Leave me alone, ESCORT

Chapter 5

/Kurt's pov/

As I grieved for the sixteen-year-old girl who had witnessed her boyfriend's death and then been mistreated physically, emotionally, and sexually for more than ten months, my heart was racing out of my chest.

Three and a half years later, the sweet, little child who had been adored by everybody had transformed into a bitter, hateful snarl. In addition to being socially isolated, she shied away from all interactions and emotionally isolated herself from her friends and family. I wasn't authorized to touch her 'under any circumstances,' unless it was absolutely necessary in a battle situation. She had tried suicide on two previous occasions, both times by ingesting pills, but had been apprehended before she could take her own life. Her birthday had been the day of both attempts. I took a look at her birth certificate and discovered that her next birthday was in six months. I was surprised. I made a mental point to be more cautious in the future.

It seems that Jane got herself into a lot of difficulty. In order to find out why she had been expelled from her last school, I sat on the floor in front of the television and pressed play on the DVD player.

When the tape began to play, a classroom came into sharp focus. People were gathered around desks, conversing, and it was evident that they were waiting for their lessons to begin. I recognized her right away since she was dressed in sloppy trousers and a sloppy hoodie. She was walking by a guy who was laughing with his pals when he smacked her in the groin.

She must have jumped nearly a mile into the air before coming up behind him. "Don't come near me," she said angrily.

"Please accept my apologies, princess," he said, laughing and holding his palms out innocently.

She flinched, like if he'd struck her in the face. "Don't ever call me that again," she murmured gently, her face a mixture of fear and rage on her face at the same moment.

"What do you want me to call you... princess?" He snorted and laughed.

She trembled once more before her features hardened. She threatened, "If you ever call me that again, I'm going to shatter your nose and your balls."

Her warning was met with laughter from the guy and his pals. She gave him a beautiful grin as he drew his face closer to hers. "All right, princess," he responded with a sly grin.

Without giving him a chance to recoil, she struck him in the stomach and then kneed him in the crotch. He was bending down in pain when she grabbed the back of his hair and slammed his face against the back of her knee, easily shattering his nose. After shouting out in anguish, he collapsed on the floor.

She rubbed him on the back of the head, a nice smile on her face. 'Told ya," she chirped, before snatching her suitcase and rushing out of the room, which was filled with stunned looks from everyone around her.

I couldn't stop giggling. She was, without a doubt, a badass.

Using my finger, I flipped through the rest of the file. Apparently, she had lost touch with her friends, had stopped dating, and had stopped attending parties. According to her notes, she didn't trust anyone and was exceedingly skeptical of everyone. She was on the verge of going depressed, and she was suffering from recurrent night terrors. In the previous three years, she had completely devoted herself to martial arts training, and she was well-versed in self-defense, karate, and kickboxing techniques.

My brief was on the last page of the document. I was going to pretend to be her boyfriend. When I saw the B word, I couldn't help but moan aloud. I was supposed to change my age from my actual twenty-one to nineteen, making me the same age as she was. It was decided that we would take the same college classes as before, which were Art and Graphic Design. I took a long, deep breath and continued reading. I was to live with her on the college campus in a two-bedroom apartment, which she had arranged. I wasn't permitted to take any time off other than during regular college vacations, during which she would return to the family home and I would be free to do as I pleased because she would be safeguarded by other agents throughout the rest of the time.

There would be one other bodyguard in full uniform, who would be the usual secret service bodyguard that was assigned to close family members of the Senator and would be attached to the Senator's entourage. Dean Michaels was the name of the individual. We were told that a night watchman would be assigned to the building to keep an eye on things while we slept. I was required to remain covert at all times, which meant no dating and no s*x for eight months in order to complete the mission. That made me mutter under my breath. This will undoubtedly be the most difficult eight months of my life.

Following my arrival in Los Angeles International Airport, I was to be picked up by helicopter and transported to the Senator's summer house, where we would spend nearly a week getting to know one another before moving into the apartment where we would be attending college. According to the dossier, Jane was not informed of the death threats against her; she was just informed that her security was being beefed up in preparation for the impending presidential election.

When I got to college, I started packing my casual clothing and storing the phone numbers of Officer Roman and Commander Erikson on my cell phone. Then I slipped into my bed in the terrible, small apartment that Nick and I shared and hid beneath the blankets for the night. I'd already said my goodbyes to the other guys. Nick was someone I was going to miss a lot; we had become excellent friends over the course of the previous four years of training. I considered him to be more of a brother in certain respects.

I couldn't say goodbye to anyone else since I didn't have anyone else. I had no family; my parents had perished in a car accident when I was ten, and I had bounced around from foster care to foster home until I was seventeen, when I was finally able to get a house of my own. I had no idea what to do with myself. I closed my eyes and vowed to myself that I would go asleep as soon as possible since tomorrow would be a hard day.

The flight went smoothly. Even though it was just for two hours, they still put me in first class, and I ended up dozing for virtually the whole flight. I hadn't had a good night's sleep the night before. Every time I closed my eyes, I could picture Jane gazing at me with her icy, hard eyes, pleading with me to assist her in any way I could. Then I'd open a cabinet and find her battered and broken on the floor, and I'd spring up in a cold sweat as I realized what I'd done. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to be a more difficult project than I had anticipated. I hadn't even met her yet, yet I was already thinking about how I might protect her.

I was escorted past the checks and to a private helipad located on the other side of the airport once the jet eventually touched down. An imposing man in a black suit extended his right hand to shake mine; he looked to be in his mid-thirties, with sandy hair and brown eyes.

"Hello, my name is Dean Michaels, and I'm Miss Spencer's far guard," he said as I extended my hand to shake his.

I gave a courteous grin. "Kurt Weller," says the narrator. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

He escorted me to the helicopter, and we both put on our headphones to listen to the flight. "The journey will take around thirty minutes. "You'll enjoy the summer cottage; it's comfortable and conveniently located near the lake," he added, a smile on his face.

"All right, it sounds okay. So, what information do you have on Jane?" I inquired, keeping a careful eye on his expression to see what he would say.

He bowed his head before speaking, as if he were considering the things he was about to say. "Miss Spencer is a very... tough person to deal with. You must keep a close eye on her at all times since she is prone to getting into trouble. In the previous three years, she's had twenty-three near misses, with the longest of them lasting just more than three months. After working as her distant guard for over a year and a half, the only reason I've been able to keep my job is because I don't have frequent contact with her." He shook his head, as if he were a bit irritated.

Is it possible that the nearby guards will be sacked within three months? I inquired, a tinge of worry in my voice. If I couldn't make it through the entire eight-month period, I would be denied my preferred assignments.