“And I take it you’re not an EROS.”
The SUV lurched forward as Ryder pressed the gas to pass the slow-moving sedan in front of them. He didn’t speak until he’d safely maneuvered back into the proper lane. “Correct. I’m part of the ARIES team. We’re trained in everything. Kind of the elite of the elite.”
There was pride in his words, but his tone lacked the boastfulness Cameron would have expected from such a statement. He was liking the guy more and more by the minute. “I still don’t get it,” he confessed. “I’m nobody. Why do I need elite security?”
“I assure you that Mr. Dare does not consider younobody.He was very descriptive about the bodily injury that would be inflicted upon my person should anything happen to you.”
Cameron ducked his head and turned away to hide the smile that stretched his lips. God, that sounded exactly like Asher, and despite the threat of violence to Ryder, he found it incredibly sweet. Excessive and slightly deranged, but sweet, nonetheless.
“Wait.” He jerked back around, his mouth hanging open. “What about the others? Are they all elite guards?”Luke, Natalie, and Nico all had personal security assigned to them for the foreseeable future. Surely Asher didn’t think they all needed elite bodyguards in Mission Grove. “Do I even call you guys guards? Bodyguards? Security agents? Men in Black?”
“Technically, we’re considered PPOs—personal protection officers—but bodyguard works,” Ryder answered around another laugh. “And, yes. Everyone guarding your friends and family are certified ARIES team members.”
It was official. Asher had completely lost his mind.
“He really does care about you,” Ryder offered, his tone almost reverent.
Cameron could only nod.
The drive into Mission Grove seemed to take half the usual amount of time. Before he knew it, the vehicle slowed, and the rhythmic clack of the turn signal jarred him out of his thoughts.
“Oh, we’re here,” he said when Ryder turned onto Main Street. “Um, so, just follow this street past downtown, then make a right on Lake Park.”
“I know.”
Of course, he did.
“How opposed are you to having your picture taken?” Ryder asked a couple of minutes later.
“I don’t know. Why do you—oh, shit.” Cars and news vans littered his little street, and at least a dozen reportersand cameramen paced up and down the sidewalk in front of his house. “Are they waiting for me?”
“Looks like it.”
“And they’ve been here all weekend?”
“There’s no way they could have known you were coming, so that’s my guess.”
“Christ.”
Women and men dressed in smart suits threw themselves at the Escalade as Ryder pulled into the driveway and shifted the transmission into park. Microphones, cameras, and recorders were thrust at the windows while reporters shouted over each other to be heard.
“So, about being photographed?”
Cameron didn’t really have time to think through it, so he went with his gut. “No photographs.”
Unbuckling his seatbelt, Ryder bobbed his head as he reached into the backseat and grabbed a suit jacket, which he thrust into Cameron’s hands. “Stay here and put that over your head. I’m going to come around to open your door. There will be a lot of pushing and jostling, lots of questions shouted in your direction. Just ignore it all and do as I say. Got it?”
“Yeah, got it.” He slid the jacket around him, then pulled it up over his head. “Ready when you are.”
The noise was deafening when Ryder exited the pickup, but it lasted only a moment before the doorslammed shut. Still, it gave Cameron a small taste of what he could expect, and he didn’t like it at all. His heart hammered up into his throat, his hands started to shake, and he suddenly couldn’t pull enough air into his lungs.
What the hell was he thinking? He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t face all of those people. Quiet. Boring. Mundane. His life was all of those things, and it didn’t include interviews or people camped out on his front lawn just to take his picture. He shouldn’t have come here. He shouldn’t have left Asher’s house. He shouldn’t have—
His door opened, and Ryder wedged himself between Cameron and the throng of reporters clamoring for his attention. “Ready?”
Unable to speak past the lump in his throat, Cameron pulled the jacket up higher over his head and climbed down from the passenger seat without a word.
“Keep your head down and put one foot in front of the other,” Ryder said. “I’ve got you.”
