Bodyguard's Secret Baby (A Secret Baby Romance)

by Vivian Ward

  Lee, my new sidekick, helped me track the guys that she had been hanging out with and conducted background checks on each one of them.

  There was one in particular that caught both of our eyes; his name was Brandon Shepherd, but he was known on the streets as Mask. They called him that because he was always hard to find and nobody knew much about his personal life.

  He was the ring leader behind everything, and he was like chasing a damned ghost. Not only did he cover his tracks, he could also appear and disappear without a trace, and with him calling the shots, we needed to stay one up on all of his moves or we’d get too far behind the eight ball and lose sight of what he was doing, and that’s exactly what happened—for a couple of months.

  That was how I ended up back home. Princess, as I had taken to calling her spoiled ass, had been missing and after tracking down a couple of the scumbags that worked for Mask, I learned that she was on her way to Missouri. Mask was on his way to Florida, along with Bethany, to work out a deal.

  What that deal meant, I had no clue. The two dirtbags weren’t sure if it was a drug deal or a sex deal, or so they claimed which put me to work on them.

  Lee was with me when everything went down and stopped me when he swore I broke one of the guy’s jaws. He could never be the muscles behind any operation; he was too much of a goody-two-shoes.

  In my opinion, he was better off sticking to what he knew. He had expert knowledge in security systems and firewalls. There wasn’t a thing you could do online without him knowing about it—which was how we tracked our little group to a hole-in-the-wall hotel St. Louis, just outside of the Scottrade Center.

  There were multiple charges on Mask’s credit card for strip clubs, restaurants, and titty bars. When we first got to Missouri, we headed straight to St. Louis, but they had already checked out of their hotel. I called in to let Mr. Turner know the situation.

  “Can Lee tell where they went?”

  “Not yet. The activity on the card dried up after they checked out of the hotel but he’s working on finding out where they are.”

  I looked over at Lee, who nodded his head in confidence, confirming what I said.

  “Fine, good work. That sounds just like them; always cutting off accounts and using new ones to make their trails harder to find. They know what they’re doing, and that is what scares the hell out of me.”

  He was flustered, I could hear it in his voice, and I felt bad for the man. His doctor increased his meds quite a bit since I had met him and he was taking more heart meds now than ever before.

  “Don’t worry about a thing, sir. We’ve kept a close watch on her for nearly two years, and we’re not about to lose her now. I’ll let you know once we learn more,” I said, ending the call.

  Looking over at Lee, I could tell he didn’t like me lying to the boss. His eyes narrowed, and he crumpled his brows.

  “Why did you tell him that?”

  “What am I supposed to do? Say something that’ll give the old man a heart attack?”

  “You didn’t have to lie to him,” he stuffed his laptop back in its black case. “What are we going to say when he calls back tomorrow, and the next day?”

  “I’ll tell him that you’re behind the ball, and you’re coming up empty-handed,” I started driving toward St. Louis.

  “What the fuck? You can’t throw me under the bus like that?”

  I smiled at him as I looked over my shoulder to change lanes. “I can, and I will.” I punched the gas pedal to the floor, “I suggest you get on it or he’ll can your ass.”

  “This is wrong on so many levels.”

  “I know,” I laughed, checking my mirrors.

  “Where are we going anyway?”

  “Eh, I figured since we’re only about twenty miles from my hometown, we could crash there until we figure something out.”

  “You’re shitting me! You used to live around here?” he asked, gawking out the window as he peered at the Arch.

  Even among the night sky, she stood tall and proud with all of her might and glory as the shiny silver monument reflected in the moonlight. Looking over at the Mississippi River, I could see the Arch’s steel reflection bouncing off the currents that occupied the body of water.

  I cranked up the stereo until we exited the highway and pulled into a hotel parking lot. It felt like it had been ages since I’d been in St. Louis, but it still gave me the same vibe it always had.

