Page 5 of Run, Little Rabbit

Veon grips the steering wheel of the car. He doesn’t approve of my nighttime activities, not that he ever tells me. He tends to just sit there and scowl at me disapprovingly, and I put the effort into ignoring him and looking the other way, so the ride home is quiet and tense.

I don’t mind the quiet though. More time for thinking then. And watching. Observing. Like the way Veon’s jaw twitches every time he takes a breath, as if he’s trying to keep himselfcalm and hold himself back from telling me what he really thinks.

He’s been my bodyguard for the last two years, and I don’t really know much about him other than what his CV and family tree say.

Thirty-six.

Ex-Military.

Excelled in long-rangeshooting—handy when you need a sniper.

Discharged with honours following several tours in various different places.

Son to Seamus and Annie, brother to Tallula.

And that’s it.

That’s all I know. In two years, I’ve learnt nothing else.

“What’s your favourite colour?” I ask on a whim, not expecting an answer, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

He sighs, and it’s a deep rumble I feel all the way to my toes.

Oh, did I forget to mention the man ishot? Like sex on a stick, panty melting, want to climb that man like a fucking tree hot. The guy should be on the cover of a magazine. His eyes are a piercing shade of cornflower blue, like a cloudless sky but so full of sorrow that I have the urge to just wrap my arms around him and hug away the pain. Not that he’d ever let me touch him in that way because he’s a complete stick-in-the-mud.

And his hair… fuck me. It’s a dark auburn with these strands of gold woven through the soft waves, and it looks effortlessly brushed away from his high forehead. His nose is a little crooked, and his mouth is almost too wide for his face, but it all merges to somehow make him look completely and utterly delectable.

Veon flicks his gaze towards mine briefly before focusing back on the road. I’m a little disappointed. I mean, I didn’t expect him to answer, but would it kill him to just—

“Green.”

My jaw drops. Did I just hear him correctly? Did the silent monolith just speak?

“Green?”

He nods. “Emerald green.”

I reach over and press the back of my hand to his forehead. “You feeling okay?”

He slaps my hand away with a snarl, and I can’t help but chuckle. He’s so easy to rile up.

“I’m fine.”

I snort. “You know what ‘fine’ stands for, don’t you?”

Another sigh with a disapproving scowl.

“Freaked out, insecure, neurotic and emotional.” I count them with my fingers. Still nothing, and I know it’s because I left a corpse in some seedy back office. “You know Bennie had it coming, right?”

I don’t know why I seek his approval. Maybe it’s because my dad doesn’t know and thinks I’m only good for marrying off to the highest bidder. But Veonknows. He knows my secret, and perhaps, for once, I just want someone to be proud of me.

“It’s foolish,” he says in a deep, condescending tone.

“Why? Because you don’t think I can take care of myself?”

He shakes his head. “No, because Bennie Walker wasn’t only selling secrets to the Volkovs.”

I knew that. Like I said, I do my research. Bennie sells anything of value to whoever wants it. Doesn’t mean he’s useful. “So what? Does that mean he gets to live and hurt other young boys?”