Rachael watched the activities and bustling around her, trying hard to keep the scowl from appearing in her face. She felt like she was being pulled apart, and she had a headache. Following the close inquisition by Nick’s mother, she had to face a meeting with the management team. When she had come out, feeling more then drained, Nick had demanded to know why she was in there. To top it all off, she had called Frank to inform him of the night’s incident. The reaction was slightly disappointing. First of all, they didn’t start off too well- Rachael wondered why the man was still in bed, obviously sound asleep, when working hour began almost three hours ago.
“Jesus Christ, woman, it’s bloody five in the morning!” Frank had shouted. “What the hell do you want?”
“Five?”
“In case you didn’t realise, the time slot’s different up here!” he snapped. “What do you want?”
“Something happened.” Rachael said shortly.
“Whoopee-do, Harrison. Congratulations. Are you going to tell me what it is or what?” Frank said sarcastically.
“A note arrived for the Subject,” she reported. “It contained some threatening material.”
“So what? That kid probably needs some bashing in the head. Are you sure you didn’t write it?”
Rachael felt her temper rising. “I called in the Police to do a check up on it.”
“You what? My God, it’s a note, for freakin’ sake. What did it say?”
Rachael hesitated. “I love you…to death.” She said shortly.
“That’s nice, Harrison, but your affection never really appealed to me.”
“It was written, sir, in blood.” Rachael gritted out.
There was a silence on the other line.
“What’s he doing?” he asked finally.
“Keeping under cover. So far as anyone knows, he’s happy as a pig in a mud.”
“If he looks too happy, Harrison, they’ll suspect.” Frank grunted. “Why did you tell him to act like that?”
It took a moment to sink in. Frank was assuming that she had told him to act like there was nothing in the world to worry about! “Actually, it wasn’t me.”
“You mean…” there was a surprised grunt. “He’s not too bad, I suppose.”
“Your opinion, not mine.”
“Thanks.” Frank said dryly. “What’s going on with the police?”
“They need two weeks. I told them to send it up to you as soon as they came up with the results. You know where I’ll be by then.”
“Right.” there was a pause. “So, this isn’t a joke anymore.”
“I’m not laughing,” Rachael said flatly.
Aaron took his attention off from his new puppy and looked hard at the woman standing not far away, the same expression he had seen on her the first time he saw her. Nick wasn’t very detailed about how he hired her, and the others had all grinned every time the subject was mentioned. It was as is a secret joke was going around, and Nick wasn’t liking it at all. And besides…
Rachael sensed Nick’s brother making his way to her and ignored it. surprisingly, he stood right in front of her, glaring. Finally forced to meet his gaze, she turned her head.
“I heard they hired you to be Nick’s bodyguard.” He started, somewhat uncertainly but determinedly.
She nodded. “Yep.”
“Are you good?”
A flash of amusement crossed her face, before settling back into the statue look. “I think so, yes.” she said seriously.
“You’d better be,” he said darkly. “If anything happens to Nick, I’ll…I’ll…”
Rachael just looked down at him, her lips twitching slightly as if she was about to smile.
Aaron looked at her then, saw the scar running down her face, and felt his insides going cold. Worried brown eyes looked up at her. “Is…is Nick going to be alright?” he asked gravely.
All traces of amusement vanished from her face. She crouched down so she was eye level with him. “I hope so,” she said quietly.
Aaron regarded her with unblinking eyes for a while, then smiled. “Me too.” He held out his hand. “I’m Aaron.”
Rachael felt like smiling. She took the offered hand and shook it. “I’m Rachael.” She jerked her head towards the stage area. “I think your brother’s playing basketball over there. You want to go and join him?”
Aaron grinned. “okay,” he ran off towards the stage. Rachael slowly stood up, wincing slightly as the headache returned with more force. The pulsing was turning into hammer blows. She started towards the dressing room, hoping there was a bottle of aspirin in there.
