“Ava, if you can’t get on board with the protection plan, could you at least have the courtesy to not make sarcastic remarks about it?” he asked. There was something in the tone of his voice that made me stop and look at his face. He didn’t look happy at all, but I wasn’t happy either. In fact, I was pretty miserable at the moment. My whole life had been upended and he was acting like it was an inconvenience for him, when he’d been hired to ensure that this exact thing didn’t happen. As I thought about it more, I realized I was really angry.
“You know what? I’m tired of being told what to do and how to do it,” I asserted. “From now on, I’m running this show and you will do as I say. Got it?”
If looks could kill, I’d have been well on my way to the morgue, but he nodded and backed off as I jabbed the elevator button repeatedly. I didn’t care if he did have my best interests at heart, I was sick and tired of people trying to control me. When the elevator finally arrived, I stalked into it and crossed my arms over my chest. Brian entered the elevator and turned to face the front. I shot dirty looks at the back of his head as we descended to the ground floor. When we reached the bottom, Brian stood aside as the doors slid open, and held out his arm like I was royalty. I shot him a look as I exited and marched toward the gym.
I quickly located a treadmill and hung my towel over the bar before stretching out. Brian positioned himself at the free weights and I watched him in my peripheral vision as he stretched and began pumping iron. It was hard for me not to be distracted by the sight of his bulging muscles, but I fought the urge to turn and watch and began my own workout. I set the treadmill to mimic a slow but steady hill climb, and began jogging to warm up. I soon lost myself in the rhythm of my feet pounding on the treadmill and let my mind wander to the places where I hadn’t wanted to go.
I thought about how far I’d come in the past year since leaving Dominic, and I tried to puzzle out what would have caused him to want to start stalking me after having left me alone for so long. Why was he so obsessed with me? What triggered the obsession? Why did he want me back after all this time? None of it made any sense to me, but I knew there had to be a reason.
People didn’t just start stalking for no reason. Did they?
As I ran, I noticed someone climbing onto the treadmill next to me, and I quickly looked over and nodded, and then did a double take. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I quickly looked over to where Brian was working out and saw that he was furiously tapping the screen of his phone as he shook his head. He hadn’t seemed to notice the guy next to me, and if he had, he wasn’t worried, so I relaxed and told myself that I was imagining things.
I picked up my pace for the last few miles and tried to run a fast time rather than slack off and get lost in my mind. It worked for a bit, but soon, I got the nagging feeling that I was being watched, and when I looked over at the neighbor treadmill, I saw that the guy who’d been there was gone. That’s weird. He wasn’t there long enough to work up a sweat. I shrugged and figured he must be a businessman who got called away by his boss or something.
As I began my cool down, I noticed that Brian was now lifting some seriously heavy weights and the veins in his neck were popping out. I made a note to tease him about “hulking out,” and then slowed to a brisk walk as my workout came to an end. I took a big swig from my water bottle and then wiped my face with the towel before hopping down off the treadmill and heading over to Brian.
“You about done?” I asked casually. “I need a shower.”
“Yeah, sure,” he sighed as he put the weights back in the rack and grabbed his towel. I could tell he was irritated, but I’d be damned if I was going to dig into his psyche again. All I wanted now was a hot shower and a nap.
As we exited the gym, I felt someone staring at me from across the lobby, but when I turned to see who it was, there was no one there. I stood staring at the space where I swear someone had been, then shook my head and turned back toward the elevator. I stole a glance a Brian, who was quickly tapping out a message on his phone before tucking it back in his pocket.
“Do you ever put that thing down?” I asked.
“Do you ever stop asking ridiculous questions?” he shot back.
“Wow, did someone mess up your workout or did you just not get enough to eat at breakfast?” I snapped.
“Ava, let’s don’t do this…” he trailed off as he watched a man getting off the elevator. Brian turned and followed the man with his eyes, then quickly pulled out his phone and snapped a photo.
“What? Do you recognize him?” I asked.
“Him? Oh, no, just something…” he mumbled as he tapped out another message and then slipped his phone in his pocket as he followed me onto the elevator.
“You’re being so secretive,” I observed. “Is there a reason you aren’t sharing information with me?”
“No, there’s no reason,” he parroted.
“You are so maddening!” I cried as I stomped my foot on the floor of the elevator. “You drag me away from my life and then tell me nothing about what’s going on! I’m sick of this! I want to go back to the dorm!”
“Ava, you can’t go back to the dorm right now,” Brian said in a calm voice. “It’s just not safe.”
“Oh God, not this crap again! I’m so tired of being treated like some delicate hothouse flower!” I yelled.
“Could you keep your voice down?” he asked, with no more emotion than if he was asking me to do something as simple as press the elevator button.
“That’s it, I’m done with your condescending attitude and your overly protective bodyguard service,” I said calmly. “I’m going home.”
“You can’t,” he said definitively.
“I can do anything I want to do,” I said in a snotty tone. “And you can’t stop me.”
“No, but I can ask you,” he said as he put a hand on my shoulder and turned me toward him. “Ava, please? Just give me a few days to have someone set up enough security in your dorm room so that I can properly monitor what’s going on?”
I stood staring up at him with a defiant look on my face. He waited. His eyes softened as he looked into mine, and my defiant stance wilted a bit as I thought about all the ways in which he’d tried to protect me, and all of the ways in which I’d tried to slip out of his protection. Then I thought about how angry my father would be if he found out that Brian had failed to do his job properly, and I realized that I couldn’t let him take the blame for my frustration and anger. I sighed and nodded.
“Two days,” I said. “That’s it. Two more days and I’m going home.”