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“I’m certain those will stay, but I’ll see what I can do about the food, water and meds. If I am with you, then they shouldn’t need to keep you sedated.”
“What do you mean with me?”
“I am your full-time security detail. The only time you will be with someone else is while I sleep, which is only a few hours a night. If your opinion of me changes and you are comfortable with me in your space, I will speak with Mr. Carter about staying in here with you at night as well.”
“Wait… what?”
“It’s time you trust someone, Talia, and right now, I’m your best option. You’ll see that soon.”
I looked at the man, who seemed to know more than he let on and didn’t know what to say. I had a million questions, but my brain was so scrambled it was hard to follow what was happening. It was growing more and more difficult to focus on everything he was telling me.
“Who are you really?”
“I’m a friend of a friend. I am someone who is here to keep you safe.”
Tears sprung to my eyes as my traitorous heart wanted to believe him. “You can’t keep me safe, Mr. Rand. I’m already on Death’s wish list and that’s not something anyone survives.”
A Breath of Fresh Air
Leo
Ihadseenpicturesof Talia and pulled together everything I could find about her before arriving in California, but meeting her wasn’t anything close to what I had expected. When Beckett Haynes, a good friend and employer of mine, called and told me he needed help with his fiancée’s friend, I didn’t think twice about taking the job. When I learned that Miles Carter had purchased her at the auction, the dark feeling that came over me never left. I had flown out here as soon as I could and it took a couple of days to work my way into his staff. It doesn’t matter how much people pay, everyone always has a price and Carter’s head of security was simple. He wanted to live the life he dreamed of on a boat far away from assholes like Carter. If I had worked for the man for as long as he did, then I’d want the same. With a promise of a boat and a year-long rental on an island off of Florida, he’d hired me as part of his security staff. My only condition was that he stay on until my mission here was complete. He knew this place better than anyone and if a time came where I needed his help, then I wanted him close.
When I walked in and saw Talia, she was almost unrecognizable from the pictures I had. Her social media was loaded with memories of her and Raven smiling and having the time of their lives. I knew it wasn’t always rainbows and sunshine, though. The death of Raven’s mother got the two of them into their current situation, but it had to have been better than what she was dealing with now.
When I opened the door, I found her standing there in a pair of shorts and a bra. She didn’t even try to cover herself, which made me wonder if she was just that confident or if she wasn’t even aware of her state of undress. The bruises across her ribs and the one on her cheek looked older than her split lip. Her eyes were glazed over and her hair seemed tangled in a way that made me wonder if it would ever look the same again, but beneath all of it I could still see a strong, capable woman who was slowly losing her determination to live. It broke my heart in a weird way I hadn’t felt before. Talia Crawford was a beautiful human. There was no doubt about that, but she was so much more than a physical beauty. Leaving her last night didn’t feel right, so instead of changing out with the guard assigned during my break, I stayed just outside her door. I waited until my watch hit 7AM, even though I heard her moving around in her room long before.
I knocked softly and waited for her to respond.
“Come in.”
I undid the lock and cracked open the door.
“Good morning. How did you sleep?”
Talia was sitting at the end of her bed with the lamp beside her. She looked a bit more alert than she had been last night, but that may have just been because they hadn’t been up with her breakfast and meds yet.
“Fine. You?”
“I stayed up.”
“Why?”
“I wasn’t tired.”
“So you were out there all night?” she said as she pointed at the closed door.
“I was. I told you I would be.”
Her head tilted slightly as she took in my clothes with a look of confusion.
“What would you like to do today?”
“Huh?”
“What do you want to do? I’m assuming they will be up with your breakfast soon. I thought maybe we could take a walk around the grounds outside. The sun is up now. It looks like it will be a beautiful day.”
“We can do that?”
