“Wait. Why are you being weird?” Even in the sinking light, I could see his ebony eyes were confused. He didn’t remember.
“I’m not.” I shrugged and thanked God for the evening’s arrival. “I know when you did it.” I pictured him lying on his bed with my phone in his hand. I knew exactly when he did it. Crackers! Hah! “You’ve got a lot of nerve,” I said, acting angrier than I was. He deserved a small ration of grief for violating my privacy.
“I’m sorry, Di. I was worried and I had a bad feeling so I installed a tracing app and hid it.” He put his hands up defensively when he saw my pinched expression. “I only wanted to be able to find you if you something happened. It was just…a lot had happened and I wanted a little extra security.”
If there was anyone I trusted with my life it was Vance. We’d been partners at B&B Personal Protection Agency for five years and we’d known each other long before that. If he’d felt the need to install things on my phone, he had his reasons. He’d always have my back. I’d, of course, kindly ask him to uninstall it at a more appropriate time.
“You can tell me how pissed you are later, okay?” Vance added. “Come on. I’ll let you yell at me in the car.” He tugged on my arm and began leading the way.
“Where are you parked?” I grunted and winced while taking shallow, painful breaths. “I’m no sissy, but this hurts like hell.”
“Around the corner.” Then he stopped and scooped me up weightless into his arms.
“Vance,” I protested. “Your shoulder.”
“I’m fine. You weigh the same as a bag of groceries.”
I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest then tucked my face inward to protect it from the tiny droplets of rain that had begun to steadily fall. He smelled like leather mixed with the steely smell of his sweat.
“You tell anyone—and I mean anyone—that I let you carry me then it’s over between us. You got me? I’ll rearrange your manhood and end your stellar dating career,” I said, my languid voice muffled by his jacket.
“You got it, baby. Our little secret.” His words radiated from inside his hard chest against my ear.
“Oh my God, and don’t call me baby,” I murmured, even though deep down I liked it. “I’m not one of your little hussies.” I managed to chuckle.
Vance’s charisma, flawless physique, and dashing good looks gave him the luxury of going through women like tissues; they practically lined up at his door. If I didn’t have standards something might have happened between us a long time ago. Our chemistry was undeniable, but we kept everything strictly professional. We loved each other in our way and were only ever destined to be great friends and partners.
“I’m only teasing. You know you’re my girl.” He leaned down and put his nose to my hair. His draw of air was cool against my scalp. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said with a quiet laugh. There’d been plenty of moments throughout the day where coming out alive had been questionable, but every painful inch of my body reminded me that I was.
It took forever until we reached the car. When we finally arrived, he put me on my feet and opened the door to one of B&B’s black Range Rovers. I slid into the warm passenger seat. He hadn’t been looking for me for long. The chilled air from outside hadn’t completely invaded the interior of the car yet. It was still comfortably warm. When Vance got behind the steering wheel, he turned the engine over and slowly pulled out onto the street. Finally, I could relax. I slumped back into my seat, as much as my aching ribs would allow, and shut my eyes.
“You know where it is, right?” I said, without lifting my head.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Where’s the flash drive anyway?”
“In my bra.”
He laughed. “Only you would put information of national importance in your bra.”
“You should know as well as anyone that it’s not an easy place to get into.” I blindly waved my hand over my chest.
“Yeah,” he said through a sigh, “I know. Hey, you want me to turn some music on, or do you want it quiet?”
I normally loved the pleasant distraction of music as background noise but I wanted to hear nothing more than rain slapping the windshield. “Quiet, please,” I said. My voice had gotten raspy as I fought sleep.
As we pulled onto the first main road outside the hospital, I opened my eyes. Vance was checking the rear view mirrors.
“Everything all right?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think so. Don’t worry. Get some rest. We should be there in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay.” I closed my eyes and drifted off.
…