Chapter 6 Ruby
Ruby
My mind raced as I watched my father cross the room to shake hands with my new bodyguard.
She was startlingly beautiful. A few inches taller than me, her lithe body was all muscle, except for those generous breasts peeking out from the top of her knit shirt, that is.
She was pale, super pale, her perfect skin almost translucent.
Her hair was dishwater blonde and a little wavy, hitting just past the top of her shoulders framing a face with plump pink lips, large brown eyes, and one eyebrow that quirked up higher than the other, giving her a sardonic look.
The only imperfection was her nose, which was crooked and had a little bump at the bridge, like maybe it had been broken a time or two.
The instant I’d laid eyes on her I felt a jolt of awareness. This sensation like I knew her, even though I’d never seen her before today. And the strongest wave of lust I’d felt in my entire life.
Please God, let her be a lesbian.
Then I shook that thought off. She was here to do a job, and some crazy person was taking pictures of me and leaving weird little bears in my bed.
A bear that had a camera, I’d learned later.
I didn’t have time to lust after my bodyguard right now.
The Starfish were trying to get into the playoffs, and I needed to focus on my game. And my safety.
“I am Stanislaus Wozniak,” my father said in his thick Polish accent that remained forty years after he’d moved to this country.
Dad played professional soccer for the Polish national team before he was lured to the U.S.
with the offer of a massive contract and help paying for residency.
He’d met my mother soon after moving here and became a citizen a few years later.
After he retired, he’d worked tirelessly to bring professional women’s soccer to Seattle.
“It’s nice to meet you. Tell me about your job with the team.”
While she spoke, Cassie removed a little black wand from her computer bag.
She held a finger to her lips, gesturing for us not to say anything.
Dad caught on right away and started rambling about his job as President while Cassie methodically made her way through the room with the wand – checking for listening devices, I realized.
“Okay, we’re clear here, so let’s get down to business,” Cassie said briskly as she dropped the wand back into her bag. “First, your office door has a lock, use it. If I was a crazy stalker, I could have walked right in here and kidnapped your daughter. Maybe even killed her.”
My dad looked a little shook at that.
“I’m not totally helpless,” I protested, more out of pride than actual confidence in my skills at fighting off an attacker.
I mean, I’d taken a few self-defense classes, but I’d never actually had to use those techniques in real life.
Cassie gave me a look that clearly indicated that she was skeptical that I could, in fact, protect myself, but she didn’t comment.
“Let’s talk about our plan,” Cassie continued. “Lois said you all agreed on a cover story, correct?”
“You’re a writer doing a magazine feature on me,” I repeated dutifully. “But I don’t know why that would require you to sleep over at my house. I mean, if someone notices us together, which I’m assuming they would if I’m being watched.”
There was no if. I felt eyes on me whenever I left the house.
Cassie nodded. “Yeah, we should agree on how we’d respond to that, especially since someone is clearly watching you.”
“It’s love at first sight,” I said.
Cassie reared back just the tiniest bit, the only sign of a reaction. “What?”
“You came to do the magazine story and the minute we saw each other, we fell in love. Now you’re staying at my place while we explore our passion.”
She bit her lower lip into her mouth and for a second I swear I could see two of her teeth expanding, like little fangs. I blinked, and then her teeth looked normal again. Clearly the stress was getting to me.
“That could work,” she said slowly. “But then we’ll need to, uh, act cozy together around other people.”
“No problem,” I said quickly.
My father looked between us as if he could sense some undercurrent that he couldn’t define. He walked closer, studying Cassie.
“Ah, you are a vampire, yes? This is why you are so pale. I have heard that your company employees many from the supernatural community.”
“Dad!” I protested. “You’re being rude. You don’t ask strangers personal questions like that.”
Cassie swung her gaze to me and back to my father, her spine stiffening.
“Yes, I’m a vamp. Is that a problem?”
My father shook his head. “No, I had many vampire friends back in Poland. Here people are a little more circumspect, Americans don’t have the healthy respect for the magical world the way we do in Europe.”
I had the sense that Cassie was relieved by his comments, even though her expression never changed. I could see why. Even though we all knew that supernaturals and humans shared the same world, no one really talked about it. But as far as I knew, I’d never met a vampire before.
