Beautiful Disaster

Part Three

The door to the police station banged as Izzy shoved it aside, which gained several of the officers' attention. If it weren't for the almost naked man behind her, Izzy would have given everyone a bright smile and a few hugs. She was thankful that one of the cops was surprised enough to not have noticed her semi-nude escort.

"Izzy? What are you doing here? Have you finally come to accept one of our proposals?" The cop, Officer Tim, had been one of her best friends since high school. He'd returned to Towdee after college and taken one of the station's vacant positions.

If she hadn't been seeing Peter then, she was sure Tim would've made for a good boyfriend. "Nice try, Tim, but better luck next time."

"Darn. I was sure I'd swept you off your feet last weekend." Tim shot her a comical grin, but it fell flat when his eyes finally spotted Mister Buck-Naked behind her. "Who the heck is that?"

The other cops stared too. It wasn't every day that one of your close female acquaintances brought a guest in his state to the office.

Izzy sighed. "Long story. Just let me talk to Officer Brigley."

Tim hesitated. But the scary, determined look in Izzy's eyes must have drilled some sense of defeat into him. Before long, Tim was opening the door to the back hall where Chief Brigley's office was located.

Izzy marched down the hall with as much dignity as she could muster despite the half-naked man trailing behind her. She finally reached the office and, without knocking, entered its premises. There she spotted the chief, lodged behind a big desk stacked with papers and half-read reports that would take the whole twelve days of Christmas to organize.

The man himself, however, was as neat as a pin. Officer Brigley was graying at the temples, but his built was as solid as it had been in his thirties. In fact, Izzy once saw the chief's picture in a library yearbook and had almost wished she'd been born two decades earlier.

"Officer Brigley?"

The chief glanced up from his work and grinned when he saw the pretty lady standing at his door. "Well if it isn't Isadore Nacino. Come in, come in! You should have told me you were dropping by."

He was about to get up from his seat as a sign of respect, but he stopped cold upon seeing the man behind her. "Who is this?"

Hugh took it as his cue to speak up. He'd been as silent as a clam ever since entering the station because he hadn't wanted to draw too much attention to himself or his state of undress. How she'd convinced him to drive to town in nothing but his undershirt and boxers, he didn't know, but it was better than leaving her stranded in the middle of nowhere.

She was his boss' daughter, after all, even though she didn't know who he was yet. "Hugh Grayson, Sir."

Officer Brigley raised an eyebrow and scrutinized him from head to toe. "Izzy, has Hugh Grayson been bothering you?"

"What? No, no. I—" Izzy stuttered.

"Cause if he is, you know I won't hesitate to take drastic measures."

Hugh blanched when the man said those words. Brigley had a voice that could cut through steel. No wonder he was well respected in Towdee.

Thankfully, Izzy came to his defense. "No! It's just the opposite, Chief. I probably owe him a beer for the favor he's done me."

"Oh really?" The older man didn't look like he believed anything Izzy was saying. "Well, let's sit down and talk about it. But before we do, we better find a towel for Mister Grayson."

Izzy blushed as she helped find something that would give Hugh's body some semblance of cover. She'd never ordered anyone to take their clothes off in the open air and leave them on the street before. If she weren't so mortified, she would have appreciated whatever muscle was in her sight.

But with Officer Brigley prying answers and Hugh Grayson eyeing her with mild amusement, all she could do was duck her head and answer demurely.

"So that's what happened eh?" Brigley said, a little amused.

"Pretty much."

"And what can I do to help you out?"

"For starters, I need a phone. And I wanna catch a ride home."

"A phone?"

Izzy sighed and rubbed her temples. She suddenly felt tired and wanted to get home as soon as possible. "Yeah. Daddy's probably wondering where I am right now."

She sensed Officer Brigley's surprise. She rarely emailed her father and would have probably never called him unless it was the end of the world. "Don't get me wrong. I know I'm not the most grateful daughter in the world, but I don't want anybody dying out of anxiety."

Pretty soon, she was waiting for her father's phone to ring. The other end of the line rang twice before somebody answered it. As always, Mario Nacino was punctual. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Daddy?" Izzy said nervously.

Like a bomb, her father exploded. Izzy winced when he raised his voice over the line. The police station was gonna have a field day spreading the news of her latest shenanigan. "Isa! Where are you?! We've been trying to contact your apartment for the past twenty minutes!"

"Well, I'm at the police station."

Mario delivered his second round of choice words, much to Izzy's chagrin. "Good grief! What have you done this time?"

Yes, father dear, it's all my fault, Izzy thought. "It's nothing like that, Dad. See, my car broke down, so I got out and waited behind some bushes at the side of the road. Then out of nowhere, this man drives up and asks if I need help."

"You accepted help from a stranger?"

Oops. "It's not like I had a choice. It was freezing out there." Izzy knew she was grasping for anything that could calm her father down. She felt like a teenager again, trying to explain her side of the story after she was found kissing up to an older guy who turned out to be a motorcycle thief. "Anyway, I asked him to get me over to Officer Brigley. Now here I am, safe and sound and well out of danger."

There was a lengthy pause. "Hmm. Is your escort still around? I think a proper thank you is in order."

"I'll hand over the phone to him," Izzy complied before passing the phone to Hugh.

He was now not nearly as naked as before, thanks to an old towel wrapped around his hips. One of the officers even lent him a shirt, which he had yet to button over his rock hard—Don't even go there, Izzy scolded herself.

The moment Hugh heard her father's voice, a wide grin spread over his face. Not a trace of fear or apprehension marred that grin, and she found this reaction puzzling. "Hello? Yes, Sir, it's me. Yes, she's fine. Absolutely. Of course."

Before long, Hugh was holding out the phone to her. She had the phone to her ear and was itching to get some answers from Daddy. "Well? Do you know this man?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Mario replied calmly.

This answer didn't satisfy his daughter. "So, can I be in on this little secret?"

"Absolutely. Isa, meet your new bodyguard. The one and only Hugh Grayson."

Izzy turned slowly and eyed Hugh Grayson from top to bottom. Was her father for real? This giant of a man with the wicked smirk and body to match?

"You've got to be kidding..." Boy, was she in for a lot of trouble.

♥

Continued

Please stay tuned for more parts. And please tell a friend if you think they might enjoy this type of story. Thank you for reading!

For anyone confused, the phones they are using in this story are landlines and car phones. For some reason, I decided back then that cellular phones weren't a think in Towdee.