The Bodyguard: A BWWM Bad Body Romance(13)
When Juliet elbowed him unceremoniously in the back of his head, he gave her thigh a sharp squeeze that drew a low gasp from her. Though she had generous curves, she was a tiny thing, so it was no great trial getting her up the front steps to the cabin. When he reached the front door, however, Hank fumbled for the keys for a moment. He could have sworn he put them in his pocket when Simmons handed them over this morning…
“Lost something already?” Juliet’s caustic question made him growl lowly. They hadn’t even gotten inside yet and he was contemplating dumping her.
“You’d make it a lot easier to protect you if you shut up.”
Juliet scoffed. “And you’d be an expert on the strong and silent act, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t be the first I’d met.”
Hank found the key to jam into the lock and turn so hard he almost snapped it off. “You can’t be lumping me in with Solomon. I have it on good authority that he never shuts his mouth. One would think you might like a little peace and quiet after all that.”
“Anything is preferable to being under Solomon’s thumb,” Juliet retorted flatly. “Even dealing with assholes who bear unreasonable grudges.”
That was Hanks cue to dump her in the first armchair he could find. The safehouse was a small one - two tiny bedrooms, a small kitchen and one and a half baths. Just the right size for he and Juliet to drive one another crazy. “I assure you,” He returned, leaning her crutch against a nearby wall. “My grudge is entirely justified.” He checked out the kitchen and small expanse of the living room. There was cable and wifi, at least. He could tune her out with broadcast stupidity, if need be.
“You don’t know me,” Juliet countered, her voice carrying down the hallway. “And considering we’re supposed to be colluding here, you could at least try to be polite.”
At that, Hank snorted. Juliet had thrown out all chance of him being cordial when she’d started flinging accusations in the hospital. “I don’t know you personally,” he agreed, wincing at the minute size of the bathroom as he poked his head in. “But I do know that you’ve been among the Aguilers for probably longer than anyone else has without ending up dead or missing. That tells me at least one thing.”
“And what’s that?” By that point, she had hobbled into the hall to confront him, her expression incensed.
“You think like them.” Juliet’s eyes widened. “Which means I need to be careful.”
“You, you-” Before she could come up with a worthy insult, Hank claimed the bigger of the bedrooms.
“Call me when you’re hungry.” There were few things he’d found more satisfying than shutting the door in her face. Simmons, he knew, wouldn’t be happy with his treatment of their star witness but Hank could give a flying fuck. This girl wasn’t going to run all over him, no matter who she’d been fucking.
If it were up to him, they’d just use her as bait to lure Solomon out. If they’d been as close as she said they were, the man would be batshit insane to let her go to anyone. A couple of days of watching her until Solomon picked her up would do just as well as this, but Simmons never wanted to get his hands dirty.
Thus their different methods of operation.
Eventually, he’d have to talk to her, but Hank could save that for when Simmons arrived. For now, he needed a couple of hours to hear himself think. Juliet wouldn’t starve by that evening. Who knew? Maybe an empty stomach would make her a little less mouthy.
Anything is preferable to being under Solomon’s thumb. Even dealing with assholes who hold unreasonable grudges.
Juliet’s words made his stomach clench. Unreasonable? Juliet might have been with Solomon Aguiler for almost a decade but if she believed Hank’s wariness of her was unjustified, she was still woefully in the dark about just how fucking evil her boyfriend was. The Aguilers had shat on Hank’s life when he thought it actually meant something, and Solomon had left his own personal calling card at the scene of the crime. So yeah, he was going to be pissed at the woman who’d been warming his bed. That was the least she deserved.
Getting to Solomon, Hank reminded himself, was the only reason he was cooperating with this farce in the first place. At the first sign of Juliet feeding them bullshit, he’d recommend to Simmons that they bait and switch her. They’d been trying to get to the Aguilers for years. They couldn’t afford to waste anymore time just because the older man didn’t want to get down and dirty.
Lying back on the rickety bed, Hank closed his eyes. He could hear Juliet puttering around the house on her crutch and hoped she settled down sooner rather than later. Once she did, he could get back to pretending she wasn’t there.
Then, maybe the burning hatred in his gut would abate long enough for him to get a few hours of sleep.
Chapter 4: Equally Unhinged
To say that Hank left her to her own devices would be an understatement. The safehouse was totally, completely bare. There were a few towels in a linen closet and the TV worked, but Juliet couldn’t find a computer and her phone had, understandably, been taken into police custody.
Of course, it took her almost an hour to cool down from she and Hank’s confrontational conversation. The man was absolutely, completely insufferable. It was clear that he only saw her as a liability, and had no intention of playing nice at all. It was a shame, seeing as how he might actually be somewhat attractive if he weren’t being an asshole all the time.