Page 71 of South Beach Bodyguards

“What brings you by?” Shelly asked.

That was a good question. I had no idea what was going on and I wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. I had yet to speak because I wasn’t sure what to say.

“I came for my girlfriend.” Wester leaned over the table, plucked a strawberry off my plate and popped it into his mouth. “She belongs with me, not Benito.”

Sophia paused with her glass halfway to her mouth. Shelly made a sound in the back of her throat. This was no casual dropping by a friend’s house and we all knew it. Instinctively I knew it didn’t make sense to allow this conversation to linger or to focus too long on why I was there, so I found my voice. “You have no reason to be jealous when you can’t go three seconds without flirting with other women.”

His eyebrows shot up.

“Oh, snap,” Sophia said.

“Don’t start shit with me,” he said. “It’s too fucking early for bullshit.”

So he knew the game and was willing to play along.

“Whatever,” was my pouting response.

“Get up, we’re going home.” The statement was accompanied by him taking my elbow and pulling me up out of my chair.

It wasn’t aggressive or angry, just firm. Yet even though it was for show, it still irritated me. I shot him a dirty look.

“Uh oh, that sounds like a change in relationship status,” Sophia said.

That almost made me laugh. I was supposed to be my sister, who was married. How would ending my affair with Wester change that relationship status? From complicated to monogamous? It was apparent the lifestyle of the rich and horny was not for me.

“Was Benito expecting you?” Shelly asked.

She was definitely the more shrewd of the two women. She wasn’t addicted to slang, either, which elevated her in my book. But she seemed as keenly aware as I did that something was off here.

I stood up to distract her. “Fine, I’ll go,” I said. “Don’t be a dick about it.”

“Where did you get that dress?” he asked.

“Benito. It was a gift.”

“Take it off.” His nostrils were flaring and for a split second, I thought he was genuinely angry. Jealous.

Narrowing my eyes, I just peeled the cover up off over my head and dropped it onto the chair. Even with the sunglasses on, I could see his gaze scrutinizing my body from head to toe in the black bikini I was spilling out of on top. But then he took my hand and pulled me to him. I briefly collided, chest on chest, before stumbling back away from him.

“Have a great day, ladies,” he said, finally breaking the intensity of his stare and glancing down at the table.

“Bye.”

Sophia waved.

I let him lead me away as I called over my shoulder, “So nice to meet you.”

Sophia blew me a kiss.

Wester’s grip on my hand tightened and he walked faster. I was barefoot and winced a little as we fast-walked over the hot patio tiles. He was taking me straight into the back yard, which seemed weird. There was nothing but water back there. But once we reached the foliage, he veered left and took me straight through the banana trees. A minute later we popped out onto the neighbor’s driveway.

That’s when he glanced back at me, his expression tense. “Run, Olivia. My car is up here. Black Honda.”

He pulled his gun out of his waistband and that made my heart crawl up my throat. “What the hell? What’s going on?” A stupid question he clearly didn’t have time to answer, but it was out before I could stop myself. But then adrenalin kicked in and I started running. He didn’t follow me. I glanced back when I was ten feet out and saw men pouring out of Benito’s yard like cockroaches.

The door to the neighbor’s house opened. It was a Hispanic man in his fifties and he took in the sight of me, a blonde in a black bikini, tearing down the street, and just shut the door again.

My lungs were straining, my feet getting scraped to hell, breasts bouncing painfully, when I heard the first gunshot.

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