The Alpha Bodyguards Books #1-3

Chapter Six

I f it weren’t for the audience, I would’ve beat the shit out of the little prick actor. Then I would’ve beaten him again. That fucker needed to pay.

Drugging women.

I was fucking enraged, and that was a goddamn bad sign.

Looking ten years older than when he’d pushed through my front door, the agent followed Audrina into the living room. The pussy actor rushed to keep up with the agent like it’d protect him from me.

The publicist, who I’d called last night to tell her what the fuck was up, looked at me with reservation. “Thank you again for calling me and giving me a heads-up. It’s much easier to do my job when I can get ahead of these things.”

I tipped my chin in response but every one of them could fuck off for all I cared. My job was to protect the actress. If that meant from her own people, so be it. I saw the look on her face when I mentioned her agent. And now that all these fucks were here, I could only imagine the bullshit they were gonna unleash so they could spin the drugging into some kind of cash flow for themselves.

Fucking disgusting.

I slammed my front door shut, then followed the publicist and her mouse of an assistant into my living room. The agent was standing over Audrina as she sat cross-legged in the corner of my couch, and the fucking prick junkie was staring out at my view. Normally I would never intrude. My job was to be invisible, but seeing Audrina sit there as her agent tried to intimidate her, I made a decision .

Glaring at the older prick, I moved to the end of the couch where Audrina sat and crossed my arms before tipping my chin at the chair behind the agent. “Have a seat.”

Without comment, but giving me the eye right back, he sat. “Dreena,” he stated, inhaling like he needed patience. “You have publicity interviews lined up every day, this could not have come at a worse time,” he lectured. “The studio is all over me, and if I thought for one second that you were going to—”

“Do I need to repeat myself?” I warned. “She didn’t do shit.”

His nostrils flared, but he kept his eyes on Audrina. “Janette is going to pull you out of this mess, but you need to do exactly what she says.”

As if on cue, the publicist sat down on the couch and took papers out of her briefcase. “Okay, here’s the plan. You and Colton are a couple. You had an argu—”

“NO.” Audrina shot to her feet. “No way in hell am I pretending to be with that asshole!” She threw Payne a scathing look before glaring back at her publicist. “Everyone knows he fucks anyone and everyone, not to mention he’s an addict!”

“Sit down,” the agent clipped.

The publicist held her hand up. “I get it, I do, but this will help both of you and the studio,” she said quickly, before rattling off the rest of it. “Colton’s agreed to rehab after the movie releases and you’ll escort him. In turn, he’ll publicly admit to giving you something… recreational that you weren’t prepared for, then you hold hands and announce your support for each other and make nice-nice. He walks into rehab, you shed a few tears and a week later everyone will forget about it and hopefully the studio won’t sue.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

“How about I call my lawyer? I press charges. I sue his ass. And he goes to jail?” Audrina spit out. “He drugged me!”

The agent dropped his head to his hands. The publicist drew her lips into her mouth. The assistant stared at her shoes, and the fucking junkie sighed like he was bored .

I’d never thought about being proud of a woman before, but in that moment, not only did I vote for Audrina’s plan, I was proud as fuck that she’d stood up for herself.

The agent looked up at her, and the second I saw his expression, my muscles tightened.

“Did you get a blood test?” the fuck asked.

Audrina blinked. “What?”

“Blood test,” the agent repeated. “Did you get one? Can you prove he was the one who drugged you? Can you prove anyone drugged you? How do we know you didn’t take something yourself and you’re just blaming him?”

You could hear a motherfucking pin drop.

Itching to slam my fist into his face, instinct yelling at me to get her away from these assholes, I was about to open my mouth and kick them all out, when the gorgeous blonde I’d slept next to last night turned to me.

Calm and totally fucking collected, she raised an eyebrow. “Can you please take me to the hospital?”

I didn’t fucking delay. I threw my arm around her shoulders and led her to the door.

“Wait one goddamn second!” the agent bellowed.

“ Dreena ,” the publicist frantically called.

My keys and wallet already in my pocket, I opened my front door.

“ MacKenzie ,” the agent snapped in a furious growl.

“Let her go,” the junkie scoffed. “She’s bluffing.”

I rushed her out my door and down the hall, past the elevator. I shoved the door to the stairwell open then scooped her up.

Her arms wrapped around my neck, and she looked behind us. “They’re going to follow us.”

“Let them.” I carried her down the first flight, skipping the last two steps.

Her arms tightened around my neck. “You left them alone in your condo. ”

“What are they gonna do? Steal my bacon and eggs?” I went down another flight.

She glanced at the stairs below us then looked back behind us. “Guns, ammo, money, I don’t know.”

“I keep that shit locked in a safe they’ll never find.” I took us down another flight. Two more and I could cut to the other end of the building.

“I was half kidding.”

“I wasn’t.”

She tightened her hold on me. “Why the stairs?”

“Elevator would’ve taken too long.” I fucking liked her holding on to me.

“I can walk.”

“I’m faster and you have no shoes.” Another flight.

“They’ll just take the elevator and be waiting for us in the lobby.”

“We’re not going to the lobby.” I hit the lower level that had the service elevator that went directly to the garage. Exiting the stairwell, I carried her across the length of the building, then set her down in front of a set of double doors as I pulled my keys out.

“What are you doing?” She looked nervously behind us.

“Service elevator.” I opened the door, let her through, then closed the door behind us and hit the call button. Pocketing my keys, I pulled my cell out and dialed Luna.

He answered on the first ring. “What’s up?”

“I need Audrina MacKenzie’s personal items removed from her hotel, and I need a call ahead for a VIP at Memorial.”

“ Mierda ,” Luna swore in Spanish. “She okay?”

“Precautionary,” I clipped, not wanting to say more until we were in a secure location.

“Copy that. Hold on.” He held the phone away and called to someone, then came back on the line. “Tyler’s on his way to her hotel now. Do you need to get her to the hospital ASAP or do you want her shit first?”

“Personal items first.” She needed to put some clothes on. “I’m coming in. Tell Tyler to meet us in the garage.” I wasn’t bringing her up the elevators or into Luna and Associates in only my T-shirt where a minimum of ten ex-Marines would be working.

“Copy that,” Luna confirmed. “Give Tyler twenty. I’ll call ahead to Memorial once you get here.”

“Thanks. I’ve got another issue.” I glanced at her, but she wasn’t looking at me. “Do we still have access to the security cameras at Club Frenzy?”

“Last I checked, why?”

“I need the feeds pulled from last night. Colton Payne was with Audrina. He admitted to drugging her. I want the footage if it exists.”

“Jesucristo,” Luna muttered. “I’m pulling them up now. I’ll let you know what I find. Anything else?”

“I need the four people in my condo gone and my access code to the lobby changed.” I never should’ve given the agent prick my access code last night, but he wasn’t sure when he’d get in and I hadn’t been willing to risk leaving her alone to let him in. I could’ve changed the code myself, but I had my fucking hands full. Literally.

“I’ll send Sawyer to your place and text you the new code once I program it. I’ll make a copy of any footage I find from Frenzy and text it. For the record, I hope she goes after the asshole.”

“Ditto. Thanks.”

“De nada. Call if you need anything else.”

“Copy that.” I hung up and the elevator arrived.

We stepped inside, and I hit the garage level button.

She looked up at me. “So, you could’ve gotten my clothes all along.”

I didn’t answer. I stared straight ahead, because she was right. I could have, but I didn’t. And after seeing how she was treated by those people, I was man enough to admit I was a fucking tool for it.