Page 3 of Protecting Hailey

I nodded and let my eyes droop. Someone started the engine and then we were moving. The paramedic held my body still as the ambulance tore down the busy streets of Los Angeles.

Her gentle touch was the last thing I remembered before the world went dark and silent.

***

“How the hell did this happen?” my mother’s voice pierced through the fog. “Her bodyguard was there, but somehow this psychopath managed to stab her. With a wooden knife!”

My eyes fluttered open, but the room was hazy.

“She’ll be all right.” That was my father’s voice and my lips curved at the sound.

“How do you know that? What if she can’t perform again, huh? What will we do then?”

Their arguing hurt my brain. “Dad?”

A figure rushed toward me. “I’m right here, sweetheart.” He grabbed my hand and patted it.

I tried to nod, but my head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re all right,” my mother cried. She paced the room. “You’ll be happy to know we’ve fired that bodyguard.”

Considering my present state, I wouldn’t describe myself as happy.

I licked my dry lips. “He stayed with me until the ambulance came.”

“Really, Hailey? You’re going to defend the guy?”

I shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m hiring a new bodyguard today. Nothing like this will ever happen again.”

Then she snapped her fingers. “What about that military friend of yours? Didn’t you say his son started a bodyguard business?”

My father pursed his lips. “That’s right, he did.”

“Call him today and find out the details. I want someone who isn’t afraid of stepping in the line of fire.”

“Darling, it was a knife, not a gun,” my dad said.

“This time. What about next time?”

Next time? Would there be a next time?

I never thought there would be a first time. When I first picked up a guitar and imagined playing in front of a stadium full of people, it had never occurred to me that someone would want to hurt me.

He had said it was for Kendra. But I’d never said or done anything to Kendra.

I wanted to believe this was just an isolated case, that this man had made the whole thing up in his head, but something didn’t sit right with me. What if there was more to this? I needed to find out what the hell was going on.

2

Christian

Will punched me square in the face and I fell backward onto the ground.

He stood over me, shaking his head. “You’re distracted, Chris. What’s going on with you?”

He stepped back, breathing heavily, and bounced on the balls of his feet. “Come on. Again.”

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