by Ali Parker
"Un-fucking-believable." I slid out of the booth in the restaurant and grabbed her keys from across the seat before storming toward the restroom. I stopped outside the women's door and pushed it open, leaning in a little. "Chloe. You in there, girl?"
Someone touched my shoulder. "Um, Sir... that's the women's room."
"I know." I turned and snapped at the small waitress that stood behind me. "Can you please go in and see if my sister is in there? She has a temper and ran off. Her name is Chloe."
"Sure." The woman moved past me, trying not to touch me at all.
I couldn't blame her. I was fucking fuming. How dare that little shit slip out on me? What had I done besides open up to her, share my favorite place to eat and a little of my history? Was it the comment about her being so fucking hot as she licked her spoon?
She played it off well, but I knew without a doubt that she was aware of me being attracted to her. Her bringing up fucking some guy at the house while I was there was almost it for me. I didn’t have any hold on her, nor did I want one. At least nothing more than a tight grip on her naked ass while I plowed into her from behind. The image seared me, causing my pulse to race harder. Anger and lust danced in my stomach as sweat lined my brow.
Bitch. She was such a spoiled little bitch.
I growled in the hall as another woman moved in front of me and glanced over her shoulder to give me an odd look. I turned and walked to the other end of the hall, not comfortable with looking like a total creeper hovering by the door.
The small Chinese woman stuck her head out and shook it. "No, Sir. No one is in here."
"Thank you," I responded tightly and turned, walking from the restaurant like my ass was on fire. I was going to strangle her. Jogging back down to the car, I got in and slammed the door, texting her twice more before heading back to the beach house.
The traffic was incredibly heavy and it took me more than an hour to get back to the house. By the time I got there my anger had shifted from rage to a slow simmer. She was crying in the shower earlier and had mentioned that her emotions were off the charts. I needed to think through the whole conversation from dinner. She was a loose cannon and something I said had set her off, but what?
Was it me denying her a hard fuck? As if she really wanted one from me. Surely not. The girl was a hundred miles above me in class and status. It had to be the big-brother act I kept pulling out, but I couldn't help it. She acted like a spoiled child and left me no fucking option.
My phone rang and I grabbed it as I pulled into the neighborhood.
"What?" I prayed like hell it was her. It wasn't.
My brother chuckled. "Damn... your tone sucks. What if I was Mitch?"
"I'd tell you to take this job and shove it up your ass." I got trapped behind a large moving truck and let out a long growl.
"Whoa. Slow down, buddy. Tell me what's going on."
"This chick is bat-shit crazy. That's what's going on."
"Ian, you think all chicks are bat-shit crazy." Cole chuckled again, which didn't help my mood.
"Because most of them are. I swear if she's not slinging her panties at me, she's storming off or screaming in my face."
"Slinging her panties at you? You know she's off limits, dude. It's been one day."
"I know that, Cole. Say one more mother fucking thing to make me feel stupid and I'm hanging this goddamn phone up." The truck pulled out and I sped around him, hating the small car I was crammed into on top of everything else. I looked like the jackass I felt like. How she could unravel me was a mystery, but I was going to have to emotionally lock myself away to make sure that I got the job done and nothing else.
"Okay, man. Tell me what I can do. You want me to come over and talk to the girl?"
"No. She just gave me the slip because I guess I once again said something to upset her."
"Walk me through what you said."
"No. I'm almost there. I'm just going to strangle her and scream the rules in her face."
"Ian. Tell me what happened. Make me feel better. I feel like I'm the only guy who can't talk to girls. Give me something here."
I parked and got out of the car as I caught sight of her out on the beach. She paddled toward the surf and I let out a long sigh. The beach was the only place that gave her peace. Fuck. Something I did unraveled her, but what? I’d been on my best behavior at dinner. Shit, it was meant to make her feel better from the long first day we had of fucking with each other. It was my apology, which went to shit fast.
