My father’s guards were in place when Seth and I returned home. As I stepped into the foyer, I turned to face Seth.
“I’m here now, and I’m safe. Do you still have to follow me around?” I needed to see if I could figure out somehow if Rubio had sent him to spy on me, and I couldn’t do that if he was with me all the time. But he had to sleep, right? He wasn’t a robot. I eyed his body up and down for a moment. Yeah, hopefully he wasn’t a robot.
“I’ll be staying across the hallway from you. If you need anything, just shout.” He gave me a smile.
I gaped at him. My father had given him a room at our house? Oh, that was just fucking brilliant. “Of course,” I muttered, and stormed toward my room. On my way, I nearly bumped into Shawna, Miranda’s daughter. She was working for my father too.
“Hey!” She grinned at me, her brown eyes darting to Seth. “Have you been out the whole night?”
I took her by the arm, steering her toward her small office, and I slammed the door before Seth could come in with us. If I didn’t get a moment of privacy, I was going to go mad. Shawna and I practically grew up together in this house, and I supposed I could call her my friend. Victoria’s friend, at least. I couldn’t trust her with any secrets.
“Your bodyguard is so hot,” she said.
“No, we’re not going to talk about that. I need something else,” I whispered, keeping an eye on the door just in case Seth decided to come in to protect me from nonexistent threats. “I need every single piece of info you have on him.” Since Seth would be living here, I was sure Shawna had a file on him, as she took care of all the paperwork for this household.
“Oh, sure.” She strolled around her desk and opened one of the drawers, pulling out a folder. “Here’s everything you need to know. I think I know what you’re after...” She closed the drawer with her leg and fiddled to open the folder. After some digging through the papers, she pulled one out and offered it to me. “Here. You’ll be glad to hear he’s clean.”
“What are you...?” I blinked at her in confusion, taking the paper. When I glanced at it, I pressed my lips into a tight line and shot her a glare. “Seriously? An STDs test results?” Apparently, he’d gone to get tested at the same clinic where I’d been only two weeks ago because I’d wanted to do some tests too and switch to different birth control pills.
“Oh, come on. Don’t pretend that’s not what you wanted. And before you say anything, I know what Seth’s contract states, but why would that stop you? Forbidden fruit is the sweetest.” She winked.
I shook my head at her. “Just give me the rest of the info.”
“Here.” She handed me the whole folder, and I quickly flipped through it. As my father had said, Seth had great recommendations and work history, but I’d never heard of the companies he’d worked for. I supposed I’d have to Google that.
Then again, if Rubio had sent him, it was possible they’d gotten fake papers, and if I called those companies, one of Rubio’s goons would answer and confirm Seth’s story. Or Rubio had hired a real bodyguard for this job. He had a lot of money and his offers were hard to refuse, which meant it was unlikely I’d find anything suspicious about Seth or any proof that he was working for Rubio.
What could I do? Get Seth fired? Ask my father to do it? I had no idea, especially since Seth could tell my father about the club. Maybe it was better to keep an eye on him, except then I’d be a prisoner in my own home, and I’d have to constantly watch over my shoulder. But if Rubio wanted the club so badly, why hadn’t he already sent an anonymous note to my father or just told him about my club? Or maybe he didn’t know my father well enough, so he couldn’t be sure how he’d react to that.
What if Seth was here to spy on my father too when he was at home? It would be a little difficult to gather any important intel, but Seth would be sleeping right here, in the house. That meant he could sneak out any time he wanted while everyone was asleep and snoop around.
Shit. I was chewing on my fingernail as I considered all the possibilities. If Seth was attempting to gain our trust and then attack my father and me in our own house... Would Rubio risk everything to get the club? I didn’t think he saw me as that much of a threat just yet, so maybe he was merely analyzing me.
Besides, my father had all the important info under lock and key, and we had a ton of security measures. Seth wouldn’t be able to get far. Not to mention if anything happened to my father and me, there’d be an investigation, and my father had powerful friends and business partners, who would stop at nothing to find out what had happened—not out of love and loyalty to my father, but because they’d be afraid someone could be targeting them as well.
