Page 47 of Beneath the Hood

A small grin spreads across her face. “What?” she asks, her voice raspy with sleep.

“Your bodyguard is here,” I repeat.

Her eyes widen and she shoots upright, her head whipping around just as he approaches, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at us.

“Hey, Lennox.” She plasters on a beaming smile, stretching her arms above her head.

Lennox’s eyes narrow as they dart between us—as he clearly takes in the closeness of our positions. A rock drops in my stomach.

I realize how it must look to others to have a twenty-eight-year-old man sneaking off with a nineteen-year-old girl and not tell anyone where they’ll be.

Not that he’d be wrong. She did come on my thigh and fall asleep in my arms, but the accusation in his eyes makes it feel dirty, when it felt anything but. I’m once again reminded of what the rest of the world will think. What her father will think. And while I don’tneedthe job with him, he’s the key to accomplishing everything I’ve been working toward for years.

My heart stutters, wondering what I would do if I had to choose between Blakely and my dad’s dream.

I’d choose him, of course. I enjoy Blakely, but there’s nothing more important to me than fulfilling his dying wish.

Lennox clenches his jaw and jerks his head toward the street. My chest tightens knowing he’s about to take her away from me when I wasn’t done with the night. Wasn’t ready to let her go.

Blakely crosses her arms, stiffening her back. “I’m perfectly fine here, thank you. You can wait until I’m done.”

He chuckles and sighs, shaking his head. “Blakely, I’m not fucking around. Get your ass in the car.Now.”

A protective spark ignites in my veins with the way he’s talking to her. All of the people in her life treat her like an inconvenience they have to manage, rather than an employee on her payroll.

“No.” She crosses her arms.

“Do you think this is a game?” he spits. “You think you can just run off and not tell anyone? That there won’t be a cavalry coming after you?”

She scoffs. “It was justonenight, Lennox.”

“One night whereanythingcould have happened. I had to track your phone to even find you, Blakely.”

“I should have known.” She rolls her eyes.

He runs a hand through his hair. “Do you realize I had to call your father? That he went absolutely fucking mental thinking a fan got a little too crazy? Or that someone took you to get to him?”

His gaze narrows as he turns to me. “And you. I understand you aren’t from this world, so you don’t know any better, and I’ll let that slide. I’ll even forget to mention to her father, my boss—and yours—that you were the one gallivanting around on a deserted beach in the middle of the night.”

My throat tightens.

“God,” Blakely interrupts. “I’m sorry, okay? I just wanted to know what it would feel like to be normal, to not have someone watching over myevery. Single. Move.”

Lennox glares. “That’s great, Blakely. I don’t really care. The fact is you’renotnormal. You never have been, and you never will be. And when you do stupid shit like this it makesmelook like I’m bad at my job, and that is unacceptable to me. So grab your shit and let’s go.”

She sighs, running a hand through her hair, the air tightening with tension as she looks back at me.

My heart falters and I want more than anything to tell her to stay. To tell Lennox to fuck off, that he can wait until we’re done. But I don’t, because he’s right. She’snotlike anybody else, and Idon’tknow what this world is like.

Gritting my teeth and blowing out a breath, my hand runs along my necklace. “It’s fine, princess. Just promise you’ll let me make tonight up to you.”

She gives me a small grin, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “Nothing to make up for, Jackson. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she whispers.

My heart skips at her touch, but as I watch them walk away, a foreboding feeling floods through me like a storm surge, leaving me to wade in rising waters, hoping I can learn how to breathe without air.

25

Blakely

---