“What are you doing in here kid, shouldn’t you be in school?” I was a scrawny little thing back then. Lack of food and basic care will do that to you.
“It’s teacher’s day sir, we ain’t got no school.” I remember feeling fear but trying bravely to hide it from the gruff old man.
“I see you sneaking around here a lot. I don’t mind you coming as long as you’re not supposed to be in class or off doing something else.” Say what? No yelling, or cuffing me upside the head? It was like giving a dog a bone.
I felt the tension leave my young frame though I still held my breath in wait for what was coming next. It’s been my experience that nothing came for free or without strings attached. One wrong move on his part and I’m out. I hear stories. I know there’re some sick fucks in this town.
“You like that?” He inclined his chin to the ring where two older boys were sparring with each other. I nodded my head and kept my eyes to the floor. I was too scrawny to even contemplate getting in that ring. But my heart was already in there.
He didn’t say anything for the longest time and then, “I’ll tell you what. You come around after school and on Saturday mornings and help me clean up, and I’ll pay you a little something. Three days a week I’ll teach you how to fight.”
I picked my head up and looked him in the eye. I’ve been lied to so much that I was already an expert at reading people. What I saw in him that day changed my life. It wasn’t pity, just an interest. Okay there was a little bit of pity in there. Everybody and their mother knew my life story. The town only had like five people living in it for fuck sake.
Years later he told me he’d seen something in me that day too and decided to take a chance. Until I’d put together my team, he was the only human being I’d ever really given a fuck about. Until now!
3
After the driving fiasco I found myself watching her, like really looking at her every chance I got. She was gorgeous as fuck and I wondered how I’d missed it. Even when I’m not interested it’s not like me not to at least recognize these things, if just only in passing. She had the most amazing ass and her tits weren’t bad either.
But it was her softness, that air of innocence that was so real once you got to know her, or in my case, spend time around her away from the flashing lights. For the first time in my life I wanted to care for someone in a real way. Not for the job, and not for a short fling before we both went our separate ways.
The more time I spent with her after that, the more time I wanted. Since we’d moved to the beach house she spent more time in my air space, walking around the house in her little shorts and tight tops like she thought bodyguard was a synonym for monk or some fuck. And though we kept the conversations to a minimum, I had more exposure to her. More time to look and want.
I’d be reading something on my Mac in the dining room where I’d set up for the duration, and she’d just waltz in there like she was bored of her own company. I usually pretended interest in whatever was on the screen, but the truth is, as soon as her scent hit me, I lose all concentration on everything else but her.
It was as if she was digging her way deep under my skin. The shit both scared and fascinated me in turns. That air of sadness never really left her and I was getting a bit frustrated because the skell was still working beneath the radar.
The longer he evaded me the longer I’d have to stay on her and I was beginning to question my own mind. Each time she turned those orbs of hers on me, with that look of sadness, she ripped away another layer of the shield I had protecting my heart.
Then came the day I started thinking that maybe, just maybe what I was feeling was a little bit more than just a casual attraction to a pretty face. That’s when fate jumped up and bit me in the ass with razor sharp teeth.
Now when I looked at her it was through the eyes of interest, an interest that ran deeper than any I’d ever had before. I had to rework some shit in my head because I know me. If I decided that this little girl was for me, there isn’t shit anyone could do to stop me from having her.