My Guardian Angel (4 page)

SWAT

My morning tea smelled fantastic as I listened to my new editor trying to rip me a new one.

“Kassia, you need to write faster, there is no other way around it. We can’t keep pushing the publishing date back.” The asshole didn’t have a pleasant bone in his body.
He was the one deciding when the dates were, not me.

“Frank, I can’t make up the ideas in my head whenever you feel I can.
Writing is about experiencing and right now, I'm not feeling it!” I shouted back. He stayed silent for a while.

“Well
, figure it out!” he snapped and hung up.

That was it.
I had enough of his shit.
I’ll figure it out for you, all right
. I thought as I picked up my phone and dialed my agent.

“Hey,
Bella! What’s up?” she sang.

“Hey Tiff.
I’m having issues with the new editor. If they don’t change him, I'm not bothering with writing them another book.”

She muttered a small
fuck
.

“What’s he doing?”
she asked.

“Well
, yelling at me to write faster and trying to tell me what to write doesn’t do it for me,” I barked.

She breathed heavily.

“The fucker is the son of the publishing house’s CEO. I’ll get you a new editor, but tell me, darling, what’s the real issue?” she asked. God, I loved her.

“I
’m writing about a group of SWAT cops who are vamps, and I don’t have enough info to write about it.”

“Gotcha!”
she laughed. “I’ll set something up for you. Give me a few days.”

I hung up and finally enjoyed the cup of tea I wanted.

A few days went by and, true to Tiffany’s word, the girl had set me up. She picked me up and dropped us off in front of the New York SWAT team building.

“Hey, plus I get to go in with you.” She grinned.

We headed up the stairs and through the doors to a security area.

“May I help you?”
asked an older lady. The phones around her kept ringing, but she focused on us.

“Yes, I'm Tiffany Race and this is Kassia Preston. I was told I could have a tour
,” she said so sweetly it nearly hurt my ears.

Tiffany was petite
, platinum blonde and sharp as a knife. The girl knew business and knew how to use everyone around her. She said it was ‘because she was so cute’ and that no one could resist her charm.

“
OH, MY GOD! You’re Kassia Preston? I love your books!” The lady cried out, nearly jumping out of her seat. “I love Drake. He’s so dreamy.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you
,” I said shyly.

Tiff leaned in. “I’ll get her to sign your book,”
she whispered and pointed at my book which rested on the secretary’s table, “but first, let us in.” She smiled.

“Oh, yeah! No problem.” She had us fill out some information and security questions and then handed over two visitor passes. “Just go down the hall and Officer Gab will escort you two.”

Tiff clipped the pass on my jeans. “There! You look so cute now,” she mocked.

“Do you use your super charm on everyone?” I asked.

“Of course I do. How else would I get things done?” She took my arm and interlocked it with hers, as she led us both down the hall to a tall, ‘built like a building’ man named Officer Gab.

“Hello
, ladies, I'm Gab.” Gab was much older than us, maybe in his late forties, but he was fit. “So I hear you two want a tour of our facilities. Heard it was for a writer,” he said, smiling at Tiff.

“She’s the writer and I'm the agent.” She pointed at me then herself.

“Well, beautiful ladies, follow me.”

I reached for my phone and opened an app to take notes.

“I'm excited Kassia, hot sweaty SWAT men.” She grinned. I took my hand away from hers and started to take notes.

Gab showed us the training ground and the firing range, plus he spoke to me about certain training techniques they use
d. The bomb squad area was off limits, but that was fine, just being there was making my writer’s block disappear.

“Is this helping you?”
he asked me.

“Yes, it is actually. Just tell me as much as you can.”

He took us to another training area, which had free weights and machines.
To the far end there was boxing gear and mats for grappling.

“It’s here
where we train for our fit physiques.” He smiled and winked. Why did I get the feeling this was more for Tiff’s benefit than for mine?

I saw a few men laughing as they trained
close by, taking each other down.

