Page 13 of Guarded Rebellion

“As guards?” Kelly once more looked over Rurik and Lev behind me. “Wow.”

I nodded, preparing myself for her judgment. Praying she wouldn’t ask for more details, particularly ones I couldn’t give her, I studied her curious gaze on them.

“They follow you everywhere?”

Another nod.

“Is that why you’re not living in the dorm with me?”

I shrugged, but ended the gesture with a nod.So much for fitting in as a normal person here.

“Huh.” Kelly lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “That has to be interesting.”

“Interesting?” I glanced at the two men behind me. “More like a pain in the ass.”

“I bet. I mean, you have no privacy, then, right?”

I delayed answering her as we both ordered our drinks and took a plastic stand to set on our table. Without looking at the men assigned to me, I searched for a table that wouldn’t havea neighboring one open for them to take and hawk over my shoulder.

“Privacy is a privilege I have yet to encounter,” I replied when I sat.

Lev glowered at me from four tables over. I was still within his sight, and that would be good enough.

“Me too,” Kelly admitted. “I didn’t come from the best family. Well, no family. I bounced around in foster care most of my life, so yeah, I get you on the no-privacy thing.”

Foster care? Maybe that’s the ‘questionable background’ Lev’s worried about.“Ah. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It is what it is. I’m just glad I aged out of the system and managed to get a grant to come here and study.” She shrugged, watching our black coffees be delivered to us.

That was fast.

We both sipped our hot beverages, and I hated the weird silence spanning between us. I had no clue how to follow up after her comment. In a strange way, I felt like I’d had to apply for a grant, too. A grant of permission from Uncle Oleg, but I couldn’t tell her that. Saying as little as possible about my family would be best. Besides, it was damned depressing to vocalize and admit how sheltered I was supposed to be. How little freedom I could rely on.

When we made awkward eye contact again, she huffed a laugh. “I didn’t realize we’d dive straight into the weird but deep background info like that right off the bat.”

I almost smiled. “I’m not used to meeting new people,” I replied. “And I’m not used to having to explain why I have a bodyguard with me either.”

“Well, hey. We’re already more similar than not.” She smiled as she lifted her cup. “I’m not used to making new friends.”

“Then we’ll bumble through it together.” I held my cup up higher, like a toast.

She raised her mug up as well. “I’ll drink to that.”

Relieved that I’d forged a path to making a friend, I relaxed in my seat and vowed not to let my bodyguard ruin this experience. So long as I could always make him hover along the perimeter of the room, I just might be able to have a sense of privacy.

For the next couple of weeks, I did. Rurik didn’t always stay close, but Lev did within reason. He wasn’trightat my back. During lectures, he sat toward the end of the row or a couple further behind me. When I walked on campus from one class to the next, with Kelly next to me, he remained a decent distance in my wake.

It wasn’t a suffocating presence that I had to endure, but I never forgot that he was there and “with” me.

“Don’t you get tired of them looking at him?” Kelly asked as we took seats at our class one Friday. Since she was also going into an English program, we shared so many courses. She peeked back at Lev, sitting rigid and scowling off to the side. As she settled into her chair, I winced at all the girls smiling at him. Several blatantly checked him out. Whether I wanted him to or not, he attracted a lot of attention.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” I told my new friend.

“It doesn’t?” She grinned at me, seeming to be in an exceptionally playful mood today. Every day that we spent getting to know each other better, either through studying or just hanging out, we grew more comfortable. Like real friends.

I frowned at her. “No. Why would it?”

“Oh, come on.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you can’t admit he’s hot.”

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