The Bodyguard (64)

And three: The Corgi Lady apparently saw the photo, lost what was left of her mind, and delivered a basket of stuffed-animal corgi puppies to the doorstep of Jack’s rental house in Houston … with a note tucked inside letting Jack know that she was definitely, without question, going to murder me. In graphic detail.

Glenn, needless to say, was not pleased.

Take a jog to HQ! ASAP! his final text said. Let’s figure this the hell out.

This definitely bumped Jack up to threat level tangerine. Or maybe even persimmon.

It wasn’t a death threat against the principal, but it was a threat against his “girlfriend,” which was close enough. Also, the photos she’d posted included all sorts of revealing clues about Jack’s house that enterprising fans could study. Also, the world now knew that he was back in civilization—which made him fair game.

Before I left Jack’s room, I gave myself a minute to pause at the door and look at him—still fast asleep in the bed where I had also been just minutes before. The guy in that bed was so different from the person all over the internet. From his crooked glasses, to his death-defying tricks on circus horses, to the way he could not land a piece of trash in the can to save his life.

It’s so funny to look back at that moment now: Jack sleeping so peacefully, and me, watching him, still blissed-out from a night in his arms and feeling—without even realizing it—closer to him than I’d maybe ever felt to anyone at all.

I was so confident that we’d handle this new complication like we’d handled everything else.

But sometimes confidence just isn’t quite enough.

Because my fake-yet-somehow-impossibly-true relationship with Jack Stapleton?

It was pretty much already over.



* * *



BACK AT HQ, everything was moving double-time.

Glenn was howling orders, Kelly was collating printouts, Amadi was correcting somebody on the phone. Taylor had called in sick, but Robby was there—and the idea of a death threat against his former woman had thrown him into macho mode.

“You have to take her off the assignment,” he badgered Glenn, as I walked in. “It’s not safe now. She’s a target.”

“Simmer down, Romeo,” Glenn said. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“Damn straight,” I said, closing the door behind me.

Glenn didn’t even glance my way. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, either.”

“I can stay on the case,” I said. “It’s fine.”

“I’m not sure it is fine,” Glenn said, shuffling through a stack of printouts. “These are very specific. This lady has really thought it through.”

“There’s more than one?” I asked. “I thought she just wanted to run me over with her car.”

“She also wants to push you off a roof,” Glenn said. “And electrocute you. And poison you with rat bait.”

“Thorough,” I said, stepping close to Glenn to look over his shoulder.

“Rat bait is no joke,” Robby said, but I ignored him.

“How did she come up with all this in twenty-four hours?” I said. “That photo of me just surfaced.”

“Maybe she had a contingency plan at the ready,” Glenn said, “for any girlfriend that might come along.”

“We’re fine as long as we stay on the ranch,” I said, surprised at how badly I wanted that to be true.

But Glenn was shaking his head. “You’re compromised now. You’re a risk to the client and to yourself.”

“We can minimize those risks if we—”

Glenn cut me off. “If we take you off the gig.”

Robby looked infuriatingly triumphant.

“Look,” I said to Glenn. “I can handle it.”

“But there’s no reason to,” Glenn said. “We have plenty of available agents who can take over.”

“I’ll take over!” Kelly volunteered from her back corner.

“But…” I wasn’t sure what to say. “What will we say to Jack’s parents?”

“Simple,” Glenn said. “It’s time to come clean.”

“About me?” I asked.

“About all of it.”

“You mean”—I said, feeling sparks of panic in my chest but trying so hard to sound like I was just clarifying for my mental file—“I’m going to have to tell them it was all a lie and then just … leave forever?”

“Pretty much,” Robby said with glee.

“Shut up, Robby,” Kelly and I said, in unison.

“I was okay with the deception when the threat level was yellow,” Glenn said. “But now it’s orange for the client, and it’s red for you. If you stay, you’re luring danger—toward yourself and toward them. They need to know what’s going on. Everyone’s safer if you come clean and go.”

I thought about that.

“You don’t want to put the Stapleton family at risk, do you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then it’s settled. You leave tonight.”

Wait! What? “Tonight?”

Glenn looked at me, like This isn’t hard. “Tell them today, then leave tonight. I’ll send Amadi with the car after dinner. And we’ll put an agent at your apartment to keep an eye on you for the next few days.” Glenn turned to check his roster.