hear. “This is Allan Millard. Elsu’s assistant. We need your help.”

  “What’s that?” asked Harold.

  “That picture you sent us? There are more. Perhaps a lot more. I need you to keep your eyes and ears open for anyone who might be selling them. We need a source. Also, tell your friends not to buy them.”

  “Wow, that’s tough, Millard. I’ll see what I can do. I don’t know how I’d go about getting the word out, though. What’s umm…”

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Mae?” said Harold.

  “Yeah, it’s Mae. What’s the problem?”

  “You want me to tell a bunch of money-hungry photojournalists to not do something that could make them a lot of money? What’s my incentive?”

  “You want paid? I thought Elsu’s interview offer was pretty sweet.”

  “That’s the offer for me to find this asshole. This is a separate transaction, Mae. What’s it worth to you?”

  I no longer liked my ‘cousin.’

  “What happened to ‘mending family fences?”

  “There’s still that. But come on, a man’s got to pay the bills, you know?”

  “Screw you, Harold!”

  “Nah, I’m good.” Click.

  “Did he just hang up on us?” I asked Millard.

  “Yep. Well, he’s useless. Forget him. We’ll notify the press anyway and tell them they’re not allowed to release the images if they get them. They are not to purchase them if they’re offered. In fact we’ll offer a reward for anyone who can get us a source. This is the kind of thing Carl is for.”

  “He doesn’t like me,” I said.

  “His job isn’t to like you, it’s to make the team look good.” Millard picked up his phone and quickly called Carl, giving him the details. I could hear Carl yelling through the phone, but I couldn’t make out words.

  “I told you!” I whispered to Millard as he tried to argue with Carl.

  “Carl. Your job is to fix this shit. Fix it!” Millard made a face at me indicating he was as tired of Carl as I was.

  I could only imagine Carl’s reaction to this. I kept becoming more and more of a liability to Elsu and Carl’s precious team. How much worse could it get?

  “Are you sure that’s the worst you’ve got from your room?” asked Millard as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.

  “I think so. Millard, I think I really screwed up on the plane with Elsu. He wouldn’t even look at me after we landed, let alone talk,” I said.

  “When Elsu doesn’t talk, it’s because he’s thinking. It often comes across as anger or disinterest or just plain brooding. It’s when he doesn’t stop to think first that I would worry the most.”

  “Like when he broke up with Saraya,” I said, remembering the dinner where he announced to her that he was done.

  “At the dinner last week? Oh, he knew he was breaking up with her that night. It may not have gone down quite the way it should have, right in front of a whole audience of people, but he knew what he was doing. He had talked to me about it earlier in the week. Pretty much right after he met you.” He stood up to refill his coffee mug and patted me on the shoulder as he passed me. “Don’t worry Miss Mae, he’ll come around.”

  I watched him top off his cup and return. “But this was all my fault. I can’t be this drop-of-a-hat kind of girlfriend that he wants. I have too much work at home. I told him that and he seemed to lose interest in me.”

  “Thinking, Mae. Not disinterest! Just let him be. Le
t him think. Trust me! I’ve known him for almost five years now. I know what I’m talking about.”

  I prayed he was right.

  I got a text from Elsu.

  ARE YOU SETTLED IN YOUR ROOM YET?

  I spoke as I replied to him.

  NOT YET, WAITING FOR OUR ROOM TO BE READY. WE GOT HERE TOO EARLY.

  I debated sending the next line, but did it anyway.

  ARE YOU MAD AT ME?

  Not five minutes later my phone rang and it was Elsu. “I can only talk for a few seconds, I lied and said I had to use the restroom so I could call you. Don’t talk, just listen, Mae. I am not mad at you. I’m trying to come up with a plan. Things are going to work out. But I need to know one thing from you. Do you want things to work out?”

  “More than anything, baby. But…”

  “Nope. Don’t say another word. Do they know who you are at the hotel?” he asked.

  “I said Mae Rogers when we went to the desk.”

