Falling For Her Bodyguard: A BWWM Suspense Romance (2 page)

“She’s not
the same, Dante. She’s short, angry and wild. I just think it
might be a good idea to suggest her seeing someone.”

Her father groaned.
“Leave it alone. She’s always had a little bit of a
temper.”

“It’s
worse now. I’m telling you, there’s something wrong with
her. She needs help.”

“If she wants
it, she’ll get it. I can't force her to do anything and neither
can you. So, for now, please just drop it.”

Kenzie dipped out of
the hallway before either of them left. She suppressed the tears that
threatened to spill. She knew they were right, but what could she do?
There wasn’t one person who would understand, who could relate
to what it felt like to almost die. Not a shrink anyway. She turned
on her heels, making her way upstairs to her old bedroom. It was time
to go. Her manager, Marco, had been hard at work for her. She had a
returning concert, a new album to work on and countless TV
appearances. She turned down the ones that wanted to talk about her
tragic accident. She’d relived that moment more times than she
cared to already.

She picked up her
backpack before tossing it over her shoulder. The sound of her
sneakers on the wooden stairs brought both of her parents from the
kitchen. Her mom was wiping her hands on a cloth while her dad just
looked concerned.

“Where are you
going so quickly?” Her mom asked.

“I told you, I
have a lot of things to do.”

“You’ve
barely had time to heal.”

Kenzie shrugged. “I’m
not dying, that’s all that matters.”

She left kisses on
both of her parents cheeks before she stepped outside. The afternoon
sun was brilliant, but she didn’t feel it the way that she had
before. There was a sense of darkness in everything now. A sense that
she would never go back to being the happy, carefree person that
she’d been before. She walked down the street, wishing she
could drive her car again. It felt weird being twenty-five and not
able to drive. Still, walking would clear her head at least. She
heard the car pull up beside her, but she didn’t even spare a
glance. It was just her driver. He could cruise along beside her
until she felt like getting in, then he’d take her to the
studio. It was better than going home at least. At the moment, she
couldn’t stand the thought of going back to that big, empty
space all alone.

Her mother’s
words played through her mind again. She couldn’t help it if
she was different now. It wasn’t everyday you got stabbed in
the gut. She doubted that a lot of people would act the same. Still,
the words bothered her more than she liked. Things were so different
now. Some of her friends had stuck around, but some disappeared. She
was sure some of them were just hanging around for the exposure.
Headline: Loving friends stick by brain damaged friends side. She
scoffed. There were only two people that she trusted out of her group
of friends now, the ones that had been around since she was still a
child. Cassie and Benjamin. Even before she’d gone into the
hospital, Benjamin had been kind to her. She’d always gotten
the feeling that he really liked her, but she was too nervous to ask
him. Now, things were going to be different. Kenzie refused to let
anything get in the way of what she wanted anymore.

They pulled up in
front of the studio just as two o’clock flashed on the screen
on her phone. Before the driver could get out to open her door, she
stepped out of the car with ease. Her hair had been dyed a dark pink,
the short skirt she wore slid up her thighs as she walked in the
tall, yellow heels. She supposed she could understand why people said
she had changed, she just refused to not do what she wanted to do
anymore. Life was too short. Kenzie pushed the front doors open
before riding the elevator up to her managers office. She had to give
it to him, he’d done a pretty good job with keeping the press
away. It was nice not to have to press through throngs of people
wherever she went, at least for now. She knew this kind of peace
couldn’t last forever.

As she walked into
the office, Marco sat behind his long, glass desk, his cellphone
pressed to his ear. He was yelling at someone, as usual. Kenzie sat
down in the chair across from him. He eyed her, shook his head. The
woman raised an eyebrow at him as if she were asking problem?

“Yeah, yeah, I
understand that! What I’m asking you to understand is that I
have little to no patience. Fix it!”

Marco hung up the
phone before throwing it onto his desk. He stood up, adjusting the
slick suit that he wore. In Kenzie’s eyes, the man was a
walking advertisement for every major label known to man. He adjusted
the expensive looking watch she knew he hardly even looked at. It was
just another piece of expensive shit to make him look pretty.

