Parker Security Complete Series

by Camilla Blake

  “Stella’s mom found us in bed together.”

  Drew sucked in a breath. “Cole.”

  “I know. It wasn’t the right thing to do. In fact, I had gone over there to talk with her about it because—”

  “Talk with her about what?”

  “About the fact that there was some... there was some attraction between us. I was going to talk with her about it and tell her that we had to keep things professional. But... obviously that didn’t happen. I take full responsibility. I’m sorry.”

  “How could you do something like that, Cole? What were you thinking?”

  “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

  Drew sighed. “You were thinking, all right, just not with the correct head. If I had known that something like this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have put you on this in the first place. It’s not a good situation. Ed says not to come back—you’re done.”

  I kind of knew that was going to be the end result, but I felt a sinking feeling anyway. The worst part was that there was no one to blame but myself. I hadn’t been strong enough; my resolve had crumbled. I had gone over there to tell Stella we were going to keep things strictly professional from now on, and what had happened? We’d slept together.

  And it was sooo good.

  I ignored that little voice, tried to ignore the memories of the past few hours that were trying to intrude. It had been so good. It had been more than just sex—or at least it had felt that way for me. But I couldn’t even enjoy those memories, because I had a larger problem to deal with: I’d just been fired.

  “This sort of behavior is not tolerable,” Drew continued. “Do you think it would reflect well on our company if word of this gets out?”

  I swallowed. I hadn’t even considered for a moment that this might jeopardize my employment here at Parker Security. But of course it could—that was blatantly obvious now, now that I had done something I couldn’t go back and change.

  “I’m really sorry, Drew. I don’t know what else to say. It was a complete error in judgment and I should’ve known better. I... I understand if you have to take any disciplinary measures or whatever. Or if you want me to resign.”

  Drew raised his eyebrows. “I’m not asking you to resign, Cole. I’m also not going to fire you.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” I said. “I promise that I will never do something like this again.”

  “I am going to send you to a workshop,” Drew said.

  “A workshop?”

  “About maintaining professional boundaries in the workplace. It’s this weekend. The registration date is long past, but I know the guy running it and we’ll be able to get you in. So clear your calendar if you’ve got anything—it’s all day Saturday and Sunday.”

  “Okay,” I said meekly, though inside I was groaning. I had never actually attended a workshop like this before, though I’d worked security at a few hotels that had hosted them. They seemed like awful events, full of sad, depressed people, forced to do things like trust falls and navigating their way through a maze blindfolded. No, thanks.

  “I’ll get in touch with my friend about it and then text you the details,” Drew said. “Why don’t you take the rest of the week off and then go to the workshop. And we can check back in on Monday morning. For now, that’s it.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said again as I stood up. “I know that it’s not going to change anything. But I want you to know that I’m really sorry.”

  Drew looked at me, not saying anything for a moment. “I know you are,” he finally said. “We all make mistakes sometimes, Cole. I don’t expect you—or anyone else—to be perfect. But this is a pretty serious thing, here. To be honest, Ed’s heart didn’t sound totally into the phone call earlier—I think he was doing it more for his wife’s sake. Not to say he isn’t upset about it, but... I could tell he likes you. He thinks you’re a good guy. I don’t think he wanted to fire you.”

  “I like him, too.” Hearing that made me feel a little better. A tiny bit. Not that it made any difference in my current situation.

  After I left Drew’s office, I went down to my own workplace, which I shared with Jason. Jason wasn’t there, though—not much of a surprise. He was probably off running through a field of daisies, hand in hand with Emmy. I sat at my desk and put my head down on my arms. I had royally messed everything up.

  “Are you crying?”

  I looked up. Lena stood in the doorway, arms crossed. “No,” I said.

  She came in, closing the door behind her. “You’re a fool.”

  “Oh, my God, Lena, I’m begging you, please just leave me alone right now. I don’t need to hear this from you. Or anyone, for that matter. I know I’m a fool. No one knows that more than me.”

  “I overheard Drew on the phone earlier. It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about, but... you’re seriously a fool. It bears repeating.”

  “I really don’t need to hear this right now.”

  She sat down in the chair opposite my desk. “I see how it is,” she said. “You’re one of those people who ask for advice but then don’t actually take it. Did you even hear a word of what I said to you?”

  I opened my mouth to refute that, to tell her that I had listened to what she’d said, but then I stopped. She didn’t want to hear it, even if I had originally gone over there to tell Stella exactly what Lena had said. Lena wouldn’t understand a situation like that, because everything was always black and white to her. There was a correct choice and an incorrect choice and nothing in between. She didn’t understand that sometimes things could be gray; sometimes you could see both sides to a story.

  “So, now what are you going to do?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “What can I do? Other than go to some professional-development workshop this weekend about appropriate boundaries. I’m doing that.”

