Chapter 47 We're Not Allowed To Know That
Fourty minutes later, I am helping Theo and Marcus pack the car, while Harlan is walking the perimeter with David and going over their plans one last time.
Once Theo made his teasing comment of me ‘using my magic to reset the angry boss’, the conversations between me and the guys went back to normal, as though the last 48 hours never really happened. For a second, I almost forgot myself, until David and Harlan come back, meeting me by the safe-house door.
Harlan is carrying a duffel bag, and looking at me a little weirdly. Apologetically. I look between him and David as they walk up to me.
“Everything okay?” I ask hesitantly as they stand in front of me.
“Harlan has some things for the drive home.” David says, his voice stoic, boss-like, but his eyes hinting a softer side to his words.
“What, like snacks?”
I see Harlan smirk out the corner of my eye, and notice David’s eyes narrow slightly as well. Like he is fighting his own smile.
Harlan drops the bag to the ground, bends down beside it, and unzips it. He takes out some items that just look like fabric, and hands them over to me. Taking it from him, I unravel it to find some kind of vest and leggings.
“Uhh, thanks. You didn’t like the clothes I’m wearing now, huh?” I ask with an awkward chuckle.
“They’re bulletproof.” Harlan explains.
“Put them on under your clothes, then we can get going.” David adds, and I blink up at him. “Now, ideally.” He warns.
Nodding, I turn and head to the bathroom, knowing better than to argue with him on something like this. Wearing something bulletproof for the drive home is a big deal, and I know that. There also is no real counter-argument I can think of to refuse wearing it, considering what happened the last time I was in the car.
I undress and slip the undergarments on, pausing to admire how un-bulky they feel, before pulling my ordinary clothes over the top. I leave the bathroom and find Harlan waiting outside the door for me.
“Creep.” I tease.
“You love it.” He retorts, nodding his head over to the door. “He didn’t think you’d make it out all by yourself.”
“Dickhead.” I laugh, shoving his shoulder as I walk past him and out the front door. “He’s nervous isn’t he?”
“Course he is. But we’re not allowed to know that.” Harlan says in a whisper as he walks beside me, both of us catching sight of David leaning against the car on the driveway ahead.
“Right. Just smile and wave, yeah?” I mutter back, making Harlan laugh at my reference just before I approach David, get into the car beside him, and start the journey back to the apartment.
The drive is relatively silent. The radio is on a low level while Harlan drives, Theo looking out of the window from his passenger seat in the front. David is tapping away on his phone, focusing intently on the tiny screen. The only noise is the thrum of the car engine, and it is making my mind spiral further and further with each second. Soon, the silence, the space, it is making me too antsy to keep still, and I unbuckle my belt.
The click makes David’s head snap up.
“What are you doing?” He asks.
“Getting comfy.” I reply simply, shuffling a little closer to him, lifting my feet onto the seat and laying my head down into his lap. I hear him sigh from above me as he moves his hands out of the way while I move, and I hear the distinct sound of his phone locking.
Then I feel his fingers in my hair, alternating between gentle strokes and occasional moments of massaging my scalp. I hum in satisfaction, hoping he hears me, and close my eyes as I settle in my position. Waves of calmness rush over me, from having him physically closer, and with the sounds of the car driving mimicking white noise, I quickly fall to sleep.
The next time my eyes open, I am in David’s arms, being carried down a hallway in a bridal style hold. The hallway to his apartment.
“What time is it?” I mumble as I wiggle slightly, feeling the blood rushing back through my body, his arms tightening around me as he walks like I weigh nothing. Looking ahead of me, I see Theo carrying some of my bags as he leads the way.
“Almost two, you weren’t out for long.” He responds, looking down at me briefly. “Sleep well?”
“Hmm, better than last night.” I muse, making his chest rumble beneath me as he laughs. “I can walk, you know.”
“We’re almost there.” He says, as an answer in itself.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, a keypad is beeping as Theo puts in a code to David’s door, and he gently sets me down on my feet.
“You didn’t have a keypad before.” I state, frowning at David, who doesn’t reply. I watch Theo place his thumb below the buttons on the keypad, and the door clicks open.
I go to step forward, but David puts his hand out to stop me. Theo goes into the apartment, disappearing from view, and I wait, curious and confused, hoping David will explain.
