CHAPTER 1 - GUNNER

"You got the right address, right?" I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I listened to my brother. "Take good care of Layland, Gunner. Don't ever take your eyes off him. He is against this arrangement, so he'll definitely do whatever it takes to escape from you—" 

"Enough with this, Shawn," I said in an irritated tone, cutting off my brother's words before standing up. "I'm leaving," I said and then made my way out of his office without even waiting for him to respond.

I clicked my tongue. Yes, I do act stupid sometimes and do some crazy things, but that's only in my private life, not when it comes to work. I take my jobs seriously, and this babysitting assignment won't be an exception even if I hate doing it and would still rather go on a vacation.

Well, it'll only be for three weeks anyway. Once this assignment is over, I swear I'll get that vacation Shawn had forcefully taken away from me. Besides, compared to the past assignments I've had, this babysitting job doesn't seem to be hard.

I already read the list that my clients had left for me, and the rules they've given me are so easy that I had to call Shawn to make sure that the list given to me was the right one, and it indeed is the right list, which only consists of four rules.

1. Make sure that Layland won't be leaving the house unless necessary, and if he really has to leave, I have to be with him and follow him everywhere he goes to make sure that he won't be getting in trouble or getting involved in a scandal.

2. No one is allowed to visit Layland, especially the guy named "Zach."

3. As long as it's not an emergency, then I am the only one allowed to be near Layland.

4. I am not allowed to speak to anyone about what's going on inside their home. Whatever happens inside their home, stays in their home.

The moment I read those rules, it only solidified my argument with Shawn that this assignment doesn't really sound like a security or a bodyguard job. It indeed is a babysitting job! But what did I get from my brother when I told him that?

"It's still a fucking job," he said, which made me want to punch him in the face because even if I didn't say it out loud, he's fucking right, and I hate that he's right.

After leaving our agency's building, I immediately went to my car. And the moment I saw my car in the parking lot, being stared at by people passing by with fascination on their faces, the irritation I was feeling while having that conversation with Shawn immediately perished. I fucking love it, and it always makes me feel high whenever I witness people being in love with my baby the same way that I do.

I was about to get inside my car when my gaze caught one of the women that were admiring my car, making me almost whistle in admiration. She's gorgeous and sexy as fuck, which is exactly my type.

If I didn't have a babysitting job to take care of right now, I'd surely ask that beautiful woman out on a date and make sure she'll end up on my bed, especially when she was meeting my eyes and giving me that kind of look that says she's up for a fucking. Too bad this fucking babysitting job has taken my supposed-to-be free time to flirt and fuck.

Speaking of my babysitting job, my phone started ringing again. And I don't have to look at it anymore to know that it was Shawn, probably going to start nagging again about having to do my job properly.

I did not bother to answer the call and just let it ring again and again. Shawn would get pissed, and I don't care. Why should I fucking care when he didn't care about ruining my supposed work break and vacation?

The beautiful woman was still staring at me; the seduction in her eyes remained. She looked like she was just waiting for me to make a move on her, but too bad, and to my disappointment as well, I couldn't do that. So, instead of going in her direction, I just gave her a wink before I finally got inside my car and drove away.

—

After an hour, I finally arrived at the Floros' home.

Their place was situated in a very exclusive village, where only the wealthiest people in the country could afford it.

I saw George, one of our men, who was in charge of setting up the video surveillance inside the Floros' home, standing outside and leaning on the massive white gate that surrounded the entire home of the Floros'. There was a huge black bag, which I know contains his things to get his work done, slung on his shoulder.

The moment he took notice of my car, he immediately stood straight. And after I momentarily parked my car in front of the massive gate, he then made his way towards me.

I rolled down the window of my car so that we could talk face-to-face.

"I already installed all the cameras," he informed me.

I nodded. "Thanks. I'll just connect it to my phone then." George only nodded as a response. "Is the kid inside?"

"Yes, sir," he answered promptly, to which I answered with a nod. Then, I asked him, "Can you please ring the doorbell for me?"

But before he could even do what I asked, the gate had already opened by itself.

George just looked at me as if he was waiting for me to tell him what to do next since he didn't need to do what I asked him.

"You may leave," I told him, to which he responded with a nod before leaving.

Once George was out of my sight, I drove my car inside the gate and looked for the garage. After locating the garage, I immediately parked my car next to an expensive car that is obviously owned by the Floros'.

I had just gotten out of my car when someone behind me spoke.

"So you are my bodyguard."

I turned towards the source of that voice and saw a young man who looked exactly like the young man in the picture that was given to me.

It was Layland Floros in the flesh.

Just like exactly in the photo, the Layland Floros that I was seeing right in front of me had white-colored hair, a pointed nose, thin pink lips, and hazel brown eyes. As for his body, well, he's got a slim physique. And his height—just as what was detailed in the information about him that was given to me, he indeed looked like he was 170 centimeters.

