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Jonah
I was in the main security room for the Windsett Complex when Charlie—the computer guru for the entire downtown compound who looked like the typical college hipster, plaid fedora and all—pointed at the screen showing the parking garage across the street. “Hey, isn’t that your girl?”
There, Trace and Elle lurked on the screen as they skirted around cars. They looked like two teenagers searching the cars for spare change, although I had a feeling that all the ducking and dodging was just in case I followed them.
“Dammit,” I cursed. “I told her to stay put until I got back.” I knocked on top of the desk. “Do me a solid. Drop the gates until I get to them. Then don’t open them again until I’m in the drivers’ seat.”
Charlie grinned at me. “Well, this is going to be fun. I’ll be watching. Good luck.”
“Thanks. I have a feeling I’ll need it.” I hoped Jennifer had really screened her people well or else footage of this might just be on tonight’s TENews Channel. I took off at a jog down the hall, following the floor plan I’d memorized. I debated as I sprinted how to handle this in a way that wouldn’t set Elle off into further rebellion.
I beat them to the gate that exited to the street, so I stepped in front of it, spread my legs and crossed my arms across my chest. I tried to school my expression to the same one my mom used to give me when I was in elementary school and had behaved like a total little shit. Yeah, I’d given my mom every single one of her gray hairs the hard way.
I didn’t have to wait long. Elle’s black Toyota Rav4 with its not-quite-legal, super-dark window tinting came around the corner. Since I could see through the windshield, I saw the moment Elle spotted me. From the looks of it, she had the mouth of a sailor on her.
She might be cursing, but her friend appeared to be enjoying our little battle of wills as his grin became wide and gleeful.
I approached the driver’s side door and heard the distinctive click of the door locks. I smirked at her, although she patently ignored me, focused instead straight ahead at the big steel gate.
“You should know,” I yelled to the closed window, knowing she’d be able to hear me through the glass, “the guy controlling the gate is watching you throw your temper tantrum.” I pointed at the camera and waved to Charlie. “He has instructions to not open it up until I’m behind the wheel.”
I imagined the muscles in her jaw clenching even though I couldn’t see her through the dark tinting of the side of the door.
The window rolled down. She still didn’t look at me. “Get in the back,” she hissed.
“Nope. That’s not going to work for me. From here on out, if you want to go somewhere, I will be driving. In fact, I have a whole list of rules from here on out. The first and foremost though.” I leaned down to make sure she heard every word. “You do not going any where without me. Ever.”
Trace’s eyes widened theatrically at my threatening tone, and I could see Elle’s throat work as she swallowed.
“Now, I suggest you get your cute little ass into either the passenger seat or the backseat before we hold up one of your neighbors with this ridiculous stand-off.”
Her eyes flashed to mine sparking with temper at the word “ridiculous,” but miracle of miracles, she unbuckled the seatbelt on a huff.
Trace started to do the same so he could give her his seat, but she shook her head. “Stay. I’ll sit in the back, far away from my lord and master.”
“Ooh,” I said and preened. “I like that. I give you full permission to keep calling me that.”
For a moment, I thought I’d pushed her too far when her jaw clamped shut and she ground her teeth. But instead of fighting me further, she stepped out of the car. I backed up a step to allow for the swinging door, but she stepped right up until her breasts almost touched my chest. Even though I couldn’t see the shape of them under her oversized man’s shirt she’d put on to go out, those perfect tits heaved with the adrenaline and anger coursing through her. I ached to reach up and cup them, wondering if they felt as good in the palm of my hand as they appeared.
But her scoffing laugh brought me back to the here and now and the job I was supposed to be doing...protecting that delectable body, not lusting over it. What the hell was wrong with me?
She sneered, “Only in your fantasies would I call you anything like that and mean it. I promise you, there is no way in fucking hell I will ever bow to your fucking wishes.” She turned her back on me and stomped to the backseat.
I grinned to myself as I climbed into the car and slowly watched the gate rise in front of us. “Reality check, Princess, you just fucking did.”
She growled, and I drove out of the parking garage, barely keeping my chuckle quiet just for the sake of her wounded pride.
Five minutes after she’d given me the address and abbreviated directions of the restaurant they wanted to go to, I glanced over at Trace. “Hey, Trace, do you mind if I ask you some questions?”
