The Bodyguard

Chapter 38

I hate Puerto Rico. We have been here for three months now and the heat is killing me. Before Puerto Rico we were in Patras, Managua, Barcelona, Zagreb, San Diego and Lyon. Blue and I have been traveling around the world for almost a year now and it was really fun, it still is but not today.

He hit my fore head with his stick and I fell. A sharp pain went through my body and I didn't need a mirror to know that I was bleeding. Again.

"You're not concentrated today" Blue hissed as he whipped off some sweat off his face. His shirt was drenched in sweat and he was clearly exhausted.

We had been training with sticks for an hour now and before that he let me attack him without success for two straight hours.

"I am" I assured him as I got up and picked my stick up.

"No you're not. Tell me what it is, little one" he raised his stick and let it quickly sweep down at me but I blocked him.

My body was aching and I didn't feel like training today at all. I just wanted to go to bed, fall asleep and never wake up again.

"As I said. Everything is alright, bubba" I hissed as I attacked him. He turned his stick without any effort and blocked me. I tumbled forward and fell on my knees.

The air was stuffy, it was hot, I was thirsty, tired, out of breath, not in a good mood, my body hurt and Blue was hella annoying.

"I don't believe you. Tell me" he took my stick away and threw both of them away. A loud bang chimed as they hit the railing of the balcony we were training on.

"No."

He pulled me up and held a bottle of water to my face. When I reached for it he pulled it away, of course.

Asshole!

"Pina!" He said in a warning tone and that got me good.

Four months ago he accidentally called me that when we were in Zagreb arguing over who gets the last Pita. I completely freaked out and had a breakdown in the middle of the bakery.

"Don't call me that!" I felt my view blur and my eyes filled up with tears.

He gave me the bottle and stared at me worried as I drank almost everything at once.

"What happened?" He asked seriously. Oh, how I wanted to vanish right now!

I sat down and closed my eyes as I rested my head on my knees for a second. My body was going crazy right now. I feared that I might faint.

"It's the 26.6, my mother's birthday" I replied with a cracking voice.

Exactly one year ago my mom, my dad and I couldn't spend her birthday together. I remember calling her and telling her that I wouldn't come. I had a lot of exams so I decided to visit them spontaneously after the exams. Unfortunately the worst year of my life started that day and now she's dead.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He sat next to me and put his arm around me.

Usually I would have made a comment about how disgusting he was because he was covered in sweat but not today. Today everything is different.

"Why? So you can pity me? No, thank you! I don't need that" he scoffed and threw my empty bottle away from me.

He wanted to say something but quickly closed his mouth again. I was right. He pitied me.

"You know, when I was six my mother slid her throat right in front of my eyes" he suddenly broke the silence after a few minutes.

I looked at him with my eyes widened. Blue rarely talked about his past. Venus and the NSJP were a pretty complicated topic but his family was no topic at all. He didn't talk about them and I knew that I shouldn't ask.

"My father had cheated on her and then she killed herself. After her death he started drinking and beating me regularly. And then one day I fought him back. I was twelve and when I realized what I had done I ran to the police to turn myself in. That's when the NSJP discovered me" he continued in a weird tone. It was like he was more talking to himself than to me.

"I am sorry for that" I wiped my tears away.

"That's not why I told you that. Everyone has his cross to carry and you are so lucky that yours is the death of a mother who loved you more than anything else in the world. Because that's not self-evident" he smiled sweetly and pushed me playfully making me laugh for some reason.