The Bodyguard

chapter 5

I followed Alexander out of the bedroom, smoothing down my clothes as we made our way toward the living room.

My nerves were ridiculous.

I had faced angry men, dangerous scams, and even watched my best friend get murdered.

Yet somehow, meeting Alexander's entire family felt like the most terrifying thing I'd done all day.

"Relax," Alexander whispered beside me.

"I'm relaxed," I whispered back. He glances at me.

"You've been twisting your fingers together for the last five minutes." He says looking at my fingers.

"I have not." I immediately stopped.

"Mhm. Sure." He hums. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Just remember, you're the one who dragged me into this." I say as I lightly bumped his arm with mine.

"And you're the one who agreed." He smiles at me.

"Because apparently I have terrible judgment." I snort trying not to laugh.

"You definitely do." He chuckles at me.

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" I narrowed my eyes at him, giving him a fake glare.

"Not particularly." He tries not to laugh again. Before I could respond, his mother appeared from the dining room.

"There you two are!" She beams at us. Her eyes immediately traveled between us, and her smile widened.

"Come sit down. Dinner is almost ready." She says ushering is into the dining room.

"Mother, I thought we were eating out," Alexander reminded her.

"We were." She paused. "Then I changed my mind." she continues.

"Of course you did." Alexander sighed shaking his head .

"Your mother has been cooking since you left the room." His father walked in behind her, laughing.

"I figured," Alexander muttered. I couldn't help laughing.

"Hannah, come sit beside me." His mother says turning toward me.

I followed her toward the dining table, but before I could pull out a chair, Alexander stepped around me and pulled one out.

"Thank you," I said softly.

"Of course." He says giving me a quick smile.

His mother watched the interaction with obvious satisfaction. I could practically see the questions forming in her mind. Everyone settled around the table, and for the first few minutes, conversation stayed surprisingly normal.

His father asked Alexander about work. His mother asked me where I was from. I carefully avoided giving too many details.

"I moved around quite a bit," I explained.

"Because of work?" she asked.

"Something like that." I hesitated trying not to say too much.

"Mom, let's not interrogate her." Alexander says immediately noticed my discomfort.

"I'm not interrogating her." She says almost offended.

"You are." he says matter of fact.

"I'm getting to know my son's girlfriend." She emphasized the last two words.

I nearly choked on my drink. Alexander looked at me.

"You okay?" he ask. I nodded quickly.

"Fine." I smile.

"So, how long have you two been together?" His mother asks with a smile.

I froze. Alexander reached beneath the table and gently squeezed my hand. The gesture surprised me. I looked at him. He gave me a subtle nod.

"About..." I began.

"Eight months," Alexander answered smoothly. I blinked. Eight months?

Apparently, we'd been together for eight months according to the notebook.

"Eight months," I repeated.

"And how did you meet?" His mother beamed asking us.

I glanced at Alexander. This was the part we'd rehearsed.

"We met at a coffee shop," I said. Alexander nodded.

"I accidentally bumped into her." he says with a smile looking at me.

"I spilled coffee on him," I corrected. His eyebrows lifted.

"That's not how I remember it." he states.

"That's because your memory is terrible." I smile at him. His father laughed.

"Oh, I love this already." His mother gushes looking delighted.

I felt Alexander's thumb gently brush across the back of my hand beneath the table. My heart skipped. For a moment, I forgot we were pretending. Then I remembered exactly why we were here.

Safety, the trial, the Aldo Mafia, and the fact that once everything was over, Alexander and I would go our separate ways. I pulled my hand back and reached for my glass. Alexander's eyes lingered on me for a moment before he turned back toward his parents.

"So," his father said, "when are you two getting married?" he says with a knowing smile.

I nearly spit out my drink.

"Father!" Alexander exclaims in surprise. His mother laughed.

"What? You're already eight months in." his father says shrugging his shoulders.

"We're not discussing marriage." Alexander says.

"Why not?" his asks.

"Because it's none of your business." he says with a defeated sigh.

"What do you think, Hannah?" His mother looked at me. I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.

"Don't encourage her," he warned. Alexander looked at me, amusement dancing in his eyes

I laughed nervously.

"I think maybe we should survive dinner before we start planning a wedding." I laughed nervously.

"Good answer." His father burst out laughing.

"Fair enough." His mother simply smiled.

Dinner continued, and somehow, the conversation became easier. I found myself laughing more than I had in days. His parents were warm, funny, and surprisingly easy to talk to.

For the first time since Caden's death, I felt something I hadn't expected to feel. Safe.

After dinner, Alexander's mother insisted that I help her in the kitchen while the men disappeared outside.

"So..." As I rinsed a plate, she leaned against the counter beside me.

"So?" I glanced at her.

"Tell me about my son." She smiled.

"What?" I nearly dropped the plate.

"You've been dating him for eight months. Surely you know things about him." she says. I swallowed.

"I know he drinks his coffee black." I say remembering his coffee order.

"Good." She nodded.

"He hates being late." I state.

"True." she says.

"He checks the locks twice before going to bed." I say remembering the other night. I subtly caught him locking the doors and coming back to check again 10 minutes later.

"Really?" Her eyebrows lifted. I nodded.

"And he pretends he doesn't like sweets, but I caught him eating chocolate earlier." I whisper.

"That sounds like him." She laughs. I smiled. Then she became quiet.

"You make him happy." she says looking at the dish she is drying. My smile faded slightly. I wasn't sure what to say.

"We're... good together," I finally replied. It made me feel guilty about lying. She studied me for a moment. Before either of us could say anything else, Alexander walked into the kitchen.

"Mom, leave her alone." he says shaking his head.

"I was just getting to know her." His mother smiled innocently.

"You were interrogating her." he states.

"Just like you." she shoots back. He shook his head.

"Come on, Hannah." he comes to my side as I finish the last dish handing it to his mom. I dried my hands and followed him.

As we stepped onto the porch, I noticed the sky had turned dark. The stars were scattered across it, brighter than I'd ever seen them in the city.

"You okay?" Alexander leaned against the railing.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"She didn't scare you away, did she?" he asks worried.

"No. Your mother is actually really nice." I laughed softly.

"She's a lot." he says knowingly.

"She is, but it's nice." I say softly. He smiles.

For a few seconds, neither of us spoke. Then I looked toward him.

"Thank you." I say.

"For what?" he asks confused.

"For letting me feel normal for a little while." I smile at him. His smile disappeared.

"You deserve to feel normal, Hannah." He looked at me with something softer in his eyes.

"I don't know what normal looks like anymore." I looked down.

"You will." He stepped closer. I looked up at him. Our eyes met.

For one strange second, the entire world seemed to disappear. No mafia. No trial. No fake relationship. Just Alexander standing inches away from me. His gaze dropped briefly toward my lips before returning to my eyes.

My heart began pounding. Then the porch door suddenly opened.

"There you two are!" his mother called.

We jumped apart.

"I think we're being summoned." Alexander cleared his throat.

"Apparently." I laughed nervously. He held the door open for me. As I passed him, his hand lightly touched the small of my back.

It was such a simple gesture. But my heart reacted like it meant something and that scared me more than anything else.