Page 131 of South Beach Bodyguards

“Is this your fucking cat?” he asked.

The little guy was orange and looked healthy, not like a stray. “No,” I said. “It’s not. Why?” I wanted to reach out and snatch the cat away from the guy. Then I realized there was no reason why I couldn’t if the cat wasn’t his. So I wrapped my hands around his furry middle and told the guy, “I’ve got him, you can let go.”

“Good.” He wiped his hand on his shirt like he was offended by the feel of the fur. “This asshole cat gets in my trash all the time and makes a fucking mess.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You can just leave him with me and I’ll find the owner and let them know.”

He gave a nod. Then he glanced behind me. “Did you just move in?”

His interest made me uncomfortable. My gut instinct was telling me this was not a guy who was totally right in the head. I wondered if I smelled like sex. Or if anyone had heard the wall banging, our mutual cries of pleasure. Heat bloomed in my cheeks and I nodded, easily letting a lie fall off my lips. “Yes, my boyfriend and I.”

Briefly he locked eyes with me and I fought the urge to shiver. Listen to your gut, everyone always says. Well mine was saying this guy was trouble. A pervert. Dangerous. I gave him a bland smile, holding the cat closer to my chest.

“I live next door. I’m Conrad.”

“Lola.” I didn’t really want to give my name but I didn’t want to piss this guy off. So I just tossed out another lie, plucking the first name that popped into my head. It rolled off the tongue before I could consider the implications of being dishonest with the person who shared a wall with me. But years of touring had given me a sense of who was just annoying and who was actually creepy. This guy was off, which sucked. This rental was where I wanted to have a baby.

Maybe he would move.

Maybe he had a wife who was nice and I was just paranoid.

He just nodded and turned to leave. I shut the door as quickly as I could without arousing suspicion and locked it. I buried my head into the cat’s neck. He smelled clean. Not like he had been digging through the trash. That was a red flag. Interesting. I dug around and checked for a tag.

There was a collar and a little silver tag.

Max.

I started, my throat tightening. “Hey, buddy,” I said to him. “Now that’s a weird coincidence, huh?”

The orange cat meowed loudly, nudging his head into my hand. He was purring.

“The man next door is a prick, huh?” I murmured. “Let’s call your owner.”

When I called the number on the tag, it started ringing. Then I heard an actual phone ringing, faintly, on the other side of the shared wall with my grumpy neighbor. That struck me as yet another odd coincidence. I quickly ended the call. The phone next door went silent. I called a second time and there it was again. A ringing.

I ended the second call and stood there, heart pounding quickly. “What is going on?” I asked Max. If his name really was Max. Why would the guy next door claim it wasn’t his cat but the phone was ringing in his apartment? Was he trying to rid himself of his girlfriend’s cat? Did he have a sick sense of humor? Was he trying to case my apartment, check me out?

There was no explanation that was anything short of fucked up.

So carrying the cat into the kitchen, I got him a bowl of water, and myself a weapon. I had a .22 packed away in the boxes in my bedroom but for now a knife would do. I knew how to use it. Max had taught me, just in case I ever needed to get out of a tough situation.

I had only had to use that skill once.

Fortunately, I was awesome at labeling boxes and it only took two minutes to find the one with the knives. As soon as I had it in my hand, I called Alejandro. He was a bodyguard after all.

Aware of how thin the walls clearly were I went into the bathroom, closed the door, turned on the faucet.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked. “Do you want to add biscuits to your order? I just walked in the restaurant.”

“Yeah, that would be great.” My stomach rumbled. Apparently sex made me hungry too. “But I’m calling because my neighbor stopped by with a cat.”

“What?”

I explained what had just happened. “Don’t you think that’s weird?”

“Was he hitting on you? Because I would hit on you if you moved in next door.”

That made me roll my eyes even though no one could see me. “No. His manner was not flirtatious. It was more like he wanted to skin me alive and wear me like a woman suit.”

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