Page 29 of Her Cruel Bodyguard

What is it with children loving the wrong people?

I toss my phone on the dashboard and fasten my seatbelt.

“She said yes?” Eva asks eagerly, and I nod.

I start the car and try not to crush the steering wheel with my hands as I drive us down to Mindy’s house.

I hate it.

I fucking hate it.

I want to rip something apart. That idiot kid, Paul, is to blame for all this. If he had just continued to partake in the sham without getting greedy and overstepping.

My blood simmers to my ears as I remember his hands on her.

I want to kill him.

I am going to kill him the next time I set my eyes on him.

“You should slow down, Fabio, it’s not a car race,” Eva shrieks as I swerve into the parking space of a fast food.

I may not be present in my son’s life, but I do know a few things. Like his favorite fast food, and his hobbies. I know his favorite animation and I also know that the apple never falls far from the tree.

The boy loves action-prone animation. Superhero gangster shit. That stupid Batman and his Gotham City vigilante fluke of a cartoon.

“I will pick up dinner, stay here,” I climb out, not giving her a chance to revolt.

I know what she will have. I don’t know any fucking thing about Mindy, but I will take a wild guess. I won’t be eating shit, my stomach is in knots, but I will get something for myself just to blend in.

“Took you long enough,” Eva clicks her tongue as I step back into the car.

I took a little extra time. I needed a moment to think hard, to collect my thoughts. It is happening so goddamn fucking fast.

I had this secret I was prepared to die with for the safety of everyone involved, but it is out, and now I am taking Eva to see Jake, all in one fucking night.

I start the car and drive us to Mindy’s place.

I will keep my tongue clipped before I say anything I might regret. Sometimes with her, I either don’t talk at all, or I talk too fucking much.

Like tonight. She found a crack and I am wide open now.

A few minutes later, I am pulling up into Mindy’s sloppy driveway.

It’s a decent neighborhood. For the elite. My gift to both of them when we had agreed to keep the baby. It had felt like a place to raise a family. A place different from the one I had the bad luck of being raised in.

“We are here,” I turn off the engine and point to the house in front of us.

The lights are still on. Warm whiskey gold lights glimmer through the stained windows, and there is a porch with a dining table already set, waiting for food to be added to it.

“It’s a beautiful home,” Eva says as she unclasps her seat belt. At the same time, Mindy steps out of the house holding a crystal jar of water.

Ebony hair and eyes. Looking every bit like the nurse she is in a light blue dress and white flats. I wonder how it is that she was there with me that night because it felt unlikely that I would find a woman like her in such a place.

I step out of the car, and I am met with her smile.

“Hey,” she swats her free hand on her dress and stalks to the dining set to drop the jar of water before coming down the wooden stairs to greet us.

“Mindy,” I clear my throat, “This is Eva,” I point in her direction as she walks to us.

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