“Tori!” Shawna snapped her fingers in front of my face. “I know you’re thinking about Mr. Dreamy out there, but there’s something I need to ask you.”
“He’s not that attractive,” I said, although it sounded like a lie, but who cared about physical appearances when danger was lurking beneath? “Sorry. I’ve been out the whole night and I can’t wait to go to sleep. What did you need?”
“My mom’s birthday’s coming up and I want to prepare a surprise for her. Since she’s here almost all the time, I was thinking of throwing a small party in one of the guest rooms, but I need to make sure she doesn’t see anything before it’s time.” She twirled a strand of her blonde hair around her finger. “So I was thinking you could tell her not to go to one of the rooms. She’ll listen to you, and your dad...” She made a face. “I don’t want to ask him.”
“Sure. I can do that. My father won’t even know.” I offered her a small smile.
“Thanks.”
“Okay, I’m going to bed now.” I clutched the folder to myself. “I’ll return this to you once I’m done with it.”
“Alright. But I’m telling you, he’s...” She puckered her lips and made a sound low in her throat. “Perfect. Handsome, strong, young, plus he can protect you. What more could you wish for?”
A guy who wasn’t here to steal my club, perhaps? “Enough about him. If you like him so much, maybe you should go talk to him.”
Her mouth fell open. “Are you trying to get me fired?”
“I wouldn’t tell my father. Promise.”
“Yeah, and if he found out...” She waved her hand. “No, we’re not doing this. He’s yours.”
“Whatever.” I headed for the door, and when I was out in the hallway, Seth was leaning against the wall, his eyes trained on me. “Why are you still here?”
“Just want to make sure you reach your room safely.” His face was expressionless, but his eyes were still observing me with curiosity.
I groaned. “Fine. Go check my room, make sure everything’s fine, and then you better go to bed. Otherwise, you might oversleep when I need you tomorr... today.” It was freakin’ morning already, and it was a good thing I didn’t have a job, or I’d never have enough time for the club.
“Don’t worry,” he said, pushing himself off the wall. “I’ll always be right where you need me.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, but he simply strode down the hallway. Goddammit, Seth Rovero, just what the hell are you doing here?
***
I couldn’t just go to sleep, so I ended up going through all the tests and information my father had about Seth, but everything seemed perfectly fine. The companies Seth claimed he’d worked for definitely existed, but not in this area. In fact, Seth had been recommended by one of my father’s business partners.
I leaned back into the pillows, wondering if I was just being too paranoid. Seth could simply be a bodyguard—an extremely nosy and annoying one—but maybe he wasn’t a threat. Yeah, right. Everything about him was way too perfect... His job history, his tests, his records...
Although, my father always made sure his workers passed all the possible tests and background checks, so it would be really hard for Seth to hide his connections to some gang, unless he knew exactly how my father worked and what he did with the workers, which would mean we had a spy in our midst. Now I was starting to get a headache.
I set my laptop aside and got to my feet. It was better if I returned the folder back to Shawna before Seth could see it, because I was sure he’d come to my room again to make sure everything was fine. I’d be locking my door, but I usually wasn’t very clearheaded when I woke up, and in a hurry, I could forget about the files. I couldn’t let Seth realize I was extremely suspicious of him.
I got to my feet. Glancing through the window, I saw my father going off to work. It was 9 am, which meant he was late. He’d probably stayed late at the office yesterday, so he hadn’t scheduled any meetings for the morning. It wasn’t strange for him to do this, and I knew he liked to vary his schedule. The guards were everywhere around him as he got into the car. My shoulders relaxed a bit, because at least I wouldn’t have to worry about running into him in the hallway.
I padded over to the door and unlocked it as quietly as possible. If Seth was in the room right across from mine, I didn’t want him to jump up immediately thinking I was trying to slip away from him. Although, I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to do that since there were guards surrounding the whole house. Somehow, it wouldn’t surprise me if Seth had set up some kind of an alarm that went off when I left my room. He seemed to be a freak who’d do something like that.
Nothing happened when I emerged into the hallway, and the door across from me was closed, so I hastened toward Shawna’s office. She wasn’t there when I knocked, and the hallway was completely empty because everyone knew I was asleep and they didn’t dare come here out of fear they’d disturb me.
