Chapter Six – Solomon
Let me guess, she sighed, as she reached the door, her bag slung over one shoulder. You have to come with me?
I nodded.
You’re starting to get it now, I told her, and I jerked my head towards the door. Come on. Let’s go. I’ll drive you.
She followed me out of the apartment, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Thank fuck. Things were starting to get a little easier between us, or at least, that’s how it seemed – maybe she had just become more resigned to it, the reality of having Alex and me around. Fine. If that’s how this was going to work, I would take it.
And, when she had emerged from her bedroom during my shift, her hair done, her face enhanced with make-up, I’d figured there was going to be another argument about her leaving the house without us again – but, this time, she’d just accepted that I wasn’t going to let her go anywhere without my company. One of us had to be watching over her at all times, whether she was going to the corner store or into the city to party, and her father was paying us too damn well to let her get away without us.
Where are we going today?” I asked her, as we made our way downstairs to the car.
I just have a few things to pick up in the city, she replied. New clothes. I forgot how much warmer it is here than in Budapest.
Right, I replied. I had to admit, I was kind of curious to ask her a little more about her experiences traveling, given that I’d never had a chance to leave the country before, but I guessed she didn’t exactly want to fill me in. She wasn’t trying to be friends with us, no – she seemed as though she was just about handling having us around, but that was where it ended.
I opened the car door for her, and she brushed past me to slip into the back seat; her hair brushed my arm, so soft it caught me off-guard for a moment, and I pushed down the shock of sensation in my system at the feel of her so close to me. I wasn’t used to being around a woman like this, not long-term anyway. I had been with a few women in my time, but none of them had lasted much longer than a night. It wasn’t the kind of guy I was, and, in my line of work, it was better not to get attached. Better to keep your distance.
I glanced at her in the rearview mirror, and found her watching me, a curious expression on her face.
What is it? I asked.
Nothing, she replied, with a shrug, drawing her attention away from me. As we passed a coffee shop, she pointed outside, stabbing her finger at the glass.
Stop here, she told me. I want to get something to drink.
I pulled the car over, and climbed out to open the door for her; following her in, I was surprised when she went to the counter and ordered two coffees, handing one of them to me as she returned.
What’s this for? I asked as she sank down into one of the tables next to the window. She shrugged.
If you’re going to be sticking around, she replied, taking a sip of her drink. Then I figure I should actually get to know you.
I tensed.
You don’t need to do that, I replied.
No, we don’t need to, she agreed. But I want to. So sit down and talk to me.
I stood where I was, still holding the coffee she had handed me. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to get to know this girl, and I doubted she wanted to know me, either. She’d been raised rich, with everything she could ever have wanted; she didn’t want to hear about my life, all the shit I’d been through that had brought me to this point.
I’m not going anywhere, she told me, raising her eyebrows at me and nodding to the seat opposite her. I gritted my teeth, trying to figure out if there was some way out of this, but if she wasn’t going to back down, I didn’t see what kind of a choice I had. Better to just get this over with, and accept my fate, than try and brush her off and act like I didn’t need to get to know her.
I sank down into the seat, gripping my coffee tight. There was something about the way she was looking at me that had the hair on the back of my neck standing on end, my senses sharper than they had been before, more aware of everything that was going on around us. The door slammed loudly behind me, and I jumped, head spinning around.
You okay? she asked me, frowning, as I turned back to her.
I’m fine, I muttered, looking down at the coffee she had picked up for me. I didn’t want her to see me as anything other than the bodyguard that I needed to be to her. She wasn’t meant to see anything hiding underneath that, anything I was trying to keep to myself.
You sure? she asked, cocking an eyebrow. I sighed.
Yes, I shot back, a little sharper than I had intended. I didn’t want to be an asshole to her, but I didn’t like the thought of her seeing through me like that.
Alright, she remarked, leaning back in her seat, clearly not believing me. So, tell me about yourself, Solomon.
What is this, a job interview? I asked. She grinned.
You already got the job, she pointed out. My father hired you, didn’t he? So you must be pretty good at it.
I rolled my shoulders back, straightening up.
Yeah, I am, I replied.
