Guarded by her dads best.., p.1
Guarded by Her Dad's Best Friend,
p.1
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GUARDED BY HER DAD’S BEST FRIEND
ALYSE ZAFTIG
Copyright © 2022 by Alyse Zaftig
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
CONTENTS
1. After Midnight
2. Bad Dreams
3. Nightmares
4. Busting the Door
5. Assassin in My Apartment
6. Police Call
7. Back to the Office
8. Lunchtime
9. Another Bullet
10. More Kisses
11. All the Way
12. Fake Passport
13. Ledger
14. Distraction
15. Taser
16. Sean’s Return
17. Rescue
18. Going Home
19. Positive Test
20. Kayla’s Mom’s Ring
21. Cocoa and Netflix
AFTER MIDNIGHT
Kayla
I had been watching one of the new Adam Sandler movies on Netflix and eating a late-night snack of ice cream when I got the text from my boss, Brittany.
I forgot some files in the office. Could you bring them to my house?
Even though she was generally a good boss, I was annoyed to be sent to the office after midnight. She sent a second text with exact details on what she wanted. I knew that I lived closer to the office than she did, but I felt like there wasn’t any time that I could say I was off the clock. Working in corrections was part of my long-term career path, but I couldn’t say that it was easy. I was taking criminology classes with the intention of pursuing a career in that general area. My dad wanted me to be a lawyer, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted. There were definitely other areas where I could be helpful. I had some interest in data analysis for evidence-based justice systems reform. Criminology was cool on television, but a lot of it was good, old-fashioned number crunching.
I got in my car and drove to the office. Traffic in Los Angeles wasn’t as bad at this time of night, but I was not that comfortable walking around alone. I’d get in, get out, and drive to Brittany’s place before getting back home.
I parked my car in one of the best spots before taking the elevator up with my RFID badge. Corrections was in a building that housed the state governor’s office as well as a US senator’s office. I went into Brittany’s office and dove into the filing cabinet where she kept the important documents. Nowadays, most things were kept in the cloud. Only the most sensitive information was kept on paper, and we had a service that collected our burn bags on a daily basis. I was grumpy about being there, so I almost didn’t notice that I could hear voices.
When I was in the front lobby, I realized that I could hear Governor Mitch and Senator Emil talking. Emil’s voice was a tiny bit slurred, so I thought that they might be drinking. They were talking about the next election for the LA County Sheriff. Mitch was sneering at voters in Los Angeles being sheep that needed to be led by a good shepherd. I didn’t want to get involved with anything to do with an election. I had friends who liked going door to door just before elections. I didn’t. I didn’t want to be caught eavesdropping by them, either, since I was just a teenage intern. Sticking around would be more trouble than it was worth. I was nearly at the front door when a bang behind me made me jump a foot in the air.
I saw a man in a suit with a gun in his hand in the hallway. His entry through another door slammed the door into a wall, creating the bang. Senator Emil and Governor Mitch were displeased by the intrusion.
“Gun!” I screamed. I knew I was already too late.
I heard one shot. I wondered if he was there to assassinate both politicians, but he came out to the hallway. He got a good look at my face in the low light of an abandoned front lobby. I went straight through the front door and ran for my car. I didn’t know how to hide, so I just pulled out and headed for Brittany’s house. I knew that her brother had some kind of security team, so maybe they could help keep me safe if I had just witnessed a political assassination.
My mind was racing as I drove through the empty road. The assassin was not following me. What had I just seen? Maybe nothing. All I could hear at the time was the gunshot and some drunken men. I was beneath their notice as an intern, but I definitely knew their voices from the way that they bellowed at their staff members. Why had the assassin only shot a single man instead of both of them? Had one of them hired a gunman to come into the office after midnight to pick the other one off for political gain?
BAD DREAMS
Brandon
The media liked to talk about PTSD. In the old days, it was called shell shock. Your brain tried to process being surrounded by gunfire, bombs, and violence. We weren’t evolutionarily meant for it. For most of human history, we killed each other without guns or bombs.
I was awake late at night. When I was in the military, I’d watched good men die right next to me. I had always taken orders. When I got out, I set up my own security company. We got to pick and choose where we went.
I heard a buzz as my phone, silenced at night, vibrated on my nightstand. I would generally not answer a call after midnight, but it was my twin, Brittany.
“Hello?”