  “Go back and tell them you’re my girlfriend. See what happens. And Mae, stop being so stubborn. We’re going to get through all of this, together. Sometimes being independent takes a group effort. I’ve gotta go, I’ll see you later.” He hung up and I felt like there was something hanging in the air that he didn’t say. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  “I’m supposed to tell them I’m Elsu’s girlfriend,” I said as the bartender came and refilled my ice water.

  “Elsu Benjamin?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said. I still wondered how many people everyone knew who were named Elsu.

  “I was in the office when he called. Go tell them who you are.”

  I looked at Millard who shrugged his shoulders and we returned to the front desk.

  “Ma’am, your room is still not available,” said the woman at the desk.

  “Ok, but I’m supposed to tell you I’m Elsu Benjamin’s girlfriend,” I said.

  A man appeared from a door marked ‘office’ and greeted me. “Mae! Yes! We did get word that you’d be here. Come with me!”

  I looked at Millard who seemed just as confused as I was about the whole situation. We followed the friendly manager-guy to the elevator. It wasn’t until I was inside the car and it began to move that I realized I had a new phobia to add to my list. I grabbed the bar on the wall and white knuckled it to the fifth floor. I hadn’t ridden an elevator since the one at the apartment had fallen and quickly knew it would be a long time before I ever did again.

  “Mr. Benjamin insisted we make room for you on the team’s floor. Your room is right here and it adjoins to his room.” He opened the door with a card and handed it to me. “When you’re settled in, please come down to the spa. We have a mani-pedi waiting for you both.” The manager slipped quietly out the door.

  I grinned as I looked at Millard. “Where are you staying?” I asked as I eyed the lone king-sized bed. The room was a basic hotel room. Nothing notable, but it seemed clean and bright.

  “I’m not sure, probably with one of the team guards. Now come on, let’s get you your mani-pedi!” He took my suitcase and laid it on the suitcase rack and placed his beside it on the floor. He then ushered me out of the room.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked him.

  “I’m getting me a pedicure! I’m man enough to admit I like getting my feet massaged!”

  I laughed at him and we headed to the elevator where I stopped and looked at Millard. “Don’t think I’m weird or anything, but I need to take the stairs.” I motioned with my thumb to the door labeled with the stick figure happily walking down the safe steps.

  “Umm, Ok,” he said and followed me down the five flights of stairs.

  “Mae!” Before I made it to the door of the spa, my name startled me. “What the actual hell Mae!” Carl came to stand inches from my face. “Pictures? Really? You have dirty pictures floating around?” Spittle from his grotesque mouth landed on my face and I wiped it away with disgust.

  “They’re not dirty, Carl! They’re just pictures. Someone put a camera in my bedroom and took pictures of me doing normal things.”

  “That’s not what I heard!” He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward a small alcove in the hallway. “Masturbation?” His whispered word hit my nose like an onion-scented dagger.

  “Ok, yeah that was kind of dirty.”

  “Oral fucking sex?”

  “It was just oral, Carl.” I hated him so much, but there was something fun about making his life miserable.

  “You!” he wagged his Vienna sausage-shaped finger at me.

  “If I were you I’d get that thing out of my face before I bite it!” I snarled at him.

  “How much do you want?” He reached in his jacket and pulled out a checkbook from the inside pocket.

  “What?”

  “How much? A million?”

  “A million what?”

  “Bucks, dollars, pesos, euros, den. Whatever you want.”

  “Why would I want money?”

  “Why? Because I want you the fuck out of here, that’s why!”

  “I’m not for sale, Carl!”

  “Everyone is for sale. A cool million, and you leave Elsu alone!”

  “Bite me!”

  “Two million dollars, Mae. That’s my final offer!”

  “Why do you hate me so much, Carl?”

  “Because you’ve been nothing but bad news for Elsu! I’m still doubtful that house fire was lightning. You ruined your truck!”

  “I did what now? I did not destroy my truck! And I did not torch his house!”

  “I’m still doubtful on all that!”

  “I wasn’t anywhere near either of those places when they happened. For all I know, you ruined my truck!”

