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The cranky-looking guard escorted her to his car where he drove her back home, making sure to walk her inside once they got there. Mr. Uptight made himself comfortable in the living room, planning on staying in the house with her.It should have made her feel safe, but all it did was make her more aggravated.
Layne silently left him be, going into her small office and shutting the door to find some privacy inside her own house where she could focus on anything other than the past twenty-four hours.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The next few weeks were inarguably painful from Layne’s perspective. If there was anything that made her top ten list of things she hated, it was having a bodyguard hovering over her day and night. There was no opportunity just to have privacy aside from hiding inside her own house.
One silver lining was that she had convinced her dad that taking away her work would result in allowing her skills to get rusty, and her contacts would have a lot of questions about where she had gone.Scott was in agreement that Layne had a valid point and reinstated her duties after two weeks off. However, she was still stuck with around-the-clock eyes on her.
The guard currently on watch was James. He was only a couple of years older than she was, but he had years of experience doing a bunch of the grunt jobs for Scott and Mick.He also had a personality that was far too serious.
They were in the back kitchen of a local pizza joint, the owner trembling as he sat in a wooden chair that threatened to snap underneath his weight. Kevin Beal, the proud proprietor of “Slices of Heaven Pizzeria,” had been late on a payment due to one Scott O’Reilly. Let’s just say, that her family did not appreciate not getting what was owed to them in a timely manner.
Layne was standing in front of him, eyes analyzing the look on his face.James hung back by the door with a grumpy expression on his face but was ready to spring into action if needed.God, the way he hovered though, it was so damn distracting.
“You know, Kevin, my heart bleeds for you. It totally does. These are tough times.” Layne gave him a pouty frown that insinuated she was sympathetic to his troubles.Her hand pulled out a baby Glock from the back of her snugly fitted black pants and casually held it in her hand just so he could see where this was going.
His eyes widened at the sight of her firearm. “I swear, I can get the money next week. Please, just give me a chance.” His pleas were pathetic. Did this guy have zero backbone?
Layne looked back at James who hadn’t changed the expression on his face for the past ten minutes. “He sounds like he regrets not having our payment ready on time. What do you think?”
James didn’t so much as blink at her.What a damn killjoy. Layne shook her head and turned her attention back to Kevin.She stepped closer to him, crouched down in front of him resting one hand on his knee while she casually waved the semi-automatic pistol around as she spoke.
“Next week doesn’t help us when the money was due this week. But, I tell you what, I like you, Kevin.You make really shitty pizza, but I like you. You get the money to us next week, and for our troubles, go ahead and double it. Deal?” Layne was in strict business mode as her eyes stared at Kevin’s face which had several lines of sweat coming down it.
He was very quick to nod, “Y-Yeah, that’s a deal. I promise I will have the money. Ok? I swear.”
Layne stood up and leaned over, pecking a quick kiss on his cheek. “That makes me so happy to hear that. Thank you, Kevin. It’s a date for next week.” She backed up and turned to approach James, before recalling she had one more thing to add. Turning to look back at Kevin who had just been filled with relief, “Oh, and just so you remember this time.” She aimed the Glock and fired a single round at his leg. The sound of the shot echoed against the walls of the tiny kitchen.
The poor sap screamed out as the bullet entered his thigh, his hands grabbing onto it. Layne looked to James and patted him on the arm. “Let’s go.” She tucked the Glock back into the back of her pants, making sure her shirt draped over it to keep it concealed.
They left the pizza place, walking out onto the street into broad daylight. Layne’s eyes winced at the sun shining so harshly today. Slipping some shades over her eyes she looked up at James who was at her side, barely giving her space to breathe. “Can you at least pretend like you’re trying to give me space?” Her brow arched questioningly, but James just shook his head.
“No.” That was all he had to say. He was a man of many words it appeared. She sighed, this was just painful dealing with an unnecessary and unwanted protector. Pulling out her secured cellphone, she made a brief call to Liam letting him know that Kevin would be paying them double next week and had been incentivized to keep his word. That was the last of the business matters she had on her plate for the day. She walked with James back to the car where he drove her back to her house.
Trying to think of a way to strike up a conversation he would actually engage in, Layne sat in the passenger seat opening up a bag of dill pickle-flavored potato chips. Crunching into the first one was utter bliss.
Working always stirred up an appetite for her. “You want one?” She extended the bag to James while he kept a watch on the road like a hawk.
“No, thank you.” His voice was flat and monotone.
Layne shrugged and continued to snack on the chips, basking in the tangy and salty flavor.
“Aren’t you bored of this whole gig? I would be.” He didn’t respond to her, leaving them in more awkward silence. She decided that if he was going to be as dull as a Fisher-Price butter knife, then it presented a challenge for her to overcome.
“For shits and giggles, what would happen if I happened to ditch you? On a scale of one to dead, how much trouble would you be in?”
James glanced over at her, before averting his eyes back onto the road and resigning himself to the small talk. “It would depend on if anything happened to you and how long before we tracked you back down.”
“So, let me take a guess, if I get hurt on your watch, you’re basically a dead man walking? If you only happened to lose track of me for a short period of time, you would be less dead?” Layne sucked the potato chip flavor off her pointer finger.
“Depends on the type of day your father was having.”
Layne gave a little chuckle. “Ain’t that the damn truth. The moody son of a bitch.”
James cracked a subtle smile, but she caught it out of the corner of her eye. “So, you do have a personality somewhere in there. Good to know.”
After they both arrived back at her safe haven and inside, James still didn’t leave. It had been weeks of this bullshit and she was getting sick and tired of it to the point of considering straight-up violence just to put an end to the nonsense. He took a seat in her living room and began to read a magazine.
