“I’ll grab a few hours here and there during the day, but only when you’re in one room and you’re going to stay there.I can fashion something that’ll alert me if anyone opens a door or a window.”
She rolls her eyes, all compassion gone.She doesn’t take any of this seriously, but I have to.Not only because it’s my job, but because I can’t let anything happen to her.I can’t go through that kind of pain again.
TWENTY-ONE
HAYAMI
PRESENT
“I’m goingto head up and take a shower,” I tell the Beast, sitting in the chair opposite me in the sitting room.He looks like a statue, his shoulders hunched, hands clasped under his chin.
It’s been two hours since I told him I’d dropped off my only other bodyguard at the airport.Two hours of him probably catastrophising about what could happen to me.
Don’t get me wrong, I value life.Just not my own.You have to have control of something for it to be yours, and my life has never belonged to me.It’s bound in a direction I can’t allow it to take, hence why I floated facedown in the pool.
But I know this: If I die on Willa’s watch—or even the Beast’s—it won’t just be my life that ends.It’ll be theirs.And I don’t want anyone else’s blood on my hands; my father has enough on his for us all.
I put my romance book down and push myself to the edge of the sofa.“You should check out the library.”
“What?”I swear I hear his neck creak.
“I said you should check out the library,” I repeat.“Did you read the book I bought you?”
“No” is all he says, but his mouth remains open as if he’s going to add something.He must think better of it, as he closes his lips.
I’m not disappointed that he hasn’t read the book.Maybe thrillers aren’t his thing.Plus, he’s never struck me as a bookworm.But I’d never pass up the opportunity to introduce someone to the world of books.
“Then you should check out the library,” I say for the third time.
“Why do I need to check out the library?”The Beast furrows his brow, and I marvel at how the scars down the left side of his face don’t move.
“Because for the last two hours, you have just sat in that chair and stared at me.”
“It’s my job, and you just sent your other bodyguard away.”
“Yeah, well, it’s boring, and also, I don’t have any opportunity to pick my nose or scratch my bottom.When am I supposed to do these things if you’re constantly watching me?”
There’s a little quirk at the side of his mouth, the one I love to see because I know it takes a lot to make it appear.
“What’s that got to do with me checking out the library?”he asks, the smile quickly fading.
“You should try reading a book.”I wave mine at him for emphasis.
“I don’t have time to read,” he scoffs.
“There’s nothing else to do up here,” I tell him.“You’re going to die of boredom if you don’t find something to occupy you, and then who’s going to protect me?”
He appears to consider this before speaking.
“The last book I read was in school, and I don’t even remember it, so it must’ve been boring.”
“More boring than sitting in this room staring at me, waiting for something that isn’t going to happen?”I want to add.How does this guy unwind?No wonder he doesn’t sleep.
“You’ve been reading the wrong books, then,” I say as a devilish feeling comes over me.
I’m not sure what I expected now that the Beast and I are alone in the house.The dynamics have certainly changed between us over the last six months, but I still don’t know how I feel about him.I can’t deny there’s something about him that fascinates me.There have been moments when he’s made my skin heat and my core flip, but there have also been times when I’ve wanted to strangle him.
And what about the Beast?
