Page 10 of Guarding the Shadows (Pulsetunes Rock Gods #5)

THREE MONTHS LATER

R aff

“Nice to see you sober for a change,” Bodhi muttered while he pushed my apartment door open and made his way past me.

“I’m always sober for work,” I reminded him. “What time is it?” I asked, squinting past him at the bright sunshine that shone through the hallway window.

“9:40 a.m.,” he replied, striding down my hallway and disappearing into my kitchen.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, sounding irritated by his forwardness.

“Part welfare check, part orders from the boss,” Bodhi replied. He picked up the electricity bill cancelation notification for Gwen’s place and read it. “At least you’ve stopped paying for that bitch,” he muttered after casting an eye over it.

“Hey,” I said, grabbing it out of his hand and crumpling it up in a ball. “You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”

“Levi’s orders. He’s got a special job for us ... and he wants me to help straighten you out.”

“Straighten me out?”

“Dude, I’ve been checking in whenever you’ve not been at work. You’re letting her win, dude.”

“I wasn’t aware I was in a fucking competition. What am I supposed to do … just forget her? And anyway, what I do on my own time is my business,” I snapped in a gravelly tone.

“Oh, I’m all for privacy. And in normal circumstances, I’d give that to you … if you weren’t trying to drown yourself in a bottle every night.”

“I’m not,” I ground out.

“No? Fuck, Raff, go check yourself out in the mirror. Apart from the fact this place smells like a cross between a-a-a whisky distillery and a-a … two-star pizza restaurant and a sweaty jockstrap, you look like a shell of yourself. When was the last time you showered and shaved?” he stammered.

“I’m a single guy, isn’t this how I’m supposed to live? Who gives a fuck if I haven’t washed for a day or two?”

“Look, I get it. You were with Gwen a long time, and what you had with her—well a breakup like that, it must be hard to get over. At one time she was the other half of you, but she royally shafted you, my friend, and gave you the pleasure of paying for her while she did it. But one day you’ll accept that you dodged a bullet.

She’s not worth your misery, dude. When was the last time you worked out?

” he demanded, rolling his shoulders like he could barely contain his frustration.

“All you need to know is I turn up sober, do my job and what happens on my own time is none of your concern.”

Bodhi strode over toward me, placed his hands on my chest and pushed me down into a chair. “See, that’s where you’re wrong, Raff. We’re friends, and that makes you my fucking business.”

His rough shove didn’t faze me one bit. I’d been on the receiving end of that before. It was the fury that burned in his usually expressionless eyes that made me sit up and pay attention.

“You need to get your ass in the shower and get some gym gear on, we’re taking a kick-boxing class.”

“You’re taking a kick-boxing class. I’m staying here.”

“Don’t piss me off. You’re coming to class with me or I’m moving in.”

I let out a hollow laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Me, ridiculous? Like I said, look in the mirror. Who would have thought a chick could reduce a battle-hardened guy like you into someone who looks like a moping, teenage girl who’s been dumped by her tenth-grade boyfriend.”

“Jesus Christ, just leave me the fuck alone,” I growled.

“I did and this is the result,” he said, turning up his nose while he waved a hand down my body. “And by the looks of things, I should have staged an intervention sooner,” he remarked, casting an arm out at the untidy state of my kitchen.

“Nothing wrong with me,” I argued again. Bodhi’s jaw ticked in frustration, and I figured, knowing how Bodhi, the organized, disciplined man that he was inside and out, must have been fighting to contain his inner neat freak.

“You’ve got to be in tiptop condition by later today. Levi’s got a job for us both.”

“Both? What happened to Mikey?” I asked, suddenly interested that he’d only mentioned the two of us.

“This has nothing to do with guarding the Shadows,” he explained. “Mikey’s at Korry’s and none of the guys have plans for the next few days.”

“Then, what is it?” I asked, more awake by then and intrigued about the mission.

“We’re going to guard Beth,” he replied. Hearing Beth’s name hit me like a bolt to my chest and it brought back an instant memory of her face and the warm feelings I’d fought while I’d been around her.

I hadn’t seen her since the tour finished.

The two weeks off we had originally been due to have turned out to be much longer because the guys had decided to take some time for family or individual projects.

For Bodhi, Mikey and me, it had left us mostly free other than the occasional work gig or local transfer from place to place.

It was an extensive break that came at the worst possible time for me because I would have had much more time to spend with Gwen.

Time that hadn’t been welcome and had led me to wallow in dark thoughts of self-hatred.

Bodhi and my sister, Yvonne, tried to tell me that Gwen’s betrayal wasn’t my fault.

My sister was furious because Gwen had used what I did for a living as her excuse to break things off with me, pointing out that there had been numerous times when Gwen had been given advance notice of my schedule and could have done more to request shifts to avoid my breaks.

When Beth had heard through the grapevine that Gwen had broken up with me, she’d reached out to say she was sorry.

I still hadn’t deleted her voicemail, but I was afraid I’d do something on a rebound with her that I’d later regret.

Fortunately, since then Beth had grown in popularity, partly due to her greater exposure as a famous guy’s little sister, I’d heard she was busy with gigs of her own that had kept her away from Miami.

“Guard Beth? Nah, dude. Now you’re fucking with me. Why does she need bodyguards?”

“She’s being stalked.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I shot up in my seat, put my hands on my knees, fully alert for the first time that week.

“Stalked,” I repeated. “Where is she?”

“Jacksonville for two nights.”

“What do we know?”

“I thought you said no to the job a minute ago?” Bodhi queried with a raised eyebrow and smirked knowingly.

“That was before you said stalker. What do we know?” I asked sternly, ignoring the goading question in his tone.

“Enough to know that he followed her to her hotel last night and even tried to have the girl at reception make a second passkey to her room. Luckily, Beth had made the hotel staff aware that he’d been hanging around outside the venue and gave a description to the staff at the front desk.

The girl quietly called the cops but by the time they arrived, he’d gone. ”

Pressing my weight on my knees, I stood, nodding.

“Tell Levi we’re going to head up there while I grab a quick shower.

We can take that class up in Jacksonville to clear my head, rid me of pent-up aggression and any lingering alcohol in my system.

I just need thirty to sort myself out, pack a bag and then I’ll be ready. ”