Plopping down on a large rock on the side of the house that gave me a perfect view of her, I let out a long breath. "I took her to Fashion Valley to eat."
"Not the Chinese place."
I smiled. "Duh. No one else will go with me."
"That's because it's fucking nasty."
"You wanna hear this or you wanna insult my passions?"
"Keep going." Cole made a gagging sound and I laughed as my anger ran out. How he did that shit I would never know, but I was grateful for it in the moment.
"We had a good dinner and shared dessert. I told her about you and getting the job. She mentioned bringing someone to the house and I told her if she wanted to that was cool, I just needed to check the guy out. She bristled and said that sex was a part of her life and she reminded me that she's twenty-one." I ran my fingers down my face and lifted my eyes toward the crystal clear sky.
"That makes sense. Go on."
"I told her I didn't care how old she was. If she wanted to get laid, the guy would have to come through me." I glanced out at the water and took her in, my heart swelling at how beautiful she was against the setting sun. Shit. Keep it together.
"It's the daddy thing she doesn't seem to like. No one wants to be locked in a cage, Ian. You don't either." He was right, as much as I hated to admit it.
"I didn't cause this shit to happen to her, Cole. I'm just trying to do my fucking job and she’s insanely emotional. Maybe the good Senator should have hired a shrink instead of a bodyguard."
"I know you’re trying to do your job. Tell me what else you said."
I didn’t want to finish the convo with him, but he wouldn’t let me get off with ending it there. "She just mentioned that if she wasn't getting dick from anyone else that I'd have to let her use mine."
"She did not say that shit." Cole laughed loudly. The bastard was enjoying my situation far more than he should have. Truth be told, I would have reveled in him dealing with the little tart too.
"Something like that. I laid down the law again. She needs to know that I'm not putting up with her dicked-up advances. I'm not a piece of meat for her to play around with. She has nothing to lose by me snatching her up and fucking her against a wall, but I do. I’m not interested. Period."
"Good. Keep your dick in your pants and treat her like you do most of the women that approach you. You’re not interested, even if you really are.” He paused and I prayed that we were almost done. I needed a beer and a mental break from the stupidity of the day. “So you rejected her, and did she leave right after that?"
I thought back on it, not agreeing at all with Cole. The bitch rejected me, which was a good thing. "I guess. I gotta go, dude."
"All right buddy, but this isn't about you. It's about her being put into a new life with rules and regulations. She's not used to that, and if she's sensitive, then rejecting her in any sense of the word is going to hit her far harder than you think."
"All right. I'll call you tomorrow." I hung up and pulled my knees up, wrapping my arms around them. Rejection stung everyone, but maybe she was increasingly sensitive to it. Did I care? Yeah, but I didn’t want to.
I thought back to earlier in the day when she reached out to touch my tat and I told her not to. Did she think that was rejection? The sad look that brushed across her features said that she did. It wasn't. I just couldn't have her soft fingers brushing all over my skin or I was going to lay waste to my agreement with her father and teach her how to scream my name from musc
le memory.
Pulling at my hair, I growled and stood, hating like hell that the angst inside of me had bubbled up again. She walked down the beach as I approached her. I was pissed all over again. Being left at a restaurant could do that to a guy.
"I'm not sure what part of this you don't get, but let me reiterate it for you." I stopped in front of her, locking my eyes onto hers and not glancing down at the incredible amount of skin she left on display. "Your father almost died two weeks ago. Have you been to a funeral for someone you loved? Stood over their casket while they lay there all fake and stiff? Considered that the worms are going to eat at them when they get dropped down into the big, ugly-ass hole you had dug for them? It sucks, little girl. That's what's going to happen to you if you don't stay close to me. He's worried about your safety."
I barely got the word safety out before she slapped me - hard.
"Fuck you. You don't know anything about me. Let’s keep it that way." She jerked around me and walked to the house as the sound of her crying hit me in the chest. I didn't care.