“If you ladies wouldn’t mind, we have food ready. See a few of us cook while we wait around.
So would you care to join us?” Yeah! That wasn’t for us, that was most definitely for Tiff. I looked around, leaving Tiff alone with Officer Gab and decided to see what kind of grappling the men were doing.

I watched as two men were on the ground, fighting each other. One finally got on top. He took his opponent’s arm and rolled back, pulling the arm with him.
The man on the ground then tapped out quickly.

“Yeah! Woohoo!” The men around cried out.

“Go
, Jason, you’re da man.”
‘Jason.’
He stood up and pulled on his shirt.

“Fuck me!” I said under my breath, perhaps not low enough. The two men who stood ahead of me turned around and looked right at me.

I could see Jason dodging his head to see who spoke. I nodded quickly to the men in front of me and moved as fast as my two little feet could carry me. Once I reached Tiff, I tugged at her arm.

“I’ve seen enough and I need to go home and write. I'm completely inspired.
I'm sure I could write like forty pages, if not more, tonight.” I pulled on her to move.

“But Gab asked us to stay
,” she laughed.

“No Tiff!” I almost screamed, but kept it under a hushed voice.

“What’s your problem?” she asked. Fuck, she so wasn’t getting it.

I turned my back
to not face the men on the other side and looked squarely into her face.

“I NEED TO GO
,” I enunciated each word and willed her to understand.

“O...K… Well, I'm so sorry Gab, but we’ll take a rain check for next time. Thanks again for your help with everything.” She was trying to make a very professional goodbye, but my tugging at her arm made us both look utterly ridiculous. I would have made it to
o, had it not been for her slow reaction.

A large man, who was leaning up against the doorframe, with his arms crossed, intercepted me
.

“Fucki
n’ Jason,” I exhaled. “If you don’t mind, we’d like to get through,” I said, not bothering to look at him.

“I heard that Gab offered you ladies a meal. Why not join us?”
he asked, almost making it sound like we were being rude.

“Well, I'm a writer you see and I’ve been inspired
. And I need to get home to write. So, if you would excuse us.” I tried to move round him, but it didn’t work.

“
One meal, that’s all I'm asking. Then you can go,” he whispered low as he looked down at me. Why did I have to look up and see his light grey eyes?

I sat next to Tiff, while she sat next to Gab laughing it up.
Judas!
I thought. I looked down at my plate. It was lasagna, which was my favorite.

I waited until everyone sat down. Interestingly enough, no one sat down next to me.
Oh, well, whatever,
I thought as I dug into my meal.

“So I hear you’re a writer
,” one of the men asked me.

“Yeah, I write a few books, no big deal.” I smiled politely.

“Anything we may have heard of?” asked another guy from across the table.

“I don’t think so. I'm not that big of a writer
,” I offered.

I finally realized why the seat next to me was vacant. Jason had shown up and sat down next to me.
Talk about the brotherhood and sticking together.

“She’s just being modest.
Kassia doesn’t like talking about her work,” Tiff spoke up. “Any of you guys heard of
The Sword and The Dance
or
Vampire High
, maybe
The Mythicals
?” She started to roll out my titles. I pulled on her arm, telling her to stop.

“Aren’t those TV shows on cable networks?”
the guy across from me asked. I began to squirm in my seat.

“Yeah, those are all hers
,” Tiff said proudly.

“Wow!”
the same man said. “So what are you doing with a puke like Jas?” He laughed. Was I missing something? Jason began to square himself in his seat. I could feel the anger inside him brewing.

“Hey
, Jas! Why don’t you go for a girl more your age? I think this little lady needs a real man,” An older man at the head of the table goaded him.

Jason made a tight fist;
his knuckles were turning white. I started to feel badly with how he was being teased.

“I don’t do old, used up men.
I like them young and virile,” I said without realizing. I took a bite of my food, trying to act nonchalant. “Unless…” I looked up. “You guys are calling me old?” I asked, knowing that would shut them up. It did.

Throughout the rest of the meal
, all I heard were a few murmurs about my age and Jason, which irritated me to no end. Jason ate quietly, not bothering with the silent mockery that had befallen us.