The door was unlocked, so I went inside and left the folder on the desk under one of the papers. I should probably tell Shawna to be more careful and lock the damn door. There wasn’t anything overly important in here, except for the information about my father’s employees, and I didn’t want Seth to find that. He might use it to contact our employees and blackmail them or do something to get info about me out of them. I suspected there were easier ways to find that out, though.
After I’d left the file, I was on my way back to my room. A sound coming from Seth’s room made me pause. It was his voice. Was he talking to someone? His real employer, perhaps? I inched closer to his door, careful not to be heard. Pressing my ear to it, I listened for a while, but the words he was saying were incomprehensible.
A frown creased my brow, and my hand found itself on the knob. To my surprise, the door wasn’t locked. I pushed it a little and peeked inside. The blinds were open and the light was freely coming into the room through the windows. Seth was lying on the bed. He was shirtless, his hand buried under the pillow, his leg entangled in the sheets. He was murmuring something, but I couldn’t understand a thing.
Before I knew what I was doing, I stepped inside. He was asleep. If there was anything that could help me figure out who he really was, it might be in here with him. I held my breath as I moved toward the chair where Seth’s jacket was folded. After quickly patting the pockets, I realized they were empty. Shit.
I looked around, checking his clothes, the drawers and the things on the desk, but there wasn’t anything interesting lying around. The phone I found was the one my father had given him, because it was the same model all of our guards used, and when I searched through it, there were only numbers and messages from my father or other guards.
What the hell? Didn’t Seth have friends? Family? Unless he knew their numbers by heart and had deleted everything that wasn’t work related. The file I’d read on him stated he’d been living with his mother and sister before coming here, so why did it seem like he hadn’t contacted them at all?
My father expected this phone would be used for other stuff aside from contacting him. But if Seth didn’t want my father to know who he was talking to, then where was his private phone? Maybe he’d hidden it somewhere, like I was doing with my day personality’s phone—I tended to call it Victoria’s phone—before going to the club, but if he had done that... Yeah, this was all highly suspicious.
Seth’s back was turned to me as he let out a little whimper. His tattoos covered most of his skin, and I went closer to inspect them. If there was a gang tattoo somewhere beneath, maybe I could spot it. The black lines seemed perfect, but as I approached, I noticed the rugged skin under them. Scars. The tattoos were hiding scars. A lot of them. Shit.
Before I could make another move, Seth turned around so quickly that I gasped, and he was on his feet in an instant, his hand wrapping around my throat. My back slammed against the wall, the grip of his hand on my throat so tight that I couldn’t breathe. His eyes were narrowed at me in fury, his chest heaving.
“Seth...” I managed to choke out, gripping his hand with both of mine.
His eyes seemed to focus on me, and confusion crossed his features. “Fuck.” He let go of me, stumbling back. “I’m sorry. I... What are you doing here?” He scowled.
I coughed, rubbing my neck. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I just heard noise and I thought you needed help, but you...”
“You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that. I thought you were an intruder.” He rubbed his face, probably aware that this could get him fired. And yeah, if I mentioned this incident to my father, Seth would have to go. The only problem was, who’d take his place?
If it was another bodyguard who could track me down at my club but who wasn’t willing to keep quiet about it... I couldn’t believe I was actually thinking Seth was a good option, despite him potentially working for a gang. And those scars on his back... He couldn’t have gotten them while being a bodyguard. Unless he was something entirely else...
“Well, I’m obviously not an intruder.” I crossed my arms, glaring at him. “I don’t like being attacked in my own home.”
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, but you shouldn’t try to sneak up on me ever again, okay?” His eyes searched mine.
“Okay.” At least he was unnerved a little. I didn’t want him to feel safe here, especially if he was a spy. “Since you’re fine, there’s nothing for me to do here.” I started for the door, and he simply nodded.
When I was out in the hallway, I expected him to lock the door behind me, but for some reason, he didn’t. Weird. I supposed he wanted to be able to run out quickly if needed. As I headed to bed, I wondered how exactly Seth had gotten those scars.