Confident, I like that, she laughed. Is this what you do, then? Work as a bodyguard?
Not usually, I admitted. The two of us, we’re more...
I trailed off. How to put this to her in a way that wasn’t going to freak her out? She would have had every right to stress if I told her the truth, that Alex and I were more likely causing trouble than keeping someone from it...
The door opened again, and I snapped my head around to see who was coming and going. I didn’t like having my back to the door, even though I doubted anyone would have tried anything in a place like this; it would have been too much in the way of trouble to actually go after her right here in public if anyone had any intentions against her at all.
You’re really jumpy, she remarked. Shit, she’d clocked it. I had hoped I could keep that part of myself under wraps. Sometimes, when I felt as though I was being interrogated for one reason or another, the nerves that I could usually control got the better of me. This was one of those times.
No, I’m not, I shot back. She raised her eyebrows at me.
I just saw you, she pointed out. You don’t think someone’s going to do something in here, do you?
No, I confessed. I doubted anyone would have been that stupid, stupid enough to put themselves in my line of fire right now. Not with the reputation I had.
Then why are you so nervous?”
Not nervous, I corrected her. Observant.
Okay, so why so observant? she replied, shrugging. You said it yourself, it’s not like anything is going to happen in here.
I fell silent. She had a point. There was really no good reason for me to be as on edge as I was right now, but I couldn’t help it. There had been enough experiences in the past where I’d had to keep my guard up, my hackles raised, and it was hard to come down from that kind of mindset, even when you knew you were doing okay.
Just doing my job, I replied. I took a sip of the coffee. It was bitter, shot through with a line of sugary sweetness; she smiled at me over the top of her cup, her soft lips grazing the rim.
You’ve done this kind of thing for a long time? she asked.
Since I was a teenager, I admitted. I figured there was no harm in telling her at least a little of what was going on inside my head. After all, she was right, we were going to be living together – it made sense for us to get to know each other a little, even just to make this whole experience a little easier. We’d rub along better if we knew where we were both coming from.
A teenager? she replied, shocked. You’ve been doing stuff like this since then...?
Yeah, I replied, confused. Why was she acting like it was such a big deal...?
That’s crazy, she breathed, her eyes widening. I was just worried about what grades I was going to get and if the guy I liked was going to ask me out in high school, but you were out there in the streets, doing...
She trailed off, letting the words hang in the air between us. I wasn’t going to fill them in for her.
I just did what I had to do to get by, I explained bluntly.
You had to do this? she asked, gesturing around. What about your parents? They didn’t have a problem with it?
They didn’t know, I replied. They were both...they used. Drugs. Heavily. They didn’t notice when I was coming and going. I had to find some way to make money for myself, pay the rent in our apartment, and this was the quickest way I could find to make it happen.
For a moment, her eyes shined with what looked like tears. I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable. I didn’t want her to feel sorry for me. There was nothing for her to feel sorry about. Yeah, I had been through some shit growing up, but that was what it was – I was a grown man now, and I wasn’t going to sit around feeling sorry for myself when I knew there were more important things for me to be focused on.
I’m so sorry you had to deal with that, Solomon, she murmured to me, and she reached out across the table, her hand grazing across mine for a moment. I can’t even imagine...
For a long moment, she gazed at me, and I just stared back at her, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Those big, brown eyes, looked almost like they were dotted with specks of bronze, glimmering in the light pouring through the window beside us.
I drew my hand back quickly. I wasn’t going to start staring at her like that. I was working for her, for God’s sake, and the last thing I wanted was to allow some fleeting attraction to get the better of me. Just because she was hot, just because she was talking to me about my past, it didn’t mean that I had to let myself get drawn in to her. She was probably just doing this as some kind of long game, some kind of play to make me less attentive when she was in the apartment so she’d have a better chance of sneaking out undetected.
It’s fine, I replied bluntly, grabbing the coffee again. I could still feel the spot where she had touched me, the graze of her hand against mine, burning into my skin, lighting up like she had branded me.
And I knew, right then and there, that this job was more than what I had expected it to be. And that I might be in deeper than I had imagined.
And maybe that million dollars wasn’t going to be enough for me to keep my hands off of her when she touched me like that.