chapter nineteen
Wren
“Individuals detected on property. Wren to enter safe room, Blue Jay to engage.”
I jump awake at the sound of a man’s voice in my bedroom. I scream in alarm. Looking around, I see nobody in the dark room. Quickly switching on the bedside lamp, I scream, “Jay?”
“Repeat, individuals detected on property. Wren to enter safe room, Blue Jay to engage,” the bodiless male voice says again.
The intercoms.
I jump out of bed and run for the bedroom door. I need to get Angelica. There’s no way I’m going into a safe room without her. “Jay!” I shout again.
There’s no need to shout because he’s there. He has a gun in his hands, pointed down at the floor. He’s in his pajama pants, a white undershirt, the black balaclava, barefoot, and in a defensive stance that looks like a soldier’s muscle memory.
“Get back in your room!” he grits out as he looks down the hallway toward the stairs.
“No! Angelica!” I shout and try to push past him.
He growls.
“Please, Jay!”
“Go fast, stay away from windows,” he hisses as he moves to the side. He remains in the hallway, facing the stairs as I rush to Angelica’s room. She’s on her highest perch. Out of my reach.
“Blue Jay to engage,” she imitates the Crow on the intercom.
“Come down, we need to hide,” I say and hold out my arm for her.
“No.”
“There’s a bad guy here. I need you to come with me!”
She ruffles her feathers and hides under her wing at the screech of an alarm. I cover my ears at the offending sound and turn to see Jay backing into the room.
“Time’s up,” he says and grabs me by the elbow. He pulls me along and I can hear a small, tinny sound coming from his earpiece. “All doors should be locked,” he responds to it.
We walk down the hall quietly and quickly, but I can hear a door opening somewhere. My knees practically lock up at the sound. My entire body feels like electricity is coursing through me, making it difficult to manage around the shaking. The trembling in my legs is making it hard to walk, just like a nightmare. But this is real life.
“Fuck,” Jay whispers as we turn into my room. He hauls me to the safe room door and opens it. “Shut the door behind you.”
The room smells like new plastic and paint and metal. A blue tinged light flicks on overhead and two steps back has the backs of my knees hitting a shallow bench. I catch myself on the wall. My sweaty fingers slip on the metal and I sit down hard on the bench. The jarring movement has me coming to my senses.
All those times Dad insisted someone was going to kill me to get to him. All those years spent hidden away in a tower like Rapunzel. All that disdain for having a bodyguard and the resentment for the stifling presence. He was right that whole time.
I hear Jay mumble something into his earpiece before glancing back at the open safe room door. “Wren, shut the door,” he whispers. He stands poised with his gun extended toward the open bedroom door, ready to open fire to defend me.
Jay is right. In order for the safe room to operate as designed, I need to shut the door. I need to shut the door with him on the outside. But why, though? So he can get into a shoot off with the intruder? Without the immediate backup of Crows? No way. Not a chance.
It’s not even a thought I have time to consider. It’s all instinct and fear that drives me to step out of the safe room. I grab the back of Jay’s shirt at about the middle of his shoulders. The shirt is damp with sweat and plastered over the muscles of his back when I grip and tug him backward. He’s in a steady stance, but he moves back in order to not lose his aim at the door.
“Wha—”
I finally pull the door shut. With Jay inside. The little blue light, as bright as the one in the refrigerator, is all that illuminates the wide eyes of my bodyguard as he turns to face me. He flips the safety on and sets his gun on the bench now that he doesn’t need it.
The room is quiet, save for our ragged breathing. And the faint sound of orders being shouted into Jay’s earpiece.
I stare up at him, feeling out of control and terrified. His eyes are wide and bright with disbelief and shock as they bounce to all points on my face. Every time my chest heaves to pull in a breath, my braless breasts brush against his abdomen.
The continued shouts over the earpiece breaks the spell and Jay winces. “Copy that.”
