The Alpha Bodyguards Books #1-3

Chapter Twenty-Six

I locked myself in the master bedroom before I did something fucking stupid like spank the ever-loving shit out of her. Or worse, angry fuck her until I wasn’t so goddamn pissed off.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, saving me from putting my fucking fist through the wall.

“What?” I barked without looking at the display.

“She still alive?” Sawyer asked.

“Go fucking fuck yourself.”

He ignored me. “Did you know about a video, or have an idea what she was going to say?”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“I’m not accusing you, Gunther, I’m asking.”

Sawyer was the only goddamn fuck I allowed to get away with calling me by my real name. Well, him and the fucking entitled bitch in the next room I was too goddamn pissed off at to talk to.

I hadn’t corrected Sawyer the first time he’d called me by my surname because the fucker was a goddamn enigma. Rich as hell, his life set before he ever took his first breath, but the stupid fuck had given it all up to aim a government-issued M4 at fucking hajjis in a forsaken sand trap. I respected the hell out of him for it at the same time I thought he was crazy as shit. Too damn quiet for his own good, I’d never seen the fucker smile, look twice at a woman, make a personal call, or say one goddamn thing about his upbringing. In fact, he never said shit unless you asked a direct question or he was talking about work .

“What the fuck do you want, Sawyer?” If he didn’t call to school me, then he needed to get to the fucking point.

“It’s not like you to not see something like that coming.”

Jesus fucking Christ . “I fucked her, I didn’t get in her goddamn head. And for the record, I fucked her in private.” I wasn’t a goddamn idiot. But the second I thought it, I realized I was. The pool, the motherfucking pool yesterday. Visible from both the neighbors and the beach.

Goddamn it.

Sawyer didn’t say shit.

“You got something to say, fucking say it,” I warned. “Otherwise this call is over.” I’d already gotten reamed by Luna. I didn’t need Sawyer’s shit too.

“I can make a call for you. Put a spin on this.” He hesitated, then added, “Professionally.”

Fuck me . I ground my teeth and tried to tamp down my anger. “Do I look like a goddamn Hollywood small-dicked actor to you? Do I seem like I need a fucking publicist to handle my shit?” I’d served four tours with the United States Marines. I wasn’t a fucking pussy. Let that asshole TV host release whatever the fuck he wanted. That shit was already out there thanks to a spotlight-loving actress who held her hands up like I cuffed her on the regular.

“Don’t discount what someone familiar with the industry can do,” Sawyer advised.

“I’m not in the industry!” I yelled. “I don’t need a goddamn handler.” What part didn’t he fucking understand?

Unfazed by my anger, Sawyer kept his tone like he always kept it, this side of a fucking automaton. “Offer stands if you change your mind.”

Christ . “Anything else?”

“Don’t fuck the client next time.”

Prick. “I don’t make the same mistake twice.” Ever.

“Good.” He hung up.

I tossed my phone on the bed, and it vibrated with another incoming call. Glancing at the screen, I swore before I answered. “What’s up?” Luna calling again wasn’t a good sign.

“Her lawyer’s not taking my call.” Luna cut to the chase. “She in contact with him?”

How the fuck would I know? “No clue.”

“Well, get a clue,” he clipped. “From here on out, I want to be ahead of this bullshit. Get the lawyer to call me. She isn’t going to ruin my reputation over this.”

If anyone’s reputation was fucked, it was mine. All hope of starting my own security firm was now dead in the water, but I wasn’t pussy enough to bitch to Luna about it. He wanted to talk to her lawyer, fine. I’d make it happen. “Ten-four.” I hung up and stormed out of the master bedroom.

I checked the kitchen and living room before backtracking and throwing open the guest room where all her shit was.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, hands in her lap, head down.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

I scanned the room until I found what I was looking for. I strode toward her purse on the nightstand and grabbed it. Without a word, I dumped the contents on the bed and snagged her phone.

“What are you doing?”

Ignoring her, I stormed out, slamming the door behind me.

I was dialing her lawyer as I walked back into the master bedroom.

The fucking prick answered on the first ring and launched into it. “Audrina, I’ve been calling you. Where are you? If you’d told me what you were planning, I would have advised against such a public display. All you did was create more trouble for yourself.”

“No shit.”

Silence. Then, “Mr. Gunther?”

“The one and only. Now, listen up, Stanislas. André Luna has been calling you. You’re going to call him back. Then you’re going to talk to your client and tell her if she doesn’t want to face multiple defamation suits, she better get her shit together and make a statement. Then you’re going to find her a new security detail and new accommodations. You have thirty minutes. Understood?”

I could practically hear the fuck swallow. “Thirty minutes is not a lot of time, Mr. Gunther. I understand she—”

“You don’t understand shit.” I glanced at my watch. “Twenty-nine minutes. Call Luna. Now .” I hung up and walked back into the guest room.

Wringing her hands, she stood in front of the bed.

I didn’t give two fucks about the duress in her posture or her bullshit remorseful expression. I was a fucking tool for thinking I could have a piece of this woman.

I shoved her phone at her. “Your lawyer’s calling you. Answer.”

She took the phone.

I turned to walk out.

“Are you going to talk to me?”

I kept fucking walking.

She followed me into the hall, and her small-ass hand landed on my arm. “Please, wait.”

My nostrils flared, and I spun. Looking first at her hand, then at her, I said everything I needed to say, but she didn’t fucking clue in.

Her mouth opened and more bullshit came out. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking about the consequences. I was only thinking if I preempted Jonathan’s statement, then maybe….” She trailed off and inhaled nervously, looking exactly like she looked a half hour ago on camera, then more lies came out in a rush.

“I thought if I spun it a certain way, I would prevent him from showing any video of you. Of us. I didn’t want you to get caught up in this. Which I know I stupidly did anyway. I panicked. I thought I was making the better choice by throwing enough of a bone to stop the release of whatever footage Jonathan had until I could text my lawyer and get him on it, which I already did. I have no words for how sorry I am. I just… after last night, I just wanted to protect you as best I could. I didn’t want to screw things up. I was trying to, I thought, I mean….” She looked up at m e like a fucking actress playing a part, then she dropped her voice to a whisper for the finale. “You kissed me.”

I didn’t say shit.

I didn’t even blink.

I glared at her.

“Tank, please.” Her eyes welled. “Say something. Yell at me. Do something .”

A better man would have kept his fucking mouth shut. I wasn’t a better man. “I didn’t think I was sticking my dick in a spoiled, immature narcissist last night.”

Actress-practiced shock spread across her face, and the mouth that’d sucked my cock opened.

I didn’t wait for her response, because I wasn’t fucking finished. “I thought I was fucking a woman.”

The sound of her gasp hit the air around us and bounced right the fuck off me. I didn’t have an ounce of sympathy for her.

I was fucking finished.