The British Prince

28 | Fired

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

~ Focus on the step in front of you, not the whole staircase ~

~~~~~

Nicolas

So much had been happening recently. My sister coming out. Mary being the one sending me those notes. Elena confessing her serious issues. Feelings I was having towards some of the girls.

As I was coming down the corridor there was a guard who jogged over to me as if he wanted to talk. He looked young, probably only just older than me, with dark hair and a serious expression.

He bowed and paused, "Can I speak with you sir?"

I nod and continue walking, motioning for him to follow beside me.

"Your highness, I'm sorry for taking away some of your time, but I wanted to address something with you." He says, sounding nervous.

"Go ahead."

"Well it's about one of the other guards, and believe me, I wouldn't bring it up if I didn't think it was a concern."

He hesitates and I become more worried.

"Continue." I encourage him.

"He, this guard, keeps speaking highly inappropriately about some of the selected girls. He's been playing off his intentions as a joke but I wouldn't doubt he would act upon it. I only say this because I worry for the girls, as he talks about what he's going to..uh..do to them."

My brows furrow and I stop walking, looking at the Officer and see he's telling nothing but the truth. I'm shocked by this, yet I know I have to deal with it right away.

I look at the man's badge, Officer Riles. I made a mental note to remember he was a good man.

"Thank you for coming to me with this. Which officer is it?" I ask.

"Officer Andrew Gale. A lot of people refer to him as Andy."

"Ok. And do you know his whereabouts at the moment?"

The man thinks for a moment, "He would be on rotating shifts. It also might be his break so he could be in the training room."

"Alright. Thank you Officer Riles. I will deal with this right away."

The man nods, but his lips are in a thin line as he is assumably still worrying about the issue at hand.

~~~~~

Officer Andrew I find in the training room, which fires off alarm bells as I see him luring around a group of the selected.

Molly, Jessica, Willow, Mary and Samantha surround him as he's chatting animatedly, with a look on his face that makes me grind my teeth.

Officer Riles was right, Andrew appears to be uninterested in anything but eyeing the girls up. It makes me feel gross.

I quickly step into the situation to stop it, "Ladies, Officer."

I butt into the conversation and the heads turn my way as I announce my presence.

I'm greeted with varieties of 'hello' and 'your highness'.

Officer Andrew sees me and raises an eyebrow, and I glare until he decides to bow. I see the official badge with his name pinned to his chest and have to restrain from ripping it off him. If other officers had heard him talking about his intentions, and now here he was, I didn't think much good would come from it.