Page 51 of Bad Boy Billionaire Protector

Chapter 24– Amber

Isatinmydorm room relaxing by listening to music. I was looking at some old pictures and reflecting on the relationship I had with Adam. We’d had such a pure love and I had many wonderful memories. Looking at the pictures brought it all back, like the time we had gone to the Hamptons, and the time we went white water rafting and capsized into the river. Lazy Sundays in our bed binging episodes from the latest Netflix series. We’d had a lot of fun. We were serious about each other, looking to eventually get married. We just never got to the part where we officially got engaged because his ‘death.’ We weren’t even able to meet each other’s families.

But, still, we’d been a happy couple, secure in our love for each other. It had felt like a huge part of me died when Adam ‘died’. To know that he was alive and well, and, more importantly, safe, was incredibly comforting, even if I wouldn’t ever be his girl anymore.

I wondered how a reunion would go. Especially as I had moved on and fallen for Mason. I didn’t want to give him up. He meant the world to me.

I knew even if I tried to be with Adam it would be impossible since I was a different person than that naïve girl that Adam remembered. I had grown and changed so much in the year that he had been gone. I felt so sad for him. He’d had to give up so much by entering the Witness Protection Program. He’d essentially put his life on hold, not knowing if he would ever get it back. I wondered what it must have been like, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see anyone he loved, perhaps ever again. It must have been heartbreaking. To not be able to see his parents or me. And here I was, loving someone else.

I didn’t know how I was going to break it to him when it came time to see him. Should I just tell him immediately, like tearing off a band aid from a wound? Or, break it to him gently over a longer period of time? I just didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that I didn’t want to hurt him any more than I had to. After all, we hadn’t just been boyfriend and girlfriend, we’d been best friends. Could we still be friends? Now that I knew he was alive I didn’t want to lose him from my life again.

My head was spinning at the thoughts going through it. Things were just so complicated and I wished that life could go back to being easy again. I knew that was wishful thinking though.

Looking at the photos again, I thought about how close we had come to getting married. We’d planned to meet each other’s parents before making any official plans. He’d told me about his stepbrother and sister. I couldn’t remember their names but had seen pictures of them when they were younger. Adam had idolized his older stepbrother and had a great relationship with his stepsister who was a similar age to him. He told me all about vacationing in the beautiful Greek islands with them every summer. He’d actually asked me to go to the Greek islands with him to meet his parents and siblings last summer. He’d wanted to make our introduction official and in turn, I had planned to do the same with my family. Sadly, he “died” before this could happen. And thus, our happily-ever-after never came to be.

Up until coming to Stanford, Adam had lived a charmed life. Then everything had gone wrong. It was all just so sad and my heart ached for him. I wished I could make everything right for him. I really cared about him, but I knew that I would only be a source of pain.

My phone rang and I checked it.Mason!Maybe he had news.

I picked up the call. “Hello, Mason.”

“Hi gorgeous. I’m just calling to see if you want to come over to my place instead of going to the Chinese restaurant? I’m in the mood for cooking and staying in.”

“That would be lovely.”

“Great. Are you ready? I’ll come over and pick you up in about fifteen minutes. I think this could be a great way to reset everything…let you get to know Mason and not Christos. It would be kind of like a first date.”

I squealed silently, suddenly excited about the thought of spending time with Mason. It would be a chance to get to know him properly.

“I’m ready whenever you are.”

“Okay great. I’ll leave now. See you soon.”

I finished the call and jumped around the room, excited. I couldn’t wait to see him. I wanted to smoosh his face and jump his bones and melt into him.

Suddenly, I remembered my encounter with Professor Owens and I shivered. I made a mental note to remember and tell Mason about the professor’s threat.

Chapter 25– Mason

Iwenttothebathroom and checked my hair before setting out to pick up Amber. I wanted to look good for her tonight. I needed to regain and rebuild her trust in me. I’d learned a valuable lesson with Adam’s ‘death,’ and going into Witness Protection. The family’s loss of a son and Adam’s loss of a normal life showed that time was precious and life was short. It was important to take every chance and opportunity you could get and that meant that I had to fix things with Amber. I didn’t want to give her up, despite knowing how much that it would hurt Adam.

Of course, I knew that I was being a selfish bastard in taking Amber for myself. But I knew deep down that she wasn’t Adam’s forever girl, and he would find love elsewhere once he got over her. He was young enough to have the chance to do so. Amber belonged with me. I could feel it in my bones. And every time I was with her, I felt it deep inside of me that we were meant to be together forever.

I thought about what Professor Owens had said about the sex thing. I knew it was going to be difficult to regain Amber’s trust and then put the idea of having sex in front of the inner circle to her. I’d danced myself into a particularly tricky corner and I had to convince her to go along with the idea if I wanted to fast-track my entry into the inner circle. The push to speed up the investigation was not only to give Adam his life back as quickly as possible, but also for Amber and me. She was it for me. I wanted nothing more than for us to start building a life with each other.

The thought of putting her through this situation still made me angry. I mean, it wasn’t as bad as the initial suggestion that I share Amber with the inner circle, but, still, it was a horrible situation to be in, and one I would never normally put her through. I wished for a moment that I wasn’t in the middle of an undercover FBI operation, and that Amber and I could walk away from it all. But I knew that couldn’t happen.

My brain was spinning just trying to think about how I was going to ask her to do this for me. I didn’t need to give an answer to the professor straight away, but I knew he would expect an answer soon. Shaking my head to clear it, I picked up my keys and headed out to pick up Amber.

As I drove up to her dorm building I saw her there with that friend again with the dark, curly hair. She was talking to her as I walked up to them. Her face lit up with pleasure when she saw me approach.

I pulled Amber into my arms and gave her a deep, sensual kiss. When I came up for air, I looked up to see her friend walking away. I thought I recognized her face but couldn’t place her. It was starting to bug me like a familiar song I couldn’t identify. I soon flicked it away when I went back to kissing Amber.

“That was one hell of a kiss,” she smiled, when we pulled apart.

“I missed you.”

“We just saw each other earlier on.”

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