by Leonie Gant
“I’ll get back to you later Monique” I said as I hung up on her.
“Come in Jorge.” I motioned him in. “Do I have time to get changed?”
“Yeah, we got about fifteen minutes before we need to leave for the airport.”
“Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be ready in five.”
Jorge chuckled. “Sure you will.”
Closing my door I changed out of my funeral clothes and into my assistant clothes, comfortable and nondescript. As an assistant to some of the most attention needy people in the world I had learned long ago to dress as if I was fading into the background. If I was noticed then I had made a mistake. Pulling my hair back into the classic pony tail and slipping on comfortable shoes I grabbed my bag and headed out.
“See, I told you, five minutes. You should have more faith in me.”
The smile on my face froze when I found Griffin in my apartment glaring at Jorge, who was quite comfortably lounging on my couch with a drink, looking like he spent quite a bit of time there.
“Oh, hi Griffin, what are you doing here?”
With his hands on hips he turned his glare from Jorge to me.
“Tomas Burnelli told me about your little incident at the wake, so I was checking to make sure you were okay.”
“Tomas worries too much, nothing happened to us. We just hid in a closet while Catarina’s assistant was talking to the guy who looked like he kicked puppies for fun.”
“I was just on my way to see Peter but I wanted to check on you first” Griffin said.
“Oh sure.” I shrugged. “Not the first time I’ve had to avoid someone by hiding in a closet.”
Griffin looked from me to Jorge’s grinning face.
“So exactly what is happening here?” he asked.
“Jorge and I have a job to do for the rest of the day and tonight. He was sent to pick me up and I just needed to get changed from the funeral.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen, you won’t be doing the job” Griffin said.
Jorge choked on the glass of water he had been drinking.
“Dude” he muttered “so uncool.”
“Jorge, could you please give me a moment?” I asked sweetly although the look I was shooting in Griffin’s direction was anything but sweet.
“Sure, sure” said Jorge, “I’ll just wait for you in the limo.” As he walked past Griffin I heard him mutter under his breath. “Dead man walking.”
He closed the door gently behind him but not before shooting me a pointed look.
“So was there a real reason for this visit or did you just intend to humiliate me in front of my co-worker?” I asked.
Griffin held up his hands in a placating gesture. “I didn’t say that right, I’m sorry.”
“Oh, you’re sorry for telling me I couldn’t do my job.” I wanted to be clear on this so that I knew exactly the reason I was furious with him or whether I should just go nuclear.
Griffin looked at me sheepishly. “Well no, you can’t go and especially not with him.”
Nuclear it was then.
“How dare you tell me what I can do with my job. You do not have any right to do that. You especially don’t have any right to tell me who I can and can’t work with. Anyway, what is your problem with Jorge? He is one of the nicest guys that I know. I’m actually happy when I get to work with him, because then I can concentrate on my job and I know he’ll help me if I need it.”
“He’s not who you think he is, I can’t say anything more than that but I don’t want you anywhere near that guy” Griffin said with that infuriatingly calm voice he seemed to employ with me regularly.
“No” I said.
“Excuse me.” Griffin looked startled. I shrugged, the anger still there but I wasn’t going to argue about this. A part of me marveled that he honestly seemed to expect me to just fall into line with his edicts.
“No, you don’t get to tell me what to do and expect me to do it. I will take any suggestions you give under advisement but you do not get to give me orders and expect me to obey you.”
Griffin pulled his hand through his hair, his frustration evident. “I’m not trying to control you, I’m trying to keep you safe which seems to be a full time job. In less than a couple of hours you almost walk in on what sounds to have been a shake down by a very, and I can’t emphasize this enough, very, bad man. Now you’re about to get into a car and spend the day and night with a man that I do not want you anywhere near. I don’t want you hurt, not in any way. I know you’re angry with me but you can’t ask me to stand by when I see you may be walking into a dangerous situation.”
He had stepped closer and looking into his eyes I could see that he was dealing with emotions that he wasn’t overly familiar with.
“This is one of those moments” I said quietly.
“What moments?” Griffin asked, probably a bit more harshly than he meant to.
I reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “This is one of those moments where you tell me your opinion and you trust me to make the right decision. I don’t know what you think you know about Jorge but I can guarantee that he is not that person.”
“Are you willing to bet your life and your safety on that?” Griffin said harshly.
“Yes” I said quietly. “I exasperate you don’t I?” I asked as I wound my arms around him.”
He put his arms around my shoulders and held me tight. “You terrify me” he mumbled as he kissed the top of my head. I put my hand in his and pulled him towards the door.
“Now you need to let me do my job, I have to go.”
“I’m not going to win this one am I?” said Griffin.
I looked at him seriously. “You were never going to win.”
“Does this qualify as our first fight? Griffin grinned ruefully.
I smiled back. “You must have the memory of a goldfish, we’ve done nothing but argue since the first day we met. Now you are going to walk me down to the car and you are not going to pull Jorge aside for a quiet word.”
Griffin quirked an eyebrow and I laughed.
