Protected (8 page)

I force a smile and stand, ‘of course,
come over to the basin,’ I encourage, automatically.

As I wash the soft hair of Detective Brad
Johnson, my mind whirls with different scenarios, each one spooking me more
than last.

‘Sophie,’ Brad interrupts my thoughts.

‘Yeah?’ I glance down to his handsome
face regarding me, upside down, as he lays back against the shiny white ceramic
sink.

‘Don’t overthink things, this is purely a
precaution,’ his voice is strong, I almost believe him.

‘So, I’m currently under threat?’ I
whisper.

‘Precautionary,’ he announces, with more
feeling.

‘Okay,’ I smile down.

By the end of the day, I had almost
forgotten the consideration that I may be in some danger.  Instead, I have
been inundated with walk in clients, mainly men from the sheriff’s office, and
it has to be said, there are some mighty fine looking men in the Krystal police
department.

********

I am sitting at the reception desk of the
salon, having closed the doors for the day.  I have cashed up my day’s
takings, which although don’t compare to my London salon, aren’t too shabby at
all considering.  I have processed the order for the beauty equipment I
require for my upcoming appointments and am just debating dinner when my mobile
phone rings.

‘Hello,’ I sing into the phone, half
expecting Shauna to reply.  She had recently begun to call me during the
night from London, while she was feeding Emily-Jane.

A deep voice purrs down the phone, ‘I
hear the entire Krystal police department is sporting a new hairstyle.’ Nate.

I smile, ‘you hear right, you feeling a
tad left out?’

‘A tad? Fuck London, you come out with
some expressions,’ he chuckles.

‘You still in Boston,’ I test, my lips
stretching to a smile.

‘Yeah, has to be said, babe, your dad is
a dick,’ he growls.

‘Agreed,’ I sigh, ‘he giving you a hard
time?’

‘Nothing I can’t deal with, so you
putting down roots, London?’ Nate enquires, softly.

It takes me a minute to ascertain he is
referring to me opening Ollie’s salon.  ‘No, although I figured if I’m
staying a while, I may as well earn some cash while I am here.  I didn’t
envisage having to settle my brother's outstanding bills on arrival,’ I mutter,
disappointedly.

‘I’m sorry you got dragged into all this,
babe,’ Nate purrs.

‘You have to take the bad with the good
in families, I guess,’ I sigh.

‘Had much good?’ Nate probes.

I contemplate his question for a few
seconds, ‘Yeah, Ollie and I had a good time last summer, and waiting for his
weekly calls made me somehow believe I belonged somewhere.’ Embarrassment flows
to my cheeks at my candidness; this wasn’t me, I didn’t confide in virtual
strangers, even if we did share bodily fluids.  ‘Sorry,’ I brighten, ‘I’m
not normally such an over-sharer.’

‘Hey, you share away,’ he encourages, kindly.

‘You have a lovely phone voice,’ I flirt,
as his tone sends tremors through my body, bringing to the fore memories of our
shared night together. 

‘Yeah,’ his voice drops to an even lower
tone, ‘where are you?’

‘In the salon,’ I smile.

‘Maybe I’ll call back later when you are
in bed,’ his voice is gravelly, and I feel a stirring between my legs.

‘Maybe you should,’ I advise him gently.

‘Jesus, fuck!’ he growls, and I giggle.

‘Brad, popped by today,’ I guess he
already knows this, but I am attempting to change the subject, to prevent me from
having a spontaneous orgasm on the spot.

‘Yeah, you okay with everything?’ His
tone alters to one of concern.

‘I guess so. I can’t say I’m not
altogether slightly panicked,’ I confess.

‘There’s nothing to panic over, I'm just
being over-cautious,’ he relays, seriously. 

‘You think they are going to come after
me, for payment?’ I voice the fear that had crashed through my imagination the
moment Brad had informed me I would be under the protection of the police
department.

‘No, Sophie.  If the motive were
money owed, the debt would have been wiped on Ollie’s death,’ he updates
me.  ‘Maybe I want you safe, so that the images that are currently
flashing through my mind, can be made a reality.’

‘The images?’ I whisper, my body covering
with goosebumps.

‘Oh yeah,’ he breathes.  ‘All the
different ways I want to fuck you,’ he growls, ‘and London, there are a lot of
ways I want to fuck you.’

‘Yeah?’ I tease.

‘Fuck, yeah!’ I hear so much promise in his
words that my stomach flip-flops at the vision.

