Chapter 23
Chad’s shoulders stiffened at the sound of Aiden’s voice. Peter had already left for work, and even though they were all but sure the danger was over he’d insisted that Aiden keep working as his bodyguard until Karen Pen was caught.
“I said, good morning,” Aiden said, walking around the table and coming into Chad’s view. He moved to the fridge and examined the bare shelves, turning to Chad with a frown. “What is it with you and Peter, huh? Are you allergic to actually stocking your fridge?”
“Hello, Aiden,” Chad said, ignoring the question.
He took a sip of his protein shake and studied the other alpha over the rim of his glass.
For some reason Aiden had skipped the professional suit he’d worn the two previous days, opting instead for tight jeans, a white t-shirt and a vintage brown leather jacket.
He looked good, and Chad was annoyed with himself for noticing.
“So, a secretary, huh?” Aiden said, grabbing a bottle of water and coming to sit down across the table from Chad. He unscrewed the bottle and smirked. “You have interesting enemies.”
Chad rolled his eyes and Aiden laughed.
“So what’s on the agenda for today?” Aiden asked, leaning back in his chair and spreading his legs out under the table. His boot bumped into Chad’s bare foot prompting Chad to move his leg back.
“Precision rifle training,” Chad said. Aiden perked up at that, his smirk turning into a genuine smile.
“I’m an excellent marksman,” he said, sounding proud. “I’ll help you out.”
Chad frowned. Aiden sounded sincere and eager, and Chad wanted to know the catch.
“Help me out how?” he asked suspiciously.
“Scope adjustments, wind estimation, you know, whatever you need help with,” Aiden said, grinning happily. “I used to teach the precision rifle training class before I took over advanced hand to hand combat.”
“Did you like teaching?” Chad asked. He’d sort of had the impression that teaching classes at the training center was something Peter forced his more experienced men to do as part of their contracts, not something they volunteered for.
“I liked making sure the guys I would be working with were up to scratch,” Aiden said, shrugging. “And it’s a good way of keeping yourself from developing bad habits.”
“Well, I guess that’s true,” Chad conceded.
“So when are we leaving?” Aiden asked, bouncing his knee. He looked impatient.
“Are you in a hurry?” Chad asked, tipping his glass up high and finishing off the rest of his protein shake.
“No, but watching you slurping down that shake is boring as hell.”
Chad frowned. He wasn’t slurping, and Aiden was way out of line. He didn’t have the right to be bored. He was supposed to be silent and unobtrusive and make sure Chad was safe. Nothing else.
“Fine. We can head out now and get a workout in before the class,” he said, rising from his chair and rinsing out his glass. “Let me just go get my stuff and I’ll meet you in the hallway.”
Chad left the room, grabbing his gym bag from the closet in the bedroom and packing some workout clothes and his toiletry bag.
Then he hesitated and put the bag down. If he changed now he wouldn’t have to do it at the training center, and Aiden would be deprived of the chance to ogle him as he changed.
He hastily stripped off his clothes and changed into the athletic briefs, nylon shorts and compression shirt he’d packed in the bag and shoved his normal clothes into the bag in their place.
“I’m ready to go,” he said, walking into the outer hallway. Aiden gave his changed clothes an arched look, but he didn’t comment.
“You’re not bringing your own rifle?” he asked instead.
“I don’t have one,” Chad said, walking to the elevator with Aiden beside him.
“And you don’t think Peter would let you borrow one?” Aiden asked, stepping into the elevator and pushing the button for the underground garage.
“I don’t need to borrow one,” Chad said, annoyed. “The class description said all equipment would be provided.”
“Well then,” Aiden said, smirking. “If the class description said.”
Chad had to swallow the urge to punch the other alpha, only the reminder of how outclassed he was letting him keep his temper in check.
As the door opened and Aiden stepped into the garage, Chad prayed that Merchant and Dawn managed to track down Karen Pen as soon as possible. He didn’t know how much more of Aiden he could take.
***
Chad and Aiden arrived at the training facility about two hours before the scheduled start of class. As they made their way into the building Chad saw the two other alphas on Aiden’s team exiting a car a few spaces over and move out in different directions around the building.
He’d completely forgotten that there was more than one person guarding him. He wondered what they thought of him, though when he considered the fact that they were getting all their information from Aiden he decided he maybe didn’t want to know.