“You have to come to my house.” Her voice was on the verge of panic. She had grown up with panic attacks our whole lives. Every time that she had a big paper or test, her entire body would freak out. Now, as an adult, she had meds and a therapist to keep her steady. But I knew her patterns, and I knew that I had to get my butt there whether or not she was crying wolf.
“On my way.” I knew she wouldn’t call if she didn’t believe she had a good reason.
I got into my car and drove to my twin’s house. After going through K-12 together, we had made sure to have very separate adult lives. I had gone into the military at 18, ready to be free of my parents and wanting to make a little money while doing so.
Brittany had jumped into criminal justice from Day 1. There were a lot of things she perceived as wrong in the system, and she was a social advocate. She wanted to fix everything, which was going to take her a long time.
When I got to her house, there were two police cars already there. I parked on the street. Whatever had happened, it was more serious than I had thought. I knocked on the door, and Brittany opened it up. There was a crying young girl on the couch. There were two cops in uniforms. One guy was clearly a detective.
“If you want a lawyer, I can get you one.” The price would be astronomical for waking the one I had in mind up in the middle of the night, but when it came to Brittany’s peace of mind, I would pay it.
“No lawyer necessary,” said the detective. “I’m Luke. We’re just here to hear what Kayla has to say.”
I sat back as Kayla made a statement to the police. She was pretty without the tears making her eyes red. She described how she had gone to the office to get files for Brittany. I frowned. Brittany shouldn’t have sent someone this young to the office around midnight. My attraction to her aside, it was stupid for women to hang out by themselves in Los Angeles after dark.
The detective wasn’t taking a lot of notes, but he had an audio recorder out. He didn’t say a lot, but I could read his body language and his facial expression. He thought that Kayla was some kind of kook. The police officers had military bearing. They were looking at the three of us, Brittany, me, and Kayla. If they had an ounce of sense, they would know who Brittany was. I guessed that Brittany’s position within the office of corrections got her three people showing up to take a witness statement.
When Kayla was done describing how she had gotten in her car and fled to Brittany’s house, Brittany interjected. “I called the cops as soon as she got to my house.”
“Excuse me,” Luke said. His phone was vibrating. “Luke.” He listened for a moment, and he frowned. None of the rest of us could hear the conversation, but he said, “Understood.” He ended the call and looked back at the rest of us. “My superior says that Mitch gave the same account as Kayla here. I have enough for her statement, so we can go now.”
“We don’t have the budget or resources to protect an intern. Mitch is a much higher priority and more likely to be a target.”
Kayla cleared her throat, so we all turned to her. “I saw the assassin’s face.”
“I can send over a sketch artist, but that’s about all I can do.”
I kept my annoyance off of my face. We saw the police officers out, and I planned to say something to the sketch artist whenever he or she appeared.
I turned back to Brittany. “Meet my current intern, Kayla. She’s in school for criminology right now.”
I shook her hand. She wasn’t crying any longer. I guessed that having Mitch confirm her story had helped a lot. Also, the police already knew that something had happened at the office outside of her wild tale of getting files and hearing a shot at night.
“I’m Brandon, Brittany’s twin.” I flashed a smile at Kayla, and she looked away. “I can make sure that she’s safe and provide a security detail for her.”
She looked me square in the eye, and I realized in my gut that I was in trouble. I hadn’t felt an attraction like this since I was in junior high and experiencing hormones for the first time.
NIGHTMARES
Kayla
“I want you to take a bubble bath to soak away the bad feelings. It’ll let your adrenal glands know that you are not in immediate danger.” Brittany frowned at me. “I’m telling you as your boss to go into my Jacuzzi tub and pick out a bath bomb.”
“I don’t have any clothes here.”
“I keep a spare set of bathrobes for guests. I’m sure I can find sweats that’ll fit you.” Brittany and I probably weren’t the exact same size, but sweats with drawstrings could bridge the gap.
“You don’t have to take care of me. I’m an adult.”
“You’re also nineteen.” Brittany’s voice was a little louder now. “If you were older, I’d give you some whiskey.”
“I don’t need any.”
“Go to the bathroom.” She gave me a look that told me there was more that she wasn’t saying. I went into her bathroom. Sometimes, she hosted working dinners at her house. She said it was good for team morale. We didn’t keep strict hours like most government employees. Things went off the rails at all hours. It wasn’t easy to work for her, but it was always interesting.
I followed her as she got out a fresh towel, bathrobe, and sweats. She put them on the counter in her bathroom. I waited until she left to take off my clothes. I filled up her Jacuzzi tub and looked under her sink for a little plastic tub of wrapped bath bombs. I chose one and watched it fizz.
