“Yeah... okay,” she says, taking a step back to let us in. “Give me a minute to freshen up?”
“Take your time,” Ace replies.
We wait in her living room. It’s strange being here without doing a security sweep or checking the cameras. It’s just us in her space, waiting to potentially change everything.
When Maddie comes back out, she’s changed into leggings and an oversized sweater. Her hair is down, falling in waves past her shoulders. She looks tired but beautiful, and I have to force myself to focus on why we’re here instead of how much I’ve missed her.
She sits on the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest in that protective posture she does when she’s waiting for bad news.
“Okay,” she says. “You’re all very serious. What’s going on?”
We all move to sit around her.
“We’ve made a decision,” Ace starts carefully. “About our arrangement. About our contracts.”
Maddie’s shoulders tense—she’s already jumping to conclusions, even though we made her a promise we’re sticking around.
“We have been doing a lot of thinking,” Rhodes adds. “About what happened.”
“And we came to the conclusion,” I say, because this part needs to come from me, “that we can’t keep doing this job.”
There it is—the fear in her eyes. This is the moment Maddie thinks she’s been right about all along.
“We spoke to your father, and we explained the situation,” Ace continues before she can spiral. “We told him we all have feelings for you that go beyond professional, and continuing as your security detail would compromise our ability to be objective. But more importantly, it would compromise what we actually want.”
“Which is?” Maddie asks.
“You,” Rhodes says simply. “Not as a client. As... well, we’re not entirely sure what the word is yet, but not as your bodyguards.”
“So you’re quitting?” Maddie whispers. “You’re leaving?”
“No, we’re not leaving you,” I say firmly. “Your father negotiated. We’ll stay here in our apartments, but our roles will change. We’ll still manage your security, because he still wants you protected, but not at the suffocating level we’ve been doing. And we’ll also handle other projects for him.”
“And the rest of it?” Maddie asks. “The feelings... wanting me... what happens with that?”
“That’s up to you,” Ace says. “We’re hoping you would like to try something real with us. If you want to.”
The room goes silent as she processes what he said.
“So what I’m hearing,” she says slowly, “is that you all like me so much you would give up following me around twenty-four seven. That seems counterproductive.”
I almost smile at her words, liking that she still feels able to be herself around us.
“I know it seems backward,” Rhodes says, “but the thing is, we realized if we were to stay on, we would be using the security detail as an excuse. As a reason to be close to you without actually risking anything.”
“So now you’re putting yourselves out there?” Maddie asks with a hint of amusement in her voice.
“Yeah,” Ace says. “We are. We even talked to your father about it.”
Maddie giggles, and it quickly turns into a full belly laugh that fills the apartment. “Wait,” she gasps out around her mirth. “You talked to my father about wanting to date me? How did that even go?”
“It was...” Rhodes pauses, searching for the right word. “Interesting.”
“He said he was hip and down with the times,” I offer.
Maddie’s laugh gets louder. “Oh, my god! Did he really say that? My father saidhewas hip?”
“Exact words,” Ace confirms.