He glanced to Elle in the backseat, and she immediately leaned forward. “No. You are not allowed to interrogate my friends like they could be some sort of criminal.”
I glanced at the pest in the back seat. “Well, no offense, Trace, but I have no idea how long Illumination has known you or how you came to be in her life. If you want her to stay safe, I wouldn’t think you’d have any issue with it.”
Elle grunted with displeasure and didn’t let Trace respond. “I’ve known him since I was fifteen. I promise you that if Trace wanted to kidnap me for nefarious reasons, he could have done it at just about any time in the last six years. He’s my best friend in the entire world and lives with me at least a quarter of the year.”
Confusion battered at the corners of my brain. I knew every detail of Elle’s file, and ViviAnna had been instructed to include all the people in Elle’s life. I’d been studying it for days, but there had been zero mention of Trace in there. “Since you were fifteen, huh?”
I wasn’t a great judge of age, but even I could see that Trace was older than her. More than his appearance, it was a hard look that appeared in his eyes. The guy acted affable and fun, but I’d hazard to say he’d had a fairly hard existence in life so far, and that definitely didn’t jive with someone who would have been hanging out with a young, pampered Elle. An uncomfortable, oily feeling slithered through my stomach.
I’d thought Trace was gay, but now, I questioned that. And that brought another question to the forefront. Why would a grown man have been hanging out with a girl who was barely more than a child?
“Just how exactly did you two meet, and why doesn’t ViviAnna appear to know anything about you if you’re so close?” I asked Trace. He was the older of the two, and I was beginning to think he had something to answer for...namely taking advantage of a young girl’s need for attention.
He cast a desperate glance to Elle, who’d grown mysteriously quiet.
“We met—”
“We met at one of my mom’s music videos,” Elle supplied. “Trace was a dancer, and I asked him to give me lessons. That’s all you need to know.”
I didn’t even have to look at Elle to know she was lying. Her voice had risen at least two octaves. Why was she lying, and could that lie endanger her in the long run? I needed to do some investigating into the matter.
***
TWENTY MINUTES LATER, I accompanied Trace and Elle into a large, Mexican restaurant decorated in cheesy, traditional, Mexican style...terracotta floors, sombreros on the walls. Wildly painted and carved parrots hung from the ceiling along with globe string lights that cast a warm glow over the dining room.
A hostess greeted us. “How many?”
“Three,” I answered. “And we’d prefer a table in the back, please.”
“Two.” Elle shoved in front of me. “He’ll be sitting alone.”
Trace looked at me with a raised eyebrow and whispered to Elle, “Harsh much?”
“That’s fine.” I gave the hostess my most charming smile. “Just seat me next to them, but we still need to be in the back.”
The hostess looked uncomfortably between Elle and me, but when neither one of us said anymore, she picked up the menus and said, “If you’ll just follow me.”
“You know,” Elle hissed at me as we walked, “you could give me just a little bit of space. I don’t think I’m going to get attacked in the middle of a public place filled with people.”
My temper flared, and I gritted my teeth in an attempt to push it down. “Well, that’s not a risk I’m willing to take. My job is to protect your body. That means I’m going to be close to you for the very near future. Get used to it.” And I really needed to force the issue right now. I was supposed to be posing as her boyfriend. Who made her boyfriend sit at the next table?
Never in my life had I been around a woman who could push all my buttons so well and as quickly as Elle Wilcox. This was shaping up to be a much tougher assignment than I’d anticipated.
Elle and Trace sat in a booth while the hostess directed me to another booth behind them. I shook my head. The booths in this restaurant were too high for me to see over. While that was great for privacy, it wouldn’t allow me to see a threat coming. “Do you mind if I sit there?” I pointed to the table immediately to the side of their booth.
The hostess seemed more than a little discombobulated by the entire thing. “Um, yeah, sure, I guess that will be okay. Marcie can just serve both of you at the same time like you’re at the same table.”
I wasn’t sure if she was asking me or telling me, so I just nodded. “I appreciate it.”
The hostess walked away, muttering into her earpiece, and I hoped that I hadn’t gotten her into trouble.
Trace and Elle both watched me with rapt fascination as I turned the table so that I’d be able to both see and get in front of Elle if someone came running at her. I then sat and studied everyone who appeared to be taking note of our arrival. Luckily, mid-afternoon wasn’t a huge busy time for restaurants, and most of the patrons minded their own business.
