I Just Need You - J. Nathan Page 0,58

about us? Was he asking her if I failed her?

I left Briggs in the hall and went to shower, needing to wash off the blood that was still caked under my fingernails from tying him up. I wondered if Kresley had noticed it while she held my hand in the car.

I returned to my room a short time later, slipped into some basketball shorts and a T-shirt, and strapped my gun underneath. I left my room just as Marco stepped out of Kresley’s room. I found it difficult to look him in the eyes, not knowing what Kresley had told him.

“Walk me out,” he said, without even bothering to look at me.

I glanced to Briggs who sat back in the chair keeping guard.

“You need to be careful,” Marco said as we made our way down the stairs.

“What’s that mean?”

“This isn’t over.”

Those words hit me like a punch to the gut. “How can you be sure?”

“No one likes to fail twice,” Marco said. “We need both of you on her at all times.”

“Agreed.”

“She told me she wants you in her room and Briggs outside.” He pushed open the front door. I stopped. He turned to face me. “Don’t let anything happen to her.”

“I won’t.”

He stared at me for a long time, and I wondered what the hell she said to him. Then he nodded and walked away. “I’ll be in touch,” he called over his shoulder.

“Take care of your wife.”

He raised his fist into the air.

I hurried back inside, taking two stairs at a time, desperate to check on Kresley. “She told Marco she wants you out here and me inside,” I told Briggs.

He lifted his brows. “I bet she does.”

I cocked my head, pegging him with serious eyes.

“Poor taste?” he asked.

“I’d say.”

He stood from the chair and pulled it to the side. “You did good out there today.”

“Just doing my job.” I knocked on Kresley’s door. “It’s Tristan.”

The door opened and Kresley stood there in her pajamas, her hair down and falling over her shoulders, and her eyes still red from crying. She’d never looked more beautiful. She stepped back and I followed her in, closing the door and locking it. She turned to me and walked right into my arms, burying her head beneath my chin as I held her to me. She felt so small. So fragile. So…mine.

“You okay?” I asked, breathing in the fruity scent of her hair, such a welcome scent after such a horrific day.

“I am now.”

“Come on. I wanna hold you,” I said.

She slipped her hand into mine and walked me to her bed.

“Hold on.” I released her hand and moved to the corner of the room. I reached up and pointed the camera toward the ceiling. Then, I grabbed the desk chair and forced the back of it under the doorknob for added security. I switched on the small lights hanging around the walls before switching off the main light.

We both climbed under the covers. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to my chest. We lay there for a long time, just breathing each other in. I wondered what ran through her mind. And though I didn’t want to push her, I didn’t want her to feel alone. “You wanna talk about it?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I held my breath, preparing myself for whatever came out of her mouth.

“I wanna know if you’re really okay,” she said.

“I wanna know if you’re really okay.”

She lifted her head so she could look me in the eyes. “I asked you first.”

I was the bodyguard. I didn’t need her worrying about me. “I’m fine.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and my heart clenched. She really did worry about me. “I talked to my parents while you were with Marco,” she said. “They want me to come home.”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

“That’s a fair answer.”

“Yeah?” she asked, surprised by my response.

“You’ve just been through another traumatic experience. You’re away from home. Away from your parents. It’s normal to be unsure.”

“Would you still be on my security team if I go home?” she asked.

“I don’t know. That would depend on what you being home would entail. Your parents have their own security.”

She closed her eyes and nodded.

“What?” I asked, not wanting her to make the wrong decision because of me.

“I don’t want those people to dictate what I do. I want my degree. And I’m so close. But I also don’t want my parents to worry. And, I don’t want to constantly be looking over