When it’s still silent a few seconds later, I go to open my mouth, ready to ask him why I am standing in the hallway, when Theo reappears.
“All clear boss.” Theo says, stepping to the side and allowing David to guide me into the apartment.
Then it clicks. I remember his comment from last night, about increasing his security. Extra security indeed.
Not really knowing what to do next, I just walk into the lounge, taking my bags from Theo, and putting them on the sofa. David hasn’t exactly gone through any new protocols with me, so I don’t know what to expect. Will my relationship go back to how it was before? Will Harlan, Theo or Marcus always be in the apartment now? Are there other alarms? Will I still be left alone in the apartment for hours on end?
I start to rummage through the bags, eager to get changed out of the bulletproof undergarments that are making me feel hot and stiff now, when I feel David behind me, a split second before his hands come to rest on my arms, his mouth placing a gentle kiss onto my shoulder.
“Everything okay?” He asks in a quiet whisper.
I nod, unsure how to put my exact emotions into words. I know he doesn’t buy it, because his hands pull on my arms, making me turn around to face him.
“Nora.” He says, that single word flooding through me and making me instinctively stand straighter, ready to obey. “Tell me.”
“I guess…I’m not sure about something.”
“Oh?” He asks, his right eyebrow raising at me.
“Yeah. You haven’t exactly told me what’s going to happen now.”
“I’m going to find those idiots who dared to take a shot at you, and get rid of them.” He says simply, as though he hasn’t just talked about murder.
“That’s not what I meant.” I breathe in before continuing. “What happens now... with us? Do I still go to work? Are you still going to be out most of the day? Can I go and see Selena? Or do I need to wear a bulletproof vest and have a bodyguard with me all the time?”
I wait as he just stares back at me breathing, processing the sudden barrage of questions that I’ve been holding in all day. Then he scratches his jaw.
“That all depends.” He finally says.
“On what?”
“On what happens over the next few days.” He answers. He watches me blink dumbly back at him, and knows I am about to ask more questions, so he continues. “The quicker we can act, the quicker we can relax about… everything. If I don’t find them, don't get them to back down, then… we’ll have to stay inside the apartment a bit longer.”
“But what–”
“I can’t give you all the answers until I know some more myself, Nora.” He interrupts, trying to reassure me by moving his hands down to my hips. “Just know that I am trying to keep you safe.”
“I do know, but surely you have other things to do? I have things to do, I–”
“This takes precedent.”
“What?”
“You take precedence, over everything.” He says sternly. “I will never let anything happen to you again, and I will not rest until I have made sure that they will never even try. Everything else is insignificant.”
“But it can’t... you can’t just ignore everything else. Work, the company–”
“I can and I will.” He growls. “Marcus is keeping the board busy with the company, Theo is going to be overseeing our…um... other ventures, and Harlan will be assisting me here.”
“You can’t run three operations hiding away in your apartment.” I shake my head in disbelief. “It’s ridiculous. People will lose trust, they’ll start talking.”
“You’re not hearing me Nora.” He argues, his hands coming to my face, forcing me to look up at him. “I told you I’m not letting you out of my sight once we got back, and I fucking meant it. I don’t care if I lose it all. The only thing I care about is making them pay, and making sure you are never in that situation again.”
I can’t explain the rush of emotions that flood through me at that moment. A chaotic mixture that causes me to launch myself at him, smashing my lips to his as tears sting in my eyes.
His hands leave my jaw to catch my body as I fling myself onto him, stumbling back a couple of steps before kissing me back. It is the type of kiss that isn’t going to lead anywhere, and I know it the instant I feel him respond, setting the pace slow, purposeful, before he pulls back, my breath heavy in the space between us.
“I need to make some calls.” He says quietly into the volatile air after a few seconds. “Can you unpack, and I’ll come and find you for dinner?”
I nod, my mood dampening with each word he says, until he kisses my forehead and slips his hands from my waist, walking towards his study, his steps quicker than they should have been.
Wiping the tears from my cheeks, I breathe in deeply, and turn back to the bags, cursing myself for being so emotional.
I chose this, I told him I am all in.
It is time to get out of my head, and get back in control.