“I’m going to ride this bitch to my win!” The arena comes alive with chants of twisted encouragement. I ease back on my heels, wanting to look away until I notice her hand move. I search to see if anyone might have noticed the slide of her hand, but they didn’t. More importantly, her opponent didn’t. He grabs her leg and drags her limp body towards him. With a wild-man roar toward the crowd, he looks down to find himself stripped of all manhood. Every man watching cringes as she twists her last stolen blade to the man’s most painful end. It’s dead silent in the arena. She fooled him. She fooled us all and without a scratch. She stands with a cocky smile that makes my heart jump. Damn.
“Is it over already? Did she just win? She’s the only one left standing, Ben.” I nod, not wanting to look back at Titus. Instead, I watch Luca who’s watching Titus for me. “He’s not saying anything. He looks as stunned as everyone else. It was too quick, he won’t like that.”
I look towards Nathan who is angry she ruined his show, and he isn’t about to let her get away with it. He calls out to have her surrounded while he grabs his own weapons of torture. I take hold of my radio. “We have a breach at doors one and two. All men needed to secure.” I send out the message signaling Nathan’s assistance in the opposite direction. Nathan moves forward, completely unaware as he left his radio behind to go after her. “He’s still going for her. It doesn’t matter what Titus decides, he’s not waiting. Go! Run!” I shout towards her. The moment she looks my way, I point out the fury coming towards her. For a brief moment, I think maybe it was all for nothing, and then she runs. Luca and I cautiously watch her and everyone else until she’s out the door. “Let’s go.” I tap Luca, and we head out the side door, walking behind the building to watch Eleanor speed away in the distance.
Luca laughs behind me. “Look at this.” I look down at the pile of clothes he picks up. “She drove away naked, completely naked.” I look out at the road with a smile as my phone rings.
“Hello.”
“Thanks for the car. I promise to get it back to you, Ben.”
“You’re welcome, but I think you forgot some things.”
“You may call me crazy, but I am not disrespectful of beautiful machinery. This car shouldn’t be abused with dirty clothes. Eleanor deserves my respect. I hope my bare ass is good enough for her charcoal leather seats?”
“I may never clean my car again, Laila.” I smile wide, anticipating seeing this woman again.
Titus is sitting emotionless when we walk in. Nathan has accused Luca and I of interference with his game. Nathan stands tall at Titus’s side while Jay, his most trusted informant, lays a thick folder down in front of him.
“There is no point in Luca being here. I’m the one that sent out the call for everyone to move to the exits. I am the only one that should be here.”
Nathan rolls his eyes, but Titus motions for Luca to go. “Very well. Wait for us outside, Luca.” Once he’s gone, I sit down and face my punishment with pride. “Happy now?” he asks, and I nod, a grin turning up the corners of my mouth.
“You smug fuck. You’re pushing it.” Nathan slides over to me, expecting me to flinch in his presence. Instead, I reach into my pocket.
“Gum?” I offer to him politely.
Nathan fumes, needing to be restrained by others as Titus hides a smile behind his fist. Titus raises his hand and instantly gains control of the room. “Benjamin,” he sings, as he always does when he is trying to figure out what to do with me. “You make me laugh. That is for sure, but I can’t allow you to be disrespectful. It doesn’t look good. You’re of high rank, but that doesn’t mean you call the shots around here.”
“I was only trying to make sure we didn’t lose an obviously skilled co-worker because someone got his panties in wad over a woman winning his little game,” I reason with confidence.
“That’s not your decision, Ben!” Nathan yells.
“It’s not yours either!” Titus slams his fists down, letting it be known that too many acted without his permission tonight.
“Titus, you can’t possibly be thinking of adding this woman to the team! She’s a …”
“A what, Nathan? A woman? I like women. I like her. She gave us no reason to not hire her, that’s for sure. What could possibly be your problem with her? Did she not clear the background check?” Titus looks towards Jay.
Jay refers to the folder he handed Titus moments earlier. “Laila Lowell, a local, a foster kid that lost her parents when she was young. Her foster father is the local police chief. She’s been arrested countless times for burglary, dealing, stealing cars, and miscellaneous other things. Her record was sealed once she turned eighteen, and she was sent into the army where she recently was dishonorably discharged for …” Jay starts laughing out loud. “For gambling and fighting.” We all relax, except Nathan. “She’s a mess, but she’s highly skilled, smart, and could certainly be of value if we can manipulate that relationship with her foster father. He’s protected her all the way through. I doubt he will come after her now. It’s a resource we might be able to use unlike any other.”
“That is if we can trust her?! Which we can’t. Titus, the current situation should cause us to be even more cautious about who we bring in.”