  I didn’t feel welcome even though it had been almost two years since I had set foot in my hometown. Lee followed me inside where I saw a cute girl named Cheyenne working behind the counter.

  “Can I help you?” she eyed me up and down. I noticed that the tattoo on my forearm caught her eye.

  “Yeah, we need a room for two—separate beds—please.”

  She punched a few keys on the keyboard before her eyes scanned the screen. “We have a unit on the upper level that’s available.”

  “Whatever,” I waved her on.

  “How long?” she asked.

  “We’re not sure.”

  “No, I meant how long since you graduated?” she nodded at my tattoo.

  “A while,” I studied her.

  I should never have gotten our school mascot tattooed on my arm, but I was young and thought it was a good idea at the time.

  All it did was serve as a constant reminder as to how bad I’d fucked up since getting out of school. I never knew how bad I’d want to get away from St. Louis or how bad I never wanted to be associated with this town.

  Grinning at me, she slid a small envelope containing our room keys. “Here are your keys and all of the rooms here have microwaves and refrigerators. If you need anything else, just give the front desk a call,” she patted the phone on the counter beside her.

  “What’s our next move?” Lee asked as we tossed our bags onto the beds.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Let’s grab some food for the room and then you can get on your computer to see what you can find out.”

  “That’s it?” he asked, dumbfounded.

  “What else do you want? Yeah, that’s it. You better start working your magic, or the boss is going to find a replacement, and maybe the next one won’t be a little Chinese guy. Maybe I’ll talk him into hiring some muscle, so I have a little help, or maybe a hottie with some legs and tits that I can sink my teeth into.”

  “Asians are cool, man. You’re never going to find anyone else who can sneak out of tiny bathroom windows to pull the car around when you’re getting your ass handed to you at the bar.”

  “True,” we high-fived.

  That was all before I ran into Julie at the store. I expected her to be happy to see me, or at least that was my initial thought. I assumed she’d be happy to see me.

  No, I wasn’t exactly planning on things picking up back up where they left off, but I hoped it would be someplace close.

  The way that she talked to me, though? It ripped my heart in half. Part of me wanted to throw her right over my shoulder, spank her ass and remind her of what she had been missing out on, but the other part of me wanted to tell her what a bitch she was being and get the hell away from her.

  As much as I wanted to do the latter, I couldn’t do it to her. My blood was boiling, and it felt like bleach was burning my insides. Before I said something to her that I would regret, I grabbed Lee and got the hell out of there.

  “What was that?” he asked, still turned around staring at Julie.

  I grabbed his shoulder and jostled him forward. “I’ll tell you later,” I growled.

  The crisp evening air burned my lungs as I inhaled a deep breath in the parking lot and rested my hands on my knees. Lee’s eyes were focused on me, trying to figure out what happened inside the store but I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. Not until after I had a few drinks.

  “Let’s get out of here and head to the bar.”

  I got in the car and left him leaning against the trunk when I fired up the engine. He hopped i
n the passenger seat as I threw the car into reverse and peeled out of the parking space, hurling us towards the closest bar.

  Reds were only a few blocks away, but I couldn’t get there fast enough. There wasn’t enough liquor in this shithole town to cover up the salty wound that she had torn open, but hopefully, the alcohol would sterilize it again—or at least make it numb for a while.

  Pulling up in front of the bar, I could tell that it wasn’t busy which was typical for a Tuesday night. I had changed, but not a damned thing in St. Louis had—not even Julie. She was the same girl I’d left behind.

  She had a point. I did leave her behind and walked out on her, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do—it was what I had to do. If I didn’t get out of this God-forsaken town, I was going to end up just like the rest of my family: a washed up loser who only knew a life behind bars. That’s not what I wanted; I wanted to be normal like everyone else, except I didn’t know how.

