“Like it matters anymore,” she said dully. Before he could respond, she turned and headed to the building. He had to jog a few steps to get ahead of her and go in first.
She knew the way things were supposed to be done, of course. He’d been on her since the semester started, and he’d spent several weeks of her first year guarding her, too. Normally, she did things right.
At her door, he used his copy of her key and unlocked it. They had cameras on the door to the building and to her apartment, and her windows, to track people coming and going, but he always did an actual eyeball check, too.
While he was unlocking her door, he felt her hand at the small of his back, lifting his hoodie. Out of reflex, his hand flew back and grabbed hers just as she got hold of his compact Beretta, holstered there.
The reflex made his movements forceful, and he had her hand in such a grip she gasped and yanked back. It took him a second to get his muscles out of battle mode so he could let her go.
“What are you doin’, Lia?”
She rubbed at her wrist. “I don’t know. I just … I’m surrounded by armed men, everywhere I turn. I just wanted to see what you’re protecting me with.” Her eyes came up and met his. Man, they looked so sad. Her eyes tipped down at the outside corners and always looked a little sad, unless she was grinning, but now … it was like the green had dimmed. “Can I see it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“If I ever take my gun out, it’s because you’re in danger. I like it in its holster.”
“Did you take it out at Sig Rho?”
“I didn’t need to. I would have if I’d needed to.” This exchange could end up nowhere good. He shut it down.
He’d gotten her door unlocked before this weird moment, so, without putting his back to her again, he turned the knob and opened her door. “Wait.” With her at the threshold, he stepped backward into the apartment, coded her alarm, and did a quick check of the room. The bathroom was the only part he couldn’t see at a glance, but three long strides got him to that doorway.
“You’re clear.”
She came in and dropped her backpack on her bed. His work done, Alex returned to the door.
“You’re not going to classes tomorrow, right?” he asked.
She huffed a bitter chuckle. “Apparently not.”
“What’s your plan?”
Lia took a minute and considered the question. When she answered it, there was a little glimmer of purpose in her voice. “I guess I’m going to the registrar to find out what paperwork I need and fill that out, and whatever else I need to do. And I want to see Harrie and Kayla, at least. I need to tell them what’s happening. My dad said he’d deal with the landlord here, so …” The little bit of purpose guttered out with the mention of her father, and her sentence died away.
“What time do you want to get started in the morning?”
“I don’t know … I guess nine?”
“Okay. You want to run first?”
She shook her head. “I’m tired.”
It wasn’t yet eight o’clock in the evening, but Alex got what she was really saying. “Okay, Lee. I’ll be back for you at nine.” She nodded, and he put his hand on the knob.
Before he opened the door, though, he had to say the words that had been clamoring in his mouth since she’d stepped from her parents’ house. “Are you okay, Lia?”
He didn’t know why he felt so strongly the need to ask that question. It was his job to protect her, to watch her, and he’d come to know her well. He knew the answer.
She looked at him, and a smile fluttered at one corner of her mouth. “Sure,” she said. “I’m fine.”
He didn’t believe that for a second.
~oOo~
Alex picked Lia up at nine the next morning. Her apartment was just off campus, so she walked almost everywhere. Normally, unless she specifically asked him to walk with her, he held off and did his lurking thing. Today, she wanted him beside her. The pretense, she said, had become moot, since Brown wasn’t her life anymore.
So they walked together to the registrar’s office, but they didn’t talk much. Lia was despondent and didn’t have much to say. Alex didn’t want to push her to make small talk, so