Chapter 2
Chapter Two
ARLO
Eighteen years old – July
My new bodyguard hated me.
As I’d suspected, I’d managed to fuck up multiple times over the last few months. Don’t get me wrong, I’d tried to be better. I hadn’t missed a single show or recording session. That wasn’t to say I’d turned up completely sober to all of them, but at least I’d been there.
Progress.
Things were changing though, starting with our management. The team we’d started with had been completely unprepared to deal with our sudden rise to stardom. After fucking up even more than I did, our label suggested bringing on a new team.
Enter Kevin Hale. With two decades of management experience under his belt, he was confident that he could keep up with the many demands being thrown our way.
I hadn’t really given a shit either way, but the others had seemed happy with him, so I’d thrown my vote in with theirs.
Had I known the personal impact it would have on my life, I might’ve thought twice.
The first thing our new manager had done was assign us bodyguards.
I mean, seriously? What the fuck did any of us need security for?
I might have been on the shorter and leaner side, but I’d grown up on an estate, for fuck’s sake.
We all had. None of us were violent, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t take care of ourselves if needed.
It was a skill we’d learned out of necessity.
Life on the estate could be rough, especially if outsiders got involved.
We might have fought amongst ourselves, but all that was forgotten if anyone else dared start on one of us.
All-out war would be declared. Didn’t matter whether you chose your fists or a rounders bat, the expectation was the same.
You got involved. You looked out for each other.
So yeah. Totally not on board with a security detail cramping my style.
When my guard, Jack, had been introduced to me, there’d been a few minutes when I’d thought maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. By which I meant, I’d almost swallowed my tongue and immediately fantasised about all the ways I would have liked to strip him naked.
At six foot two, Jack Stokes dominated the room from the second he entered.
He wasn’t the only guard, but the others faded into the background next to him.
It wasn’t just about his size, which was formidable, but his aura.
He may as well have been wearing a T-shirt that said ‘Fuck Around and Find Out.’
I’d bolted upright in my seat, my mouth drying out as I tried to drink all of him in.
There was too much to focus on. The buzz cut hairstyle that made him look like he belonged in the military.
How his ill-fitting suit jacket did nothing to hide the muscles underneath.
The black ink curling down his neck before vanishing beneath his collar.
After cataloguing the room as he entered, he kept his hazel eyes fixed on the wall opposite him. Everything about his posture was begging for me to ruffle him up a bit. His hands were folded neatly behind his back, his face utterly expressionless.
Definitely ex-military. Had to be.
He was basically all my wet dreams brought to life.
Fuck. I’d wanted to lick him. That probably wasn’t something I could do if he was my guard, right? He had to be at least a decade older than me, but if anything, that only made him more appealing.
Think of all the things he could teach me.
Kevin had been droning on about something or other, but I’d ignored him. Fidgeting in my seat, I chewed on the edge of my nail. I couldn’t decide what would be better—Kevin assigning him to me or not. Perhaps if he was with one of the others, I could shoot my shot.
Assuming he wasn’t straight, that was. Knowing my luck, he probably was.
Oh, I couldn’t see this going well. What if he was assigned to me? What if I had to spend my days with him as my shadow? Would I be able to hold my tongue and not make the poor man uncomfortable? Or would I be destined to lust after someone unattainable?
I’d fuck it up somehow.
Just as I’d begun to really spiral, Kevin gestured to me. “Jack, you’ll be guarding Arlo.”
Well, fuck.
I’d given Jack a pathetic attempt at a wave. Not that he’d noticed. His eyes had flicked away from the wall for less than a second before returning. He’d stared at it so intently that I’d actually checked to see if there was anything there.
Nope. Nothing but solid white wall.
That meeting should’ve been the first indication that things were not going to go smoothly with my new bodyguard.
Two months had passed since then, and I didn’t really know anything more about my bodyguard than when we’d first been introduced.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Given his job was to be my shadow, I’d gone out of my way to try and get to know him. Asked him questions. Offered him snacks and drinks.
