Tear Down These Walls (5 page)

“What?” Trent retorts.

“Your name is Kellen Grayson?” Teagan squeaks.

“Yeah,” he replies, cocking his head to the side.  She brings her
hand up to her face. Teagan doesn’t even know what to say. Trent steps up to
her. “Teagan, are you okay?”

“No, it’s just…..” Teagan starts. “I don’t even know how to say this, but
I guess you can say I knew a Kellen Grayson.”

Trent looks surprised. “Seriously?”

“Uh huh,” Teagan replies in shock. Her hands are shaking, and she shoves
them into her pants pockets to make them stop.

“How utterly…..weird,” Trent quips. “Where was he from?”

My head,
Teagan thinks to herself. “Chicago,” she replies,
 not even caring that she isn’t telling him the truth.

“That is so odd. I don’t have any family there,” Trent responds. “From
the look on your face, this Kellen wasn’t a good guy.”

“No…..” Teagan whispers. “He was a great guy.”

“Ah,” Trent replies. “You had feelings for him.”

Teagan vigorously shakes her head, “Not like that, not in a romantic
sense.”

“So, I guess you won’t ever call me Kellen then,” he chuckles.

“No,” Teagan replies. “If you wanted me to call you Kellen I would.”

Smirking, he says, “I think you should call me Kellen.”

“What? Why?” Teagan squeaks.

“Because, I think it’s funny,” he laughs “Two Kellen Graysons, go figure.
Do we look alike?”

Gulping, Teagan looks at him carefully and realizes he fits the
description to a T.  “Yes,” she answers. “You do look alike.”

“Do you have a picture?” He inquires thoughtfully.  Teagan shakes
her head.  “Hmmm. Well, at least he left a good impression.”

“He did,” Teagan quietly agrees.

“Well, you may call me whatever you want,” he states seriously, crossing
his arms again.

“Trent….I would prefer to call you Trent.  Kellen would be too
weird….way too weird,” Teagan stutters.

“There are only a select few that call me Kellen anyway, family mostly,”
he declares.  “So, you can call me Trent. Everyone else does.”

“Okay,” Teagan agrees. She still feels a little flustered by all of this,
but she is amazed at how comfortable she is with him all of a sudden. She can’t
wait to tell Victoria; she will flip.

“So, are we still doing lunch?” Trent asks. Teagan nods. “Well then,
after you.” He opens the front door for her. Teagan steps outside into the
warming sunshine, and Trent follows. “We can take my truck,” Trent suggests,
sliding on sunglasses and gesturing to the parking lot on the side of the
building. They walk over, and Trent hits the button to unlock the doors. The
truck is new, black and huge.

Teagan giggles, “Wow, ummm, you know what they say about guys with big
trucks, right?”

Trent stops dead in his tracks and looks at her. “Did you really just say
that?”

She tries to keep a straight face, but a smile breaks through anyway.
“Yeah, sorry, I kind of have a smart mouth sometimes. It is probably what got
me into trouble last night.”

“Listen, what happened last night was not your fault. That shouldn’t have
happened to you, just because you cocked off to some guy in a bar who was being
inappropriate,” Trent states seriously.

Shrugging her shoulders, Teagan says, “I guess.”

“There is no guessing,” Trent replies. “It’s true. If you want to say
snarky comments, say snarky comments.”

“So, the whole compensating for your inadequacies thing, that’s all
right?” Teagan quips with a grin.

A serious look passes over Trent’s face and he responds, “Baby, there is
nothing inadequate about me. My truck is a symbol for me: strong, serious, and
BIG.” Teagan’s jaw drops to the ground; she suddenly is at a loss for words.
She never fails with a comeback. Trent smiles and says, “No smart mouth comment
to that now, huh? Get in.” He walks around to the driver’s side door. She
nervously climbs in the passenger side door and sits down. The smell of Armor
All floods her nose as she notices that the floormats look professionally
cleaned. The dashboard shines, and the chrome is polished to perfection. The
interior is spotless; not even a fleck of lint has a chance of surviving on
these seats. She is almost afraid to sit down on the seat, afraid of messing
anything up in his truck. He obviously takes immaculate care of things, she
notes. Apparently, his clean and tidy rule applies to more than just his
office. Trent turns and looks at her. “Did I overstep my bounds there?”

