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I suppress the impulse to laugh.
Well, that went better than expected.
34
JACE
The silent auction ran like a well-oiled machine. Though that was not a coincidence. The event ran smoothly because Kayla made sure it did.
Standing by the wall a short distance away, I watch as she issues orders to the catering company she hired, telling them to start clearing everything away. The final attendants have already left, and the only people still in the room now are the caterers, Kayla’s event group, and the professors who came to assess the event.
Warm light from the chandelier above shines down on the pale wooden room. It makes Kayla’s deep blue dress shimmer when she turns around to speak to Jenn. Her long red hair ripples down her back. The sight knocks the breath from my lungs. God, she really is gorgeous.
“Jenn,” Kayla says. “Do you have the list of?—”
“Yes,” she replies, waving a piece of paper in the air.
“Good. Lionel, the guy who won the car is coming to pick it up tomorrow, which means that we need to move it into an actual parking space for tonight. I cleared it with the building manager and we can use the one at the back. Get to it.”
Fire flickers inside me.
Fuck, she’s so hot when she takes charge and bosses people around like this. If she was mine, I would?—
I stop myself before I can finish the thought. Because she’s not mine. She’s a job assignment.
Confusion whirls through me.
Isn’t she?
I nod to myself. Yes, she is a job assignment. Then that confusion is immediately back again. Because she’s also not just a job assignment anymore. I don’t know what we are, but I know that the line has been crossed. And things have become muddled.
I’m here to keep her safe. And I do. No one will ever hurt her as long as I’m here. So I am doing my job. But is it wrong that I also… care about her? That I like the way she challenges me? That I love the way she makes me laugh? That I would worship every inch of her body if she asked me to?
Before I can find the answer to those questions, the two professors who were here to assess the event suddenly start approaching Kayla and the others. Even though they’re just her teachers, I still edge a little closer as the two men move towards her.
Lionel and the Carlisle sisters hurry over to where Kayla is standing. All of them look slightly nervous as the professors reach them.
“Well,” says the man in the gray suit as he claps his hands together. “What a splendid event this was.”
Kayla and her friends release a whooshing breath of relief. Smiling broadly, they exchange quick looks while the second professor nods in agreement.
Pride swells in my chest. Which is ridiculous, because I have no logical reason to be proud since I didn’t actually contribute anything to this event. Well, except maybe the car washing and all that. But still. I am proud. Of Kayla. She truly is a born leader.
“To be honest,” the first professor continues, a slightly sheepish smile on his face. “We expected that you would rely mostly on your, uhm… assets.”
At their confused look, he clears his throat before elaborating.
“We all know that Kayla has access to quite the fortune, as well as a vast network of connections, so we thought you would take the easy way out and just use that. But you didn’t.” He flashes them a bright smile. “You worked hard on your own to make this a success.”
Standing a short distance from them, I can’t help but scowl at the professor. What the hell kind of comment was that? In my opinion, that’s a very strange way of looking at the world. If someone has money and connections, why would it be considered wrong to use them?
It would be like saying that people who are born beautiful are cheating because they can get modeling jobs or acting jobs easier than people who are not. Yes, it’s mostly luck that determines if you’re born into a wealthy family or born with great looks. And yes, it sucks if you end up getting dealt a bad hand. But if you do manage to get lucky, why is it wrong to use the power and wealth you have?
God knows that I wouldn’t have been able to get away with even half of the shit I do if I wasn’t a Hunter. But why should I feel guilty about that? I am who I am.
My insides twist as a thought that I have been avoiding flashes through my mind.
Yes, I am a Hunter. And while that comes with lots of advantages, it also comes with expectations. Now, I’ll soon be in a position to choose my future. All I need to do is to finish out this semester as Kayla’s bodyguard, and then I can choose whether to go back to Blackwater and become a hitman or to do something else with my life.