‘I thought we decided, we were going to
keep things cool,’ I remind him. 

On the drive to the airport a few days
ago, Nate had expressed that it would be easier, for the investigation, if no
one was aware of our intimacy.  For an instance, ice ran through my veins,
at the probability of being just a convenient fuck.  As if he sensed the
drop in temperature within the car, he had turned to me and informed me, in no
uncertain terms, that it was temporary and was intended purely for him to
continue with the investigation.   I had nodded, as I gazed casually
out of the window, and informed him that it was no big deal as I would be going
home to London when the investigation had reached its conclusion, anyhow. 
He had then pulled into a parking space and kissed the living daylights out of
me, before returning his attention to the road.

‘I don’t remember agreeing to cooling
things,’ his voice holds an edge.

‘Nate, we agreed that no one could know
about the other night, a conflict of interest, remember?’ I respond dryly.

‘I never agreed to cool things,’ he
repeats, stubbornly.

‘Semantics!’ I sigh.

‘I’ll be back in Krystal on Wednesday,’
he announces, ‘in the meantime, don’t over think, but stay alerted, yeah?’

‘Yeah,’ that unease I first experienced
at Brad’s explanation of why I was on the police department's radar, reappears.

‘Detective Johnson,’ Nate states.

‘Detective Johnson?’ I echo, confusedly.

‘I got to worry about Detective Johnson?’
he asks, gently, ‘or
Brad
?’ He over-emphasizes his Christian name.

‘He told me to call him, Brad,’ I
argue.  ‘You are so jealous,’ I grin down the phone.

‘Baby
never
experienced jealousy in my life, I have, however, recently experienced the best
fuck of my life.  Don't want anyone else experiencing that, you get me?’
The command in his voice sends fire through my veins.

‘The best fuck of your life?’ I repeat,
dumbly.

‘Wasn’t it for you?’ He tests, ‘Because,
London, if there’s more, I have to tell you, don’t know if I’ll survive it.’

‘Jesus, fuck!’ I whisper, Nate laughs,
and he laughs loud.

I grin, huge.

‘Got to go, beautiful,’ he purrs when the
loud booming sound of his laughter subsides.  ‘Wednesday.  Don’t make
any plans; you’re mine.’

My insides tumble at his possessive
demand.  ‘I’ll see what I can do,’ I answer, breathily.

‘Make it happen, London,’ then he is
gone.

********

The following morning, I wake early and
take a walk up to Ellie’s to have breakfast with her before the salon
opens.  I hug her hard, thanking her for sending her girls in to make appointments,
and she waves me away stating she would be in today for a cut and blow dry and
for me to let her know a convenient time.  She also expressed how she
wasn’t doing me any favours and her girls are fed up with having to drive into
the next town to have their pampering sessions.

The day is busy; evidently the word has
circulated that I am open for business and people walk in throughout the day to
either make an appointment or to sit and wait for a slot.  A few of the
clients are curious to meet me and ask about Ollie, others just genuinely want
a haircut. 

I notice the police vehicles drive by the
salon, and Brad pops in on a couple of occasions for a coffee and a chat, but
all their appearance does is remind me that someone, probably Nate, thinks that
there could be severe consequences to Ollie’s former behaviour.

It’s as I am finishing blow drying
Ellie’s hair out, later that afternoon, something occurs to me.  I turn
off the hairdryer and Ellie questioning eyes meet mine in the mirror. 

‘I keep meaning to ask about Simon,’ I
frown.  Every time he appears in my mind, I seem to be alone and unable to
ask someone.

‘Simon?’ Ellie asks.

‘Yeah, where does he fit into all this?’
I tease Ellie’s dark hair and reach for the hairspray, ‘where did he disappear
to? No one seems to know, but at the same time, no one seems to care? 
Doesn’t he have family, people that are worried about him?’ I glance at Ellie’s
impassive expression.  ‘Why don’t you like him?’

‘He was a weasel,’ she twists her lips in
disgust.  ‘He emerged out of nowhere and changed Ollie overnight,’ she
concludes.  ‘No one cares, because no one cares, Sophie.  The guy was
trouble with a capital T.’

‘Why did Ollie allow himself to be so
easily led?’ I ask, confused.  Ollie never gave me the impression he was
naive.

‘Love will do that to you,’ she smiles,
ironically.

‘Love?’ I gasp.

