Headlines (Prime Time #3) - Ella Frank Page 0,7

mean?”

“That this road is not going to be easy. Bailey doesn’t want to see you or Xander right now. He’s hurt, embarrassed, and feels like he’s lost two of the people closest to him.”

“Fuck.” I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “We didn’t mean to hurt him. It’s not like I took this job expecting to—”

I bit off my words, not about to pour my heart out to fucking Boudreaux. But really, the last thing I’d expected when I’d taken the job as Xander’s bodyguard was to fall in love with him.

“What didn’t you expect?”

“Nothing.” I did my best to glare Boudreaux to death. But, as usual, nothing seemed to get this guy out of my life. “Well, he can’t ignore us forever.”

“Can’t he? He seems to be doing a pretty good job of it.”

“You’re not helping, Boudreaux.”

“Is that what I’m supposed to be doing?”

I suppose I deserved that. It wasn’t like I’d been all open arms with him when I found out Bailey was dating my CI. I took a step back, feeling more defeated than I had in a long time. This was a fucking nightmare. “Just forget it.”

I turned on my heel to head back to my car before the rain started and decided to make my morning even shittier, but Boudreaux called out my name. I glanced over my shoulder to see him eyeing me closely.

“I’ll call you, okay? Maybe I can talk to him or something. I don’t know.”

Well, that was better than nothing.

I nodded and, without another word, headed back to my car, wondering when Boudreaux had become the one person in the world who seemed able to help me. But then again, life was getting really good at dealing up the unexpected, wasn’t it?

4

Xander

THE RAIN HAD been falling for a steady thirty minutes or so as I sat in the recliner facing the small window with a book in hand. I’d been trying my best to distract myself ever since Sean had left, but it was no use. No matter how hard I tried to concentrate on the words in front of me, my mind kept wandering back to what Bailey had said the last time I’d seen him.

They’d been bitter, hurtful words, words of the heartbroken and humiliated, and no matter how many times I told myself that Bailey would get past this and forgive us, I wasn’t one hundred percent positive I was being honest with myself.

I looked back to my book and sighed. I was getting nowhere with this. So I reached for the remote instead, about to find something to zone out on, but then my phone began to ring.

Quickly grabbing it up, thinking it would be Sean, I looked at the lit screen to see my mother’s number flashing back at me. Huh, that was unusual. She generally checked in with me Monday mornings for our weekly catch-ups.

Immediately thinking the worst, I hit accept and brought the phone to my ear. “Hey there, Mom. To what do I owe this unexpected call?”

“Hello, Alexander. And what do you mean? I don’t need a reason to call.”

That was true. But she always did have a reason. My parents lived by their schedule. If they had you penciled in for Monday morning phone calls, then they didn’t deviate from that unless there was a very good reason.

It’d been that way my entire life. Scheduled, punctual, and on time. It was a sign of good manners. At least, that was what I was raised to believe.

“Of course you don’t need a reason. I just wasn’t expecting it. Is everything okay?”

“Yes, yes. Everything is fine. In fact, your father and I had a wonderful idea that we wanted to run by you, which is why I’m calling.”

“Oh, and what’s that?”

I swear, my parents were busier now that they were retired than they had been when they worked. But after leaving the cold, harsh winters of Chicago for the warm weather Florida had to offer, I could see why.

Who wouldn’t want to be out enjoying life when every day felt like a vacation?

“Well, we want to fly up and visit you for your birthday. We thought we could come and stay with you and organize a party. We haven’t visited since all of that horrible business with the attack, and we’d like to see you with our own two eyes.”

I slowly slid my book onto the coffee table as I tried to wrap my brain around what she was suggesting. But