  She shuddered. “I’m glad it’s not me. I hate those sorts of things. But, yeah, maybe that’ll be good for you.” She stood up, and I thought she was going to leave, but then she leaned across the desk and patted me on the shoulder. “Hey,” she said, and she waited until I met her gaze before she continued, her hand still on my arm. “You did something dumb, but we’ve all done dumb things before. You’re not a bad guy. You’ll get through this.” She gave my arm the lightest squeeze and then she let go, hurrying out of the office. I didn’t know if that meant things weren’t as bad as I thought they were, or if they were really a lot worse—so bad that Lena was actually being nice to me.

  Chapter 18

  Stella

  I had stood there at the window for a long time after Cole left, watching him pick up his clothes that my mother had thrown out the window. Under different circumstances, I might’ve found the whole situation amusing, but as it was, I was so upset, I couldn’t move.

  “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” my mother had asked.

  But I didn’t turn from the window, and she eventually left.

  Part of me had wanted to leave, but where would I go? What would I do? So I had stayed in my room, and fallen asleep early, before the sun had even set.

  Which was why I was awake now, the sun having just risen.

  I got dressed and padded downstairs. Everything was quiet and still, and I slipped outside. I didn’t have any particular destination in mind; it felt like such a long time since I’d last been anywhere by myself.

  The sky was just beginning to lighten to the east. The air was cool, and I walked quickly. A few cars passed me, but aside from that, it felt like I had the whole city to myself.

  I found myself close to downtown, near that restaurant Dottie’s that Cole had taken me to. There were people on the sidewalks here, some sleeping on flattened cardboard boxes, shopping carts overflowing with stuff standing guard above them.

  “Hey, there—good morning,” someone said, and I nodded, said a quick hi, and kept walking. I wasn’t afraid of being robbed, because I didn’t have a wallet or anything
of value on me.

  “Got any change?” someone else said.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t.”

  I figured that I’d circle around and head back to my house. I stopped, though, when I saw a guy sitting on the sidewalk, moving pieces around on a chessboard.

  “I know you,” I said.

  He looked up. He was wearing a ratty army-green jacket and heavy-looking beige construction pants. His hair was short, in tight little dreadlocks. It was the guy I’d seen Cole playing chess with.

  “Surely I’d remember someone like you,” he said. “I’m Jeremiah.”

  “Stella.” I held out my hand, a move that surprised both of us. But I didn’t pull it back, even when Jeremiah didn’t reach out to shake it. “I don’t bite,” I said.

  He hesitated a moment longer but then stretched his arm out, clasped my hand in his own for a second. His hand was warm and dry, a little rough.

  “You know Cole,” I said.

  And then Jeremiah’s face broke out into a smile. “Oh, my man, Cole. Yes, I do know him. He’s usually not up at this hour. You his girl?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’m his girl.”

  “Lucky man.” Jeremiah nodded to the chessboard. “You play?”

  “Badly.”

  He stood up and went over to his shopping cart, where he extracted a fold-up chair, which he set up. “Have a seat,” he said.

  And so I did. I was pretty sure I was moving pieces in directions they weren’t supposed to go, but Jeremiah didn’t say anything. About that, anyway.

  “So, how do you know Cole?” he asked. “This must be a rather new development.”

  “My friend Lauren liked to refer to him as my babysitter. My parents hired him as my bodyguard.” I pushed one of my chess pieces forward, the horse, which I knew was called something other than the horse, but I couldn’t remember what.

  “Ah,” Jeremiah said. “You’re that girl.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you know of me?”

  He grinned. “Your reputation precedes you. All good stuff, though. Actually, Cole only mentioned you when he was first considering the job. He wasn’t sure if he was going to take it.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I mean, he liked that you were into bikes and everything. He’s really into that, if you hadn’t noticed.”

  “Oh, I’ve noticed.” I pushed one of the pawns diagonally to an open square. “So... he wasn’t sure if he was going to take the job originally?”

  “I think he just felt a little weird about the fact that he was going to be a bodyguard for someone. Not that he should feel weird about that. Lots of very important people have bodyguards. Plenty of not-so-important people, too.” He laughed. “It’s a trip, though, isn’t it? Having to be watched over by someone else, like you’re a little kid.”

  I smiled wanly. “Yeah,” I said, surveying the board. I had no idea where to move next. “It is.” I looked up. “Can I ask you something?”

  “You sure can. And if I can answer it, I will.”

  “Do you like living like this?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like . . .” I gestured around us. “Out on the streets.”

  He frowned. “Who says I live out on the streets?”

  “Oh.” I felt my face redden. “I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to assume that. I just figured…” My voice trailed off when he started laughing, a deep, throaty sound that seemed to reverberate through his whole body.

  “Gotcha!” he said, slapping his knee. “Man, oh, man, you should see the look on your face. Yeah, I live on the streets. Wouldn’t have it any other way. Not like you, I’m sure, living all nice and pretty in some sprawling mansion. I don’t judge you, though. To each his own. You ever think about what the world would be like if everyone just minded their own business? Didn’t get all up in other people’s faces?”

  “I can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like.”

