I watch Jane’s expression morph from terror to confusion to shock to anger to betrayal in the span of a few minutes. I had two orders: keep Jane safe and be discreet. I’ve failed at both.
She turns her back to me as she talks to her parents, and I’m thankful I no longer have to see all that hatred and mistrust glaring back at me. I follow her back to her room. While she talks, I case the room, looking for any clues as to who was here and why. Red graffiti covers all the walls, but the only words are the ones above the bed. Go back to Cali, bitch. It could have been some asshole at the party or someone that slipped in while everyone was too busy to notice.
Neither possibility sits well with me. They were here in her house. Her fucking room.
Spinning on her heel, she faces me and flings out an arm to give me my phone back. As soon as I have it in hand, she crosses both of her arms across her chest.
I open my mouth to say I’m sorry, but she doesn’t let me get the words out.
“Save it. Whatever you’re going to say, just don’t.” She squeezes her eyes shut for a moment. When she opens them again, those sparkling green eyes pierce through me. “You’re my bodyguard?”
Was. I doubt her parents are thrilled about tonight’s turn of events. “Your parents hired me to make sure you were safe. They were worried,” is my weak response. I know they tried to get her to hire someone on her own, but when she wouldn’t, they took matters into their own hands. “And rightfully so, by the looks of it.”
“No, you don’t get to use this to make yourself feel better like you swooped in here and saved me. You lied to me. You made me think you were hanging around because you . . . I don’t know, liked me or something. Does everyone else know?”
“No one knows. Not even my brothers.”
“I almost kissed you!”
“I wouldn’t have let it get that far.” But I don’t know if that’s true. I almost did.
That seems to deflate her anger a little bit, but her body language is still closed off.
“I’m sorry about the way you found out, but we need to get you out of here until we can figure out who did this.”
I start for the door, but she doesn’t budge. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Jane,” I plead. “It isn’t safe. Your house is filled with people, and we have no idea if one of them did this or if someone else walked in while you were occupied.”
She pales a little, as if the idea that whoever did this could be downstairs is finally sinking in. But her spine straightens again, and she shakes her head. “I’m not going anywhere with you. And I’d like you to leave.”
It shouldn’t sting. It’s just a job. She was just supposed to be a job. But it still does. It stings like a motherfucker. I royally fucked this up.
“Go,” she says, raising her chin in defiance.
“Will you at least call one of your roommates? You have no idea who did this or why. Someone should be with you at all times, and you shouldn’t stay here. Not until we know more.”
She looks scared and fragile through the tough demeanor she’s projecting. I hope her parents will at least let me track down whoever did this because I want nothing more than to break every bone in their face. It’s the least I can do.
Her phone rings and she pulls it out and glances at the screen. “Please just go. I’ll be fine without you.”
I walk home because I don’t know where else to go. Flynn is in his room and the rest of my brothers are still out for the night, so I pace the living room and hold my phone waiting for updates.
Jane’s dad calls when I’m on the verge of walking back to her house and checking on her myself.
“She’s upset, but I guess we all expected that would be the case if she found out. It’s lucky you were there.” I hear the question in his statement.
I don’t have a good excuse, so I don’t bother providing him one. I shouldn’t have been there. I was kidding myself that I was there to keep an eye on her. I was there because I wanted to see her.
He sighs. “She’s on the phone with her mother now. She’s staying at a friend’s tonight.”
“Good.” My pulse thrums quickly and I’m still pacing. “Should I keep an eye on her friend’s place while she’s there?”
There’s an awkward silence before Mr. Greenfield says solemnly, “She’s agreed to a security detail, but she wants someone else. ‘Anyone else’ were her exact words.”
The piercing pain in my stomach tightens. “I see.”
“I’m sorry. I guess keeping it from her backfired on all of us.”
Yeah, no shit.
“For what it’s worth, her mom and I are appreciative of all you’ve done. We’ll be happy to provide you with a recommendation.”
“Thank you,” I get the words out, then grind down on my back molars.
We say our final goodbyes and then I scream into the quiet living room, “Fuck!”
Logan, my boss from the security agency, calls a little while later, reiterating that I’m no longer needed on the Greenfield detail. It’s no big deal to him. Jobs come and go. Sometimes they last longer than we plan, sometimes shorter. He has a dozen other clients waiting in line.
“When are you coming back to California?” he asks.
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Tomorrow? Monday? Give me some idea so I know when I can get you back out there. That supermodel you worked for last month is requesting you again and old man Waverly has gone through three other security details in the past month. You’re the only one he doesn’t hate. Supermodel or the cranky bastard, your pick. Just get back here asap.”
A vision of my life back in California flashes through my mind. I came here for two reasons and going home so soon feels like failing on both counts.
“Hen? You there?” Logan asks.
“Yeah. I’m here.” Archer and Brogan come through the front door, and I can hear Knox’s bike pulling up outside. Everyone’s home. “Give me a few days to figure things out here.”
