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"Here we go," Alex remarked, glancing down at his phone to double-check we had the right address. "You ready/"
"As I’ll ever be," I sighed. Using the key that Maxim had given us, Alex unlocked the door, and we made our way up to our new lodgings.
She was already leaning in the door when we reached the top of the stairs, glowering at us like she wanted to turn us right around. She was tall, with long, dark hair pulled into a ponytail at the back of her head. Her curvy body was poured into a pair of tight jeans and a light white tee, that showed off her thick hips. Well, at least she would be nice to look at, that had to count for something.
"You guys don’t have to do this," she intoned, as we reached the top of the stairs. "I don’t know what my father’s paying you, but-"
"Enough for us to listen to him and not you," I cut her off. She looked pissed, an expression of pure annoyance crossing her face.
Alex brushed past her and into the apartment, and she followed us in.
"I don’t need you here," she told us firmly. "I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Then our jobs are going to be easy," Alex replied. I smirked. He always knew how to handle someone with an attitude – that military past gave him this ability to be snarky without getting called out for it.
"So easy you don’t even need to be here to do them," she replied. I glanced around the apartment; it was big, big enough that I doubted we would have to see a whole lot of each other, thank God. Alex and I had agreed to work in shifts, one of us standing guard over the door twenty-four seven, so nobody would be able to come or go without us knowing about it. I could already tell how mad she was at the thought of it, but that wasn’t my problem.
"I made a promise to your father," Alex replied calmly. "And I’m not going to break it. Where are our rooms?”
"I’m not telling you," she fired back. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her. Did she really think this was going to work, this attitude she had right now? Like we were just going to turn around and walk out of here because she had decided she didn’t want a thing to do with us? Yeah, I wasn’t going to play that game with her, not a chance in hell. I had better things to do than let her call the shots here. Her father was Maxim Antonov, and that meant she was going to play by his rules.
"You don’t need to make this harder for either of us," Alex replied, turning to face her, crossing his arms over his chest and locking eyes with her pointedly. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, her ponytail swaying back and forth as she tried to come up with something else to throw back at us.
"You don’t need to be here at all," she tried again.
"Is that the best you’ve got?" I shot back at her. She turned her gaze to me, her eyes narrowed.
"You don’t need to be an asshole about this," she protested. "Just because you’re working for my father-"
"Just because we’re working for your father," I spoke over her. "Means we’re going to be playing by his rules. And he wants us to live here. Watching over you. And, for the next year, that’s exactly what’s going to happen."
"For the next year?" she exclaimed, as Alex began to open doors, trying to figure out where we were going to be staying.
"Yes, the next year," he replied. "That’s how long he’s hired us for. So, I guess you better get used to having us around."
She parted her lips, about to come out with some other smart comment, until Alex came to the guest bedrooms.
"Are these our quarters?" he asked. She sighed, her shoulders slumping downward.
"Yes," she muttered. "I guess they are."
And, with that, she turned on her heel and stalked off towards her room, slamming the door loudly behind her. What was she, a teenager? I could already tell her bratty attitude was going to drive me crazy, and not in the good kind of way.
I followed Alex into the rooms we would be staying in – we each had a separate bedroom, connected by an ensuite bathroom between us, but I wasn’t ready to head to my new quarters just yet. I leaned in the doorway, shaking my head.
"I can’t believe we’re really doing this," I remarked to him, and he glanced up at me.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, dealing with a girl like that?" I replied, jerking my head over my shoulder to the spot where Olya had just been standing. "You can’t expect me not to notice what a-"
"Stop it," he told me abruptly. "You don’t want her to hear you talking shit."
"What’s she going to do, go complaining to her father about me?” I pointed out. "She’s already made it clear how much she hates having us around. I doubt she’s going to have anything good to say about us..."
"Yeah, but we don’t need to make it any easier for her to come up with reasons to hate us," he replied. "Just keep your voice down, okay?"
I closed the door behind me. I hated having to make my language, especially around a woman like that, who clearly wasn’t used to playing nice with anyone in the entire world. She was just some little brat, and it was no wonder her father wanted someone around to keep an eye on her. She would likely have gotten herself into all sorts of trouble with that attitude of hers alone. I could see how she would piss people off.