“Nathan, the situation is mine to handle, not yours. I think we need fresh blood in the mix, especially blood that I can use,” Titus hisses with ideas swirling in his head. I know him. I know him too well, and he’s already considering the opportunities she could afford him. I hope she’s strong enough to handle him. “Cheer up, Nathan. The crew has grown breasts and a pussy. Maybe, now, we can finally have some vigor around here.”
“Titus! I don’t like it. I have a bad feeling about this,” Nathan grumbles.
“You always have a bad feeling about anyone but you. Where is she? Someone find her and bring her here. I want to personally welcome her to the team.” Titus leans back in his chair with a big smile. “This was fun. We are growing into quite a diverse group. I like it. It’s a new day.” Before Titus dismisses us, he issues our punishments for acting without his approval. He forces Nathan to guard his wife for a week. I get assigned to weekend duty for two weeks. We are lucky he is in a good mood today he says, like that matters.
On my way out for the night with Luca at my side, Nathan stops me and snarls. “I know you helped her win. One day, you’re going to regret crossing me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nate.”
“Nathan!”
“You seem tense, Nathan. Are you ill? Are you not eating your vegetables? Because you know when you get backed up, you get very testy.”
“I swear, one day, I’m going to shut that mouth of yours right up, Benjamin, and I can’t wait,” he says, walking off in a huff, shoving anyone that gets in his way against the wall.
“I think he actually hates you more today than he did yesterday, Ben,” Luca laughs.
“Nah, he hates me as much as always. He’s simply more vocal today. Let’s go see about getting my car back. I’m anxious to see her again.”
“Your car or Laila?”
“Yeah,” I say, laughing at Luca’s sigh. “Don’t worry. I’ll stay out of trouble.”
“I doubt that. Considering that smile on your face, I’ll call our new coworker and set up the meeting. No telling what kind of meeting you would arrange.” Curious, I watch Luca as he talks to Laila.
She’s not shocked by the news, and apparently she doesn’t trust us enough to meet at night with no one around. Luca agrees to meet her tomorrow afternoon in a crowded location. She’s smart, but not smart enough to find the tracker I put on my car.
I borrow Luca’s car and go find mine, following her throughout the night. She never leaves herself vulnerable long enough for anyone to get to her. Even as she sleeps, she parks my car in a police station parking lot, draped in light and cameras. As I approach, I peer through the tinted windows. Laila is curled up inside, sound asleep. She doesn’t have a place to sleep? Wh
o is this woman? I leave her without making my presence known, a skill I specialize in, one of many.
The drive isn’t long from my place, and the destination is comical. Luca pulls up to the address provided and drives through the entrance to the back of the parking lot. We round the corner, and I see the woman, eating a hot dog from the dingy burger and soda dive, propped up against my car. She makes no attempt to change her position or even stop eating, as if she didn’t care if we ever showed up. Luca steps out first, and I follow, keeping an eye on her while inspecting my car for any maltreatment. Luca gives her his innocent smile with a nod. “Laila Lowell, are you sure you know what you’re getting into?”
“Have I not proven myself enough?”
“You have, but wouldn’t you like to know the full job description before you get involved? Salary at least?”
Laila takes in a deep breath and thinks through her answer. “Well, I assume we babysit an over privileged goon who bullies most of the city into doing what he wants and keep people who hate him from killing him, even though they most likely have a good reason to kill him. Is that gist of it?”
“I wouldn’t describe it to him that way if I were you, but that is part of it. However, there are times we handle personal business of his. I assume, since you were more than willing to kill last night, that you are not opposed to working your talents for company bonuses?” Luca asks, completely entertained by the woman’s indifference to the world around her.
“Bonuses? Like this car?”
“The car is mine, remember?” I side step in her direction.
“Yes, yes, don’t worry. The only thing I am opposed to is animal cruelty, and I mean actual animals. People, I couldn’t care less about.”
“Did you hear that, Ben? It sounds like we found someone to walk Willie for us. The boss will be very excited about someone feeding his alligator for him.”
Laila snarls at the idea but quickly figures out Luca is bullshitting her. “Do you gentlemen have an offer for me or not?”
Moving in closer, I get a sense of her heat. “Hold on, Tiger. We need to make sure you have the entire picture. This isn’t a job for the chief of police’s daughter.”
“He’s my foster father, not my real father.”
“So you have no loyalty to him at all? I mean, if something happened to him, would you be okay with that?” I ask, enjoying the opportunity to look her over closely.
“Are you planning on shooting the chief of police any time soon? I wouldn’t advise it, and not just because of me. He can take care of himself, and I take care of me. Makes the world a lot easier to deal with.”