"I don't? I know how to stop someone from putting a bullet in your head, but you know what, Chloe... You have to help with that. If you run from me, I can't protect you."
"I don't want your protection," she screamed as she continued to the house, flinging the door open and dropping her board on the porch. "Stay away from me. My father can get someone else. I can't stand you."
There was no reason why her words should have bothered me, but they did. I let out a long sigh and walked up on the deck, picking up her board and pulling it into the house. I locked up and set the alarm before opening the windows to the back porch to watch the sunset.
How nice it would be to be dealing with a woman and not a child, but it was probably a good thing I wasn't. I would have taken the woman on the beach and made love to her until the sun came back up from wherever it disappeared to.
Chapter 15
Chloe
Four Days Later, Sunday
I couldn't remember having a more miserable week than the one we finally made it through. Ian and I spoke maybe ten words to each other, moving around one another like shadows in the night. My heart ached to apologize for my actions, but that would lead to me having to explain myself and my fucked-up past, which wasn't happening.
So, I just kept to myself. Jessica came over a few times and fell in love with him too, asking me a million times if I was okay with her wanting to ask him out. I didn't care. He was off limits for me and he was sure to stick to that no matter what I did to try and change it.
Sunday morning came and I woke to the smell of bacon, my stomach growling loudly as I slipped out of bed. I tugged on the robe that hung on the hanger by my door and padded into the kitchen, hoping like hell that since he was cooking for me, we were moving toward being amicable again.
No luck. Pauly turned and smiled, lifting a piece of bacon from the plate and freezing, as if caught.
"Hey." I smiled and moved toward him.
He opened his arms and pulled me into a warm hug, kissing the top of my head. "Hey kiddo. I figured a good home-cooked breakfast might do you some good."
"Oh. I thought Ian was cooking. You almost scared me. Him cooking means the apocalypse is on its way." I forced a laugh and Pauly eyed me.
"He's off on Sundays, silly girl. He left at five this morning when I got here. He looked like hell. Everything go okay this week?" My father’s bodyguard had been a huge staple in my life, and almost more of a father than my own could ever hope to be. It was sad that he didn’t have kids of his own. They would have been raised right, in a house filled with love and attention.
I moved to pour myself a cup of coffee and shrugged. "I guess if you consider we didn't say more than five words to each other."
"Wow. That's odd. He seemed like a talkative guy when I brought him over here last week. Maybe he's shy around girls?" Pauly turned and watched me like a hawk. He had to know what was up. He was fucking with me.
I shouldn't have brought up Ian. There would be no getting around my father's main man. He knew me too well.
I let out a long sigh and hopped up on the barstool at the breakfast nook. "He's pissed at me, and rightly so."
Pauly pulled the last bit of the bacon from the pan and lifted his eyebrow at me. "Pancakes or French toast?"
"Both?" I laughed. "No, French toast sounds great."
"Talk. Spill for me and let me see if I can help you. Chances are that both of you did and said some things that you’re not too thrilled with. In a bodyguard situation we usually leave the tough guy on the outside of the house, guarding the door. The fact that Ian is having to live life with you is a bit odd, I would bet."
“Yep. It’s been challenging for both of us. He’s doing his job well. It’s me that’s diving off the deep end like I’m still twelve and can’t handle anything that even resembles rejection. It’s fucked up.” I set the coffee down and picked up a towel beside me, pressing it to my eyes. "It's all my fault honestly. I just... want to be loved so fucking bad. By anyone really. I’m surprised I’m not married to an asshole and hating life. I just keep thinking if I were better than someone would want me. Anyone. Maybe dad would too, you know?"
"Oh, sweetheart." His arms wrapped around me and he pressed a kiss to the side of my head. "You know me and your father love you so much. You don’t need a man to complete you, Chloe. You need to work through being comfortable with just being you, and then that love will come. It’s not with Ian though... He’s a hood rat like me. You’re a princess. This doesn’t work out well in the end." He chuckled, softening me a little more.
