Page 16 of Her Guardian
“Yeah,” she whispers, scooting to the edge of the bed. “I need to shower and get ready.”
“I’ll go get coffee, then we can just go over your notes in here,” I mutter. “Tell me what you want.”
Sarah perks up at the mention of coffee and gives me her order. I leave her room, return to the lobby, and step outside for a cigarette. She’ll need more than a few minutes, so I’ll give it to her. After I finish my cigarette, I walk back inside, order the coffee, and collect the cups once it’s ready.
My second trip up the elevator to Sarah’s room is a lot less panicked than the first. I’m not happy she kept me waiting and made me worry, but I’m glad she’s okay. I don’t like what I was feeling when I was scared something could have happened to her.
Once I get to Sarah’s room, I swipe the keycard again, but crack the door, rather than pushing it open.
“Are you dressed?” I call out.
“Almost, just a minute!” Sarah replies.
It’s tempting to push the door open and have a peek, but I restrain myself. Once she’s dressed, I walk inside. Sarah is sitting on the bed wearing a pair of shorts that barely cover the lower curve of her ass—sitting, at least. Her t-shirt is a band I’ve never heard of, but that’s no surprise. I don’t keep up with what is popular these days.
“I-I’m sorry I overslept,” Sarah says, looking up at me with a sheepish half-smile. “I was really tired.”
“It’s fine,” I say, sitting down on the other bed and motioning to the notebook in front of her. “That where you wrote everything down?”
“Yep,” Sarah confirms. “I wrote down everything from my phone, and the rest of what I could remember. And no names, just like you said.”
Sarah gets up and hands me the notebook, then she walks into the bathroom to do her makeup. I flip through her notes and sigh as I read everything. She didn’t use names, but she might as well have. Initials? Really? Mr. L? Mr. P? Like I don’t immediately know that is referencing Mr. Luciano and Mr. Petrovic. They were sitting right behind us.
I feel some anger surfacing, but I swallow it.
That doesn’t mean I won’t address this.
Maybe I need to address the fact she worried me half to death and kept me waiting so long, too.
CHAPTER 7
Sarah
From having a really good dream about Boyd to waking up to the sight of him staring at me from the foot of my bed.
What a surprise!
Now that I’ve calmed down, had some coffee, and done my makeup, I’m ready to spend another day with him. Totally professional, of course. He promised to help fill in some gaps and take me around Las Vegas. Hopefully, there will be a few more stories to go with the tour.
I step out of the bathroom, take a puff of my vape, and notice Boyd has a scowl on his face. He looks up at me and the intensity in his stare makes me tremble a little. Why? I’m not sure. It just feels like I’m in trouble for some reason.
“Is there a problem with my notes?” I ask nervously.
“I said no names, didn’t I?” he snaps, closing my notebook.
“You did,” I confirm. “And I didn’t use any! I was very careful!”
“You call Mr. L and Mr. P being very careful?” he questions. “Like nobody will know who that is if they know anything about the groups that operate in Las Vegas? Were you planning to refer to them like that on your podcast?”
“Well, yeah,” I admit. “But not everyone. I was going to be extremely vague!”
“You were late. You made me worry. You didn’t follow my fucking instructions,” he growls. “That’s three strikes already today, little girl, and you haven’t even finished your damn coffee yet.”
Three strikes? That doesn’t sound good. I want to argue that I’m not a little girl, but I kind of feel like one right now. A bad little girl in trouble. I twist my toes against the carpet apprehensively.
“I’m sorry, Boyd,” I sigh, looking down. “I thought the abbreviations were good enough. I can just use initials. No Mr. or Ms.”
“It’s still not good enough,” he says, shaking his head. “No names. No initials. Nothing. Vague stories are fine, but you can’t link anyone to the stuff you talk about. This is dangerous, Sarah. I don’t like the idea to begin with, but you cashed in your personal favor for this. I’m trying to make sure you don’t get killed over it.”
