HER BODYGUARD

Kimberly closed the top latch over the door and took a step back to look at it. She heard Asher’s door close.

You aren’t in any danger, she thought. Don’t let his overprotectiveness worry you.

But even as she gave herself the advice, she couldn’t help but feel an influx of nerves tighten her stomach.

“This is why I didn’t want a bodyguard,” she muttered, rubbing her stomach. “Now I think I have problems I don’t really have. And another one that I might have” She thought about that night in his SUV once again. What was she going to do if she was pregnant? She didn’t even know.

Trying to forget about the man next door wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped. Talking about his past, including his job, had softened her otherwise harsh opinion of the man. He wasn’t some faceless hunk of meat sent to stalk her in hopes of keeping a potentially imaginary predator at bay. He was a man who loved helping people. And she was beginning to really like him, which still wasn’t a good idea.

She tried to banish thoughts of the brooding dark-haired man and fell onto the bed. The jaunt right after eating a full meal plus made her eyelids unbelievably heavy as soon as she hit the pillow.

The feeling of exhaustion and the desire to give in to the comfort of the bed surprised her. Taking naps wasn’t something she was used to doing. In the last few years, if there was time to sleep, then that meant there was time to work. She’d rarely picked a nap over work time. It was a choice that had turned into a habit.

A yawn tore itself from her lips and she knew it wouldn’t be long before she was asleep. This moving back to her apartment was already turning out much differently than she had originally planned.

——————

The room was dark.

Barely any light filtered in from behind the curtains. It was so dim Kimberly placed them as streetlights. Which meant her nap had stretched longer than she’d meant it to.

She rolled onto her back and yawned. Even though she’d been sleeping, she felt exhaustion still weighing her down. If she closed her eyes again, she was sure she’d sleep until morning.

So what had woken her up?

Those stupid scary dreams of course. The repeated dreams she kept having of Alex, with his rat face and scary eyes. And this dream had more scary folks. The man and the woman who were following her today. Although she wasn’t completely sure anymore.

She tilted her head, listening.

A car horn blared outside, promptly followed by two more. Ah, the sweet sounds of the City, she thought.

She contemplated her next move, listening to a symphony of agitated drivers vent via their respective vehicles when another sound caught her ear.

Confused, she turned her head, peering into the dark for the culprit. It stopped.

Kimberly’s heartbeat began to pick up. She waited. There it was again.

Someone was in the hallway. But what were they doing?

Curious-always curious-Kimberly got off the bed and made her way to the door. She peered through the peephole but was met with a cloudy circle with no help identifying who was outside. If there was anyone at all. She dropped back down to flat-footed and bit her bottom lip, waiting.

Seconds turned into minutes. Kimberly remained perfectly still until she was positive the sound, whatever it had been, had stopped. Slowly she unlatched the top lock and eased the door open a crack.

No one was there.

Cautious, Kimberly stepped out into the hallway. It was empty. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

See? That bodyguard has made you paranoid, she thought. No one is after you. This is over. No one even knows where you-

Her current thought bubble popped as she turned and bumped into someone -something. She didn’t wait to see who or what it was. She just the did the one thing her brain told her to do that minute – run and scream.

She didn’t go too far with that plan though, because as she bolted for her room, he caught her easily and pulled her back against him, pinning her arms.

“No!” She gathered as much breath as she could, in preparation for screaming, but he fastened one arm around her and clamped his other palm over her mouth. She tried to bite him, but his hand held her too tightly.

“Listen to me, Kim. I need you to stay quiet. It’s just me.” Asher said.

She wasn’t listening, just kept fighting him.

“Kim” he said louder this time. “Kimberly, it’s me, Asher.”

She seemed to hear him this time because she stopped struggling, and he slowly released her.

“What-?” she said softly. “Asher?”

“Yeah. That’s right” he said.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

“What’s-what are you doing here-?” she asked stupidly. She still sounded breathless and choked with fear, and Asher hated himself for being the cause of that.

Kimberly felt stupid, screaming and shouting like that at night. Oh God, she was paranoid and it was all his fault. She got angry and began to hit him with clenched fists.

“This. Is. All. Your. Fault.” she said as she punched him. He grabbed her hands gently and held it down on her sides.

“How?” he asked. “How is this my fault? You are the one who is scared. And of what exactly? -the dark. What happened to ‘I’m perfectly fine on my own and I don’t want anyone looking after me’. What happened to the tough girl? And this is what you do when you bump into something -scream?”

Kimberly forced her hands free and hit him again.”I thought I heard something” she said. “And what are you doing walking around in the dark like this?”

Asher rolled his eyes “What you heard was me obviously” he said. “I needed to get a water from the kitchen, didn’t want to turn on the lights here in the hallway and wake you up”

“Yeah you certainly did a good job of that” Kimberly said sarcastically.

He wanted to say something back. But then he stared at her and noticed how shaken up she was. And he did something he told himself he wasn’t going to do again. He touched her. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her.