Teagan shakes her head and laughs. “No, that was awesome! Most of the
time people don’t have comebacks for me.”

“Well then, maybe you have met your match. I have a very smart mouth,
too.” He starts his truck.  “Where are we going?”

“Wherever you want to,” Teagan replies. “I don’t know this side of town
as well.”

“There is a little mom and pop diner about a mile from here. They have
good food and a quiet atmosphere. I say we go there.”

“Sounds good to me,” Teagan agrees. Trent nods and starts to back the
truck up.  Teagan stares at him as he drives. She can’t get over how
good-looking he is, but maybe it’s just because he looks exactly how she
imagined her book character.  She sighs. “So, how old are you?”

“25,” Trent replies. “And yourself?”

“21,” Teagan answers. “You’re awfully young to own your own security
business.”

“I don’t think age has anything to do with it,” Trent says. “I have
always been in martial arts since I was a kid. My uncle did security work. I
guess you could say I was his apprentice.”

“Are you married?” Teagan asks.

Trent looks at her out of the corner of his eye. “Why are you asking?”

She shrugs, “Just making conversation, I guess.”

“No, I’m not married. I am single right now if you must know.” Teagan
nods. “What about you?”

Teagan laughs lightly. “I haven’t had a serious boyfriend since I came
here.” She gets quiet and looks out the window.

“Why?” Trent inquires.

“Nosey much?” Teagan giggles.

Shaking his head, Trent says, “No, I apologize. I am used to asking a
million questions about people.”

“You have to ask a million questions about people; it’s your job. I’m
just nosey,” Teagan smiles. “The boyfriend I had right before I came here
burned me pretty bad. I guess you could say I have trust issues. Also, I
haven’t met a guy that made me even think about dating seriously. I go on
dates, but they have all been pretty blah by the fifth date.”

“I have that same problem,” Trent sighs. “I find girls very vapid and
quite boring actually.”

“Well, if I come across a non-vapid girl, I will send her your way,”
Teagan replies.

“Umm, thanks,” Trent laughs. “So, where are you from originally?”

“Michigan,” Teagan replies. “A little town about an hour away from
Detroit. What about you? Did you grow up here?”

“No,” Trent replies. “I grew up in LA.”

“More call for security there, huh? What brought you here?” Teagan asks.

Trent is quiet and then says, “Personal reasons. We do branch out
security across the whole state though.”

“Seriously?” Teagan squeaks.

“Mmhmmm. I have about fifty employees.”

“I just….really….you have such a small office,” Teagan notes.

He turns and looks at her. “Are you trying to suggest something?”

“No!  I just….fifty employees?”

“We have offices throughout the state,” Trench declares seriously. “This
is just our home office.”

“I see,” Teagan whispers. “Make good money doing it?”

Trent raises an eyebrow, “Why, are you a gold digger?”

“Yes,” Teagan laughs. “How did you guess?” She shakes her head. “No, I’m
just curious.” She is definitely getting more comfortable, and something about
him completely disarms her as she notes the ease in their conversation.

“Yeah, I make a lot of money doing what I do,” Trent replies. “I try to
hide that from girls. They get all stupid about money.”

“Well, I have never cared about that. I’m not a materialistic person, at
all. If I buy new things, I make sure my old things are donated for a good
cause. So, you don’t have to worry about me robbing you blind.”

“I wouldn’t let you anyway,” Trent retorts with a smile.

“Controlling in a relationship?”

“God no!” Trent exclaims. “About my finances and the safety of my
girlfriend, sure, but other than that, not at all.”

“Oh, bummer, I like a strong man,” Teagan sighs dramatically.

“I am strong, sweetheart,” Trent declares with emphasis. “Just in all the
right areas.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Smirking, Trent looks at her. “Are you trying to hit on me?”

“Oh honey, you would know if I was hitting on you,” Teagan tosses her hair,
with an even bigger smile.

“Well, you are gorgeous,” Trent states. “It’s been a while since a hot
girl has hit on me.”

“Really?” Teagan asks, gulping hard. “You’re just as gorgeous and built
like a Greek god.  How are girls not fawning all over you?”

He shrugs, “I can be very serious and intimidating.”

“I don’t find you intimidating.”

“That’s because I saved your ass.”

