Page 24 of Lovestruck at Sundown
Once I plugged my phone into the charger, I fired a quicktext to William and Aaron to let them know I was back home. I wasn’t planning on picking up my phone in a few hours, and I didn’t want William to worry. I’d also subjected Aaron to enough stress and thought it was best to keep him in the loop. Ultimately, he was still my bodyguard and would continue to be for an undetermined period of time because there was no way I’d end things with William. So if my father called or texted him, I wanted Aaron to reply confidently about my whereabouts.
After turning off all alarms, I put my phone on airplane mode, sank my head into the familiar cool, fluffy pillows, and gave in to the sweet relief of slumber.
The doorbell rang, and it felt like I’d only slept for five minutes. My bones ached, my mouth was parched, and I wasn’t very sure I’d be able to get up from my bed.
With my eyes still closed, I tapped my nightstand and pulled the cord off my phone to check my screen—1:52 p.m. I’d slept almost seven hours, yet I could’ve kept going for a few more.
Miraculously, I managed to get out of bed and walked to the door while turning off my phone’s airplane mode, not caring if I looked like a zombie or not. But I certainly did look like one when I caught a glimpse of myself in the foyer mirror.
I had bigger problems to deal with than my physical appearance. Still, I peeked through the peephole to see who it was just in case it was William. I didn’t want to scare him off so early into the relationship. Not that he hadn’t seen me in worse conditions.
It was David and Amena.
Flattening my hair with my fingers, I opened the door to find them wearing casual clothes and no curly earpieces. Thesight of it was odd, but I could imagine what they were here for.
To say goodbye.
David was holding a white legal-sized envelope in his hands.
“Miss Murphy,” Amena said with an easy smile. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but your phone was off, and we wanted to say our goodbyes. Mr. Murphy called to let us know you were informed of his decision to reduce your security.”
“Oh, no, don’t worry about it,” I said, still drowsy, holding onto the door for support. “I’ve slept enough.” I was probably going back to bed the moment they left, but that’s the polite thing to say in situations like these. “I feel like I’m the one who needs to apologize. I’m so sorry you were laid off. I can’t help but feel like it’s my fault.”
David remained silent.
“There’s nothing you need to worry about, Miss.” She brushed one of her toffee curls off her face. “I’m being transferred to Hong Kong next week. If anything, there’s work to spare in the DSS, so don’t worry about that.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I said, feeling relieved on her behalf.
“It was an honor working withyou, Miss.” She offered me her hand and a tight-lipped smile. I shook it firmly. “I need to head out, but I’ll leave you to David.” She tapped his shoulder. “Goodbye, Miss Murphy.”
“Thank you so much, Amena. And good luck in Hong Kong.”
She nodded once more and walked away.
“Hey,” I said to David. “Were you able to get some rest?”
“Yeah. I don’t need much sleep anyway.” He offered me the white envelope. “This was in your mailbox.”
“Thanks.” There was a printed label on the front part of the envelope with my name, address, and yesterday’s date. I left it on the foyer table and walked back to the door. “I’m sorry, I know Ilook like shit.” We both laughed.
“Your hair is a bit crazy, but other than that, you look great, Miss Murphy.”
“Can you call me Billie?” David was dating CJ, and he wasn’t my bodyguard anymore. I thought it was time we dropped the formalities.
“Of course, Billie.” He smiled but then furrowed his brow. “So I wanted to thank you for everything. It really has been great meeting you, and I’m so thankful I met Christopher because of you.”
“I feel the same way. You always had my back, but now I’m stuck with a brooding Aaron.” I chuckled.
“Nah, you’ll be fine. Aaron loves you. And if I’m being honest, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have security when you’re William Sjöberg’s girlfriend. There are a bunch of creeps and stalkers out there.”
“You sound just like Caleb.” I shook my head and offered him a warm smile. “I’m sure that’s something he would’ve said.”
He laughed. “Without a doubt.”
“So what’s next for you? Are you being transferred somewhere else like Amena? Will CJ stop talking to me forever?” I joked. “I believe my dad said something about you giving him your two-week notice, well, two weeks ago.”
“About that,” he said, crossing his arms at his chest. “Christopher’s dad offered me a job at his pediatric private practice. So I’m going to juggle that with school. I recently got accepted for my specialty in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, which I’m starting in January. And I’m sure Dr. Jewell had something to do with that, as much as Christopher insists it was all me.”
