The Bodyguard

Chapter 6

After we returned inside, Alexander's mother announced that everyone would be coming over the following afternoon.

Apparently, "the whole family" meant a lot more people than I had originally imagined. His siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and apparently several nieces and nephews.

"You never mentioned your family was this big." I whisper staring at Alexander in disbelief

"I was trying to protect you." he whispers back.

"From what?" I ask nervously.

"My family." he tries to hold back a laugh. I laughed.

"Don't listen to him. We're perfectly normal." His mother pointed toward him.

"That's debatable." His father snorted. Everyone laughed, and despite myself, I found myself smiling.

For the next hour, we sat in the living room talking. Alexander's parents asked questions about my life, but whenever the conversation got too close to anything I couldn't safely reveal, Alexander smoothly redirected it.

Eventually, his mother stood.

"All right, everyone needs to get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be busy." she says. I nodded, secretly relieved.

As everyone began disappearing into their rooms, I followed Alexander upstairs. The moment we stepped into his bedroom, I stopped.

There was one bed. One very large bed. I stared at it. Then I stared at Alexander.

He stared at the bed. Then at me.

"Oh." he says as if he didn't know.

"Yeah," I whispered.

"I completely forgot about that." He rubbed the back of his neck. He sounded genuine with that statement.

"You forgot there was only one bed?" I ask looking at him skeptical.

"I didn't think we'd actually need two." he says.

"You've got to be kidding me." I folded my arms.

"I can sleep on the couch." I looked toward the door.

"Your mother would probably wonder why her son's girlfriend was sleeping alone and her son is on the couch." I say knowing this could turn into a problem.

"You're right." He sighed. We stood there in awkward silence.

Finally, Alexander walked toward the closet and pulled out an extra blanket.

"I'll sleep on the floor." he says.

"The floor?" I stared at him.

"It's fine." he says casually.

"Alexander, we're adults. You don't have to sleep on the floor." I say.

"Are you suggesting we share the bed?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No!" I exclaimed quickly and My face immediately warmed.

"That's what I thought." He chuckles..

"I just mean..." I stopped.

"Relax. I'm not going to do anything." He smiles.

"I know." I say as I watching him walk to the other side of the bed.

"I'll stay on my side." he says and smiles

"Okay." I reply softly.

"And you stay on yours." he says with a smirk.

"Obviously." my eyes shoot at him as I pick up a pillow and throw it at him.

He catches it and places the pillow directly down the middle of the bed.

"There. Boundary." he says with a smile.

"You really think that little pillow is going to stop you from crossing over?" I stared at the pillow.

"It'll stop me." he says matter of fact.

"You're very confident." I say rolling my eyes.

"I have excellent self-control." he says.

"Mhm. Good to know." I laugh. I changed into my pajamas in the bathroom before returning to the bedroom. Alexander was already lying on his side of the bed, facing away from me.

He had changed into a plain T-shirt and sweatpants, and somehow, seeing him dressed so casually made him seem completely different from the man I'd met at the coffee shop.

Less like the intimidating undercover agent. More like an ordinary man. I climbed into bed and pulled the blanket over myself.

"Good night, Alexander." I say softly.

"Good night, Hannah." he replies.

I turned toward the opposite wall. For several minutes, neither of us spoke. The room was completely quiet.

Then—

"Are you awake?" he whispers softly. If I wasn't I probably wouldn't have heard him.

"Yes." I smiled despite myself.

"Can't sleep?" he asks.

"No." I state bluntly.

"Me neither." he sighs

I turned onto my back.

"Is it weird?" I ask him .

"What?" he asks confused.

"All of this." I say gesturing my arms open.

He was quiet for a moment.

"Yeah." he says softly.

I looked over at him.

His eyes were already on me.

"You know," he said quietly, "when I first met you, I didn't expect any of this."

"Neither did I." I reply just as quietly.

"You were supposed to be a witness I kept safe." he states like he wants to say more..

"And now?" I ask trying not to sound to hopeful..

"Now you're my fake girlfriend." He smiled faintly.

"Quite the promotion." I laughed softly. somehow the words felt a little disappointing..

"Apparently."

Silence settled between us again.

Then I whispered, "Alexander?"

"Yeah?" he whispers back.

"Thank you for everything." I say genuinely. Even if this is all fake I can pretend to be normal for just a little while.

His expression softened.

"You don't have to thank me." He says sincerely.

"I do." I state.

"Get some sleep, Hannah." He looked at me for a long moment.

I nodded. I turned onto my side, facing him. He did the same. The pillow remained between us.

But somehow, the distance didn't feel quite as large anymore. I closed my eyes. For the first time since Caden died, I fell asleep without wondering whether someone was coming through the door to kill me.

And before sleep completely took over, I felt Alexander gently pull the blanket higher over my shoulder. I pretended not to notice.

But I smiled.