Page 18 of Bad For A Weekend

“I don’t think so. Just sore.”

“Good.”

“Thank you for talking me down.”

“No problem.” He shrugs.

“Are you going to tell my dad?” I think I’ve done a pretty good job hiding how much this whole thing has affected me, not because I don’t trust Dad with my emotions but because it pains him to see me struggling.

“About the tail from earlier? Yes. I have to.”

“Not that,” I whisper.

“Ah. About the whole duck and cover thing? Not unless you want me to.”

“Don’t,” I say too quickly. “I’m fine. Really. I don’t want him to worry any more than he does.”

“I don’t see how this is any of my business. I’m just a bodyguard. So no, I won’t tell him.”

I sink back into the seat. “Thank you.”

He moves to close the door but pauses. “Like I said, it’s none of my business. But if it were, I’d tell you that suffering alone makes things worse. It’s easier when you have someone to take some of the emotional load.”

I nod in understanding because that’s exactly what he did for me, even if he thinks he’s only a bodyguard.

A half-hour later, we pull up to the house, and Owen helps me out of the car. Brandy rushes out the front door to meet me. She hugs me tight, squishing me into her boobs. The woman is round, soft, and beautiful in every way. I drop my crutches and hug her back.

She’s the closest thing to a mom I’ll ever have, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. By the time I no longer needed a nanny, she was in her thirties. She had the opportunity to leave and find someone to start her own family with but chose to stay with Dad and me. Whenever I ask her why, she says she doesn’t need romantic love, but she does need me.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you, Bay. It kills me that I wasn’t.”

“There was nothing you could do.”

Holding me at arm’s length, she takes me in. “Have you been crying?”

“No. I’m just puffy still from all the bruising.”Lies.

“Oh, Bay,” she says, tugging me back into her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Me too.”

She releases me and notices the bear of a man next to us, who picks up my crutches and offers them back to me. I take them and balance myself.

“Who are you?” she purrs, and I roll my eyes. Brandy is the biggest flirt, and I don’t even think she knows she’s doing it. It’s just her over-the-top personality.

“Owen,” he says in his deep voice that I know will make Brandy lose her mind.

“He’s my bodyguard.”

“Bodyguard, huh?” She grins, eyeing him up and down salaciously. “My job just got a whole lot better. I’ll find you later and show you how to earn a little overtime.”

Owen’s mouth hangs open, his eyes wide, struck dumb by Brandy. She has a talent.

“She’s joking,” I say.

“No, I’m not. Don’t tell him that.” She rests a hand on my back, encouraging me to go inside. “Come on. We have some catching up to do, and I have maple brown sugar cookies in the oven.”

“How? You just got home,” I say.

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