Walking into the building, Chad dropped by the locker room to put away his bag and then headed right for the weights. He did his warm-ups, trying to ignore Aiden standing a few feet away, and then moved over to the weights to start his standard routine.
Much to his surprise, Aiden stayed silent and kept out of the way as he worked out. They had the gym almost to themselves; except for a pair of alphas Chad didn’t know running next to each other on the treadmills. As he went through his routine Chad was almost able to forget that Aiden was there.
He was just finishing up his first set of squats when Aiden had to be a jackass.
“You need more weight,” Aiden said, circling Chad and examining the bar placed over the back of his shoulders. “Peter likes a meaty ass and yours is skinny as hell.”
Chad put the bar down and shot Aiden a glare, refusing to even comment on that ridiculous statement. He had a great ass, which he knew because Peter had told him so many, many times.
Aiden held up his hand defensively and smirked. “I’m just saying, you could use some development in that area. You’ve got to keep Peter interested, right?”
Chad snorted, looking Aiden right in the eye. “Sorry, but I don’t exactly think you’re the best guy to be talking about how to keep Peter interested.”
Now that got a reaction. Aiden’s smirk slipped off his face and a red flush crept up his neck. For a split second Chad was worried he was going to attack him, but Aiden just sneered.
“I’m the one who broke things off with Peter,” he said, the words sharp and angry.
Chad grinned. “I know. Because you knew you couldn’t give him what he wanted.”
Aiden barked out a laugh. “Peter wants someone to be his cunt-ass little bitch. It’s why he likes you so much. He knows that you’re a total doormat.”
Chad bared his teeth in a snarl, but he didn’t say anything. If he escalated now he risked getting into a fight he stood no chance of winning. It was infuriating.
“Fuck off,” he muttered, turning back to the weights and ignoring Aiden. When he looked up, however, he caught the alpha grinning at him in the mirror like he’d won.
Chad fumed, but he held his tongue. Running his hand through his hair, pushing the sweaty locks away from his face, he decided to skip the rest of his weightlifting routine and head over to the elliptical machine instead.
He wiped his face with the bottom of his shirt and held his head high as he made his way over to the other side of the room.
***
“You’re kind of a little shit, you know that, right?” Aiden said when Chad finally stepped off the elliptical. He’d been standing behind Chad for the past twenty minutes, creepy gaze fixed on Chad’s ass, and Chad was just about fed up with him.
He shrugged, determined not to give the older man a reaction.
He made his way out of the gym and started walking toward the locker room.
Aiden fell into step next to him, continuing as though Chad had asked for an explanation.
“I mean. You’re clearly not qualified to work for Tank Security, and the only reason Peter hasn’t fired your ass is that he’s fucking it.
I don’t get how you can stand it. It’s like you’ve got no shame. ”
Chad bristled, his determination to stay silent cracking under the sheer force of Aiden’s obnoxiousness.
“Is there a point to this or are you just trying to show me how a professional bodyguard acts when they’re on the clock,” he snapped, wondering why Aiden was suddenly going off on him.
“I just don’t get why Peter keeps you around. I mean, you’re cute, sure, but when you open your mouth it makes me want to kill myself.”
Now there was an incentive to talk if Chad had ever heard one.
“You’re so unprofessional,” Chad commented, forcing his voice to be calm and bland. “It’s super weird.”
They’d reached the locker room, and rather than wait to hear Aiden’s reply Chad made his way over to his locker and pulled out his bag. He stripped down and wrapped a towel around his waist, heading to the shower and pointedly ignoring Aiden as he stepped under the spray.
There were several other guys also in the process of changing and showering, and apparently Aiden wasn’t willing to continue his belittlement with an audience.
“You decided to work out before class too, huh?”
Chad turned to his left, smiling at the sight of Mick taking the shower next to him.
“Good to get the blood pumping,” he said. “Where were you working out? I didn’t see you in the gym.”
“Newt and I booked one of the smaller rooms and sparred,” Mick said, lifting his arm and rubbing his pit with a bar of soap. “Mark had a few suggestions for what we should work on after yesterday’s class.”
“That’s cool,” Chad said. He hadn’t gotten any feedback, though that was probably because Mark figured Aiden would give him a helpful critique after working with him one on one.
He hadn’t.
“You should join us sometime,” Mick said. “That way Rick could come too and we’d be an even number.”