Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
N ovember 14 th
I now understand Whitney Houston’s character in The Bodyguard. She flipped out and yelled at all the noise and the disruption to her life. I get it now. However, sometimes bodyguards have some damn good ideas.
Well, Paige did feel safe. That was for sure. Hidden cameras had been installed all around her building and her apartment. Clark pointed them out as he walked her to her apartment after work.
“Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Paige told him after unlocking her door.
“Wait,” Clark said, pulling his gun. “You stay right here and don’t move. I need to clear your apartment first.” Clark entered her apartment and she watched as he moved from room to room, opening every little door and even looking under the couch. “It’s all clear. Come inside, Miss Turner.”
“What’s this bag on the couch?” Paige asked him.
“My clothes. I’m staying with you until the threat is eliminated.”
Paige had to have heard him wrong. “I’m sorry, did you say you’re staying here? As in, in my apartment with me for an undetermined amount of time?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I don’t have the room . . .”
“The couch is plenty of room. Don’t worry about me, ma’am.”
But Paige did worry. Her mother bred hospitality into her. Now Paige needed to think of breakfast for them both, what her schedule was like, how to make him feel comfortable, and where were the extra sheets? Her apartment was so small that it wasn’t like she had a lot of extra things lying around to make Clark more comfortable.
“It really is a rabbit. I was hoping he was joking,” Clark said a moment before he sneezed.
“Yes, meet Monty.”
Clark sneezed again. “I don’t suppose you could move him into your room? I’m allergic to rabbits.”
“My bed practically touches all four walls in my bedroom. No, there’s no room for him. I guess I could sleep out here.” Paige watched Clark look longingly to her bedroom, but in the end, professionalism won out.
“I’ll just take extra medication. I need to see the door and the window at all times.”
Paige heard Leah race up the stairs and moved to unlock the door. However, Clark flung his arm out, pushing Paige behind him and pulling his gun.
The door knob rattled and Clark turned the safety off. “It’s my best friend,” Paige told him. That didn’t stop him from keeping Paige away from the door as he approached it.
“Identify yourself,” Clark demanded.
“Bitch, please. Open the door. And what the hell is wrong with your voice?” Leah called out from the hall.
“I’m telling you, it’s my best friend, Leah. She lives directly below me.” Paige tried to get around Clark, but he held her tightly pressed against the wall as he slowly undid the lock, leaving the chain in place.
“ID,” Clark demanded, sticking the gun through the slight opening of the door.
“What the hell?” Leah screamed. “I’m calling the cops. Hold on, Paige! I’ll rescue you!”
“Why do you have to be a third-act problem?” Paige muttered to Clark, pushing by him and slamming the door shut before unlocking it. “It’s okay, Leah. Clark is my bodyguard.”
Leah was already on the phone as she paused. “Hold on, Max. She answered the door. Yeah, she says his name is Clark,” Leah said into the phone. “Oh, okay. Thanks, Max. Bye.” Leah walked into the apartment, giving Clark the squinty eye of mistrust. “Paige, what’s going on? Why do you have a bodyguard?”
“Someone has made threats against us for publishing Lenora’s book. So, until whoever they are is caught, meet Clark. Clark, this is Leah. Don’t shoot her. Ever. Even if I ask you to do it.”
“Aren’t we the bitchy bookworm today? Clark’s hot. I wouldn’t be upset about him guarding my body.” Clark cleared his throat and tried to look somewhere else. The trouble was the apartment was too small. It was the bunny or it was Leah. Those were his two options. He chose Leah.
“He’s living here until the threat is contained.”
“I mean, yay for bodyguard trope, but eh—” Leah said, getting the picture. She knew Paige liked her own space. “Do they have any leads?”
“Some. Max was brought in to investigate,” Paige told her.
“He’ll figure it out. Max is one hot cop and super smart too. You should give him your virginity.” Clark made a strangled choking sound. “I mean, you’re not too bad either, but you stuck a gun in my face. So, no deflowering the virgin for you. Plus, your eyes are really red. You kinda look like a demon.” Leah looked back at Paige with wide eyes. “I mean, that could work for your trope list, too. Guarded by the Demon . There has to be a book named that.” Clark made that strangled noise again. “But no,” Leah said as if thinking it over, “Max would be better.”