I turned to Tiff and tugged at her arm. I wanted a way out, now!

“Well
, gentlemen, your hospitality has been grand and I thank you all so much for the tour. My girl here will do you all proud when she writes her new series.” Tiff started to stand. “But alas, this girl and I have yet another meeting to attend to. Thank you so much for the meal.” She took my hand and led me out.

“I'm assuming you’re going to kill those assholes off in your book?”
she asked, rather miffed.

“Each and everyone one of them will suffer a slow and gruesome death
,” I retorted.

“Good girl.”

I felt bad that I left without saying anything to Jason, but I didn’t owe him anything. I had met him only a few times and nothing else.

The Rain

My house was cool with the air pushing through my vents. I looked outside, watching my neighbors sitting on their stoop, talking to each other and having icy red drinks. Had I been more social I would have gone out too. I couldn’t with this looming deadline over my head and my editor wasn’t happy about it. He was informed this would be our last project together and I would have a new editor named Stephanie. I absolutely loved the last time he called me. He left me a very bitter message, which I had no problem giving to his higher ups, meaning his dad. I smiled still thinking about it. I took a sip of my iced green tea and enjoyed the moment. I always digressed just before I’d sit down to write. I don’t know why. I guess that’s the way my mind worked.

I had put my glass down and stretched my body.
This morning’s yoga session was intense, but I needed more training. I was debating whether I should go to my brother’s gym, but would Jason be there? I had stayed away, hoping the distance would dissipate this ridiculous fascination I had with him; it didn’t seem to work.

Every time I saw Jason, another piece of the puzzle of his life would fall into place. Now I knew what he did for a living and it nearly scared the shit out of me. He was part of an elite group of men who risked their lives in high
-risk operations, dealing with situations normal cops wouldn’t even touch. For fuck’s sake, I was writing about it. I knew what kind of dangerous circumstances he had to deal with, but my guys were vamps and nothing could kill a vampire but a wooden stake to the heart. I shook my head.
What are you doing Kassia? You hardly know him, so there’s no need to care what happens to him. Besides, if he was interested, wouldn’t he have shown up or something?

“Ahh!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
You see, this is me, digressing.
I moved away from the window and my nonsensical thoughts and turned on the computer. Maybe tomorrow I’d go to the gym.

Tomorrow came and
, yes, I gave in and went to the gym.

“Kass?”
my brother called me over.

I sucked on my lips.
Great! I wanted to get my groove on. But with my brother around there would be no way. He took me into a big bear hug and dragged me to the training room.

“Get on!” He pointed at the treadmill.
He began playing with the controls. The machine came to life and I began running.

“So tell me about your asshole editor?” He leaned over the machine and waited.

“Well, I got him off my back. This is the last project I do with him. He even left me an irate message, which I gave to Tiff and she gave it to his boss, who is his father.” I smiled.

“Ouch. Serves the fucker right,” he said. “Now what?” He increased the speed and I gave him a side look, but my brother just smiled.

“Well… my new editor…will be overseeing… his work…just in case…” I breathed heavily.
My brother always knew I loved to run, but I hated how much he always increased the speed of the treadmill. He pushed the button to increase the speed, but he covered it with his towel making sure I didn’t see it.

“Just in case what?” He straightened the towel.

“He…might…try…to sabotage…it happens…in the…publishing world…” I was huffing a bit, but not too much that I couldn’t handle it.

After running for about thirty minutes my brother and I caught up, him on his football team members and their problems, mine about my books.

“Come on little
Sis, let’s get you ready for weight training.” He placed his hand around me, guiding me through the gym.

“So where’s Jessica?” I asked smiling.

“It’s her day off,” he said quickly.

“So…” I said smiling.

He glared. “Don’t you start!”
he interrupted me and gave me my dumbbells.

“She likes you
,” I added.

“They all like me.” He grinned and I laughed.

“Conceited much?”

He took his dumbbells
, “Always.”

We trained until my arms felt like jelly and my legs were about to give out.

