Semua Bab Fucked raw under his care: Bab 1 - Bab 7

The first time I saw Ashton Irwin, he was bleeding.Not a lot. Just a cut above his eyebrow from where some drunk asshole had shoved him into a wall outside a club in West Hollywood. But there was enough blood that I noticed it immediately when Marcus flagged me down."We need you tonight," Marcus had said on the phone. "Not tomorrow. Tonight."So here I was. One in the morning. Watching some rich kid dab at his face with a cocktail napkin while his friends took selfies. Senator Irwin wants him protected. Twenty-four seven. Someone's been sending threats. The kind that mention his son by name, times and locations. What he was wearing last Tuesday.I looked at the kid again. He was laughing now, phone out, probably posting to Instagram. Completely oblivious that someone wanted him dead."Great," I muttered.Marcus handed me a file. "Everything you need is in there. He lives in the hills. You start tonight.""Tonight as in right now?""His father's orders. There was another incident tod

The kiss changed everything and nothing at the same time.Cole pulled back first, like remembering where we were. Who he was. What he was supposed to be doing. A wall went up. Not obvious, but it was there. The professional mask sliding back into place."We can't do this again," he said."Okay.""I'm serious, Ashton. Your father hired me to protect you. Not to—""I know what he hired you to do.""If he finds out—""He won't."Cole looked at me like he wanted to believe that. Like he wanted a lot of things. Then he turned away and checked his phone. Back to work. Back to being the bodyguard.I went upstairs to my room and sat on the bed. My lips still felt like his. I could still taste the coffee. It would have been easy to convince myself that nothing had happened. That we could just go back to the careful distance we'd had before.But that was a lie. And we both knew it.I spent the rest of the day avoiding him. Stayed in my room, scrolled through my phone, tried not to think about t

We drove for hours. Cole's jaw was tight, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. Every few minutes he'd check the mirrors, check his phone, check me like he was making sure I was still there.When he finally pulled over at a small motel in the middle of nowhere, the sun was coming up. He got us a room under a fake name. Cash. No ID needed.Inside, he locked the door and pulled out his phone. I watched his face as he listened to Marcus. His expression shifted from hard to something darker. Angrier.He hung up. "Your father's involved in campaign finance fraud. Embezzlement. Money laundering. Names that go high up. Really high up. When he tried to back out, they decided to use you. To keep him in line."I couldn't breathe. "So they want me dead?""They want to keep him compliant. Either works."I walked to the window. Looked out at the empty parking lot."How high up?" I whispered."Higher than we thought."My phone had been off since we left the safe house. I turned it on. Forty-sev

He handed me the phone without a word.The text was three sentences."Marcus is dead"Shot in the warehouse after you left. Whoever sent the second team they're not done.They want the senator. And they know about you.Both of you.Cole had the door locked, the curtain drawn, and his shirt off before I could say a word. The graze on his side was worse than he'd let on. Dark and raw, the skin already purpling at the edges, blood dried in a thick line from his ribs to his hip."You said it was manageable," I said."It is.""Cole, that needs stitches.""It needs a cloth and some pressure. Sit down."He went to the bathroom and came back with a wet towel and a first aid kit from his bag. He sat across from me on the edge of the bed and pressed the cloth to his own side like it was nothing. Like he hadn't taken a bullet two hours ago protecting me and my father.I crossed the room, took the cloth from his hand, and held it myself.He let me.That was how I knew how tired he was. Cole McKni