Nothing worked. He ignored my questions like I hadn’t even spoken. Snacks and drinks were dismissed with a brisk shake of the head.
Apparently the man didn’t need sustenance like the rest of us mere mortals.
I wasn’t sure Jack was even human. He was there the second I stepped out of my front door, regardless of the early hour. Then he’d stay by my side until I hit the sack. Didn’t matter how late I kept him out, or how many clubs I dragged him to, Jack was always there the next day.
After a while, his presence started to piss me off. He might have been hot, but that only got him so far in my book. His utter refusal to lower his professional walls by even a millimetre was doing my head in.
Then there was the way he behaved when I went on a night out. How he pushed bottles of water into my hand after I’d had one too many shots. How he’d sometimes announce there was a mysterious “security risk” that meant we had to leave straight away.
The first time he’d done it, I’d leapt up in concern, all too ready to believe him.
By the fifth time, I’d known there was something else at play. These “security risks” only ever seemed to happen if I was on the wrong side of tipsy, or about to hook up.
I had no idea what Jack’s goal was, but if it was to piss me off, he was on a one-way road to success.
Calling him on it did nothing. He’d just stared at me blankly while I’d ranted about once again getting my night cut short.
That was when it had hit me.
Jack hadn’t been hired to be my guard. He’d been hired to be my babysitter. He was there to make sure I didn’t get so fucked up that I missed a show or anything like that.
Why I was apparently not allowed to hook up was beyond me.
All I could think of was perhaps Kevin was worried about my image.
If X-rated photos made their way online, the label would definitely be calling for me to be axed.
They were barely okay with the fact that three of us in the band were out and proud—photographic evidence would probably send their homophobic arses over the edge.
Ever since that revelation, I’d stopped all attempts to befriend Jack. I treated him with the same lofty disdain he gave me.
I’ll be honest, I’d become a complete brat.
Every word from Jack would bring forth some sarcastic comment.
Instead of being the compliant little rock star he’d been used to, I started pushing back.
I’d leave out of the back door without messaging him first, turning up to meetings and insisting I had no idea where he was.
If we were out, I’d purposefully slip in between people to put some distance between us.
And those bottles of water? They got thrust right back at him and another shot demanded instead.
Sometimes I thought I was getting to him. He had a tell when he was mad, but it was so tiny that it’d taken me a while to notice.
The very tips of his ears went red when he was angry.
I’d been fairly convinced that Jack didn’t like me.
But it wasn’t until tonight that I’d realised he hated me.
Ironically, I hadn’t set out to piss him off. Tonight’s escapades had happened with one goal in mind.
To get off.
With Nanny Jack watching over me, it’d been months since I’d hooked up. My hand was no longer enough. I’d found myself looking at Luca and wondering if maybe I should hit on him.
The answer to which was no. Not only was there no chemistry between us, but the last thing our band needed was more interpersonal angst. Kai had that covered already.
It was an indicator that I needed to find someone to share an orgasm with though.
I couldn’t be looking at my bandmates with anything other than platonic affection.
Not that I did that with anyone else either.
I stuck to club hook-ups that never went further than blowjobs or mutually satisfying frotting sessions.
I hadn’t done more than that with anyone.
There wasn’t a particular reason why, just that I hadn’t met anyone I’d wanted to take that final step with. Nightclubs weren’t the best place for anything more than that anyway. All I needed was a dark corner and a willing participant.
Oh, and for my ever-present shadow to not interrupt before the good stuff started.
My plan had been cunning. I’d told Jack I wanted to pay a visit to my parents, back on the estate.
With a baggy hoody and joggers chucked over my clubbing clothes, Jack had been none the wiser to my deception.
If he’d thought it was odd that I wanted to visit them despite never having mentioned them before, he didn’t say anything.
Once we’d got to the estate, I’d stayed quiet as we’d climbed the seven flights of stairs to the top floor of the building.
Before leaving the stairwell, I’d rounded on Jack with a concerned look. “Hey, do you think you can keep watch from here?”
Jack had narrowed his eyes. “No. It’d be better if I was close by. What if you need me?”