Page 14 of Heart of the Sun

“If at some point it becomes clear that I need to expand my team, then I’ll make that happen.”

I nodded.

“Anyway, some of it we’ll have to make up as we go along. I’ve never had a bodyguard before. Any questions for me?”

I ran my palms over my jean-clad thighs. “I guess my only question now is whether you want me to wear anything specific?” Did bodyguards wear uniforms? I wasn’t sure. I’d let her tell me.

She seemed stumped for a moment, looking away as she twirled a piece of ice-blond hair around one daggerlike finger, her lips puckered in a shiny pout. “All black, maybe?” Her eyes moved over me again. “Hold on.” She turned her head. “Destanie?”

The petite, colorful young woman rounded the corner as though she’d been standing nearby, just waiting to be summoned. “Yes?”

“What do you think my new bodyguard should wear?”

Destanie approached, crossing her arms and examining me as though looking closely at something the cat had just dropped on her doorstep. “Gray,” she said. “But not just gray.Silverygray. Something with spandex in it for a bit of shine. Tight too. The spandex will give it some stretch so he can perform his duties, but definitely very tight. His muscles alone will deter most of the creeps,” she said, talking about me as if I wasn’t sitting right there.

And hold up.Tight? Silver?Stretch?They wanted me to dress like a Cirque du Soleil performer? No fucking way.

“Perfect,” Emily said. “It’ll differentiate him from Charlie’s team too, which is important. Okay, so that’s the uniform.”

She stared at me, and I stared back, attempting to keep my expression as neutral as possible. With effort, I put aside the small amount of pride I had left. “Where might I find clothes like that?”

“Oh, I’ll give you the names of a few department stores where I have lines of credit. They’ll take care of you.”

“Make sure to get some shoes too,” Destanie said on her way out of the room. “And sunglasses,” she called over her shoulder. “No one should ever know exactly where your eyes are focused.”

Emily picked up the phone she’d set on the side table next to her. “Give me your cell phone number,” she said.

“I don’t have one yet. I’ll have to pick up one of those prepaid phones.” Not that I could afford very many minutes.

She stared at me a moment and then laughed. “Wait, are you joking?”

I slowly shook my head.

She waved her hand. “I’ll have a smartphone sent over and put it on my plan. That’s a necessary part of the job. Plus, I need to be able to text you, and I have to know you’re available at a moment’s notice.”

“Okay. Thanks.” I sounded like a pet dog. God, it was stuff like this that made me feel like a total loser, and I hated it.

“We leave for the tour in six weeks.”

A tour.I’d barely been out of California, and suddenly I was heading out on a big tour in just over a month. I’d have to let my parole officer know. What did I need to know? Would I be provided with an itinerary? Did I need to scope out places before Emily’s arrival? Fuck, I was way out of my depth. Not that I could say that, of course. My head spun at what a difference a week could make.

Emily stood, and again, I made sure to maintain eye contact, even as my mind begged me to peruse her curves. She gave me the name of a hotel nearby that I’d be staying at until the tour. “If you want to wait in the lobby downstairs, I’ll call an Uber to pick you up. It will be paid for.”

An Uber.I knew an Uber was a ride, but I’d never actually used one. Ubers hadn’t really been popular—especially in the neighborhood I’d lived in—before I was taken out of society.But I wasn’t going to ask questions. I’d wing it from there. “Thank you.”

“I’ll have Destanie text the information about the stores to the phone that’s delivered later today.”

I gave a terse nod. I was grateful for the job, but the fact that I was about to become one of these people, part of Emily’sentourage, did not sit well. Frankly, it pissed me off because this wasnotme, and it was only due to my desperate situation that I was being forced to play along. And there wasn’t a thing I could do about it, except squander the opportunity.

She walked me to the door, and held out her hand, those fingertip daggers glinting in the overhead light. I frowned but shook it.

“Thank you again,” I said. “I’ll wait to hear from you.” And then I got the hell out of that weird spaceship and hightailed it for the lobby, eager to put the last demeaning half hour behind me.

chapternine

Emily

Why did I feel so damn antsy? I crossed my arms, pacing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, the view of the Los Angeles skyline awash in a hazy orange glow.

---