Page 34 of Trust My Bodyguard

Of course, she won’t give it a rest. She’s trouble wrapped in a pretty package and she loves using her power to pester me.

“You wish.” I’m one more barb from rolling my eyes like a petulant teenager. That’s how badly she gets to me. “Let’s just get on with it.”

“You just have to get the last word in,” she drawls.

“Oh my goodness.” Nick laughs. “I’ll have the last word so neither of you can.”

“Sure that’s the only thing you’re having tonight?” I turn on my friend.

He has been a real pain tonight, teaming up with Ivy. He’d indulge in anything that gets him laid or makes him laugh. I know he doesn’t want to sleep with Ivy. I’ve seen him with the ladies he wants to bed. He turns the charm up a thousand notches and it’s nearly nauseating.

With Ivy, he’s playing the flirting game. He’s in it for the fun.

Each time they put their heads together to speak, Ivy glances in my direction to make sure I’m watching. She gets her satisfaction from seeing me stew in my anger. I try to pretend I understand what they’re up to, that I don’t care, but I do. Even if they’re only playing up their interactions to get to me.

They’re expert players and I’m the loser. The butt of their childish joke.

“What do you mean?” He has the guts to look relaxed and at ease.

My skin crawls as she leans into him again, whispering something that makes them laugh.

I get savage satisfaction from the fact that she’s doing all of that because of me. She’s not immune to me. I’ve gotten under her skin like she’s gotten under mine.

Go ahead. I play back her reactions to my touch earlier.Tell him I had my fingers up your pretty little hole and I made it come so well.

“Brody!” Zane’s voice draws me out of my imagination rabbit hole. “Can we begin?”

“Of course. Tell us what you found.”

Zane clears his throat and begins. “I found”—everyone leans in—“nothing substantial so far.”

“Oh…” Iris’s face falls.

“What?” Ivy says.

They both look disappointed. But that’s not the update I received from Zane earlier in the week.

“What about the lead you were following?” I ask him. “You told me it was promising.”

“It was. We were able to find the location of Katie Ross and her boyfriend.”

“Mom and… Tyler?” Iris’s face reddens.

According to what I learned, Tyler used to date Iris. It’s no wonder she feels hurt hearing about him again.

The need to find him and smash his face for betraying her pummels through me. I won’t hit a woman but her mom deserves to be named and shamed. Theirs is a moral fault, outside the purview of my job, but Iris has a good heart that hassuffered too much. Equal to the fear for her safety, she doesn’t deserve the hurt they have caused her.

“W-where are they? What are they doing?” she stammers the words out.

Ivy goes around the table to wrap her arms around her sister. She lays her cheek on her head and rocks her slowly. “They are pieces of shit. Don’t worry about them.”

I exhale the tension building in my chest, glad she has someone to support her in a more meaningful way than the violence I’m picturing.

We all watch them in somber silence.

Then Ivy’s eyes dart up, demanding something from us.

Sera gets it first. “Yes, complete assholes. Your mom and your ex. Both of them. How could they do that to you?”

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