He looks up at the ceiling of the little metal room and takes a long breath.
It’s then I realize I may have made a mistake. I was so scared to lose Jay I might have just gotten him in a position that would get him fired and I’d end up losing him, anyway.
I lift my fingers to my lips. “I’m so sorry. I—”
He rests his hands on the junction of my neck and shoulders and his thumbs stroke over my jaw. The words die on my lips. He shakes his head, his eyes closing as he catches his breath.
“She pulled me in, sir,” Jay says.
The room is so quiet and our breathing is slowing enough that I can now hear my dad’s voice clearly. “You were not hired to hide in the safe room with her!”
“Yes, sir, I understand,” Jay says. His eyes are on mine again and I can see his irritation with me in the bright blue.
“Local police are arriving in thirty seconds,” a Crow says monotonously. “Two perpetrators are on the property.”
“How’d they get in?” Dad asks.
“The back door, sir,” the Crow replies.
My heart plummets and I close my eyes tight in a grimace. Something hard pushes against my forehead and I open my eyes to see Jay resting his forehead against mine. His eyes are closed as he takes one more deep, steadying breath.
“Oh no,” I whimper. It’s my fault. Someone almost attacked me and it was my fault.
“The perpetrators seem to be looking for valuables, sir,” the Crow says.
“Valuables?” Dad asks.
“Yes. They picked up the gaming consoles from the living room, a laptop from the library, and they’re pulling out the silverware now,” the Crow explains.
I pull back the slightest bit and look into Jay’s eyes. We both share a confused expression. If these people broke in to steal stuff and not hurt me, then who are they?
“Local police are on location,” the Crow says.
“Hawk and I are twenty minutes out,” Dad grumbles.
Everyone is silent as the police deal with the intruders. Dad and Hawk are on their way here and the Crows are monitoring from the cameras. Jay and I are listening for any movement outside the safe room, but the walls are so thick they’re practically sound proof. There could be gunfire in my bedroom and I’m not sure if we’d hear it in here.
My heart rate remains elevated, but here, in the safe room with Jay, I don’t feel unsafe. I feel protected. These intruders might not have been after me at all. Angelica is probably safe in her room, waiting for a calm down treat.
A few minutes pass and Jay backs away from me. The air in the panic room is stuffy and warm, but I still miss the heat of him so close. I wrap my arms around my ribcage. He leans against the wall and gently knocks his head against the metal.
“Jay, I—”
He holds up his hand to tell me to wait while he messes with the earpiece. Likely muting his line. He lowers his hand and looks at me. His eyes are sad as they rake over me. “Why?”
“I couldn’t stand—I didn’t want—do you know how hard it is to train a new Blue Jay?”
He huffs out a laugh and shakes his head.
“I’m sorry if I got you in trouble. I’ll talk to my dad and Hawk. It’s my fault, not yours. You were doing your job, and I messed it up,” I ramble.
“They saw me get pulled in, they know,” Jay says.
I hug myself tighter, dreading the lecture from Dad and the disappointment from Hawk. Jay’s eyes fall, unbidden, to my chest. I see his lashes flutter as his eyes droop to half mast and then he blinks and looks away. I look down and see that my arms wrapped around my middle have pushed up my boobs, and both are about to pop out of my thin sleep camisole. Both areolas are even visible over the top of the light blue fabric like dusky pink half circles. I drop my arms and my erratic heartbeat turns to butterflies in my stomach. He was checking me out.
Jay likes my tits.
Well, that’s new. And exciting.
“Both perpetrators have been apprehended. Blue Jay, you will be needed by the police when Hawk lets you out. Wren will need to be escorted out by Hawk as they believe this to involve Blue Jay on a personal level,” Crow says in the monotone used by all staff.
Jay and I both stare bug eyed at each other.
“Me?”
“You?”
“Copy that,” Jay says into the earpiece.
“What did you do ?” I whisper shout at him as I smack his chest.
