The Model's Bodyguard (Romantic Suspense) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 16 - Tuned Senses

Cisco started to walk toward me and my rage grew. “I’m not your puppet, Francisco. You can’t expect to be the only one to pull the strings. Do you even know if I want to go with this strange man friend of yours whom I don’t even know? Are you crazy?” My eyes were wide with an anger that fueled even more at his unexpected, yet very Cisco-like, grin. It was almost as if he was laughing at me inside, as if he knew something I didn’t.

He wiped the grin away but I could still see its fine residue sticking onto his face. “You’re feisty today,” he observed, looking at me strangely. Cisco shrugged and went into motion, “Stay right there, Mila. I mean it. I’m going to check the area. Call for me if you see or hear anything.” And just like that he was gone, retreating down the hall in the direction of my apartment.

I waited, worried and anxious for a good five minutes which in reality were not that long. It only felt like it. When Cisco returned his face was a mask, showing indifference to whatever he might have seen. He came to me, standing silently beside where he reached for his phone. What? No explanation? 

I cleared my throat to catch his attention. Nothing. I tapped my foot audibly against the floor. Still nothing. Okay, that was it. “Francisco,” I said his name, irritation in my voice as I stretched every syllable of the Spanish word. He looked at me, his eyebrow risen in question. 

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t act stupid. I want to know what you saw.”

He repositioned his body, angling it completely toward me and I almost moved backward from the overwhelming gesture. But I stood my ground and looked straight into those dark brown eyes. “You,” he said, “want to know what I saw.” It sounded almost like a verification.

I nodded sternly. “Yes. I do.”

“Positive?” 

“Positive.” I folded my arm over my chest and kept looking into the dark pits. He let out a scoff and shook his head in disbelief. 

“You do notice I made you stay here so that I could spare you the sight, right honey?” He asked in irritation. I wasn’t fazed.

“Yes, I do and I appreciate it but-”

“You want to know anyway.” He finished the sentence for me, looking at me with hard eyes. 

I blinked twice, taken aback by the darkest look I had yet to see in his nearly-black eyes. Yet I didn’t let myself waver. “Yes, Cisco.” 

He sighed, frustrated, but his gaze softened. “Our two guards were killed. Silent gun shot to both heads.”

I gasped in shock. I had been expecting something horrible but not this. I hadn’t thought it possible. Those two innocent guards lost their lives right outside my door... And I knew it was because of me. The sense of guilt flowed through my veins and I knew I had to push it away. “Do- Do you think someone has seen the bodies?” I asked, hoping to take my mind off of the reality.

“It’s possible. And if someone has seen them then the cops will be here momentarily but I don’t think anyone has yet. You know how this place is; if someone had seen it then we would’ve known about it as soon as we walked in. Besides, there are only two occupied apartments in this floor, yours included, meaning only five people live on this floor. Not many to notice, eh?”

“How do you know that?” I asked. It was true. The hotel had distinguishable floors; the ones where hotel guests could rent a suite and the ones where people would buy apartments to live in. This very floor had only three apartments in use: Mine and two separate couples. 

Cisco rolled his eyes. “I’m your bodyguard, sweetheart. I’m supposed to know this stuff.”

“You’re a jerk, Francisco. You know that-” I was cut off by Cisco’s rumbling laughter and the ding of the elevator. I didn’t have enough time to marvel over how freaking beautiful he looked when he laughed so wholly. I had never before witnessed more than a few chuckles from him but this- this was sweet toxic to my ears. And now I couldn’t hear it anymore, for he turned his attention to the elevator and the person who walked out of it. He straightened up, the only trace of his laughter being the upturned slope of his lips. Until a blinding grin appeared on his face, that is.