  The only way I knew how to be normal was by fighting and fucking. At least working a steady job doing private security had curbed my drinking habit, and I hadn’t touched a joint since I started working for Mr. Turner. In a weird way, seeing him on all those meds made me realize how much of my life I was throwing down the toilet, just wasting it away.

  Lee sat beside me at the bar, silent and still. Even though we’d known each other all this time, he was still trying to get used to me and figure me out. He didn’t have much of a sense of humor, and I’m pretty sure I’d made himself piss his pants a few times, though he’d never admit it.

  “Two shots of Patrón,” I motioned to the bartender.

  “Oh, I don’t want any,” Lee said, keeping his voice low.

  “Good, neither of them are for you.”

  She slid me the shots, and I slammed ‘em, barely tasting their sharp bite as the liquor rolled across my tongue.

  “Two more,” I slid the glasses back to her.

  “Are you going to tell me what happened back there or what?”

  “Fuck. Where do I start?”

  I knocked back the shots that she lined up in front of me on the counter. The fourth one hit me, and I felt my chest heating up as the liquid made its way to my stomach.

  “We had a thing if that’s what you want to call it. I never did the girlfriend thing, but I spent more time with that girl than I had ever planned.”

  “Another shot?” the bartender interrupted, wiping the counter down.

  “Bring me a pitcher of beer, and a couple of glasses.” I nodded at Lee as the bartender started pouring our beer.

  “Anyway, the last time I saw her, we spent a perfect night together before I dropped her off.”

  “Well that doesn’t sound so bad,” he poured a glass of beer from the pitcher. “But it doesn’t explain anything.”

  “Fuck,” I growled. “I told her I was leaving to take a job, and just up and left.” He looked at me, waiting for an explanation. “That’s when I flew out to California.”

  “Ah, so you just kind of left on a moment’s notice with no explanation or anything?”

  “Something like that.”

  I didn’t want to think about it, let alone talk about it. All I wanted was to drink my problems away for the night. I hadn’t planned on seeing her, and I sure as hell didn’t think that if or when I did, all those feelings would come rushing back like that. The bartender finally kicked us out at closing time; a few pitchers and several shots later.

  Thinking about the time we spent together and how good she felt beneath me every night made all the blood pool to my dick. My balls felt heavy and ached.

  It must have been at least a week since I had been laid, but I saw a saucy little number hanging around the hotel lobby, all by herself wearing nothing but a skin tight, red mini dress with rhinestones reflecting off the top of it. She looked like a neatly packaged candy bar, and I couldn’t wait to take off her sparkling wrapper before sinking my dick into her.

  “You’re on your tonight,” I said to Lee as I pushed his face away with the palm of my hand after I decided she was coming back to our room with us.

  “I can’t get my room,” he pleaded. “All of my personal credit cards are shut off, and I only have the cash that I brought with me.”

  “Fine, sleep in the living area, and I’ll close the door to the bedroom.”

  I barely had the door to our hotel room shut when my lips came slamming down on hers, covering her mouth as our tongues danced and my cock pushed against the zipper of my jeans. It had been so long that I couldn’t wait to start fucking her hot pussy before I ripped off my belt and pushed down my pants.

  “Oh, Greg,” she moaned.

  I didn’t give a shit if she had my name wrong, all I cared about was getting in and getting out, busting my load right inside her. I rolled on a condom, pushed her down onto the mattress and stripped her of her tight little dress and panties before I sank into her.

  With Julie still fresh in my mind, I had to get fucking this chick out of my system before the liquor coursing through me stopped clouding my judgment long enough to think.

  Julie and I weren’t a couple; everything that happened between us was in the past, and I didn’t know why it bothered me so much that I had hurt her, but no woman had ever made me feel the way she did. The only thing I knew was that I needed to get my dick good and wet, fuck a few more girls that didn’t mean anything to me. Yeah, that’d do it.

  Wouldn’t it?

