Page 12 of Tortured Tones

I stepped in closer and stabbed my finger against his rock-hard chest. “Your safety is my business. Got it?”

The air between us warped as his breath hit mine. The alcohol fumes were enough to intoxicate a college frat party. We stood there, glaring at each other. Where was my professionalism? This was not the way I wanted my first meeting to go. My rough, shitty day wasn’t his fault. I shouldn’t be taking my personal crap out on him.

The others walked down the hallway toward us. Wells and Beckett had huge grins on their faces. Blake nodded, and Flint burst out laughing.

“Oh, Cole.” Flint smiled, shaking his head as he walked past, holding Sutton’s hand. “Looks like you shouldn’t piss off your security guard. Ava? I like you already.”

I grabbed Cole by the shoulder and gave him a hard pat. “We have an understanding now. Don’t we, Cole?”

His heated gaze burned into me, stirring something hot and angry inside my chest and in the pit of my stomach. Oh, yeah...that fire was my self-control, restraining me from punching him in the face.

He shrugged his leather jacket straight. “Fuck you. Don’t ever touch me again.”

“Don’t give me a reason to.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.” He stormed off to join his friends.

Becket fell in beside me as we gathered in groups by the elevators. “Oh boy. You’re gonna have fun with that one.”

I nudged my arm against his. “I might take you up on your offer to swap guys.”

“I think Slip will be just as much trouble as Cole.”

The band, Tia, and Sutton took turns at the bottle of vodka. Blake and April talked to Wells and Riley. The rest of us stuffed our ear pieces into place, ready for our outing.

I did like a challenge. Cole would no doubt be one. As the elevator approached, I stepped into position in front of the doors. Time to work. I threw Cole a sideways glance. “Are you going to play nice, now?”

“I’m always nice.” His tone certainly wasn’t.

I’d thought my day couldn’t get much worse after my meeting with the lawyers and Luther, but then I’d met Cole Tanner. Ergh! But I’d handle him. I’d dealt with worse. Hell...I’d been married to the worst.

Cole just had to learn the ground rules. Hopefully he was a quick learner otherwise this was going to be a very long tour.

The elevator arrived.

Here we go.

After the all clear, we stepped inside.

Here was to night one, on duty for The Flintlocks.

Chapter 4

COLE

There was a first time for everything. I’d never had a female bodyguard before. With dark brown eyes that had burned me from the inside out and more attitude than Christina Aguilera, Ava had certainly put me in my place. She didn’t take any of that just-because-I’m-a-woman crap.

I liked that. I hadn’t meant to be rude. Having a colossal amount of chaos cantering through my head was no excuse. I’d apologize. I hadn’t been myself lately. Not sure I ever would be again.

In the hotel’s driveway, I climbed into the first SUV and rested my head back against the plush leather seat. Lewis and Tia joined me while Flint, Sutton, and Slip went in a separate vehicle. Tonight, I just wanted to get shit-faced, pick up some hot chick, and get laid. I needed to do something, anything, to take my mind off tomorrow. The anxiety of meeting my daughter had lodged firmly in my chest. Every breath hurt my lungs. A big night out was the only thing that would alleviate the stress, the panic, and the fear from crippling my veins.

Just as we were about to head off, Wyatt, Lewis’s bodyguard, jumped into the front passenger seat next to the driver. Ava slipped into the seat beside me.

Shit. Best to man up and get this over and done with.

“Ava, I’m sorry about earlier.” With what felt like more vodka in my veins than blood, I swayed on my seat, clutching the handle above the door to steady myself. “You wouldn’t be part of our security detail if you weren’t good at your job. I didn’t mean to piss you off.”

“Apology accepted.” She gave me a curt nod. “Let’s hope I don’t have to prove my point again.”

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