Raging Hard(53)
“I’m not sure I want to hear it.”
“Trust me, you do.”
I sighed, not in the mood to go back and forth for another twenty minutes. “Okay, spit it out.”
“I told your father about what happened to us on the boat.”
I raised an eyebrow, surprised. “I thought you said we couldn’t tell anyone?”
“I changed my mind. Plus, I told him I scared the guys off with a gun.”
“So you lied to him.”
“I left out some incriminating details.”
“Well, what did he say?”
“Came to the same conclusion I did, actually.”
“Which is?”
“I’m pretty sure your family is in danger.” I listened carefully as he told me about the Broken Hearts and how he found it all out. It shocked me that he had gone through all that without saying anything about it, and my heart began to beat fast in my chest.
Who was this man, and how far was he willing to go for me? Just when I was ready to give up on him, he decided to go and do something like that.
“So what does this mean?” I asked him once he finished.
“It means some local outfit likely wants to get at your father.”
“And that means I’m in danger?”
“Damn right it does. I’m betting the whole goal of that little pirate bullshit was to kidnap you.”
I blinked, letting that sink in. I had a hard time actually believing that anyone would want to kidnap me, let alone over some stupid business deal. Then again, if I knew my father, there was probably a lot of money riding on the deal. “Okay, fine. I believe you. What do we do?”
His face lit up. “That’s exactly what I wanted to tell you about. Your father gave me a job.”
“Another one?”
“This one is special. I need to be very gentle on this job. The cargo is precious and beautiful.”
I had a bad feeling in my stomach. His face looked much, much too happy for this to be anything other than awful for me.
“What’s the job, Nate?”
“I’m your new bodyguard, little sis.”
I looked at him for a second and then burst out laughing. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No joke. I’ll be watching you twenty-four seven.”
I shook my head. “Come on. I’m sure my dad would hire someone else. And I’m sure you have better things to do than sit around watching me text all day.”
“He offered me a lot of money, and I love watching you all day.”
I moved away from him, shaking my head. He had to be joking. There was no way my dad would stick me with a bodyguard like Nate. There was just no way I’d have to go the rest of the summer with him following me around, my asshole stepbrother, the guy that took my virginity and didn’t seem to give a shit about it. It was an absolute nightmare.
I got out of bed and walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
I ignored him and left, heading downstairs. “Dad?” I called out.
“In here.” I went into the kitchen and found him sitting at the island with Lucille, eating dinner.
“Dad, what’s this about Nate being my bodyguard?”
Lucille’s eyebrows shot up, clearly surprised, and he gave me an annoyed look.
“It’s exactly what you just said. Nate had some difficult news, and, well, I thought it best if he watched over you.”
“I’m not a child, father. I don’t need him to babysit me.”
I could sense Nate appear behind me. I could almost feel his enormous grin, clearly enjoying the show.
Lucille, meanwhile, looked confused as anything. “Jonathan, what’s she talking about?”
Dad made a noise, part grunt and part curse. “It’s nothing, honey. Just family business.”
Bad move on his part.
“Am I not family now?” she said, matching his level of annoyance. “What’s going on?”
He paused for a second, clearly at a crossroads. I felt a bit bad because he definitely hadn’t told her yet, but that wasn’t my problem.
“We have a little security issue,” he said finally.
“Yeah, like crazy local gangs trying to kidnap me,” I snapped at him. “Hire someone else. I am not having my stepbrother follow me around all summer.”
“Crazy local gangs? Kidnapping?” Lucille looked even more confused.
“Claire, honey, please calm down.”
“Absolutely not. I will not stand for this, for this, for this utter bullshit!”
My dad’s face was total surprise. I could hear Nate behind me laughing, but I didn’t care. I’d never cursed in front of my father before, but I was just too angry to hold back. The room was silent except for Nate cracking up.