BODYGUARD'S HEART.

AT THE HOTEL

Gabriel had all of them booked into rooms within minutes and gave all of them thirty minutes to refresh themselves and get together in Christopher’s room to talk about what to do next. He may have been an i***t for letting Christopher and Uriel party it up when they were all targets for possible murder but at least he knew how to book a room, Sera mused. She showered and changed into a more comfortable outfit than what she'd been wearing this morning when the secretary to the senator showed up at her door. She felt better, all the running around from the club to the escape had her on edge and feeling down a bit. She stepped out of her room and found her way to the balcony down the hall. The balcony had these beautiful windows and parapets that let you have a view of the ground floor of the hotel. She leaned against the banister and watched people come and go from the hotel's lobby. She felt calmer now, just as she was beginning to relax, out of the corner of her eyes she saw a familiar figure, Christopher had come out apparently and was almost beside her. She turned around to look at him, he approached the banister and leaned against it too. “ I don't want you guys here,” Christopher said, “you don't understand just how much danger there is. My father didn't tell you all the details, but as it stands there is a bounty on my head and those of my friends. That flashdrive is the only reason we are not dead yet.”

Sera looked at him from beneath her lashes, she thought about his earlier behaviour and replied “ you don't want bodyguards because you think you can handle assassins or something?” Christopher hit his head with his hands and rubbed face, “ no, that's not what i think, at all. I think you and your team, if they can be called that, are ill equipped to face off with what I'm dealing with. I don't think there's any security outfit that can in fact handle any of this.” “Let me be the judge of that, I've had a bit of experience with security details even though that's not what i do best” Sera said, she took his hands in hers and patted it. Wait, why was she patting his hands and trying to make him feel better, his little stunt should've made her want to bite his head off and yes, she had been angry at the time but looking at him now, she would almost swear he was frightened and trying to keep everyone safe. But safe was a word that doesn't necessarily mean good things. “Trust me to do my job and see if things won't be slightly better.” She told him. Christopher looked like he was about to give in but then he looked down at their hands, removed his hands from hers and moved back away from her like he was realising something was wrong, “ don't ever try to be close to me like that, we are not friends and i won't hand the flash drive over to my dad, if that's what he sent you here to ensure that i hand it over, go tell him it won't ever work out the way he plans”, he turned around and left, walking towards the room on the left, Gabriel's room, stopping outside, he turned to look at her “Gabriel wants everybody to assemble in his room soon, get your team and meet us here”, then he turned the doorknob and entered the room.

Sera watched him go, looked down at her hands that had held his and she knew deep down that this wasn't simply a job for her anymore, she was beginning to care for her client and this never ended well. She leaned away from banister, straightened her shoulders and walked towards her room to get Leoba who was probably still showering, she always took long showers for some reason. Then she planned to get Adriel from his room and head to Gabriel's room.

She entered her room and seeing Leoba was already out and changing into a leather pants with a halter top, she beckoned her over with a hand sign that said five minutes, then went back out to Adrian's room, knocked on the door before turning the doorknob, she entered the room. Adrian was already dressed in a shirt and jeans and was trying to use the hotel's wifi to check on a few things back at home and also inform the senator that they had gotten Christopher and they were all safe. “We need to go to Gabriel's room now” Sera said, “they could have come here you know, we didn't need to agree to have the meeting in his room” Adrian replied. “Let's not sweat the small stuff”, Sera said and headed for the door. Adriel got up and followed her out of the room, they met Leoba in the hallway locking the room too. They all walked in a line and down the corridor until they got to Gabriel's room, Sera heard music gently playing inside and hesitated to knock, but then Adriel from behind reached out and knocked twice. In two seconds, the doorknob turned and the door moved inwards, Gabriel was standing behind the door with a smile on his face. “Please come in, we've been waiting on you”, he opened the door fully for them to enter. Sera, Leoba and Adriel walked in and Gabriel shut the door behind them. They walked to the sitting area and took up the sofa, Leoba perching on the arm of the sofa with Adriel perching on the other arm, only Sera sat properly on the sofa. Christopher, Uriel and Gabriel lounged on single sitters.

“I know the situation at the club wasn't the best circumstances under which we should've met…”, Gabriel started, “Really, you think?” Adriel scoffed, Uriel started up and bristled “maybe if we'd had a bit of prior warning that Christopher's father had decided to hire a security detail, we'd have met you at the house but even then, i doubt you'd have gotten the job considering the shoddy job you all did tonight”. “Why….you little fool….” Adriel started getting up, Sera put out a hand to hold Adriel back. Then she turned to look at Uriel, “if stupidity is second nature to you, that's absolutely fine. What you won't do is talk to us the way you like. We're here to find common ground and discuss how best to make sure you all don't get killed, because in case you didn't notice, there's a hit out on you”, “Alright, everyone just calm down, Sera's right”, Gabriel said. They all sat down and settled in. “So what plan did you have in mind?”, Christopher asked. He was looking at Sera. He knew she was beautiful but he hadn't really cared for that until this evening when she held his hands. Yes, he was beginning to like her a lot and he really didn't need the baggage of emotions with every other thing that was happening right now. “ I think it'd be easier if we all stayed together for the time being, as for the flashdrive, you decide what you want to do with it and fast too. I don't think those assassins were there to play.” Sera said. Gabriel and Christopher shared a glance and nodded. “Alright, I have a place a bit out of town where we can all stay. Until Christopher decides what he'll do with the flash drive”, Uriel said. “What even is the content of said Flash drive and why are we waiting for Christopher to decide what to do with it?”Leoba asked. “Look, it's a long story. We'll have all the time to tell it once we're there” Gabriel said, “Alright, we'll go back and pack. We need to stop by Sera's place to pick up a few things, but that shouldn't take us too long”, Leoba said.

With that they all dispersed to their various rooms to pack up and within a few minutes, they met in the lobby, got into their cars and left the hotel.