  “I try to mind my own business. I know what I want. It might not be what everyone else wants, but it suits me just fine. That’s the way of it, then, isn’t it? You just gotta know what you want. And hopefully you won’t have too many people standing in your way.”

  He was lucky, I realized, though that luck was largely of his own making. He might not have a lot, he might be someone that others (myself included) had looked down upon, but here was a man who was living his life on his own terms, who didn’t have anyone else dictating to him how he needed to be, what he needed to do. I could tell just from my short time talking with him that Jeremiah was intelligent; he probably could have easily gotten a job, found a wife, had some kids. Done what people were expected to do. But that wasn’t what he wanted. I didn’t know if he’d had other people, at some point or another, telling him that he should do something other than what he was doing, but he hadn’t let them sway him.

  I looked down at my pieces. “I have to admit, I don’t know how to play chess very well.”

  He grinned. “I know.”

  ***

  I walked back home after I said goodbye to Jeremiah. I had thought I’d be able to sneak back into my room without anyone being any the wiser, but my mother was pacing in the foyer when I got back, a frantic look in her eyes. “There you are!” she exclaimed, rushing over to me. She grasped my shoulders. “Where have you been?”

  “Will you stop it?” I asked, trying to shrug her off. “You’re acting like I’m some sort of criminal, or like I’m five years old. Of which I am neither. I’m allowed to go for a walk if I want.”

  “I went into your room this morning to see if you wanted to go out and get breakfast, and you weren’t there. What am I supposed to think?”

  “That I went out? Aren’t I allowed to do that?”

  “I don’t know, Stella. In light of recent events, I’m not sure that you should just be granted free rein to do whatever you want.”

  “But I’m not a little kid!” My voice seemed to echo back to me. “And I’m not some precious doll or something that needs to be locked away and only allowed out if she has a keeper with her.”

  “No one ever said that.”

  “I’m certainly being treated that way, though. And it’s not fair.”

  “Stella. We want what’s best for you. That’s all this has ever been about. We want you to have a happy, fulfilling life. That’s all we want.”

  “Is it, though? Because riding bikes has always made me happy and you’ve been totally against that.”

  “I was against it because it’s dangerous.”

  “Anything could be dangerous. Tennis could be dangerous. Bikes make me way happier than tennis.”

  “I think it’d be better if you didn’t do that for right now,” my mother said. “Don’t you think it’s gotten you into enough trouble as it is? If you weren’t so insistent about getting back out on that bike of yours, you wouldn’t have met Cole in the first place. None of this would have happened. I was against this idea from the very beginning, but I went along with it because your father thought it would be good for you. But it’s turned out to be a little too good for you.”

  “I didn’t realize you were in control of my life,” I said. “You’re acting like I’m still a child. Which I’m not. I’m an adult.”

  “Are you? Because you’re not acting very grown-up. You’re acting like a selfish, irresponsible teenager. And if you want to act like one, then don’t be surprised when you find you’re being treated like one.”

  “I want to talk to Dad.”

  “He’ll be back next week. He’s not coming home early because of something like this. It’s been handled. You don’t have to make a bigger deal out of this than need be, okay? There’s no need for it. Please, Stella. Let’s just move on from this.”

  “I don’t think I’m the one making a big deal out of anything! You’re the one who is freaking out because I went for a walk. Is that so wrong?”

  “Where did you go?”

  “That’s really not your business.�
�

  Her eyes narrowed. “You went to see him, didn’t you? You went over to Cole’s.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Then where were you?”

  “I told you—I went for a walk. I played a game of chess.”

  “You played a game of chess?”

  “Yes.”

  “And with whom did you play this game of chess?” She held up her hand before I could respond. “Do I even want to know?”

  “Probably not. And we can leave it at that.” I knew that I could totally disgust her and tell her that I’d played chess with someone who hadn’t lived in an actual house for decades, someone whose worldly possessions were contained within the confines of a stolen shopping cart, but I didn’t elaborate.

  Chapter 19

  Cole

  It would’ve been better if I’d had something to do, if Drew hadn’t told me to take the next few days off before the conference. Because at least I’d have a distraction, something to keep my mind off of everything that had happened. I’d start thinking about the good parts—how incredible it had felt to be with Stella, the way she’d looked underneath me, her eyes squeezed shut, biting down on her lower lip—but then those memories would start to get bombarded with Stella’s mother’s irate voice, the expression on her face when I woke up to find her standing there at the foot of the bed... It made me feel like I was going a little crazy.

  When my phone rang, I snatched it up, hoping it was Stella. It wasn’t—it was my sister Jen.

  “Hey,” she said. “The kids want to go on a bike ride this weekend and were asking if you could go with us. You up for that?”

  “Normally I would be,” I said, “but… I’ve got plans this weekend. I’m sorry.”

  “Oh, no worries. We’ll plan it for another time. What are you up to this weekend? Not a big date or anything—right?”

  “No,” I said. “Work-related.” I didn’t feel like getting into the whole thing.

  “Well, that’s good. That it’s not a date. Because—guess what? You have a date.”

  “What?”