“Don’t look at me like that. I know you were thinking it. You can’t get anything past me Detective.”
Chapter Twelve
At the limo Jorge opened the door for me and winked, purely for Griffin’s benefit. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I seemed to be surrounded by men who loved the idea of annoying each other. Griffin glared at Jorge and then stopped me and gave me a hard and fast kiss.
“Be safe” he murmured.
“I will” I said and before he could think of another way to try and stop me, I got into the limo.
Jorge settled in across from me. Once the car started up Jorge cleared his throat.
“So you’ve still got your cop boyfriend.”
“Looks like it” I said.
There was silence again. Jorge looked nervous as he peered out of the tinted windows.
“Did he tell you why he didn’t want you to do this job?” Jorge asked.
Jorge had only ever been good to me and I wanted to be honest with him.
“He didn’t want me working with you” I said bluntly.
“Did he tell you why?” asked Jorge.
I shook my head.
“He knows something about you but he wouldn’t tell me what it was. Suffice to say he believes that you are a possible danger to me. He has a tendency to overreact when it comes to my safety.”
Jorge chuckled. “That’s a bit of an understatement. You came on this job anyway. Doesn’t it worry you that he might know something about me that you don’t?”
I focused on Jorge. “No, it doesn’t worry me. I’ve worked with you before and I have never felt anything but safe around you. I don’t know what may have happened in your past to make Griffin worry about you, but the man I work with now, I feel completely safe with him. If I have to babysit a rich, entitled drug addled socialite for the next eighteen hours of my life there is no one else that I would prefer to do it with.”
Jorge leaned back and crossed his arms. “I did some pretty bad things when I was younger” he said.
“You don’t have to tell me anything” I said softly.
“I want to. Monique knows all this and she gave me a chance, now I’m going to take a chance on you. I did a lot of stupid things when I was younger. Got involved with very bad people, ran with gangs, did a lot of horrible things. I was always pretty huge so I became a thug and a bully and I was good at it. I scare people now when I’m not trying to. Can you imagine what I did when I didn’t care about hurting them? Never got convicted of anything, no one was ever willing to testify against me, that’s how bad a person I was.”
Jorge closed his eyes and breathed in as if he was fighting himself.
“What changed?” I asked softly.
“A few years back I went into some corner store, was throwing my weight around, threatening the owner, not wanting anything, just being bored. This woman fronts me, tells me to get out. To me she was this tiny thing and I was overconfident. I went to push her out the way and to this day I don’t know what she did but I ended up on my back looking up at the ceiling.”
“How did she do it?” I asked.
“US Marine Corps. Can you imagine it? The last thing I was expecting but there she is standing over me and she says to me ‘this isn’t you Jorge, you’re better than this.’ For the first time in my life in a very long time I felt ashamed of what I did.”
“Who was she?” I asked.
“Her name was Linda. I went to school with her when I was a kid. It seems that I once protected her from some kid who was bullying her. I didn’t remember but she did. She remembered me as someone who protected those weaker than himself. She thought of me as someone to look up to and admire. She joined the Corps and was home on leave to see her family. After she dumped me on my backside she dragged me out of there. Seems she was the only person in my life who had ever seen me as a hero. By the time that night was over I wanted her to see me as that hero again. She saved my life and my soul that night. I married her six months later”
“Where is she now?” I asked.
“She’s deployed at the moment.”
“Must be tough” I said.
“Which part” Jorge said humorlessly. “Being a military spouse or knowing that the woman I love more than breathing is currently in a very dangerous part of the world.”
“Did you think about joining up?” I asked.
“Not for a second” said Jorge. “If we’d both been deployed we would never see each other. This way she comes home and I’m right here waiting for her.”
I felt tears well up in my eyes. “That is the most beautiful story” I said reaching for a tissue. “She must be really lovely.”
Jorge laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, she has a temper that goes off like a rocket and a mouth on her that makes me wince sometimes, but I work hard every day to be a man she can be proud of. That is why, despite what the cop believes, I am not that man any more and I never will be again. There is no way in hell that I am willing to disappoint that woman. I’m not that brave.”
“Thank you for telling me” I said.
“You remind me a bit of my Linda” Jorge said. “You’re loyal to a fault and when you believe in someone you don’t let anyone tell you different.”
“You’re sweet” I said.
Jorge laughed. “And you are one of the few people who actually thinks that about me” he said. “So, why are you still with the cop?” He suddenly changed the topic. “Last time we talked about him you didn’t think there was a chance for you.”
I hesitated wondering how to deal with that question. To be perfectly honest, the last time Jorge and I had discussed my relationship with Griffin, I hadn’t really been in a relationship with him. He had actually been working undercover as my fake boyfriend. At the time I had been blackmailed into helping him. So out of spite over the fact that I was having to lie to people I counted as my friends, I may have intimated that I would be breaking up with him in the near future due to his inadequacies in certain areas. I winced at the memory.
