Page 41 of Flirtatious

I knock on the office door and walk in as I say, “Mia said you needed to see me about the new guards? What’s going on?”

Andrea gives me a blank stare and shrugs. “I have no idea. Jonah sent over all their pertinent details, and I’ve already got files on all of them. What else could I need? We’re not going out of the country for the first leg of the tour, so I can’t think of anything right now.”

“Okay. Maybe we got our wires crossed. Sorry to bother you.”

So what the hell was the wild goose chase about?

Alone in my room,I can hear the nightly racket over on the other side of the house, but tonight, it’s even louder than usual. It threatens to drown out the sound of the TV not even ten feet away from me. I wonder how the guys are handling it. I probably should have mentioned something about this when we spoke this afternoon.

Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I head toward where their rooms are located and remember only Brett and Kip got lucky enough to be assigned a room on the first floor over in the west wing. Damn. Drew is going to want to kill me for this.

By the time I reach the top of the stairs, the noise from Mia’s crew is so loud I can barely think straight. Music of all types blares from the rooms, and the two hair stylists keep running from one room to the next like some old school comedy.

Drew answers the door and shakes his head in disbelief. “Nice of you to give us a head’s up about this,” he yells in an attempt to be louder than his inconsiderate new neighbors.

I follow him into the bedroom and slam the door, happy to get some tiny bit of relief from the sounds filling the hallway. Jack reclines on his bed with his arms behind his head watching TV like he doesn’t hear a thing. He waves to me and then goes back to whatever show he’s so interested in.

“Let’s go out on the balcony. It’s a little better out there,” Drew says.

We close the glass sliding door and I finally can hear myself think. Closing my eyes, I let the warm night air flow over me.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you about them. It slipped my mind.”

“I bet. Let me guess. You don’t have a room over here.”

I open my eyes and smile. “I complained and got a room on the other side of the house. These people are crazy. I get the whole artistic thing, but it’s like they don’t get that we have a job to do and it starts way before they roll out of bed right before noon. I’m sorry you have to deal with this.”

“So the client gave you a different room? She must like you,” Drew says, wiggling his eyebrows.

“She tolerates me, I think. I’m far too straight and narrow for her.”

“You know, Liam, I’ve known you for a long time. You and I have worked together more than a few times, and I’m not sure you’re telling me the truth here.”

Confused, I shake my head. “What do you mean?”

“Well, for someone you speak so highly of, she’s not very nice to you. I mean, I get not really being interested in doing the whole meet and greet thing earlier, but she’s more like a bitch than anything else, from what I saw by that little performance she gave us. You deserve more respect than that. Why are you so willing to take that from a client?”

I want to tell him that I think deep down Mia’s a good person. That I’ve seen a side to her that he hasn’t gotten to see yet. I don’t, though, because I’d sound too pathetic.

So I do what I always do. Stay professional.

“You know how it is, Drew. We’re here for the clients. Not the other way around. You’ve just gotten lucky with some great assignments. I admit I haven’t had to deal with a lot of clients like this one, but I’m just looking at it as a challenge. She can be a diva all she wants. At the end of the day, as long as she’s safe, I don’t care how she acts toward me because I know I’ve done my job right. That’s all that matters to me.”

A slow smile lights up his dark brown eyes. “That’s why you get jobs like this when the rest of us don’t. You’re the best, man. Jonah knows it. I appreciate you thinking of me for this job, though, Liam. We work well together.”

“We do. We do our jobs and people stay safe. Fuck the rest of it, right?” I say with a laugh.

He nods, smiling as he says, “Exactly. Fuck the rest of it.”

“I better get back to my room. One of us has to be awake for tomorrow.”

As I step out into the hallway, Mia walks out of her life coach’s room. I smile, like I always do when we run into one another, but she simply turns her head and walks away.

Glancing back at Drew, I chuckle. “Divas.”

He nods and chuckles before closing his door to the noise that seems to be quieting down, even just a little. Hopefully, he can get some sleep tonight, but I wouldn’t count on it. I’m betting Ainsley is about to start her nightly routine of goat noises, so Drew will likely be up for a while.

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

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