“Max would be better for what?” Eli asked as he walked through the door. “Oh, hello, handsome. Not the type of weapon I prefer pointed at my face, but it looks like you’re still packing heat down there, too.”
“Max would be better than Clark to lose her virginity to,” Leah told him.
“Who’s Clark?” Eli asked.
Paige rolled her eyes. “Eli, this is Clark. He’s my bodyguard. Clark, meet my other best friend, Eli. And the one cowering by the door digging through her purse for mace is Amelia. They’re my book club.”
“You’re in a book club?” Clark asked before he sneezed. “I’m in a book club. We just read The Siege of Amida .”
“Okay, bodyguard,” Eli said, sounding impressed as he took a seat on the couch. “Did the soldiers lay siege to Amida’s body?”
Clark looked offended. “No, it’s a battle where the Persians captured the city of Amida. You know, they were part of the sixth century Byzantine Empire?”
“I am all for book clubs. Reading is reading,” Leah told him. “However, book clubs are not equal.”
“I’m going with Leah. Max for the virginity win,” Eli told Paige. “Sorry Clark.”
“You seem like a very nice guy,” Amelia said, finally braving the apartment. “But Max. Definitely Max. I mean, the guy is in love with you.”
Paige shook her head. “No, he’s not. He has a girlfriend.”
Clark made a noise. It could have been his airway closing from an allergic reaction. Paige wasn’t sure.
“What was that, bodyguard?” Eli asked.
“It’s none of my business.” Clark headed to the door and took the time to shut, lock it, and then double check all the locks. When he turned around, he found four sets of eyes staring at him.
“If you’re going to be hanging out with us, you can’t just drop those kinds of comments and not comment further. That’s like people who post on social media that they need prayers but don’t tell anyone why. No vaguebooking here, Clark,” Leah then glared at Clark until he broke.
“Fine. He’s into you. He was very protective of you. If he does have a girlfriend, things are not good between them,” Clark told her.
“Exactly!” Amelia said, giving Clark a smile for the first time.
“We need to find out what’s going on with Sierra and him,” Eli said, leaning toward the group. “How can we find out?”
“Social media posts?” Clark asked as Leah pulled out her phone. “You’re looking for anything about starting over, improving one’s self, or feeling grateful.”
“Okay, Clark. You’re growing on me,” Eli told him.
“Damn,” Leah said as she scrolled. “This girl posts a ton of selfies. She doesn’t even post pictures with her friends.”
“Then you find her friends and ask them,” Clark told her.
“We don’t know any of her friends,” Leah said with a frown. “She runs in socialite circles and, well, Miss Stabby over there almost took out Patrick Bolten’s balls with her high heels. She’s not exactly welcome back in that circle.”
Paige froze. She had an idea. “I know someone.”
“What? Girl, don’t lie,” Eli said, ignoring her and looking back at Sierra’s social media.
“I do. Kitty McLane. The mayor’s daughter. Remember, I rescued her from the regency ball. I can invite her to book club and we can ask her.”
“Bingo,” Clark said with a cluck of his tongue.
“Text her!” Amelia squealed.
“Okay, okay.” Paige thought about the text and settled with a short apology for not thinking of doing this sooner, but that her book club had a regency romance coming up and wanted to know if Kitty would like to join their book club for the discussion. “Sent. I’ll let you know when I hear back.”
Her phone pinged with an incoming text.
“Someone wants her regency romance,” Eli said with a laugh.
“She’s in but can’t do it until after Thanksgiving,” Paige told her friends.
“Book it,” Amelia told her.
“Now that that’s done,” Eli said, turning to Clark, “tell us everything about you.”
“Me?” Clark looked petrified.
“Yes, you,” Leah said. “Are you married? Single? Dating someone? Or maybe more than one someones. Are you in a throuple, Clark?”
Paige went and ordered pizza. Poor Clark. He was going to need hazard pay for this bodyguard assignment.