Page 2 of The Bodyguard Situation

“Harper isn’t safe with him,” Billie continues, her eyes pleading.

“Where are they now?” I demand, trying to keep my voice calm.

“Not sure. She left with him,” Billie struggles to say.

I see more than worry on her face. I see guilt—a guilt that she doesn’t deserve to carry. She’s already blaming herself for her best friend being with that fucking loser.

“I don’t know if anyone can get through to her other than you,” Asher says grimly. “Micah’s gotten into her head. She wasn’t herself tonight, almost like she was under his spell.”

“Fuck,” I whisper under my breath, recalling how Harper acted around Micah a few nights ago when I was following her. It wasn’t in a stalker sort of way, but more like I was watching out for her. Seeing her with another man is torture; to make it worse, I don’t trust him.

Watching them together made me physically fucking ill, but I noticed how her smile never fully reached her eyes. I also picked up on the subtle tension in her shoulders as she sat next to him. She laughed when she was supposed to, but I recognized the doubt in her gaze.

My instincts were right. They usually are.

“They’re engaged,” Billie blurts out, tears spilling down her cheeks. “She’s going to marry him.”

“Engaged?” I repeat, disbelief and anger squeezing around my heart. Maybe some jealousy too.

He has Harper.My Little Miss Disaster.

Adrenaline surges through me, and my fists clench tight until my nails dig into my palms. The realization of what this really means nearly knocks the damn breath out of me. Micah fucking Rhodes has fully manipulated Harper, and he’s the same predator who’s traumatized them both for over a decade.

“Do you still have that friendship app installed? The one you used to track each other when you went on dates?” My voice is dangerously calm despite the anger bubbling inside me.

Billie pulls out her phone, hope flashing across her face. “I forgot about that.”

Her fingers tremble as she opens the app. The small blue dot moves steadily northeast, away from New York City. I take the device, zooming out to figure out their route. They’re heading to Newport.

Before I return her phone, I text Harper from it.

Billie

YOU’RE IN DANGER! WAKE THE FUCK UP!

Billie shakes her head. “She doesn’t care, Brody. She didn’t listen when I begged her to stay. Harper always chooses me.Always.This time, she didn’t, and I’m really worried.”

I see the same fear in her eyes that I saw the night of her twenty-first birthday. I remember the threat he made—that he’d eventually take away everything she ever loved.

For Billie, that’s Harper.

She’s her ride or die.

Her best friend in the entire world.

Billie would sacrifice herself for Harper in a single heartbeat. I would too.

“Sick fuck,” I mutter.

Asher wraps a protective arm around Billie, holding her tight. He plants a comforting kiss in her hair. I feel a pang in my chest at the raw, pure connection between them. It stirs memories of Eden Banks—the woman I loved and lost—memories I’ve kept buried beneath layers of grief and guilt. Seeing the look on Billie’s face pulls at my own wounds. Eden’s death haunts me—a ghost that reminds me I wasn’t there for her.

No way will I allow Harper to suffer the same fate.

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I text Weston.

Brody

I need a car now.

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