The waitress—Marcie, I assumed—arrived to take Elle and Trace’s drink order. Elle quickly perused the drink menu and then smirked at me. “You know, Trace, there is an excellent benefit to this huge pain in the ass.” She waved her hand at me.
Trace raised both eyebrows at her. “I’m assuming we’re not talking about the very nice”—he eyed me up and down, and I suddenly knew what they meant by undressing you with their eyes—“eye-candy he provides.”
She screwed up her nose as she studied me. “Meh, definitely not.”
Damn, that was harsh. This girl really did not like me much.
She bit her lip and got a mischievous look in her eye that made me a little bit scared. “I was actually thinking more along the lines that we now have a built-in designated driver, and lord knows, I could use more than a couple stiff drinks. So, top-shelf tequila, on me?”
“Ooh, baby doll, I do like the way you think.”
Things were about to get very ugly, very fast as Elle ordered six double shots of tequila.
***
TWO HOURS LATER, I’D pretty much determined that I was in over my head with this assignment and sent an SOS out to Dillon, my best friend and fellow associate at Hawk Works. I needed him here to help corral the headstrong Ms. Wilcox. I also put him on finding anything and everything he could about Trace Andrews.
Although as the late afternoon had progressed, my estimation of Trace had increased. After her first two shots, Elle was already showing signs of inebriation, and Trace had begun slipping the extra shots to me to dispose of every time she got distracted. By my estimation she only managed to drink four shots in the full two hours, and I’d managed to dispose of twice that many. Which was a damn loss for the expensive, top-shelf tequila.
Finally, the two were ready to go, and I escorted them out to the SUV. I eyed Elle who wove slightly as she walked.
“She’s a serious lightweight, isn’t she?” I asked Trace who’d taken a couple of shots, but still appeared completely clear-headed.
He nodded with compressed lips. “Yeah, she doesn’t normally drink. She doesn’t like to lose control.”
“She also,” Elle said with a light tap to Trace’s cheek, “doesn’t like it when people talk about her while she’s standing right there...here...something like that. Talking about yourself...myself...yourself in third person is hard.” She drew out that last word so it sounded more like a whine and then tripped over her own feet on the flat, smooth ground. Both Trace and I lunged for her and gathered her up from each side to keep her from face-planting in the parking lot.
She narrowed her eyes at Trace. “And since when do you cosh...” She frowned. “Collush...” She squinted her eyes and stopped walking as she tried to figure out what she was trying to say. “Collude with the enemy?” She stuck her finger up in the air in victory. “Aha, that’s it. You’re colluding with the enemy.” She pointed that finger at me, but this time, her voice had a definite accusing tone. “Him.”
Trace chuckled low as he winked at me. “Baby doll, you know I’m always on your side, but if it keeps you safe, I’m going to be on his side, too.”
“Aww,” she cooed as she stumbled again. “That’s so sweet. I love you, too.” She wrapped her arms around him, and without breaking stride, he picked her up and kept walking to the car.
We got her loaded into the backseat of the SUV where she immediately closed her eyes and began to snore.
“Think she’ll puke?” I asked Trace as we both watched her.
“Nah, I think she’ll be okay,” Trace said. “Let’s just get her home.”
We didn’t discuss much on the way home, both of us lost in thought. Elle never woke up.
“Are you keyed into the security system?” Trace asked as we parked in the parking garage.
I nodded.
“If you’ll open all the doors, I’ll carry her and put her to bed,” Trace said.
While Trace took her up to the loft bedroom, I went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee brewing. I still had a long night of work ahead of me. I wanted to go over to the college campus and get a better handle on Elle’s schedule and the security weaknesses as we moved from class to class on campus...assuming she’d be up to attending classes tomorrow. But I also needed to get a better handle on who Trace was.
Trace came downstairs about fifteen minutes later, looking more tired and worried than he had before.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m worried about her. She’s putting on this brave act right now, but she’s terrified. I really should stay here with her for a couple more weeks.”
Since I literally knew nothing about this man, I knew nothing about his life or immediate plans.
“Where are you going and when?” I asked.
“I’m supposed to be in New York in a couple of days for a big, Broadway audition that’s almost impossible to get. It’s my second callback and a huge opportunity I won’t get again. She knows that and doesn’t want me to lose my chance, but...” I could hear his guilt over wanting to leave when his friend was going through such a hard time.
