Page 95 of Hide and Keep

“Did you go to Hide and Keep?” I can’t help but ask.

“Yeah. Why? Did you?”

“Kind of. I was—”

This time when my eyes scan for Ever, she’s on the ground and on the move.

Oh shit. She’s coming this way.

I pull my hands from Eighmey’s.

“Showing off for a bodyguard, Eighmey? That’s pretty low, even for an ass-eater.”

“Personal protection agent,” I correct. Now that I know the difference between the two, I do take offense. A bodyguard is a step above a bouncer. I’ve been a bouncer. This isn’t that.

“He’s—”

“The help. He’s not here for you or your basic somersaults. He’s working.”

There it is. Again. The reminder that no matter what title I use, what clothes I wear, Ever, and people like her, will only view me as “the help.”

Why’d she go through the trouble of buying me these expensive clothes anyway? Was it just to butter me up that day? Or was it so in moments like this when she decides to publicly humiliate me, that I’d feel like an even bigger jackass outfitted in labels I could never afford on my own?

For the four hundredth time since coming face to face with Ever Munreaux, I think to myself,Fuck. You.

But because I am the help, and I can’t afford the clothes currently covering my body, I stay silent. Ineverwant to talk to this stuck-up bitch again.

“Somersaults? Please. You could never—”

Arms above her head, Ever does the exact same routine Eighmey just did, only differentiating herself by landing softer at the end. She’s not as out of breath either.

When she’s done, she meets my eyes but I drop mine between us. I don’t even wanna look at her.

“Nathen?” she calls out. “Come throw Eighmey!”

Nathen lumbers over, rubbing his collarbone as he takes stock of Eighmey, then Ever.

“Without a mat?” he asks the latter.

“Yeah, without a mat.”

“She’s not a—”

“What? A flyer?”

Eighmey sighs. “You know I’m not, Ever. You proved your point, okay? I don’t need to break my neck to prove mine.”

“The only point you just proved…” Ever steps up to Eighmey, looking between her eyes. “…is that I can replace you, but youcan’t replace me. Remember that the next time you think about monopolizing my bodyguard’s time.”

I don’t know Eighmey well enough to know if she’ll try something dumb like attack Ever on my watch, so I slip between the two before I have to break up a cat fight. I like Eighmey but Ever’s safety is my literal job.

Guiding Ever to the passenger side of my Bronco, I get her seated before I remember she’s barefoot. I really don’t want to talk to her right now…

But I have to.

“Where are your shoes?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you go look for them yourself,” she snaps like I’m the problem.

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