Well, the boy is beautiful. He was beautiful in the photo, but he's definitely much more beautiful in person.

"Satisfied?" he asked in a seemingly mocking voice; a boyish grin was plastered on his face. And weirdly, I found that boyish grin of his to be adorable.

I glanced at his entire body once more. He was wearing yellow drawstring shorts that he paired with a black shirt that said, "FOR BOYS ONLY."

I raised one eyebrow.

What's with the print?

A clearing of a throat caused my gaze to return to Layland's face and meet his eyes. His hands were in his shorts' pockets, and he had a bored look on his face.

I crossed my arms over my chest with one of my eyebrows still raised. "So, you are the kid that I have to babysit?" I asked.

His face turned sour as if he didn't like what I said.

"I. Am. Not. A. Baby." He pronounced each word with emphasis, his teeth gritting.

His forehead was furrowed, and he was throwing a very sharp stare at me as if he wanted to kill me with just his stares.

I don't know if he was doing it on purpose to scare me, but if that was the case, then he was not successful with it. Because instead of getting annoyed at his hostility, I instead found it to be endearing and adorable, which was very disturbing. Because how can I find a boy to be so cute?

He clicked his tongue before rolling his eyes in irritation when he realized that his hostility did nothing to me. And that made me chuckle a little.

It's kind of funny how naive he was for thinking that just doing that would be enough to scare me away.

Taking my chuckling negatively, Layland took a few steps towards me until we were only a few steps away from each other, which made it enough for me to smell his perfume. And goddamn, his perfume smelled so good.

Sweet-smelling perfumes aren't really my type, but whatever it was Layland was using was doing wonders because I really liked it. It also suited Layland for some reasons.

But my appreciation for his perfume was cut off when he suddenly pointed one of his fingers at my face and said, "You!" Because of the shock from the sudden movement from him, I couldn't help but take a step back, but that movement from me did not bother Layland at all. He remained pointing his finger at me while his eyes were shooting daggers. "I don't want you here. I don't need you." He took another step towards me with his fingers still pointed at me, while I remained standing where I was. "I don't need a fucking dog following me around." He took one more step towards me until we were only half a step apart and his finger was just half an inch near my glabella. Then, with a mix of anger and pure conviction, he continued speaking, "You are not needed here, so get the fuck out of my house and fucking leave!"

I stared at him intently. His face was in a grimace, and I could clearly see the distaste in his eyes as he looked at me. His shoulders were moving up and down, and he was breathing heavily.

Yep. He's angry. Like, really angry. And I swear I could also feel a hint of murderous intent from him. And if it were in any other situation, and if it were another person, I would take that murderous intent seriously. But not with Layland. Because goddamn, he still looked fucking adorable, and again, it's fucking disturbing for me to think that way about him.

A few minutes had already passed, but I remained quiet and just stared at him, and that seemed to tick him off more than he already was.

His face grimaced even more as he opened his mouth, ready to hurl out hostility once again, but before a word could even escape his mouth, I already made a move.

I grabbed the wrist of his hand that was pointing at me and roughly pulled it down, even twisting it a little, which made him hiss in pain. It was then my turn to take a step towards him. But unlike me, who remained rooted on the ground I was standing on while he was trying to intimidate me, Layland took a step back as I made a move towards him while biting his lower lip to suppress his moan of pain.

I took another step towards him, and he was about to take a step back again, but I did not allow him to anymore. With my hold on his wrist still tight, I pulled him towards me until our bodies crashed and our faces were only an inch away from each other that I could practically smell his minty breath, making me internally groan.

Fuck! Why does he smell anything that I like?

I internally shook my head as if that would make those disgusting and unfamiliar thoughts go away. Of course, that didn't happen, but I acted like it did as I finally spoke again.

"You are not the one who hired me, and definitely not the one who pays me. It is your parents. So you do not have the right to tell me what to do. I don't care if you dislike me or that you can't stand to be around me. I am not going anywhere, and there's nothing you can do about it but just suck it up instead. I am fucking staying and will do my job," I said with an edge in my voice, giving him the idea that I am not someone he could just easily push around. Then, I brought my face closer to his ear, which made him gasp. "I don't know what you've heard about me, but I am not fucking nice, kid, and I am not patient either. So if you don't want me to lose my mind and do something that you wouldn't like, then you better behave and be on your best behavior. Because if there's one thing I don't like the most, it would be bad boys," I whispered into his ear before I finally let go of his wrist in a rough manner and walked away, passing by him as I made my way to the entrance of their home.

A sly smile started to show up on my face as I continued walking. I am taking back what I said before coming here. Because of how this job had started, it seemed that this wouldn't be boring after all.