  Slapping her ass, I fucked her through the night, burying my dick deep inside her until the sun started to come up. By the time dawn hit, we were both snoring in bed, out cold. The last thing I remembered before passing out was Lee turning the volume up on the TV to drown out the sounds of my balls smacking off her wet pussy.

  Morning turned into early afternoon when I woke up to Mr. Turner calling to check on our progress. I motioned for the previous night’s whore to get out of my room as I slid my pants up over my hips and fastened them. Lee was on the couch in the living area, nursing his sissy hangover from the few beers he had at the bar.

  “Yeah, Lee’s been hot and heavy, working on their trail,” I rushed over to him. “Here, he’ll tell you what he’s found himself.”

  Chapter 3

  Julie

  My dad had been talking about expanding the car lot for a long time, but with the amount of business that we had been having, it was no longer a vision; we had to do it—and fast.

  He had to bring on two more buyers to help him bid on cars at various auctions to keep our lot filled and since spring had just started, that only meant we were going to get busier as the weather got nicer.

  Years ago when our family settled roots in St. Louis, my great grandfather had acquired a large chunk of land—almost twenty-one acres.

  Most of the land was heavily wooded, except our home and the family business. All in all, we only used about four acres of the land and never really gave much thought to the wooded area until we spoke of expanding the car lot.

  “You’re here early,” my dad said as he hung his jacket on the wall hook.

  “Yeah, I had to get some things done.”

  It wasn’t a complete lie. There were plenty of invoices to file away and paperwork to fill out. I had just left out the part that I had laid in bed all night thinking about that pompous ass, Damon Miller.

  No matter how much I tried to get him out of my mind, I couldn’t. He was like a bad drug, and I was going through withdrawals, but that didn’t excuse the fact that he’d left me—and our son—high and dry almost two years ago.

  Our son.

  My guilt weighed heavily on my heart. What kind of person was I? I could have told him about Bentley right then and there at the store, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. What if he wanted to walk in and out of his life like he did mine?

  What kind of example would that be for him? And how would he feel, thinking he wasn’t good enough for his daddy to stay around every time he saw the back of his head getting smaller and smaller as h
e disappeared?

  “Do you think you might have time to go on a walk with me?” Daddy asked, pouring himself a paper cup of water from the water cooler.

  “A walk?”

  “Yeah, I need to walk our property to see how far out I want to expand the lot. I figured you might want to come with me.” I looked at him unamused; I had too much on my mind. “I’ll let you spray paint the trees,” he held up a can of neon orange spray paint. “Come on,” he pleaded. “It’ll be lonely if I have to walk by myself.”

  “Okay,” I grabbed my sweatshirt.

  While we were walking our property, we noticed something unusual. The ground was disturbed and didn’t look right. Upon closer inspection, we noticed a marker next to the area that was unearthed. After poking around for a minute, dad uncovered something that alarmed us.

  “What the hell?” he said, shuffling the dirt around with his foot. “Is that a cell phone?”

  I bent down and picked it up. “Yeah, there’s a few of them.”

  It was on old flip phone—they all were—but they didn’t look ‘old’. They were brand new, and with the soil so rich and dark, it was obvious that it was freshly dug.

  “What do you think this is all about?” I asked, nodding toward the marker on the ground.

  “I’m not sure,” he shrugged his shoulders and crinkled his face. “I’ve never seen nothin’ like this before.”

  I didn’t know if we were being watched, so I casually dropped the phone back on the ground and kicked the dirt back over it. “Come on, let’s keep going so we can get out of here. How many more trees do you want to mark?”

  “How about if we go right up to the creek, and then we’ll head back that way,” he pointed, “so we’ll loop around and cover that area, and then we’ll be finished.”

  Walking through the woods, we stumbled across a second unsightly scene and found another marker but this time, there were no cell phones buried. It was much more gruesome.

  Instead, we discovered homemade pipe bombs that would never be used for recreational purposes. The sheer size of the deadly explosives conveyed the lethal force that they were capable of.