“Your last name is Weatherby? You are related to Anson?”
Cassie’s eyes turned cold. “Yes. Now let’s figure out the rest of our plan.”
She pulled a laptop out of her bag and set it on the small conference table on the far side of the office. “I want to review your schedule too please, Ruby.”
“Of course.”
We spent the next hour going over schedules and security protocols. Cassie was organized, with a no-nonsense way about her that instilled confidence. I could tell that my father was impressed with her too.
When I’d arrived on my parents’ doorstep last night I’d been super freaked out.
Over a glass of vodka – because vodka cured everything in my family – we’d discussed a plan.
Dad had a friend who’d hired Sapphic Security when their daughter got involved in some kind of mob thing and they couldn’t say enough about the work the agency had done to keep her safe.
Within an hour of our call, a woman named Lois arrived at our house. She was unconventional looking, but somehow her gruff confidence immediately put us at ease.
“I’ll assign you a team in the morning,” Lois told us. “You’ve got a decent security system here, although it could be better, but you should be safe here until tomorrow. I’ve got two agents patrolling your property just in case. They’ll be here all night.”
“Right now?” Dad had asked. “They’re patrolling already?”
Lois nodded. “We’re very thorough. Program our emergency line into all of your phones. If you see or hear anything tonight, even if you see a shadow, call the number and my agents will be in here in minutes.”
None of us bothered to ask how they’d get in. I had a feeling they’d already tapped into our security system.
My parents had been apoplectic when I told them I wanted to go back to my own place.
I’d agreed to spend one night with them until I could get a bodyguard assigned, but I was adamant that I was not going to let some stalker asshole keep me away from my own home.
Lois assuring them that her team would set up security at my condo finally calmed them down.
“You have practice now, kochanie,” Dad reminded me, calling me the Polish equivalent of ‘dear’ or ‘beloved’.
“I’ll go with you,” Cassie said immediately. “I need to be with you at all times. Don’t go anywhere unless I know about it.”
“Okay. I need to stop at the locker room on the way.”
“Got it.”
After a few more words with my father, Cassie and I headed through the labyrinth of hallways to the home team’s locker room. Like all locker rooms, it smelled vaguely of sweat and disinfectants. My bodyguard surveyed the room carefully.
“This is my locker,” I said, breaking the silence that had come between us since we left my father’s office.
I keyed in the combination, then dropped my phone and shoes inside, changing into my cleats.
“Do you want to put anything in here?” I asked, nodding towards her computer bag.
Cassie shook her head. “No, I’m good.”
We headed out to the field where the rest of the team was already beginning warm-ups. Coach Cora sent me an annoyed look but didn’t comment on my tardiness. Leaving Cassie on the side of the field, I jogged out to join the team.
As we stretched and did our warm-up drills, I was aware of Cassie the entire time. She was stalking up and down the field, her head on swivel, looking more like a sentry than a writer. When we took a water break, I headed over to her.
“You need to look like you’re writing a story,” I reminded her, my voice quiet. “You look like you’re about to fight off an invasion.”
Her lips pursed, and I couldn’t help staring at those plump lips.
“You’re right,” she finally said.
“Hey Ruby, we missed you this morning at breakfast.”
My friend Eleanor came over, bumping her shoulder against mine. She was probably my best friend on the team. We’d been drafted together, and we were both part of a group of teammates who got together for breakfast once a month to chat and have some bonding time outside of the stadium.
I jumped as I heard a growling noise. It was Cassie. She was staring at Eleanor like she was about to rip off her arm.
To my surprise, Eleanor growled right back before taking an exaggerated step away from me.
“Message received, vamp,” my friend said, her voice lower and more vicious than I’d ever heard it.
“Make sure it is, wolf.”
I looked between them in confusion. “What’s going on?”
“I didn’t know you’d found a… girlfriend,” Eleanor said, looking amused now. “We’ll all have to hang out sometime so we can get to know each other.”
Before I could ask what she was talking about or how Eleanor knew that Cassie and I were going to pretend to be in love, the coach blew the whistle, summoning us back to the field. As we’d been trained to do since peewee soccer, Eleanor and I immediately ran toward the coach.
I’d have to get to the bottom of what was going on with Eleanor later. Now I had to practice.