“We’re kind of working it out at the moment.” I said hoping that he didn’t probe any further. Of course, I should have remembered that this was Jorge.
“Last time we spoke I believe that your exact words were that he didn’t quite live up to advertising.” Jorge grinned.
“Things are different now” I said quietly. “I’m not really sure where things are going. We’ve both got a lot to work out.”
“The question is do you think he’s worth it?”
I thought about it and nodded slowly. “You know I really do think he might be.”
“Then that’s all that’s important” he said looking out the window. “Just remember that you deserve awesome, don’t ever settle for anything less.”
I grinned. “You know you don’t look it but you are really good at girl talk.”
Jorge gave me a disgusted look. “Now you’re just being mean.”
Chapter Thirteen
Waiting in the airport for Blythe Stanton I was thankful to have Jorge standing next to me. It meant I was spared the normal crush of people. Between his size, his tattoos and his ‘don’t mess with me’ expression, people tended to give him a wide berth and I was standing close enough to be caught up in that circle of intimidation.
Finally once all the other passengers had disembarked, I spotted Blythe Stanton leaning heavily on a flight attendant as they walked down the hallway. Blythe appeared unsteady as she stumbled along on impossibly high stilettos. Jorge and I went forward and while Jorge grabbed the bag that the flight attendant had been holding I took the attendant’s position at Blythe’s side and put her arm around my shoulders.
“Who are you?” she slurred.
“My name is Trudie and this is Jorge. Your father asked us to meet you and help you while you are in LA.” I smiled reassuringly.
“Okay” she slurred dumbly and slumped against me.
“I think she may have over indulged on the plane” the flight attendant said apologetically, before taking her first opportunity to leave.
I looked at Jorge and he smiled. I knew what he was thinking. If she fell asleep until her flight home, this could be the easiest money we had ever made. Jorge took a position in front of us and we tried to discreetly make our way through the airport. Avoiding the paparazzi proved to be impossible but Jorge’s sheer bulk and the way Blythe’s face slumped forward with her long blonde hair covering it, we were able to mitigate the potential damage. Of course as usual my face was front and center. For someone who wasn’t famous, I seemed to spend a lot of time being photographed.
Once settled in the limo I turned to Jorge. “Where to now?”
“Monique organized a suite in a hotel for us to use as a base camp until we get her on the plane tomorrow morning.”
“What do you think our chances are of getting her on the plane?” I asked.
Jorge cracked his knuckles and had a smile on his face that if I didn’t know him better I would think was slightly terrifying.
“She’ll be on the plane” he said.
Good to know. Monique as usual had organized a suite which was perfect. The decor was slightly dated but its most important asset was that it was private and not one that always had a score of paparazzi hanging around. Despite the fact that she had never succeeded as either an actress or a singer, in fact the less said about her singing career the better, Blythe Stanton was a socialite heiress who had become famous for having a lifestyle that people envied. Before her life had taken its spectacular slide downhill, she had seemed to have it all. Now as I looked at her passed out, face down on the bed, I wondered what had happened to cause this. Closing the bedroom door I found Jorge going through her luggage on the couch.
“Find anything yet?” I asked.
“No drugs yet if that’s what you mean” said Jorge.
“Anything else I should be panicking about” I asked as I cro
ssed over to the mini bar.
“No, standard gear for an out of control socialite. Lots of makeup products. Seriously how can one woman use all this stuff?”
I smiled at him. “Don’t look at me, I’m more of a natural kind of girl. If I can’t get ready in ten minutes then it’s too much trouble.”
Jorge pulled up a tiny scrap of cloth. “Where is she going to wear this?”
I touched the fabric, I may not be able to afford this kind of garment but I’d been around enough people who could to know that it was very expensive and very exclusive.
“I am guessing that is what she will be wearing tonight.”
“She’s going to freeze to death” Jorge muttered.
“Yes, but this club belongs to husband number three doesn’t it?”
Jorge nodded.
“Doesn’t matter what she has to go through. That first moment he sees her, she wants him to know exactly what he missed out on.”
“It’s a woman thing isn’t it?” Jorge asked.
“Absolutely” I said. “I’m pretty low maintenance but any time I see my ex I make sure I look as good as is humanly possible. It’s a pride thing.”
Jorge stuffed the shimmery piece of fabric back in the luggage.
“Well, the luggage looks clean so fortunately for us she’s obviously smart enough not to try to smuggle drugs over the border.”
“Doesn’t mean she hasn’t already organized for someone to supply her here.”
Jorge sat down and watched as I gathered up all the alcohol in the mini bar. “What are you doing?”
“Making this room a dry one” I said as there was a knock on the door. Jorge opened the door to find room service with a tray.
“Uh, Trudie?” he questioned.
“That’s perfect” I said as the tray cart rolled in.
“And if you could remove these.” I handed the small bottles over to the waiter. “And please don’t replace them for the duration of the stay.”
When he left I lifted the covers on the plates.
“I don’t know about you but I’ve had hardly anything to eat all day so I thought I’d grab us both something before we had to tackle tonight.”