Page 61 of The Bodyguard

“You saw her back there. That’s my mom, Hannah.”

It was so strange to hear my name come out of Jack Stapleton’s mouth, it threw me off for a second. I tried to regroup. He clearly thought if he asked sweetly enough, I’d just do this for him. Or maybe if he paid me enough money. This was a guy who probably got everything he wanted. If he didn’t understand why this couldn’t happen, I didn’t know how to explain it. I finally settled on, “I don’t know you.”

“I’m not so bad.”

“I just can’t.”

“Are you saying no?”

Did anyone ever say no to Jack Stapleton? “Yes. I’m saying no.”

Jack frowned at that, like it was a really novel concept.

He looked so bewildered, in fact, that as I studied his profile, I questioned myself.

I was saying no, wasn’t I?

I mean, four weeks! That was a long time to never come up for air. There would be no way to do any of my usual work stuff in that scenario. I’d just have to wear girlfriend clothes and do girlfriend things and be… trapped behind that facade. I couldn’t be that passive. I’d been stuck in limbo for so long. I needed to work, and I needed to do my job, and then I needed to be done and get out of here. With each coping mechanism this situation took away, I was dying a little more.

I could feel my shark gills gasping.

I needed to make my world bigger, not smaller. I needed to go far away, not get further trapped in this same spot. I needed to resuscitate my real life, not double down on a fake one.

Time to shut this conversation down.

“We can talk to Glenn,” I said, “but it’s still a no.”

“IT’S A YES,”Glenn said, even after I vociferously, passionately, and very articulately objected to Connie Stapleton’s wishes.

We met in the security HQ in Jack’s garage. The whole team showed up—including Robby now—except for Taylor.

Who I hadn’t seen since I’d watched her smooching my ex-boyfriend. And who I would happily never see again, if I could swing it.

But that was something to obsess over later.

Right now I was busy fighting a losing battle.

It wasn’t that my opinion didn’t matter. It just didn’t matter more than anybody else’s.

“Think of it like a paid vacation,” Glenn said.

“You say that like it’s a good thing.”

“I don’t see that there’s a decision to be made here,” Amadi said. “She took the job. The situation has evolved. But that doesn’t change our responsibility toward the principal.”

“I didn’t take the job on purpose,” I said.

“That’s a lot of negativity right there,” Doghouse said.

“I signed up to protect him, not live with him,” I said.

Kelly was positively offended by my hesitation. “Do you know how many people would sell their souls to live in that gorgeous ranch house for a month with Jack Stapleton? It was featured in House Beautiful.”

“What am I supposed to do for four weeks if I have to stay in character twenty-four seven?”

“Umm…” Kelly said. “Enjoy it?”

I argued and argued, but I couldn’t convince them how suffocating this would be for me. Everybody, without exception, thought it sounded fun.