After a while, I sank into the bathtub. It felt good to be surrounded by warm heat. The light scent from the bath bomb helped my brain relax, and the heat was melting the tension in my muscles. I could hear Brittany talking to Brandon.
“What are we going to do?”
“We can’t let your intern run around and get killed.”
“Agreed.”
“I’m not going to charge you.”
“I hope not, since I’m a government employee.” They both laughed. It wasn’t lucrative to work in corrections.
I didn’t like the idea of Brandon working for free. I was not the kind of person raised to rely on the police, and I also didn’t like the idea of owing Brandon. If I had money, which I didn’t, I wouldn’t rely on him. Dad would be able to come up with something tomorrow. I just needed to get home tonight.
I emptied the tub and used the attachment to get the last of the bath bomb off of my body. I dressed in the sweats that Brittany had given me, and I padded into the main room. They were still talking, but the twins looked at me when I wandered into their view.
“I want to go home.”
“Definitely not,” Brittany contradicted me. “You’re staying here until further notice. I’m happy to send someone to pack you a bag, but there’s no way that I’m leaving you by yourself right now.”
“Tough luck,” I said. My dad would never let me stay in a stranger’s home, even if she was my boss. Maybe especially because she was my boss…
The two of them had a silent moment of twin communication. “I’ll drive you home.” Brandon’s voice was resigned. I could see from the grimace on Brittany’s face that she wasn’t happy about sending me home, but she couldn’t do much.
“Call me when you’ve dropped her off,” Brittany told Brandon.
“Will do.”
We headed into his car. I tapped the screen so his GPS knew where to take me. I guessed that I’d just leave my car at Brittany’s house. I’d handle the logistics of how to get to work tomorrow morning later.
When I got into the car, I was engulfed in his scent. I hadn’t noticed it before, but he smelled like sandalwood. It was making my mouth water, but not in a way that I wanted to ask for food. I wondered how I would have reacted to Brittany’s twin brother if I weren’t meeting him in a room with a bunch of police officers taking a statement from me after I witnessed a shooting. I was still processing hearing someone get shot.
All too soon, we were at my home. I didn’t know if I wanted to get out. I had felt a lot braver at Brittany’s house than I did now. What if the assassin was waiting at my home? But how could he possibly have tracked me down this quickly? I hesitated, which made Brandon say, “I think you’re in shock. Give me your keys, because I want to check out the area. I’ll leave the car running.”
“Okay.” I didn’t think my dad would be mad about me letting someone secure the perimeter. He was overly protective in some ways, despite being absent for most of my life.
Brandon checked out everything before I got out of the car. When he came back, he said, “I think your apartment is safe.” I got out of my side and went up to my apartment. He followed me to my door. Nobody was waiting for me inside.
There was an awkward beat as he stood there. It was the first time that a man other than my father had been in my home alone with me. “You can go home. It’s late.”
“I don’t know if you should be alone.” I didn’t know if he was starting something.
“I can manage by myself.” My dad would freak out if he knew someone was spending the night at my place, platonic or not.
“I’ll leave my card.” He put it on my kitchen counter. “I’m only a phone call away.”
“Okay.” I watched him walk out. The way that he walked showed that he was sure that he was on top in this environment. I envied that level of certainty.
I had a bottle of CBD gummies that I kept in my nightstand, because I had heard from one of my friends that they helped you sleep. They helped me get to sleep if I was really keyed up. I was a little afraid still, so I took some. Maybe a little more than the recommended dose…
Within a half hour, it was clear I had made a mistake. I kept hearing the voices and the gunshot over and over, but it was impossible for me to wake up and turn on Netflix again. I’d just have to wait until the night was over and the CBD was out of my system.
BUSTING THE DOOR
Brandon
Even though Kayla had tried to send me away, I needed to keep an eye on her. I’d get relief tomorrow morning when my team came into the office and I could brief them on what my twin sister had called me in for and what needed to happen. Right now, it was just me. I was used to sitting in my car for a long period of time. I had trail mix and water. If I had a partner, we could drink coffee. Unfortunately, I was alone on this one.
We had excess capacity right now, so keeping a two-person detail on Kayla until the danger passed would be fine. I thought that the assassin would be caught quickly. The public uproar from Senator Emil Richards being shot would push the police to invest more resources into their investigation than they were doing now.
