Page 120 of Saved By My Buyers

I didn’t go far to go grocery shopping, but Bee has been pensive and lethargic the last couple of days while in and out of the hospital. She didn’t really want to get into it with me, so I’m leaving her with Dolly.

Sometimes, you just need your best friend and a woman’s touch.

I may be a man, but I know my girls. I’m perfectly fine excusing myself from the room to get binge worthy snacks for after they talk things out.

As I’m in the candy aisle, Sullivan calls me as I decide on the chocolate-covered pretzels and the gummy worms, tossing both into my cart.

“Hello?” I answer, tilting my head to concentrate on the call. I already want to be home.

“How is the birthday girl? I called her phone, but she didn’t answer,” Sullivan says.

“She probably left it in the living room,” I explain. “Dee is…okay. I didn’t say anything before, but Bowen was in the hospital the last couple of days. They’re both pretty shook up.”

“Fuck,” Sullivan grunts, and I know he’s already questioning if he has enough security to handle this.

“I think Dee is fine at the school,” I grunt, keeping my voice as low as possible as I take my cart to check out. “She may be a little jumpier than usual, and I’m going to be overprotective, so that’ll be fun for you to look forward to.”

“Perfect,” Sullivan says with a sigh. “You’re going to handle this, right? I like Dee as an employee and a student. She’s gifted as fuck, too. I expect her to be practicing like mad so I can play with her.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask, my lips twitching. That’s high praise for him, and one of my gifts is a guitar for her to practice on. I’ll upgrade it the second she needs it. I had a feeling she wouldn’t let me buy her anything too expensive to start with.

“It’s a good thing I bought her a guitar, then. It’s what you told me to get her.”

“I love helping to buy gifts I’m not spending money on,” he says with glee, making me snort as I use the self checkout line.

It’s not very busy, and soon I’m in the truck, driving back to the girls.

“I bet,” I say. “She’ll be back on Monday, and I’ll tell her you said happy birthday.”

“How bad is this, Jack?” Sullivan asks, stopping me from hanging up.

Blowing out a breath, I think about what to say. “Bowen was almost strangled to death,” I explain. “The person who hurt her was looking for information on Dee. No one can know we’re connected. I can’t be photographed with her either.”

“Then you can’t come to the school, because there’s always assholes lurking,” he says immediately. “Find her a bodyguard you trust, who will drive her around and shit. Dee is sweet, and not at all stuck up. It’ll be one of the best gigs someone can ask for.”

“I kind of hate that you’re right,” I grumble. “I’ll set it up. This guy will be her shadow, and will stand within five feet of her at all times.”

“Which means, he can stand outside of her classes, but yeah, that’s fine,” Sullivan agrees. “Maybe my students will get the sticks out of their asses when it comes to her and treat her better. I don’t care if they have to be scared straight to do it.”

“Good deal, thank you for the idea. Talk later,” I say, hanging up and immediately calling Greg. I could pull my list of guards, but I want to know what he thinks.

“Hey, Jack,” Greg says immediately. “How are things?”

‘“Pretty fucking awful,” I mutter. “I need a bodyguard for Dolly. Who do you think would be the least likely to gripe about protecting her and driving her places?”

“Ciara or Thomas,” Greg says immediately. “Now, tell me what the fuck happened since Tuesday.”

As I pull into the parking garage at the apartments, I explain everything he’s missed.

“One of his gardeners mysteriously stopped coming to work, and a maid quit, so I’ll make sure to replace them with our people,” Greg says. “I really didn’t think he’d move this fast. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get this into place before now and that I’ve been so busy. Tell the girls I’m working on things, and happy birthday to Dolly. Who do you think she’d be more comfortable with?”

While they’re both really competent, Ciara can blend into the environment better. “Let’s start with Ciara, and go from there. I’ll set it up,” I tell him. “I think the newspaper article was the catalyst to bringing Bee back into Gareth’s orbit, but who the hell knows.”

“Hmm. What’s the name of that newspaper again?” Greg asks.

Not thinking anything of it, I give it to him and say goodbye, bringing the groceries up to the girls. They’re chatting in the room, and I vaguely listen as I put things away. A bag of popcorn is out in the microwave, gummy worms and pretzels go into dishes on the tray, all while I start to plan.

The store had a cute projection machine that I can hook up to the laptop for movies, and reminded me of when Bee and Dolly used to do that together. Everything is coming full circle in a way, only now I’m joining them for it.

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