The Author and Her Bodyguard

Chapter 17

I decided to take a page out of Aiden's book. Silent treatment 101. Sanders was officially on my "I'M TOO ANGRY TO TALK TO YOU RIGHT NOW LIST" and I planned on staying silent until I could wrap my head around the betrayal. 

The only thing Sanders had said once she followed me out of the InternationalSisters Studio, was... "Look through the list and just pick one. Better yet, have one of the bodyguards help you. They guard all kinds of people. They may have a good idea of what each boy is like." 

But instead of responding, I just walked faster and climbed into the car that Aiden had opened up for me. Sanders had tried to open the door, but I locked it and after Aiden climbed into the driver's seat, we peeled out of the parking lot. 

I dropped the black folder with the "potential boyfriends list" onto the ground at my feet like it was made of fire. It might as well have been for all the damage it was threatening to do to my personal life. "Okay... so maybe, and apparently my life is like this all the time..."

"I got that impression when we left your agent standing in the parking lot." 

"She has her own ride," I muttered. 

"I know." 

"And I'm surprised you were willing to do that. Isn't she the one paying you?" I crossed my arms and turned to stare at him suddenly amused. "Pretty sure that's frowned upon."

His lips quirked up slightly. "It's not recommended. No."

"And yet you drove off anyway?" My mind began to spin, surprised by the unlogical decision that he made to ditch Sanders when she clearly wasn't done talking to me. "Why?" 

Aiden suddenly looked uncomfortable. "My job is to remove you from situations which could cause you harm."

"And you thought she was going to harm me?" I asked, surprised. 

He paused, hesitating for a moment before continuing. "I knew that being around her was causing you a lot of emotional turmoil."

I bit my lip and looked out the window, self-conscious of his constant gaze. "You're observant."

We pulled up to a stop sign and Aiden turned to look at me. "And you are easy to read."

I really hope he can't read everything. Oh my gosh please be bad at reading some things.

I snorted to cover up my obvious flustered face and waved my hands around in what I hoped was a casual gesture. "Yep. Always been a terrible liar." Then I dropped my hands into my lap and sighed. "And now I'm supposed to be in a fake relationship... and make it look real... this is going to go TERRIBLY." 

This has the potential of being the worst trainwreck of all time...

"Well... we better find you a good acting partner then," Aiden said. "Someone's gonna have to carry your poor acting skills." He motioned to the folder at my feet. "Who's on the list?"

Shuffling the pictures of Tate and Aiden to the back so Aiden wouldn't see, I pulled up the first name on the list. "Decklan Blake," I read aloud. The name was vaguely familiar. I scanned information under his name. "Apparently he's a... photographer and—." 

"Not him." Aiden's tone was dark. A clear warning in his words. But before I could ask him why, Aiden hit speed dial on his phone as placed an airpod in his ear. "Tate, wake up." 

I heard a string of cuss words on the other end of the phone followed by the phrase, "I'm gonna kill you." 

I suppressed a smile. That poor guy is never going to get a normal night— day of sleep.