“What’s
with the ‘I’m a skank’ routine?”

“Fuck you Marco,
what do you want?”

“Wow, I heard
you’d grown an edge these days. I didn’t think you’d
gone all demon queen on me.”

Kenzie rolled her
eyes. “Did you call me here for a reason? Or was it just to get
on my nerves?”

“Calm down. I
wanted to talk to you about the new album. Things like, when are you
going to start working on it?”

“I told you, I
will.”

“Yeah, you said
that. When? I understand if you still need time off, but you’re
the one who said you were ready to go. You’re the one-”

“I said I’ll
do it! Damn, get off my back. You’re like my second mom, I
don’t need another one.”

Kenzie had risen out
of her chair. She crossed her arms over her chest and walked across
the room. She had to get out of his face for a moment, to get out of
the range of his ever deepening Italian accent the more angry he
became. There were awards on the wall, expensive art beside it. There
were pictures of all the people Marco had helped raise to fame. On
the end, there was a picture of her. It was taken over a year ago.
She was smiling, his arm around her neck as they posed at an award
show. She hadn’t won anything, but it was a thrill back then
just to be a part of the ride. And she hadn’t let it hold her
down. Instead, she’d busted her ass twice as hard to try to get
where she wanted to be.

“Kenzie.”

The woman turned
around slowly. Marco had calmed down, but what replaced the upset in
his eyes was pity. That angered her. She walked over to her chair,
grabbed the bag beside it before he gripped her arm. She tried to
pull away, but he simply stood there, holding her in place.

“I've got places
to be.”

“No, you don’t.
We have to talk. Sit down.”

Marco released her
arm. She glared at him through narrowed eyes, but she sat down. He
leaned against the desk, crossing his legs at the ankle as his arms
crossed over his chest. Kenzie started to make a smart remark, but
the look in his eyes was serious.

“What’s
going on?”

“I don’t
know how to tell you this...so I’ll just show you.”

Marco reached onto his
desk. When he turned around, there was a newspaper in his hands. He
gave it to her. Kenzie was almost nervous what she’d see on the
paper, some new story detailing her tragic accident or her new
behavior. Something saying she was having a nervous breakdown, that
she was out of control. It was all within the realms of possibility.
She opened the paper slowly. The headline at once grabbed her
attention. It was so much worse than she thought it would be.

Celebrity
Stalker Released From Prison

Kenzie’s heart
began to beat wildly. She felt the cold, sweat that often appeared
when she thought about that night. Her eyes scanned the article, her
heart racing out of control She had refused to have anything to do
with anything when she came out of her coma, let alone read about it
or watch a news story. Now, she wished that she had. The article said
that the man they had in custody, who they’d thought was her
attacker was in fact innocent. She glanced at the picture. It wasn’t
him. It wasn’t the man in the gray hoodie. She threw the paper
away from her as if it were poison. Kenzie couldn’t breathe.

She reached into her
bag, fumbled through the growing mess for her pill bottle. When she
found it, she could barely open it. Marco took the bottle, popped it
open and slipped two pills into her palm. She swallowed them before
he handed her a glass of water that had been sitting on his desk.
Gradually, the panic began to melt away until it was a dull ache in
the pit of her stomach. She shook her head.

“How can this
have happened?”

“There were no
witnesses, besides you. When you were still in the coma, they did the
best they could with the evidence they had. They’re still
looking Kenzie. It’s only a matter of time.”

“So, what do I
do now?”

“Well, that’s
up to you. We can move you somewhere far away. Somewhere I’m
sure he could never even afford to go. Or you can stay, try to
continue your career.”

“How? How can I
do that with the thought of him always being there now?”

“I thought of
that.”

Marco leaned over his
desk, pressed a button on his phone. He spoke to his receptionist for
a moment before he hung up. When he was done, the door was being
pushed open slowly. Kenzie watched as a man stepped around the
doorway.

It was almost like
staring at an image of Marco, only younger and taller. The man had
dark, wavy hair, astonishing blue eyes and thin, pink lips. His face
was stern, professional. He walked over to them before clasping his
hands in front of him. The smell of some exotic cologne filled the
air.

