The Bodyguard - Book cover

The Bodyguard

Haylie Bee

CHAPTER 2: The Food Truck

ROSALIE

“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe my parents agreed to let me leave tonight. How did you do that? My mom is easy to persuade, but my dad?”

I looked over at Jonathan, who still wore a smug look on his face.

“It’s like he trusts you,” I whispered in amazement.

We were walking toward my parents’ giant garage to grab one of their cars.

“What can I say? I’ve got skills.” He held out his hand like a gun and pretended to shoot. Then he blew on the invisible smoke coming from his pointer finger.

I laughed, rolling my eyes. “Fine. I guess you do if you can get my dad to trust you. He tends to be a little paranoid due to his line of work.”

“Let me guess, he’s the chief security officer at some big company,” he said nonchalantly.

“Yes! How did you know?” I was impressed with his guess. Not a lot of people knew what my father did.

“I noticed the security guards and how your mansion was more like a safe house than a normal, regular house.”

Not only is he charming, but he is also observant.

We arrived at the garage door. I seized the handle and opened it, and we entered the enormous space.

“Damn!” Jonathan exclaimed, looking disappointed.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I was excited when your father said I could pick any car I wanted. I was hoping for a cool-looking sports car, but they’re all black Audis.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Geez. And here I thought it was something serious. Of course they’re all black. My father prefers to be inconspicuous and not attract attention—again, due to his line of work. You understand.”

We took one of the keys hanging on the wall next to the door and got in one of the Audis. We drove out of the long driveway and onto the main road.

“We’re going to my buddy’s place first to get my stuff, and then we’ll go to your apartment.”

It took us an hour to retrieve his stuff, and then I showed him the address to the apartment on my phone.

On our way to my new place, Jonathan randomly blurted out, “Remind me to teach you how to drive in the future.”

“Really? You’d do that?” I excitedly twisted in my seat to fully look at him. That was the nicest offer anybody had ever given me. I was really touched.

He nodded.

“Can you teach me how to use a gun and...and ju-jitsu?” I asked, overly enthusiastic as I couldn’t contain my excitement.

“Hold your horses, princess,” he said indifferently. “Let’s try driving first and see how you do before I teach you anything else.”

I twisted back and looked straight ahead, slightly dispirited. “Fine.”

“Are you pouting like a five-year-old over there?” He laughed and gave me a brief glance over.

“Maybe I am,” I answered with the same dispirited tone.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t teach you. I only said to focus on driving first,” he said gently, like he was trying to soothe me.

Before I could reply, something on the road caught my eye and I gasped.

“What’s that over there? Can we please check it out? Please,” I begged as he looked in the direction of where I was pointing.

“Oh, that’s just a food truck. There’s nothing interesting about that.”

“Can we please check it out?” I begged again. “I’ve never had food from a food truck. And from the long line, it must be good. And it’s 5:30 already and I’m hungry.”

I sounded like a whiny baby, but I didn’t care.

He sighed and pulled over, parking in one of the open spaces. I immediately ran out the moment the car stopped and got in line.

Jonathan came up next to me a minute later and warned, “Next time, wait for me. Don’t run ahead. I can’t protect you that way if something were to happen.”

“Oh.” I had completely forgotten that he was my bodyguard. It had only been half a day, and I was already so used to him, like a comforting shadow.

As more people got in line, Jonathan was pushed right up against my back. His intriguing scent wafted by my nose, and I automatically turned toward him to take in another breath.

“What cologne do you use? You smell amazing,” I blurted out without thinking, immediately wanting to slap myself.

“I don’t know,” he said with mirth. “I have a lot of them and they’re mostly gifts.”

From ex-girlfriends, I bet.

Suddenly, someone bumped into Jonathan from behind, which made his chest push against my face. His arms instinctively went up and wrapped around my back as he said, “Sorry about that. Are you okay?”

My heart skipped a beat and my stomach felt weird. What’s this? What’s this feeling? I stood frozen at the odd sensations in my stomach.

At my silence, he grabbed my shoulders and pushed me out at arm’s length to have a better look. “Hello? Earth to Rosalie?”

He didn’t wait for my response as he cupped my face and lifted it up to look at me. “Are you okay?” he asked, bringing his face closer to mine until it was only a couple of inches away.

My cheeks instantly turned scarlet and my hands flew up to cover my embarrassed countenance. “I’m fine,” I mumbled through my fingers and twisted around, out of his grasp. “Oh, it’s our turn to order.”

I was thankful for the distraction. All was forgotten as I ordered from the menu. It was a sandwich truck, and I ended up choosing a banh mi.

We stood to one side of the truck as we ate.

“This is delicious!” I marveled between bites.

“Yeah, it is. And it’s actually really common around here. I’m surprised you haven’t had it,” Jonathan said as he finished his last bite. “I’m sure there are a few places that sell these around your school.”

“Really? I already know where I want to go for lunch tomorrow,” I said greedily.

“You’re eating right now and you’re already thinking about tomorrow’s lunch?” He laughed while shaking his head, like he just couldn’t believe it.

I finished my sandwich and threw the wrapper into the trash bin nearby.

“Come on, princess. Let’s go.” He grabbed my arm and led me through the small crowd toward our car.

By the time we arrived at the apartment, it was almost eight o’clock. Jonathan ended up in the second bedroom since my stuff was already in the first. Each of our rooms had its own bathroom, which was super convenient.

Our rooms were the same size, so it wasn’t like I took the bigger bedroom. Mine was next to the living room, while his was farther away.

After my nightly routine, I came out of my room to say goodnight to Jonathan. I stopped behind a corner the moment I heard his voice.

He was on the phone with someone, and I found myself eavesdropping again. I had started to develop a very bad habit.

“No, I won’t do that… You can keep your damn money… You figure it out yourself!”

The conversation got more heated as it went.

“You got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out of it!… Fuck that! I’m not doing shit!… Why the fuck would I help you? My mother’s the one who was hurt.”

Oh, no. His mother is involved.

“She’s a big girl, she knows what she’s doing. I’m not getting involved… You and your damn mistress can stay unmarried for all I care.

“Don’t fucking call me again because I’m done talking about this!” he snapped into the phone before hanging up.

Was that his father on the phone? Should I ask? Do I even have the right to ask?

We have only known each other for a day, after all. I stood rooted to the floor while I heard him plop down loudly onto the sofa.

As I internally battled myself about what to do next, I didn’t notice he had gotten up and was walking toward me.

Instead of accusing me of listening in, he only said, “I’m going out.” His tone was indifferent, his easygoing attitude from earlier gone.

Instead of nodding, I found myself asking, “Can I come with you?”

At his blank stare, I immediately felt self-conscious and said the first thing that came to mind. “You’re my bodyguard. You’re supposed to be by my side at all times.”

God, did I really just say that? That was the lamest thing I had ever said. I wanted to crawl into a hole at that moment.

I felt like I was shrinking smaller and smaller as he continued to eye me. Finally, he raised his brows and asked, “You’re going in that?”

I looked down at my white nightshirt and blushed. “I’ll change.” I ran back into my room and put on another white summer dress. I came back out only to have him eye me again.

“Do you own anything else that’s not white?”

“I like white,” I answered easily, as if that completely explained everything.

“Alright. Let’s go,” he motioned his head toward the door.

“Where are we going?” I asked as he ushered me out.

“A drive.”

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