Her Bodyguard

Chapter Twenty

Calida sighed. "I'm not a big talker. You must have noticed that. But you need to know. The men who want you dead are in the mafia. They're trying to branch out into the States, and I've been tailing them since I was a teenager. I knew they were coming for you. It isn't just about the human trafficking your friend witnessed."

"Human trafficking? Hold on, mafia? What the hell?" Izar asked.

"You'll have to pay attention to everything I tell you. Pay attention. I shouldn't tell you anything, but you're persistent." Calida said, almost as if she was irritated by that persistence.

"Okay. I'll pay attention." Izar grumbled.

"Some things are hard to grasp. And I feel like you know what I'm talking about. You're not all that ignorant. You're a smart woman. You knew your daddy had connections with the mafia. You both fought before you left for college because he wouldn't let you attend a public school. You forced him to let you go. You wanted nothing to do with it. Don't worry. Your daddy's hands are clean. I knew when you would need a bodyguard, so I was ready and waiting."

Izar frowned. Had Calida been stalking her? Why would she even do that?

"I know what you're thinking," Calida said, still irritated. "But I wasn't stalking you or anything. I just wanted to keep an eye on the mafia family I have personal issues with. And you just happened to be there. Han can't afford me, nor can your friend in the hospital. After you started receiving threats, your father made a long-awaited call to the agency, and before anyone could be selected, I took the job. There was nothing I couldn't handle, and I just had to put up with a spoilt brat."

Izar rolled her eyes, "of course. You think I'm a spoilt brat. And wait, I was just a pawn or something?"

"You can't fault me for that, and I never used you as a pawn or a means to an end," Calida said. "You've had everything you ever needed to be handed to you. That qualifies you as a spoilt brat."

"I'm not. Besides, what personal issues do you have with the mafia?" She asked Calida.

A hint of pain, sadness, and anger flashed through Calida's eyes before disappearing in a second. The emptiness returned.

"I can't tell you about my issues, not yet. But years ago, when I was eight, I moved from home. They'd already destroyed everything by then. I ran to a safe place, to a friend. I began training at a young age. I was trained like a commando. Night and day until I became steel, unfeeling. I had to be logical, fast, and extremely intelligent. I passed every test, and at sixteen, I was sent to do my first job. I was placed in a program at your university..."

"Hold on. Is that how you know Professor Gina? Did you...?" Izar asked, a look of jealousy on her face as she stared at Calida.

Calida could read her like a book and wondered why she would be jealous. She pretended not to notice it or to hear her question.

"Well, because of how good I was, I was moved to the organization's headquarters in the States. I needed a degree, so I took night classes in high school. At the same time, I worked undercover for years, protecting students while also attending your university and bursting crime organizations on my own. By the third year, I met Gina. She was a student then. But it was too late, and I couldn't get personal with anyone. So, I left school and never looked back. Not until I was given a go-ahead order a few months ago." Calida said, ending her story.

Izar just stared at her. Calida knew that out of everything that she'd just told her, Izar would latch unto one thing.

"So you didn't date Gina then?" She asked the woman in front of her.

"You have a habit of asking the wrong questions. No, we didn't. We had something, but as I said, it wasn't enough," Calida answered.

"Oh. Okay, great...but it seems like Gina might still have something for you. I mean, she..." Izar said, stumbling over her words.

Calida wanted to assure her, but she didn't know why. What would she be assuring her about? What relationship did they share? Bodyguard and the girl she was meant to protect. That was all the relationship they shared. Nothing more.

She looked forward, away from Izar. There was a lot she hadn't told the more petite woman. She remembered the screams, the voice that asked her to take the boy and leave. But she had buried all of it deep in her heart. She had no intention of digging it out until the time was right.

"If Gina still has anything for me, she might have to bury it or do away with it. I'm not wired for that sort of thing. If it didn't work while I was eighteen, it wouldn't work now. Do you understand me?" Calida asked.

It was almost like she was reassuring Izar like she was telling her that nothing could ever happen between her and Gina, even though something had happened. And Izar's eyes were filled with the curiosity Calida hoped her reassurance would quell. She sucked at this.

"But you did have something with her. Something happened and...and I want to know. Tell me?" Izar asked.

There was no escaping this for Calida. "We went out partying one night and got drunk. She kissed me, and we ended up together in bed. I took the liberty of explaining to her that it would never happen again, and it never did."

With that, Calida got up and started walking away. She didn't wince or show any form of pain. She didn't seem like someone who had been stabbed at all.

"Are you going back to bed?" Izar asked her, still sitting on the couch.

"No. I'm going to make us something for dinner," Calida responded.

"You just dropped a bomb here, and you're going to make our food? Wow." Izar said. "Last time I checked, you're hunting the Mafia but making it look like they're hunting you instead because you work for me or something like that, and you have unfinished business with them. But dinner's more important."

"What else? If I want to stay alive and fight them, I better eat, right? I don't think anyone has won a battle on an empty stomach before." Calida said.

She continued walking to the kitchen, ignoring the eyes that were locked on her back. She didn't want to stay so she wouldn't have to acknowledge the hurt in Izar's eyes. Why would she even be hurt in the first place?

Izar watched Calida disappear into the kitchen. What was wrong with her? Why was she suddenly overcome with jealousy? When her boyfriend cheated on her a while back, she hadn't felt this jealous. She had never felt jealous of any of the girls who had dated her ex-boyfriends in the past. But here she was, annoyed at the fact that Professor Gina and Calida had done something, even though they hadn't been an item.

She kept having imaginations, Calida's exquisite Greek god body pressed against Professor Gina. The image made her hot with fury, and at the same time, it sent pleasant thrills down to the center of her core. Her whole being was on fire, and it didn't help that she had seen Calida half-naked before.

Izar immediately got up. A cold shower would do. She would shower right before dinner. She left the sitting room, heading for the room she had picked. She hurriedly got in the shower and let the cold water calm her hot body. Only then did she calm down. How long would she carry on like this? Calida was driving her crazy and without knowing too.

She dried herself with a towel and pulled on clean clothes, glad that she had gotten time to pack. When she left the room, Calida had made a sandwich for both of them with a fresh glass of juice. They ate quietly, but Izar didn't stop stealing glances at her. She took small bites of her food, absentmindedly.

Izar was losing herself and she knew it.