“This is Gianni,
my cousin. He’s been in the business of bodyguarding probably
since you were still in middle school. He’s good at what he
does. What do you think?”

Kenzie looked him up
and down. “If I can sing, I’ll do anything.”

“Gianni, this is
my Kenzie.”

“I’m not
anyone’s,” she said as she took his extended hand,
shaking it, but glared at Marco.

Marco laughed at this.
“You’re in for a real treat with Kenzie. She’s
always been headstrong.”

Kenzie was grateful
that he hadn’t ended the statement by referring to her recent
hospital stay. Even though Marco could be a hard ass, she knew he did
actually care about her. Sure, it was about the money too. However,
they’d worked together too long for there not to be some kind
of relationship there.

“It’s nice
to meet you, Kenzie.”

“Gianni will
take you to your new place. You’ll have a full team by your
side from now on. I had some luck throwing the vultures off by
dropping hints that you were still in Sweden, but they’re
getting smart. Either that or one of your “friends” is
running their mouth.”
Kenzie sighed. She wouldn’t be
surprised if one of them was. It could be good money selling her out.
She froze.

“Wait, did you
say my new place? What’s wrong with my old place?”

“It’s too
well known,” Gianni said before Marco could speak. “I
like anonymity.” The man pulled a folder off of Marco’s
desk. “Here is the complete outline of the things I’ve
implemented for your security.”

Kenzie raise an
eyebrow at Marco. “Does he always sound like a robot from a bad
sci-fi movie?”

Marco tried to stifle
a laugh as Gianni look unamused. She sighed before she flipped the
black folder open. Inside there were at least fifty pages, of small
print instructions. At first she thought they were instructions for
the team of guards that would be protecting her, but the more she
read, the more she realized they were guidelines for her.

“What am I
looking at?”

“Rules,
protocols, procedures. The sooner you learn them, the safer you’ll
be.”

“Rules? I’m
sorry, did time reverse? Am I a minor again?”

Marco rubbed the back
of his neck. “Look, they’re just in case. I’m sure
that once things have calmed down a bit and that bastard's been put
behind bars, you can do whatever you want. Until then, you have to
listen to Gianni. He’s going to keep you alive.”

Kenzie rolled her
eyes. “Whatever. I have somewhere to be,” Kenzie said as
she shrugged her purse onto her shoulder.

“What about the
album?”

“I’ll work
on it tomorrow. Send over the demos.”

Kenzie threw up her
hand as he continued to speak. She was done with the meeting. The
pills were making her sleepy. All she wanted to do was go meet her
friends. As the elevator doors slid open she stepped inside before
turning around. She yelped. Gianni was walking smoothly into the
elevator behind her. He pushed the button for the ground floor then
stood with his arms clasped behind him.

“Let me guess,
bodyguard duty starts now?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t
talk much do you?”

The man raised an
eyebrow. Kenzie saw a brief flicker of amusement. “Am I
supposed to?”

The woman shrugged as
she slipped her phone out of her purse. “Not really. I was just
wondering.”

The man nodded, but
didn’t say anything. The elevator doors slid open with a ding.
She walked across the lobby with the sound of his footsteps right
behind her. She stopped before turning to him.

“Do you have to
walk so close?”

“It usually
works best to walk close to someone you’re protecting.”

Kenzie opened her
mouth to reply, then turned. She walked outside trying to lengthen
her stride to leave the man behind. The sound of him walking behind
her was intimidating. Her car pulled to the curb, the sleek black car
reflecting the afternoon sun. The driver hopped out before opening
her door for her.

“Well, I guess
this is where we part ways,” she said clapping a hand on his
shoulder. “I’ll see you later.”

Kenzie slipped into
the car. The driver shut her door and she sighed. She had thought a
bodyguard would be a good idea, someone to watch from afar, make sure
she was safe. Now, she was regretting it. She started to call Marco,
tell him to call the whole thing off, but she had the feeling that
wouldn’t happen no matter how much she protested. The car
started up.