Teagan leans closer to him and covers her heart, “My hero.” She bats her
eyelashes as Trent chuckles and shakes his head. “No seriously,” Teagan
whispers, sitting back up. “You are my savior.”

“You’re putting me on a pedestal,” Trent mutters. “I just happened to be
in the right place at the right time.”

“And I thank God for that,” Teagan exhales. “I have never been so scared
in my entire life. You know, you hear accounts of stuff like that and think,
HOW HORRIBLE, and then it happens, and you never realize how terrifying it
really is.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to you before he hit you. If I had known he left
a mark, I would have left a bigger one on his face,” Trent grips the steering
wheel a little tighter.

Teagan laughs. “Oh, I think you did plenty to his face when you slammed
him into the tree. There was blood everywhere.”

“Nose bleeds are messy,” Trent sighs. “I probably just broke it.”

“No, no, no, he had a HUGE gash on his forehead. The EMTs were holding
compression on there and everything. I saw him, and he started yelling shit at
me, so I yelled back. Then I got a stern look from the officer.”

“I can guarantee his friend is going to need surgery to fix that arm,”
Trent chuckles.  “I got a little heat from the cops for that.”

“I never even got a good look at the guy behind me. I will never forget
Harry’s face,” Teagan whispers, as a cold shiver runs through her.

Trent turns and looks at her. “His name is Harry Colt. His friend’s name
is Jarrod Mertz.”

“How do you know that?” Teagan asks.

“It’s my job to find these things out. They are both in jail right now.”

Teagan frowns. “I hope they stay there.”

“A judge will set a bond, so they may be released, but I wouldn’t worry
about them.  I think they learned their lessons.”

“Well, you are going to teach me to kick ass anyway,” Teagan sighs
happily. “And I have pepper spray now. I will show them a thing or two.” She
mocks a karate chop in the air.

Laughing, Trent says, “Let’s get you to the first class before you start
jumping into fist fights.”

“You know, I won’t have to get into fist fights now,” Teagan chirps. “I
can hire you to go kick people’s asses.”

“I am not a goon for hire.”

“Not even if I flirt and bat my eyelashes…?” Her voice lifts at the end
sweetly.

“No,” Trent replies. “Sorry.”

She crosses her arms and looks at him. “Well, what fun is it to know a
bad ass body guard if you can’t use him once in a while.”

“We have known each other for less than 30 minutes. Are we that close
already?”

Teagan brings her finger up, “Good point.”

“I thought so,” Trent counters.  “The restaurant is right here. We
can talk more about you barking orders at me when we sit down to eat.”

“Oooo,” Teagan teases. “I get to bark orders! How much will that cost
me?”

“More than just lunch,” Trent says, as he closes his door. Teagan does
the same and follows him to the restaurant. He opens the door for her, and they
walk inside. It really is a diner. The red and black checked floor meets the
black and white tiled walls and squeaks under their feet. Pictures of 1950s
music and movie stars are scattered along the walls between old records and
photos of people eating at the diner. She can hear music coming from the
little, old-fashioned jukebox in the corner. Teagan loves it right away. “Pick
where you want to sit,” Trent suggests.

Nudging her head, Teagan turns to the right and walks down to a booth.
She slides in on one side, the black leather of the seat conforms to her body,
and Trent gets in on the other. They sit there and stare at each other for a
second. “So,” Teagan starts. “What’s good here?”

“Their breakfast food,” Trent replies, pulling out a menu next to the
napkins in their shiny, silver dispenser. He slides it across the white
tabletop to her.

“Thanks,” Teagan says quietly. She opens up the menu and looks at it. “Oh
yeah, they have chocolate chip pancakes. I know what I’m getting.”

“You decide that quickly?” Trent laughs.

“They are chocolate chips pancakes. There is no other choice,” Teagan
shuts the menu. “And bacon, must have bacon.”

“So, you’re definitely are not one of those girls that starves themselves
in front of guys.”

Scoffing, Teagan says, “Hell no, what’s the point? If a guy doesn’t like
you because you actually eat food, then he needs to be out on the curb.”

“I totally agree,” Trent replies.

“So, since you are all buff and have to live by your own set of
rules
,
do you only eat healthy food? Like egg white omelets and steamed veggies?” She
pretends to gag.

Trent grins, “No, I exercise every day. I figure I have free reign then.”

“What do you do for exercise?”