The Bodyguard

18

I sat there and stared at the wall. This was the last place I expected to be, but here I was.

"Are you good up there?"

I nodded and waved my hand, staring blankly at the rocks in front of me. The ropes beside me rippled as someone climbed up the wall beside me. The person who climbed the wall beside me stopped once they were next to me, calling for tension. I didn't need to look to know who it was.

"I didn't expect to find you here," Dimitri said quietly.

"I know. Perks of having a twenty-four-hour rock wall gym down the street," I whispered.

Dimitri gripped the rock with one hand and frowned. "We can take care of this. We can deal with this."

"When does it end?"

"Soon, Roza," he soothed.

"Really? Because it feels like this is never going to end, or he's going to end up succeeding in hurting me," I said with a slight shake of my head, "Do I need to move to another state?"

"No," Dimitri said, "But I think we should continue this conversation on the ground."

I nodded slowly and called out to the guy below me, belaying down slowly. I unhooked myself from the harness and walked to the changing room, changing back into my jeans and t-shirt. When I came back out Dimitri was on his phone, hanging up by the time I got close enough.

"We should go back to your place and pack," Dimitri said.

"What? Why?"

"Because I am whisking you away for a few weeks until things settle down. Somewhere I know Mason won't be able to follow you," Dimitri said gently. I rubbed my hands over my face and nodded.

"Okay," I whispered.

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When he said that he was whisking me away, I didn't think he was whisking me to another continent. By the time I packed, loaded Bear into the car, and got to my parents' house, Dad had my passport and plane tickets printed out with a small pouch.

"What's this?" I asked as he handed it to me.

"This is for you to use while you're away. I pull it from our savings and had it converted. Let me know when you make your first stop-over," he explained as he looked over my passport. He handed Dimitri the tickets and hugged me tightly.

"How long did it take you two to throw this together?" I asked over Dad's shoulder.

"Another contingency plan," Mom said quietly, "Dimitri took his job very seriously. We made these plans while you were still in the hospital in case things escalated."

"I thought me staying with Dimitri was contingency?" I asked as I pulled back, moving to hug Mom.

"Call this plan z," she said.

"Am I allowed to tell anyone where I'm going? Who's going to take care of Bear?" I asked, starting to panic. It was silly to panic over whether or not someone would be there for Bear, but he was my fur baby.

"You can tell them you're going away, but don't say where. And I have a spot for Bear. A kennel will be waiting for us when we get to the airport" Dimitri soothed. I bit my lip and nodded, patting Bear's head as he whimpered at my feet, pushing against my legs.

"Is he going to be okay?"

Dimitri smoothed my hair and kissed my hair. "He'll be fine. It's okay.

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