  “Oh, I wish I had, Mae. But no, it wasn’t me. Whoever it was did a great job, though.”

  “Jeremy did it.”

  “Meh.”

  “Meh?”

  “Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m not saying anything. But I am saying that you need to keep your distance. Elsu’s already catching flack for bringing you up here, you know that, right?”

  “I don’t have to go to the game.”

  I’m not sure how far Millard had gotten before he realized I wasn’t with him. But thankfully he returned. “Mae, are you ready for your mani-pedi?”

  I looked at Millard who was obviously trying to help rescue me. “Yes, yes I am!” I left Carl behind me and followed Millard toward the spa.

  Once in the spa, I was promptly informed I should remove my jeans in the bathroom and change into a robe since they wouldn’t roll up high enough to let the girl massage my calves. Who was I to argue? The robe was heaven. A plusher piece of clothing I’d never felt. It was like wearing a teddy bear made of silk. I sat in the pedicure chair and three women went straight to work on me. One at each hand and one at my feet. Millard sat in the chair next to me and let a woman rub goop on his face and put cucumbers over his eyes while another woman started working on his feet. I couldn’t help but laugh at the vision.

  “Millard, you’re lucky I don’t have my phone with me. I’d be using it to take your picture right now.”

  “And here I was just starting to like you, ma’am.”

  “Oh, Milly…” I smiled as I leaned my head back and smiled.

  “There are definitely some perks to being Elsu’s assistant,” he said.

  “Elsu?” asked the woman at my feet. “From the Whoopsters?”

  “Yes,” I smiled.

  “He is hot!” said the woman at my left hand.

  I smiled and silently agreed.

  “You know, I think of all the pro players he’s got to be the sexiest one!” said the one to my right.

  “There are things I’d do to him that are probably not legal in some states,” said the woman massaging Millard’s temples.

  “Mae, this is when you can step in,” said Millard.

  “Oh no, I’m enjoying this,
” I smiled. It was kind of nice knowing these women wanted my man and they couldn’t have him.

  “You would,” he said.

  There was a long, quiet pause between the women when Millard’s pedi girl looked up suddenly. “Mae?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Oh shit!” She turned beet red. “I didn’t recognize you.”

  I looked at her and grinned. I felt like the Cheshire cat.

  “Well we’re really good at putting our feet in our mouths, aren’t we?” she said.

  “What?” asked the woman at my feet.

  “This is Mae Rogers, girls. Elsu’s girlfriend!”

  I could sense a very strange vibe coming off of each of them. It was as if they were suddenly fearful for their jobs. “I am SO sorry, ma’am!” said the one at my left hand.

  They all began to beg of my forgiveness. I’d never had anyone grovel at my feet before. It was truly an odd sensation.

  “No worries, girls. There wasn’t anything any of you said that I didn’t agree with.”

  They all laughed nervously and I laid my head back to enjoy the pampering on my feet and hands.

  Millard’s phone rang and he dug it out of his pocket. The woman massaging his face removed his cucumbers so he could see his phone. “It’s Detective Graven,” he said as he looked at me.

  My relaxed condition was suddenly gone.

  “Hello…she’s right here. Would you like to speak to her?” he asked and handed me the phone.

  “Hello?” I asked nervously.

  “Ma’am, this is Detective Graven. I have some good news and some not so good news.” He paused, apparently wanting me to tell him which I wanted to hear, but I just wanted him to spit it out. He cleared his throat and continued. “The bad news is we found five more cameras.”

  I dropped the phone and it hit the floor. “Oh my God!” I said as my left-side manicurist grabbed it for me. “Five?” I said into the phone.

  “Yes ma’am,” he said.

  “How long have they been there?” I asked. I watched as the woman at my feet guided the other women out of the room to give me privacy.

  “We’re not sure, ma’am. We’re still trying to figure that out.”

  “Where were the other four?” I asked.

  There was a long pause. “There was one in the living room pointed at the seating area, one in the kitchen, a second one in addition to the one we originally found in your bedroom, and two in the bathroom. One pointed at the shower and one that would have covered the toilet and sink area.”