“You should go. I know the two of you don’t trust me, but you have my word that I won’t let anything happen to her. No matter that ViviAnna hired me, my priority lies with Elle and keeping her safe.”
Trace shook his head. “I hope that’s true, because Elle needs people on her side. She’s been burned by her mother. While I think VA loves her in her own twisted way, it’s not the kind of motherly love that a kid deserves. It’s weird, and it has left dark marks on Elle’s ability to trust anyone.”
He nailed me with a look. “I hope you’re ready, because you’re going to have a continuous battle with Elle before she’ll let you in. Right now, all she knows about you is that you’re here because of VA. In Elle’s book, that makes you almost worse than the asshole that actually kidnapped her.”
Ouch.
“I don’t understand. While I get that ViviAnna can be a diva and demanding, is there something else going on between them? Her mother hasn’t actually hurt her, has she?”
Trace shook his head. “Not in the physical way that you’re thinking, but there are a ton of other ways to hurt a kid. For Elle, VA showed her love in spurts of pampering and devotion where she completely smothered Elle by dictating her life. There were longer periods filled with neglect and abandonment. That kind of yo-yoing of emotions can be devastating for a young child who didn’t want anything besides to be a normal kid.
“VA always reacted to the news stories, though. When they thought Elle was cute as a button, VA wanted her by her side looking like a doll. When the stories went the other direction and caught Elle in a typical child’s tantrum or just plain awkwardness, VA went the other direction and flat out ignored Elle’s presence in her life completely.”
Trace poured himself a cup of coffee. “What you need to know is that VA’s first priority is doing what’s best for VA and her publicity. If Elle doesn’t fit that, then Elle might as well be dead. I think over the years, Elle has tried to appear as hostile as possible just to prevent the push and pull. It was easier to deal with the full-out rejection than to deal with a hope that her mother could love her, warts and all, only to have that hope crushed...again.”
“Damn.” I rubbed the back of my neck, and suddenly, all the news stories I’d read about Elle from the file I’d been given took on a much more sinister edge. How could a child cope with a mother’s love being judged by the whims of the press, who were notorious for blasting even the most beloved, famous people? I was suddenly starting to see why Elle was so abrasive with me.
“Exactly,” Trace said. “But what you haven’t seen yet is that Elle is the most loyal, soft-hearted person in this world. Once she lets you in, she’s never letting you back out again. She has a very small circle of friends, but every one of us would lay down our lives for her in a heartbeat, because we know that’s exactly what she’d do for us. She’s a good person, and she doesn’t deserve any of this—not this insane stalker, or the press, or her narcissistic mother. Elle simply wants to live her life and be left in peace.”
I nodded. “So, why don’t you tell me the real story of how you came to be in her life? Because I have to say...the girl is a lousy liar.”
Trace laughed, humor glinting in his unusual green eyes. “True that.” He shook his head. “But it’s not my story to share. When she wants you to know, I have a feeling she’ll tell you.” He studied me for a moment. “And honestly, I think you might just be the right person to get it out of her. I like you, Jonah Sutton, bodyguard extraordinaire. I just wish I could stick around longer, because I have a feeling you’re going to turn our girl’s world upside down.” He knocked on the countertop. “And now I’m off to bed. A boy’s gotta have his beauty sleep, don’t you know?”
He took off up the stairs to Elle’s bedroom, obviously planning on sleeping with her.
I stood in the kitchen, where we seemed to spend all our time. With her open floor plan, it was the best place to interact with the whole apartment and was an automatic stopping point just inside the door. I watched where he’d disappeared, hoping that he would come back downstairs. But then a light turned off, and a leaden feeling settled into the pit of my stomach.
The idea of Trace lying in bed with Elle, just inches away from her, should not bother me. But, dammit, it did.
I needed help finding perspective here. I opened my texts.
Me: When’s your flight?
It couldn’t happen soon enough.
Dillon: Missing my face that much?
Me: I need your level head.
Dillon: Uh oh. What’s going on?
Me: Hard to explain. She messes with me.
Dillon: Well, color me intrigued.
Dillon: Don’t worry, Romeo. Should be there by tomorrow night. Will email deets.
I blew out a sigh of relief. Tomorrow, I’d have an ally to help handle the difficult Ms. Wilcox. Maybe between the two of us, we’d have an actual chance at corralling her so I could keep her safe.