“I- I have no clue! I have only told one person other than my mom about this job, not about you or your address. And he’s a cop!” Jay stammers and puts his hands on his hips.
“Where were you on your day off?”
“I was with my mom. I told you that. I took her to her treatment program, to dinner, the grocery store, and then brought her home. Nowhere in that time did I mention your name or where you live.”
I sigh. “I believe you.”
“Thank you. And… thank you for saving my life,” he says.
I make an awkward sound of dismissal.
“No, I know your intention was to save me from getting hurt.”
“Just didn’t want to have to train another Jay. The next one might chew loudly or hate birds.”
Jay’s eyes soften at the corners and I’m pretty sure he’s smiling. I roll my eyes and stomp my foot.
“Fine. You’re welcome.”
“Hawk and Mr. Taylor are on premises,” I hear the Crow announce.
I look Jay over, head to toe. “Prepare yourself. Your ass is about to be chapped.”
“Oh? Even though it’s your fault?”
“I’m his little girl and I can do no wrong.”
“Hm. Well, we’ll see.”
“It’s Hawk you’ll have to worry about,” I remind him as we stand side by side and face the door.
I hear Jay swallow hard as the door beeps and then opens.
Dad has me in his arms for a tight hug in a flash. Opening the door brings a huge relief as the swirl of cool air fills my lungs. Jay is rushed away to the cops and Hawk and Dad remain with me. Dad sits me on my bed while Hawk stands by the door, his hand resting lightly on his holster.
“I’m fine, Dad,” I insist.
“Someone broke in. You could have gotten hurt,” Dad says and examines me closely, as if inspecting a car for scratches.
“Well, I wasn’t hurt because of all the security protocols we have in place for this very reason.”
Dad shakes his head and sits down next to me on the bed. “I can’t remember the last time I was so scared. Well, actually, I can, and you’ll have to excuse me for my overreaction.”
I nod and sniffle back some tears. He’s talking about when my mom was murdered and the killer delivered him her body. The catalyst to his paranoia for my safety. He’d been telling me how scared he was about me moving out in ways that felt stifling and restrictive. But I wasn’t listening the way he needed.
“Ugh, Dad,” I huff and wipe my tears. “I was safe the whole time because of Jay and the safe room. It all worked. Our planning worked.”
“Except Blue Jay was supposed to engage with the intruders,” Dad snaps.
“Two against one?”
“He’s highly trained and highly paid to do this.”
“Dad, if someone is going to be coming after me to get to you, they will not be amateurs. It seems like these people were amateurs.”
“And he still hid.”
“No, I pulled him in, and you know it.”
Dad stands up and looks out the window. “I knew letting you two talk would change things.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I grit through clenched teeth.
“It means I knew it would change how you behaved around each other,” Dad says and turns back to me. “I knew you’d get attached.”
“No,” I argue. “He’s my bodyguard, and his job is to keep me safe. Well, silly me for feeling safer with him around! I pulled him into the safe room because I knew with him in there with me, I was safe .”
Dad considers me for some time before he looks at Hawk. They exchange a wordless conversation with one glance.
“I think it would be best if you were assigned a new Blue Jay,” Dad says.
“No!” I shout and stand up.
Dad and Hawk watch me closely.
“No, please, I trust this one. He’s the first one I tolerate enough to stop being horrible to.”
Dad scoffs a disbelieving laugh, and Hawk’s eyebrows disappear in the top of his mask.
“You’ve been… nice to Blue Jay?” Hawk asks skeptically.
“I wouldn’t say nice , exactly,” I mumble.
“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to Safe House,” Hawk says to me and Dad. “Even if you both advocate against his removal, Bradley can still take him off the job or fire him.”
“I’ll talk to Bradley. It wasn’t Jay’s fault, I promise,” I say.
“You can try. But there’s no need,” Dad says and waves his hand. “I’ll talk to him. Now, pack a bag. You’re coming home for the night.”