“That’s my girl.” He slapped me on the back and I almost fell over. “You always train hard
,” he offered.

“Yeah
, ‘cause of you.” I tried to punch him, but I lost my balance and tripped instead, hitting the wall.

He looked at me and waited until I made a sound. When I did, he began his full
-on belly laugh. The whole gym stopped and stared. I couldn’t help but laugh with him. He tried to help me up but he was laughing so hard he made me fall again.

“What the fuck
, Dar?” I shouted.

He held out his hand again, trying to help me up. It was pointless since he still was laughing.

“My bad, sorry,” he said, still laughing. I stood up and gave him a dirty look. “Ah come on Kass, don’t be like that.”

I was walking away, glaring at him
. I wasn’t really mad, but I knew he’d feel bad. That’s when he started to laugh just as hard as before, if not harder. I had walked right into a wall of man muscles and almost fell over, but the man grabbed my arm before I could hit the ground. He pulled me up and stared down at me. Those damn grey eyes.

Ever since I met him, those damn eyes haunted me.

“Nice seeing you here.” His low voice always sounded as though he spoke only to me. The world around me faded and I stood there looking brainless in front of him.

“So
, I see you’ve met Jason,” my brother said as he tried to stifle his laughter.

“Yeah, I met Jason
,” I said, still looking at those eyes.

“Kass...Kass?” My brother waved his hand in
front of my face.

“Yeah, sorry.” I looked away and saw my brother narrowing his eyes at me.

“Let’s go, girl, time to eat and take you home.” I nodded, following him down the hall. I could feel Jason’s eyes burrowing through me as I walked away from him. Darios waited until I joined him and held out his hand to lead me to the locker area.

“So how do you know Jason?”
he asked.

“He helped me
through a sticky situation,” I said, opening the door to the women’s locker room.

“What kind of situation?”
he asked now concerned.

“Mob related
,” I said as I walked in.

“Kassia?”

I ignored him.

My brother didn’t bring up Jason or the mob incident until he drove me back home.

“You’re a grown woman and can do what you like, but…”

I held out my hand and stopped him

“I have never once told you anything about your extracurricular activities, besides teasing you,” I said pointedly.

He nodded. “Yes, you’ve teased me enough about it.” I glared and he stopped talking.

“So you and I are not going to have this conversation. What I do is my business, but I give you leave to tease. It’s only fair.” I smiled and winked, as I reached for the handle of the car to get out.

“He’s so young, Kass. I just don’t want to see you hurt.” I slammed the door and sat there stupefied.

“Are you serious? You literally have fucked all of Manhattan, if not the entire state of New York and maybe most of the country, considering that you travel with the team. And you have the nerve to tell me he’s young? You have an age limit; you’re in your forties and you will only fuck anyone under thirty,” I attacked.

“Watch it, Kass!”
he warned.

“Watch what? The truth?” I opened the door of his Escalade and stepped out. “You listen here
, Darios. Don’t you dare give me this double standard bullshit or I swear I won’t speak to you again.”

Darios leaned towards the door. “All I'm saying is that he’s twenty
-five, maybe twenty-six. I don’t know. I just don’t want you to get hurt.” I glared at him, the nerve of my brother.

“First off, I never said I was interested in him, but if I was, that’s
my business! Second, age doesn’t mean anything if two people are consenting adults. What do you think? If he’s forty, he won’t hurt me? How many hearts have you broken recently?” Darios fell silent and turned back into his driver seat. “That’s what I thought.” I slammed the door and ran up my steps.

“Argh!” I cried out in my empty house. “The nerve of him
,” I said out loud.

It’s not like I'm interested and even if I was, there would be no way I would go out with him.
But I'm not going to have my brother tell me who I can and cannot see. Why couldn’t Jason be older? Why couldn’t I be younger? God, I wish I was younger. I’d kill to be in my mid-twenties and stay there forever. Maybe that’s why I write about immortals and vamps. They stay young and beautiful for all of eternity.