"I know." I tugged away and wiped at my tears angrily. "I know you're not the person to talk to about this, but I don't have anyone else. My friends are shallow asses and my dad's gone and doesn't know me any more than the guys who answer the phone in his call center."
Pauly rubbed my shoulders before walking back to the kitchen. "I'm here. Talk about anything you want to."
"Ian's pissed because I gave him the slip at the mall." I held up my hand before Pauly lit into me. "I know it was stupid, but I had one of those moments where I could see my life with someone like him in it and I could almost touch it. He didn’t even do anything to make it happen, but open up a little to me. And it was a shallow conversation over us having siblings. I’m so damn pathetic. I tried to flirt a little, namely because I’m a twenty-one-year-old woman and he’s a blistering hot man, but he pushed me away and slammed the door in my face."
"Literally?" Pauly worked on the French toast. I was grateful he ignored my comment about Ian being so hot. I should have kept that bit to myself.
"No. He put me in my place. He's all business, which I get, but I felt rejected and it's the last thing I needed." I took a sip of my coffee, shoving my feelings back down in the little black box where they resided. "He treated me like a child and laid out his stupid ass rules for the tenth time, so, I ran."
"Did you talk to him about why you ran?"
"Nope. I haven't said much of anything other than 'fuck off' in the last few days." I glanced down at my phone, flipping back through his angry messages from earlier in the week. “I deserve his silence, but it feels like salt in a wound right now. No one seems to understand that a week ago I was free to do what I wanted, when I wanted, and now… anyways.”
"Interesting." Pauly laid a plate of food before me. “You still have a lot of freedom, butterfly. You just need to understand the threat that we’re-”
“I do.” I nodded and picked up my fork. “I really do. I’ll work on it. It’s fine.”
"It’s not fine, but we’ll figure it out together.” He reached out and ruffled my hair. “I know you don't want to hear this, but your father is hoping you'll attend church with him at ten."
I glanced toward the clock, noting it was eight. "Don't you think God is offended that my father simply shows up in various worship services to look good?"
"I don't know about God, but the people sure se
em to like it."
I huffed and started to eat, a moan leaving me as I glanced up. "You're the best cooker in the whole world."
He laughed. "You've been saying that since you were knee high to a grasshopper."
"It's true." I turned my attention back to the food and worked on letting go of the rotating train of thought that had been buzzing though my head all week. Ian was just doing his job, and I was overreacting like the spoiled brat I was. It was nothing more.
"I'll talk to the boy."
"He's a man and no, don't do me any favors. We'll figure it out or we'll just keep this charade up for eight more weeks. It's going to come to an end one way or the other."
"Well, I love you, butterfly. I'm here if you need anything of me."
I nodded and used a large bit of French toast to push the pain back down in my chest where it seemed to thrive.
*
The service was boring and done without any feeling. How people thought God would be excited to show up when none of them were was beyond me. I hugged my dad and got back in my beamer, promising Pauly that I would stop by the store and meet him at home. He was supposed to stay by my side, but his son had a flat tire and needed help.
Against the voices in my head, I totally disobeyed the command, suddenly tired of feeling like a child. I was twenty-one years old. That had to mean something to someone. I wasn't getting death threats. Dad was. I just needed to breathe, to get away.
Driving out to the docks on Coronado Island was the plan. I took the large bridge over the water, the Navy ships causing me to feel comfort. As a child, Pauly would bring me out to the island and take me all over. He had a few friends in the service and they would get a day pass to bring us on and show us around. It felt like being part of something bigger than me. It was protection in the smallest of ways.
A sob caught in my chest and I swallowed it back down.
"No. You're not that wimpy-ass, emo girl. Get it together." I needed to go back to L.A. The summer was turning out to be anything but what I expected. I would tell my father that I was picking up a few summer classes and heading back. He would release Ian, the man having a family and life in San Diego. We could just up the security around my building on campus. There were camera's everywhere anyways.