‘Yeah,’ Ellie frowns, ‘you know Simon was
Ollie’s boyfriend, right?’

I drop my hand from her hair, ‘Ollie was
gay?’ I state, blandly.

‘You didn’t know your brother was gay?’
Ellie’s eyebrows hit her hairline.

‘Why didn’t he tell me?’ I ask, disappointment
searing through me, ‘why didn’t he tell me?’ I repeat, attempting to make sense
of my brother’s secret life.  ‘I don’t judge, it makes no difference to
me,’ I mutter, my inside tightening with discontent.

‘I’m sorry, doll,’ Ellie turns in her
chair.  ‘I thought you knew,’ she explains.

‘Well, I feel like a prize idiot,’ I
exhale a breath.  ‘What kind of sister am I, I didn’t even know my brother
was gay?’

‘Honey,’ Ellie soothes, ‘don’t beat up on
yourself, Ollie was battling something deeper than being gay; drug addiction is
all encompassing.’

‘How do you know?’ I ask confusedly, my
mind flickering with people’s responses to Simon when I had asked. Everyone
knew he was Ollie’s boyfriend, everyone but me.

A darkness enters her gaze, ‘my high
school boyfriend overdosed the night of our prom,’ she murmurs, quietly.

‘Ellie,’ I hum, ‘I’m so sorry.’ I take a
deep breath, ‘fuck, what am I doing here?’ I question. ‘I fly half way around
the world to be supportive to my only sibling, even in death, to find out I
knew absolutely nothing about him!’ 

‘This isn’t personal to you, Soph,’ Ellie
stands and embraces me tightly.  ‘This isn’t a reflection on you, this is
all on Ollie,’ she states.  ‘You are the best sister anyone could be and
he was lucky to have you.’

‘No,’ I step out of Ellie’s embrace,
feeling decidedly foolish. ‘I’m not, my life’s one big fuck up.’

‘Come on Soph,’ Ellie calls gently.

‘I’ll be fine, I just need to get my head
around it,’ I assure her, moving to the broom set in the corner.

‘I know you will,’ she smiles,
affectionately. ‘I love the hair, what do I owe you?’ She reaches for her
purse.

‘Nothing,’ I shake my head, adamantly.

‘Oh, no!’ she begins.

‘That one was a welcome to Ollie’s, the
next one is on you,’ I recite her words of that first meal I ate in the diner.

She grins, ‘Thanks, doll, you sure you’re
okay?’ She checks. I assure her I will be fine, and she departs the salon,
leaving me to deal with my emotions alone.

********

I lay awake for hours debating on whether
to cut and run, or stay and face the fact that my brother showed me a side of
himself that may not have been entirely genuine.  I feel betrayed by him
concealing the reality of his life.  He could have come to me; I would
have helped find him a rehab placement, helped him get his life back on
track.  The truth was, he didn’t trust me enough.

Nate calling
! My screen flashes at just after six, the following morning. 

I had stumbled out of bed an hour ago
concluding that nothing was being achieved by me laying in the bed tossing and
turning. I had gone for a run to try to clear my mind, it hadn’t worked, but it
felt good to have a workout.

‘Hey!’ I call, softly.

‘Hey babe,’ my stomach somersaults at the
endearment.

‘Everything okay?’ I test.

‘Just going to ask you the same. 
Ellie called, said you were upset yesterday,’ he confides, ‘I didn’t know you
were in the dark about Ollie and Simon,’ he confesses.

‘It’s pretty poor that I know zero about
my brother, right?’ I sigh.

‘London,’ he hums.

‘No, it’s okay,’ I swallow the lump in my
throat.  ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here, Nate,’ I admit.

‘You are doing the right thing by your
brother, Sophie,’ he notifies me.

‘That’s what I intended to do when I came
here but now, I’m not so sure. Maybe it’s time to give up and go home.’

‘Don’t you want to know why what
happened, happened?’ He asked, his voice tight.  Why the hell was he
pissed?

‘It looks as if my brother living beyond
his means was a prize contributor,’ I scoff, ‘Oh, and his heavy drug habit.’ I
answer, sardonically.

I hear Nate exhale a deep breath, ‘don’t
make any knee-jerk decisions, Sophie,’ he warns. 

‘I’m not,’ I contend. The line remains
silent for a beat, something unpleasant seemingly hanging between us.

‘I take it you’ll be there when I get
back tonight?’ he finally asks, offhand.