Luca laughs, pulling me away as she stares me down with an icy glare. She’s attached to that man, so she’s not completely heartless. That’s a good sign. “Okay, can we continue, please?” She looks from me to Luca as he continues. “We are also assigned to the wife, Jolie, at times. Although she has a special fondness for my brother over here, once in a while she does prefer someone different.” Laila refuses to look my way, her anger over my threat against her foster father still boiling. “We are Titus’s special guards. We work day and night some days and on through the weekends if necessary. We are targets for his enemies at all times, and we must have and show complete loyalty to Titus. If you are found doing anything but — well, Titus doesn’t fire people from this job. You just won’t be working it anymore. You also can’t quit this job. It will never be your decision to leave.”
“What if, one day, I decide I would rather raise …”
“Goodbye, Laila,” Luca says, and we both turn around and walk away from her.
“Okay, wait. I was only kidding.”
“This is not a job. This is a career—a lifelong career. Take that information seriously when you consider the offer. It pays well for a reason. On top of all that, sometimes we are challenged with coming up with entertainment for Titus.”
“Entertainment? Bored little rich boy? Nice. So whose idea was the unique interview process?”
“That would be Nathan, our fearless leader,” Luca volunteers with ease.
“And a complete psychopath. I would stay clear of him as much as possible,” I chime in, holding out my hand for the key to my car. She has to look at me at some point, even briefly.
She smiles longingly at her hand as she opens it up to my car key. “Oh yes, Eleanor, you will be missed. 1967 Shelby GT in mint condition.” She slowly hands me the key with a long sigh. “Let me know if you ever want to give her up. I will be more than happy to take her off your hands.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. So, are you in, Laila?”
“Does the job pay enough to buy Eleanor?”
“My job pays enough. Yours would pay enough to get a decent car and a nice place to live with some actual security, which you will need.” A quick glance into my car, and I notice one bag of clothes and little else. “Besides, what other job would give you an excuse to beat up men?” She finally smiles at me. “Ah, a smile. I’ll take that as a yes.” I ease up to her with a smile of my own.
“That’s a yes to the job, not to you,” she says, pushing me away.
“Fine. You start tomorrow. Be at the estate at 5:00 P.M., and I’ll get you started.”
Luca, again, interrupts my focus. “No, I’ll show her around first. You two clearly have not gotten off to the right start. Be there at nine in the morning, Laila. Titus is going to want to see you first thing anyway. He has a full day tomorrow, so be ready. And get some clothes, something less — homeless looking. Titus will throw a fit if you draw attention for the wrong reasons. What happened anyway? You hop a train to get here?”
I notice her glance back at the bag of clothes and bite her bottom lip, clearly trying to decide how to answer Luca. Reaching into my pocket, I take out some cash and hand it to her. “Go up the street and see Carla. She will set you up. If you need more than that, just tell her to bill me. Where are you living by the way? Because it looks like you slept in my car last night.”
“I only wanted to make sure nothing happened to her. Don’t worry about me, GQ. I got a place nearby.” She winks at me and walks by Luca with a wave.
“It’s Ben!” I yell at her. She doesn’t even look back as she casually strolls down the street. Luca laughs. “Why are you laughing?”
“If I were you, I would keep my distance. I think she could hurt you.”
“She needs to keep her distance.”
“That’s probably true. I’m curious to see how well that goes, for both of you. Let’s go, GQ.” He laughs, jumping into his car and leaving me to watch the woman disappear. He’s right. I think she could do some real damage if I’m not careful. At least I don’t have to worry about her handling herself, with me or anyone else.
CHAPTER 4
Laila
In my hope to get into Titus’s security team, I neglected the fact I needed new clothes to even do the job. It’s not my favorite thing in the world to do, shopping for clothes, but I’m sure I can do it. How hard could it be?
“Hi, can I help you?” A well put together woman asks as she looks me over with concern. “Are you looking for anything specific, something special perhaps?”
“I need clothes for a job. Security. Mercier’s special security team.”
“Oh, Titus’s team! Then you must know Ben?” I nod timidly, unsure if I should admit to knowing him or not. “I just adore him. Anything for Ben. Now, let me see …” She looks me over a little too closely before finally looking up and smiling. “I know exactly what you need. Now, do you have any current pieces you would like to work with?”
“Pieces? Pieces of what?” I ask, confused by her question.
“I am going to assume that would be a no then.” I am hustled through the store, trying to catch and hold all of the items being thrown at me. It’s hard to keep up with, but I don’t think too much about it. I just let the woman go. It really doesn’t matter to me until she gets personal. “Underwear. You need underwear.”
?
??What’s wrong with what I’ve got?”
“It looks like you went shopping at a military prison, no offense.”
“Does it really matter? No one’s going to be looking at my underwear.”
“And, we are going to make sure they don’t even know you have any on, rather than advertising every line.” The woman drags me through two more hours of shopping hell before releasing me from the changing room walls. The stack of clothes at the register is insane. The woman outfitted me for every occasion, plus some. The extra seems pointless, but maybe I can use them to visit an old friend. “Will this be cash or card or ...”