Chapter Six
“You’re the new guard?”
The question caught Alana off guard. She had asked a question and expected to receive an answer in return. “I am the special agent assigned to this case,” she clarified. “Now I’ll ask again: which one of you is JC?”
Upon seeing the dumbfounded look on JC’s face, Johnny knew that he probably couldn’t be trusted to speak at the moment, so he took the initiative. “Ms. Berkeley, you’ll have to forgive the boys. They’ve just come from a show and clearly aren’t all there,” he said with a light laugh. He extended his hand to the little pistol, clearly impressed with her firm handshake.
“Are you JC?”
“Oh no no. My name is Johnny Wright. I’m the one who contacted Mr. Landry about getting some assistance out here on the road,” he explained. He noticed Alana looking him over, almost as if sizing him up before she released his hand. “I’m their manager,” he clarified.
“Great, so you’re the douche bag who ruined my vacation,” she thought bitterly but bit her tongue.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wright.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Miss Berkeley,” he responded, a smile on his face. From the doorway, Chris cleared his throat.
“Uh Johnny? You’re married, man. Let’s keep the flirting to a minimum.”
The older man rolled his eyes before he turned to Alana once more. “You’ll have to forgive Chris. He was dropped on his head many, many times as a baby. His social skills are kaput as a result.”
Alana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was wishing that they would just get on with the introductions already. She had a lot of stuff to go over and she didn’t plan on being here all night.
Johnny could sense the young woman’s agitation so he hesitated for only a moment. “Um, over there in the chair by the door is Justin. Next to him is Joey and over here is Lance,” he said, watching as each young man waved in turn. “And this,” he said, dropping a hand onto the blue-eyed brunette’s shoulder, “is JC.”
Alana’s eyes settled on his face. He was breathtakingly handsome. His blue eyes seemed almost endless. He had eyelashes that any woman would die for and his bone structure...Good God! He was absolutely—
“A girl? You got me a GIRL to guard my life?”
--The biggest asshole she’d ever seen!
“Sir, I assure you—“
“No. With all due respect lady, I wasn’t speaking to you,” he responded bitterly. He turned to Johnny. “What the hell were you thinking? You made some big deal about how important this was, how we shouldn’t just let it go and then you go to some place that sends a GIRL?”
Alana felt her blood pressure rising. Her ears turned bright red and if it had been a cartoon, there surely would be smoke coming out of them! Beside her, Tony snickered and nudged her gently.
“You want me to lift you up so that you can look him in the eye when you ream him out?”
She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm her rage before she spoke. “If I may just say something,” she interrupted. Both men stopped the exchange and looked in her general direction, one looking quite bored and the other increasingly annoyed.
“Mr. Chasez, I assure you, I may be nothing more than a ‘girl’ but I am one of the best agents that my team has. My supervisor would not have assigned me to this case otherwise.”
“Your supervisor obviously didn’t realize that I have millions of girls THROWING themselves at me every night. And you’re supposed to stand in between them and me? Forgive me for not agreeing with his final selection.”
She gritted her teeth angrily, wanting so badly to give him the earful he deserved, but she refused to sink to his level. At least for right now.
~*~
“Do you have any idea what something like that will do to his image?”
“I’m not worried about his image, Mr. Wright. I’m worried about his safety, and I was under the impression that you were too!”
They had been going back and forth for at least twenty minutes now. Everyone else had left, save for Tony and JC. He seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit. JC, on the other hand, was getting just as heated as Johnny was.
“Wait a minute,” he interrupted, shaking his head. “You expect me to pretend, for the next couple of MONTHS that you’re my girlfriend?” He snorted.
Her hands went to her tiny hips as she glared in his general direction. “Do you want my help or not, Mr. Chasez?”
“Well if you want to know the truth, n—“
“Of course we want your help,” Johnny interrupted, shooting JC the death glare.
“It won’t be believable. You aren’t my type.”
“I find it hard to believe that ANYONE is your type, with the terrible attitude you seem to have towards women,” she replied.
JC seemed miffed by the comment and his mouth flopped open several times as if he had something important to say. Right as he was about to comment, however, Tony butted in.
“Mr. Wright… Mr. Chasez… we’re all adults here,” he said. “What Alana is trying to get across to you is that there IS no negotiation on the way this case will be handled. The plan was laid out by our supervisor, Mr. Landry. If you really want the help of this agency, you’re going to have to go along with it, or find someone else,” he explained coolly.
Although Tony drove Alana up the wall sometimes, it was moments like these when she was reminded of why she loved him so much. He was never one to lose his head. In fact, 99% of the time, he was the one helping her to keep her cool as well. She would be lost without him.
Alana let out a sigh and glanced down at her watch. “It’s been a long day,” she said quietly. “Unless you’re willing to find someone else for the job, there’s nothing else we have to discuss,” she said. “I suggest that everyone just… get some sleep and hopefully, things will look better in the morning,” she said, shooting a glance in JC’s direction.
He snorted. “Yeah right.”
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