“Yeah. All right. Let me know.”
Brogan slumps down on the couch, eyeing me carefully. “What’s up with you? You look grumpier than usual.”
As Knox comes through the door, I let out a sigh. “I need to talk to you. All of you.”
I knock loudly on Flynn’s door three times before calling, “Flynn, can you come out here?”
Arch, Brogan, and Knox are all seated and looking at me with obvious concern by the time Flynn saunters out and takes a seat.
“What’s up? Why are we having a family heart-to-heart at two in the morning?” Knox asks. “Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”
“No. It can’t wait.” I rub my palms together and gather my thoughts. “Something happened tonight, and it might make certain things come out about me. I want you to hear it from me before it’s going around campus.”
The surprise and interest that plays out over their faces is almost identical.
“What the hell did you do, Henny?” Arch asks.
“Nothing.” I ball my hands into fists and then stretch out my fingers. “I mean, something.”
“Spit it out already,” Knox says.
I meet his gaze as I deliver the next sentence. “I didn’t come back here just to visit you guys.”
Knox is quiet as he considers me, then crosses his arms over his chest. Always the first ready to attack. “Then why did you?”
“After I got injured during my first season, I took a few security jobs. Doors at night clubs, concerts, small jobs mostly. It was good money and kept me busy while I was rehabbing. Once it became apparent I wasn’t going to bounce right back to playing condition, I decided to take on more.”
“We know all this already, but what does that have to do with why you’re here?” Brogan glances between my brothers and then back to me.
“I got a job doing security for a student at Valley U.” I don’t know how much of the NDA I signed is still valid, so I don’t say her name, but it takes Archer and Brogan only a few seconds to piece it together.
“You were working for Jane? You’re Ivy Greene’s bodyguard?” Brogan’s brows disappear under the hair hanging on to his forehead.
“Her parents hired me, but yes. After she revealed who and where she was last semester, they wanted someone to keep an eye on her. But they didn’t want to draw any extra attention to her while she’s at Valley, so I agreed to do it under the guise that I was returning home to be with my family. I hung out on campus during the day, and sometimes at night I’d check in on her.”
“That explains why you finally came back to visit,” Knox says.
“It wasn’t the only reason,” I bite back. It wasn’t, but admittedly I don’t know if I would have come back so soon if it weren’t for the job.
Arch shifts on the couch, sitting straighter. “Wait. Say that again because I don’t think I caught that right. You’re Jane’s bodyguard?”
I run a hand over my jaw. “Was. They released me about an hour ago after Jane found out who I am.”
I don’t tell them about what happened to her room tonight. The fewer people who know, the better.
“Fuck,” Brogan says quietly. “I thought you were checking purses and shuffling people through metal detectors.”
My youngest brother finally speaks. “So you’re leaving now?”
Knox stands. “Of course he is. The job is over. Nothing for him here now.”
“That’s not—” I start, but he’s already halfway to his room. The door slams behind him. The other three are still sitting and staring at me. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet, but I thought you should all know the truth about why I’m here. I should have told you sooner, but I couldn’t reveal details about the job to anyone. Now that Jane knows, I’m sure you all would have found out eventually.”
Silence hangs over the room for a few minutes. Brogan is the first to speak again.
“Jane is still here, right? I saw her at the party right before we left.”
I don’t like the way that detail annoys me. She went back down to the party? Was she at least with her friends? Where is she now?
“Yeah. She’s staying. They’ve hired someone else to take my place.”
“She fired you?” Arch wears a thoughtful expression as he waits for my answer.
I nod. No sense in denying it.
“Why?” Brogan asks.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Arch nudges him, and his lips pull into a small, knowing smile. “She thought he was into her and when she found out who he was, she realized she was just a job.”
“She wasn’t just a job.” The words are out before I can pull them back.
Arch’s smile just gets bigger. Fucker.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s done. I asked my boss to give me a few days to figure things out.”
“You could stay anyway.” Brogan shrugs. “It’s kind of nice having your grumpy ass back.”
“I’m too tired to keep my eyes open, so I’m going to bed.” Archer stands and walks over to me. “You should talk to Knox. He was already pissed you waited this long to visit. Now that he knows you were just here for a job, he’s way beyond pissed.”
“It wasn’t like that, and you know it.”
“I do.” He claps a hand on my shoulder. “But Knox doesn’t. He always thinks the worst of everyone. Don’t take it personally.”
With a heavy sigh, I nod. “I’ll talk to him in the morning.”
Brogan follows Archer into their room, and Flynn gets to his feet.
“It isn’t that I didn’t want to visit all this time,” I tell my youngest brother honestly. “But I needed to work to take care of you guys.”
“Yeah. I guess I get that, but it would have been nice to have seen you occasionally. We missed you. Even Knox. Especially Knox.”
“I missed you too.” I pull him into a quick hug, then ruffle his hair. “Get to sleep, kiddo.”
“I’m not a kid,” he says, back to his sullen self.