I dropped my duffle bag onto the floor and kicked off my running shoes.
Ah! Nothing like bare feet on my cold, wooden floor. I headed towards the kitchen and took out a bottle of water. I leaned up against the counter and listened to the deafening silence of my home. Great! I was without power.

Fuck! I hope I remembered to power up my battery for my laptop.
I looked outside and saw the dark billowing clouds rumbling and making their way through. Nice! Yet another storm. I made my way to my laptop, which was sitting on my wooden kitchen table, which I had picked up at a local import store. The dark rosewood was exactly what I was looking for. It fit just right in my home. I lifted the screen of my laptop and the familiar sound chimed. Yes! I had enough juice. At least until the power came back on. I tethered my iPhone to it and retrieved my emails. The backup of my book was now ready for me to continue my writing.

A bright flash of light illuminated the house, followed closely by a loud thunderous boom
, which shook everything in my home. I felt tiny little shivers go up and down my back. I hated thunderstorms. I sat there poring over my book, trying desperately to forget the images, which rainstorms brought about. So, when there was a loud knock at my door, you can imagine how much I freaked out. I felt my heart jump up through my throat and my body began to shake.
Calm down, Kassia. You are the one who freaked yourself out.
I slowly stood up, still trying to calm myself down. The rain was falling hard now. Damn, it was so much like that night seventeen years ago. I looked through the peephole, but all I saw was a hooded man with his back turned. Screw that! I wasn’t going to open the door. I waited and he turned around and knocked again.

“Kassia, it’s me, Jason.” He stopped and I watched as he struggled to say something else. “Can I please come in?”
he asked, his voice shaky.

I put my hand on the doorknob.

“Please, Kassia,” he quietly pleaded.

I opened the door and saw him standing there, drenched from head to toe.

“Did you walk here?” I asked.

“The gym’s not too far from here.” He shook and waited, his face dripping with water. I reached forward and dragged him in.

There Jason stood, in the middle of my doorway, soaked through. His hands were in his pockets and his head slightly bent down, staring at the floor.
I don’t know why, but looking at him now brought out a sense of protectiveness in me. I sighed and headed inside to get a towel. I walked up the spiral steps and reached the second floor, where I took a small towel from the linen closet. I headed back down to see him still standing there.

“Well
, are you going to just stand there or are you coming in?” I asked, walking over to my island counter.

“I'm soaked. I don’t want to dirty anything
,” he said softly.

He almost looked timid.
This was different. The Jason I knew was all alpha male, ready to protect and strike when needed.

“Just get in here already.”

He slowly kicked off his shoes. The thunder seemed to affect him just like it did me.

“Not a fan, are you?” I asked, unfolding the towel and waiting for him to come closer.

“No, not really,” he murmured, as he hesitantly made his way to me.

“Come on, I don’t bite.” I smiled.

The lightning flashed again, making my insides shake. I took a deep breath and tried to control myself. The thunder followed as it roared loudly. To relax myself, I focused on Jason, who was now standing tall before me, dripping on my wooden floors. Since I was close to the counter, I placed the towel down and reached for his hoodie. He backed away, but I moved closer and gently began to peel it off. It snagged a little since it was soaked through. His breathing hitched and I smiled, trying to make it seem normal, even though it wasn’t. What grown woman would go up to a grown man and try to take off his hoodie? I looked up to see him looking down at me. Those beautiful grey eyes spoke of something I had no clue of. His body was reluctant but he came to me, almost seeking out my touch, wanting to be comforted. The air around us was filled with unspoken words. There was no mistake, Jason like myself, had a story.

I placed the hoodie behind me and took the towel, but he was too tall for me to dry off.
I inched closer to the counter and jumped up; he unwillingly smiled at me. I lifted up my hands and gestured for him to come closer. He warily came into my space and I placed the towel over his head and softly began to dry him off. He stood obediently waiting until I was done. Another loud thunder boomed and he reached up his hand and grabbed onto mine, holding it to his head. I stopped what I was doing and waited. His breathing was slightly erratic and my need to protect him kicked in.