Chapter Five
It was all Alana could do to keep herself from getting out of her seat and drop kicking Tony. He had always been one of her favorite coworkers, but to hear him taunt her mercilessly about the case she had just taken on was starting to grate on her nerves.
“You’re about five minutes away from the worst butt kicking of your entire life, pal. So if you want to walk out of here, period, you’d better sit back and close your mouth,” she warned, though they both knew it was an empty threat. Although Alana rarely tolerated teasing from anyone, Tony was an exception.
When she joined the agency, there had been a lot of problems out of her male coworkers. There had been many a day when she felt like throwing in the towel and calling it quits, but Tony had always been there to snap her out of her funk, and give her a nice butt kicking if necessary. He had been her first true friend in many years.
“This is just like that movie… what’s it called?” He laughed. “You know, the one where the big tough FBI agent lady has to go under cover and become a girly girl? You know… with Sandra what’s her face?”
“Your wife and kids are really going to miss you if I have to toss you off of this plane, Tony,” she warned.
“Miss Congeniality! That’s it!” He snorted, slapping his large hand down on his knee for effect.
“Okay, I’m going to sleep now.”
“I wonder if they’re going to make you wax your—“
“TONY! Sleep! Now!”
“—Legs! Sheesh. You’ve really got to get your mind out of the gutter.”
“I’m going to have to kill you. I can see it now.”
~*~
Alana thought she could kiss the ground once they landed. Tony had absolutely driven her up a wall for the entire flight. When he wasn’t asking her stupid questions about a movie she’d never even heard of, he was singing lyrics to ridiculous songs. She was ready to kill him!
She headed over to the luggage pickup without him, thinking to maybe lose him. No such luck. She jumped about a foot off the ground when he came up behind her and clapped his gigantic hand down on her shoulder. She glanced up and him and rolled her eyes.
She knew that the two of them made a funny looking pair. He was quite large and she was about half the size of him. It was rather comical to see the two of them together. Although he had annoyed her through the entire flight, she was grateful to have him when he used his large size to make his way through the crowd and grab their bags off.
“I knew I kept you around for a reason.”
~*~
He was exhausted. Mentally and physically. Although the show had gone off without a hitch that night, he knew that he had not given it his all. But that was to be expected. The meeting that would be held once he arrived at the hotel was weighing heavily on his mind. It wasn’t really the fact of having a new guard that bothered him. He was used to that. He’d had numerous body guards since he was in his late teens. It was to be expected in this business.
What bothered him was the reason he needed a new guard. Because he had had a problem that he just couldn’t handle. He felt like nothing more than a big baby and that bugged him.
Anyone who knew JC could tell you the kind of person he was. He was stubborn on occasion, fairly private about his life, and while he wasn’t exactly the macho kind of guy, he wasn’t a complainer. Whenever he had a problem, he dealt with it on his own. Having to not only get help, but EXTRA help for this problem bugged him.
He wiped the sweat from his face with the towel in his hand, looking over his shoulder when a hand clapped him on the back.
“Good show tonight.” He almost snorted, but kept his thoughts to himself as he nodded his thanks. He wiped his face off once more and headed down the narrow corridor that led to the back entrance, where the bus was waiting. He wanted to get to the hotel as soon as possible. He was hoping that he would have enough time to squeeze in a shower before this late-night meeting but knew that was impossible.
He stepped out into the cool air and shivered slightly as it hit his warm skin. He had lost track of even what city they were in. Justin had announced it earlier in the show, but his mind had been elsewhere. He shook his head as he climbed the steps to the bus, frowning only slightly when he saw that Joey and Justin had joined them.
“What are you two doing here?”
“Jeez… I think we can take a hint, Justin,” Joey snorted. JC rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Of course you didn’t,” he snorted. He shook his head and then answered. “We’ve got a problem with our bus. So until they get it fixed, we’re with you.”
“Lucky us,” he retorted. Of course he didn’t really have a problem with the two being on the bus. Besides, they were only going about six miles. Not like he had to worry about being with them all night.
He headed into the back of the bus to where his bunk was located and pulled out his little duffle bag. He let out a sigh as he tugged off his wife beater and wiped his body off with it quickly to rid himself of the excess sweat. He grabbed his deodorant and loaded up on it before he grabbed a clean t-shirt and tugged it on. At least he would look somewhat presentable during this meeting.
He felt the bus jerk as it moved forward and he took a deep breath. In less than 10 minutes, he would be sitting in a stuffy meeting room of the hotel they were staying at, meeting the person that would be with him every waking moment for the next few months. It was not a good feeling at all.
“Here we go,” he mumbled quietly.
~*~
As he had anticipated, there had been no time for a shower. However, as he sat in the meeting room, waiting for the arrival of their visitor, he was a little more than irked. He’d been waiting for at least 10 minutes now. The least that this guy could do was show up.
“What’s this jerk’s name again?” He asked irritably.
Johnny frowned at the young man but flipped open the folder holding the agent’s information. “Al Berkeley.”
JC snorted and rolled his eyes. “Well I’d like to know where the hell Al is. We’ve been sitting here for ten minutes. It’s late, I’m tired, I would like a shower if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Would you just calm down? They called right before you guys arrived. They’re on their way.” A snort was heard from the irritated brunette once more.
“I swear to God Johnny, if he’s not here in the next five minutes, then I’m—“
Before he got to finish his sentence, the heavy wooden door to the meeting room opened. JC couldn’t believe his eyes. He wasn’t even sure that this guy was going to fit through the door. He was about as tall as he was round and looked to be about the size of two of his regular guards put together. It was amazing.
“Good evening gentlemen,” he boomed, his voice deep. Everyone in attendance had stopped what they were doing when they heard his voice. Chris’ jaw dropped.
“Wow… that’s not going to draw any attention to JC or anything,” he joked, standing from his seat and heading over the jolly green giant. “Nice to meet ya, man. I’m Chris.”
He obviously found Chris’ comment to be humorous, but his laugh was nothing that one would expect from such a large man. Just the sound of his high pitched laugh sent Justin and Chris into hysterics. “Nice to meet you, Chris. I’m Tony.”
JC’s head snapped towards Johnny’s direction. “Tony? But I thought you said—“
“Would you get out of the way, lard ass?” The softer, clearly feminine voice caught everyone off guard as they glanced around. They didn’t realize where it had come from until Tony stepped out of the doorway, revealing a young woman, standing only about 5’5”. It was pretty funny to see her standing next to this giant.
“Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?” Tony questioned, looking like he could easily stomp on the little fire ball. But it didn’t deter her as she scowled up at him, silently daring him to even try anything. She let out a huff of air and tossed her long hair back over her shoulder.
“I’m Alana Berkeley,” she announced. “Which one of you is JC?”
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