Page 7 of Eye Candy

Laina got to her feet. “This is stupid. I don’t need a bodyguard.” She said not a single word more as she stormed out of the room and headed into the hall, probably to the stairs, where she’d then go to her room and lock herself away.

Vance started to go after her, but I held up a hand. “Let me.”

He didn’t look convinced that I should be the one to go after her, but my sister said, “Let him go. If he’s the one who’s going to watch over her, he needs to learn how to handle her.” Her explanation made sense, and that was the only reason Vance gave me a nod.

I went after her, finding myself in front of her room, her closed door. I rapped my knuckles on the door, and immediately I heard, “Go away.”

I did the opposite of that, though. I pushed inside her room, finding her sitting on the edge of her bed. Leaning my back against the door, I shut it behind me the moment she glanced my way, frowning.

Meandering over to her side, I was slow in sitting near her, though I left a good foot in between us. “Come on,” I said, “I’m not that bad, am I?” I’d never terrorized her. I was never cruel to her. She had no reason to hate me.

Her blond brows lifted. “Do you really want the answer to that?”

“Okay, fair enough. Still, I think having me watch you isn’t as bad as you think.”

Laina’s injury-free hand reached up to her face, picking at the scab where one of her superficial cuts had been. “And why is that?”

I reacted before I knew what I was doing. My hand shot out, grabbing her wrist and pulling it away from her face, stopping her from picking at the scab. “Don’t,” I told her. “You don’t want to scar that pretty face of yours.”

Hmm. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

Her blue eyes bore into me, as if trying to peel back my layers. It took her a while to say, “If I want to scar my face, I think it’s my prerogative.” Then her gaze dropped to my hand, which still gripped her wrist.

Ah, right. I let it go and stood, taking a few steps away from her. Keeping some distance between us was probably for the best. She was still so young. She might’ve been nineteen, but she was my niece now. She was family. Really, she’d been family the whole time my sister had been seeing Vance.

“Here it is, plain and simple,” I spoke as I turned around, meeting her stare once more. “You’re the mayor’s only daughter, who miraculously escaped her two-year imprisonment. Your kidnapper is still out there. Everyone knows it. Therefore, everyone knows to get to Vance, all they have to do is get to you.”

Laina appeared confused at that, her eyebrows furrowing and her mouth frowning even deeper. “Are you saying more people are going to come after me now?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. You’re not in the same position you were two years ago. Everything is different now. This city is different now. Things have been going well for your father and everyone he’s aligned himself with, but there are always people looking to take a bigger piece of the pie. Trust me, you want me to have your back.”

“If you have my back, who’s going to have my dad’s back? Aren’t you supposed to protect him?”

“He’s got other men. You’re his weak spot right now, Laina.You.”

She looked down at her lap, at the bandage on her left hand, and then those defiant eyes were back on me. “I’m not the same girl I was. I won’t sit around in this house, waiting for the next photo op. I don’t want to talk to the reporters or the police or anyone. I just want to live my life how I want to live it. Not how my dad wants me to, not how Tessa wants me to… and not how you want me to.” She jutted out her chin, as if waiting for me to argue with her.

“After what you’ve been through, I think you earned the right to live your life however you want to,” I told her.

Laina’s eyes widened at that, the shock evident on her face.

“Oh,” I said, tilting my head as I studied her. “Did you want me to argue with you, for old time’s sake?” I couldn’t help but smile at that. If there was one thing Laina loved to do, it was argue with me, but maybe that had changed. Two years was a long time, after all.

It took her a while to say, “No.”

“Great. Oh, wait. One more thing. If you could call me Uncle Kieran—”

She pointed to the door. “Get out.”

Tossing my hands up in surrender, I went for the door, leaving her alone. The moment I stepped out into the hall, I found myself grinning. I shouldn’t be thinking this, but I couldn’t fight the thoughts that raced through my head right then.

This was going to be fun.

Chapter Four – Laina

My dad wasn’t home the next day, which was fine. Tessa, on the other hand, was, and she tried to coo over me like a mother hen, offering to cook for me, which was a first. Kieran stood in the background, watching me all day, though he did interject with what he thought were funny comments every now and then.

Reporters hung outside on the sidewalk, trying to get a picture of me, an interview, anything they could use. I refused to go outside, at least until they were gone. My life wasn’t some freakshow; I didn’t want to talk about what I’d been through or how I escaped.

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