I wake up with a start, another vivid nightmare from last night haunting my sleep. Unlike last night’s feeling of being the scared prey before a shark attack, this morning I am angry. I’m a lioness ready to pounce on anyone ready to hurt me.

I get out of bed and put my workout clothes on, my need to run out these feelings inside of me before I have a mental breakdown.

I walk out of the bedroom to find Cal and Robert talking softly to some stranger. They all turn and look at me, concern on their faces but something else, as if they have been up to something without my knowledge. I’m immediately on alert. I stare suspiciously at this stranger who’s in my home without my invitation. His haircut indicates military, his eyes are cold gray steel as they stare back at me. No amount of clothing can hide his rock hard body. He’s stunning in a completely dangerous way. I know the situation is serious since Robert is not drooling all over him.

“How are you feeling today?” Robert asks in a sweet voice that he would use on Avery.

“Fine,” I say firmly, shooting him a questionable look. “Where’s Avery?” I walk to her room but find it empty.

“I took her to school already,” Cal says, his tone of voice all business, his eyes penetrating as he assesses my mood. “Jenna, I want you to meet Mason, your new bodyguard. He’ll be with you at all times when you need to leave the house. We’re extremely fortunate that he was available on such short notice.” Cal nods his thank you to Mason. “I’ve reviewed his credentials and I am 100% confident that he’ll be able to keep you and Avery safe when out in public.”

I stare at Cal in silence, my anger toward him mounting to a new level for not consulting me. He never discussed getting a bodyguard, nor did he ask if I even wanted one. He has completely taken away all forms of freedom from me.

I turn to Mason with an extended hand and my most dazzling smile, “Nice to meet you. Do you have a last name, Mason?”

“You may call me Mason, ma’am,” he says, his voice just a little too cocky for my liking. He grips my hand in a tight, brief handshake.

“Well, Mason, I do appreciate you being here for my well-being, but you see, there seems to be a slight miscommunication as I was never asked whether or not I wanted you here and no offense to you personally, but I don’t need a bodyguard. I am sure Mr. Harrington is paying you generously to waste your pristine skills on babysitting me and my daughter. I apologize on his behalf and wish you the best of luck as I do not need your services.” I smile sweetly, turn on my heel and head to the front door.

Three steps in and my arm is grabbed by Cal, who whirls me around to face the fury that is raging in his eyes. “Mason, it seems Ms. Pruitt is ready for a morning run. Please feel free to get ready to join her by changing into your work out attire in the guest bathroom while I have a little chat with her.”

Mason picks up a duffel bag from off the floor and heads straight to Avery’s bathroom. How does he even know where it is already? How long has he been here?

As Cal drags me by the arm to my bedroom, I glare at Robert, hoping he can read my mind as it screams TRAITOR at him. He could have sent me a text message this morning while I was in my room to warn me about Mason and he didn’t. Rational thinking Jenna would try to understand why Robert would think it was okay to not tell me what Cal was planning. But rational Jenna is not here right now and irrational Jenna is mad as hell. All I’m thinking about is what a selfish prick Robert is to go behind my back and side with Cal.

I yank my arm out of Cal’s grip and walk to my window to try to get as far away from him as I can. Cal shuts the door and all I hear is his footsteps pacing back and forth.

“Jenna, I know you’re not stupid enough to believe that you don’t need a bodyguard after last night’s incident.” His voice is harsh and condescending with his insult.

I ball my hands into a fist and turn around, the image of punching him in the face providing immense pleasure. “Well, Cal, I guess in your eyes I AM stupid, because I DON’T need a bodyguard as I feel that last night was an isolated incident and won’t happen again as people will hopefully be appalled when they see the images once published.”

He closes his eyes and grips the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath. He keeps his jaw tightly locked, his patience with me obviously on thin ice. “Unfortunately, that is not how it works in the paparazzi world. Last night just fueled their fire and they will be after you even more.”

I calmly approach him and look him in the eyes so that he understands how dead serious I am. “I don’t know the paparazzi world. I don’t know your world. What I do know is that I don’t want any part of their world. Just like I don’t want any part of YOUR world. You brought this into my life. YOU need to fix it.” And with that, I turn on my heel and throw open my bedroom door, not caring anymore what Cal Harrington thinks.

I want MY life back.

He OWES me my life back.

Mason is waiting for me at the front door, the look on his face indicating that his intensions are to escort me on my run.

“Hope you can keep up with me, Mason.” I wink at him with a venomous smile on my face as I exit my apartment.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry if my presence is causing any tension between you and Mr. Harrington,” he says, as we get into the elevator. “But I did see the images from last night and what they did to you is not acceptable.”

“Not your fault, Mason. Completely Mr. Harrington’s fault,” I say with a sweet smile as we exit the elevators. I stop to think what the best route would be to take, but an idea springs to mind. “Mason, have you ever been in downtown Chicago before?”

“No ma’am, I haven’t.”

“Well, you are in for a treat! Just follow my lead,” I say seriously as I put my sunglasses on and adjust my hat. I notice the paparazzi have been moved behind a police barricade twenty feet from the apartment building’s entrance. It looks like there are even more of them than before and a flicker of doubt momentarily flashes through my mind. Maybe it is good that I’m not running by myself today. I push that thought aside as this is still all Cal’s fault that I don’t even have the freedom to go out by myself anymore.

We get outside and start to jog, the paparazzi immediately starting to follow us. Some of them hop in their cars and some start on foot.

“Looks like Princess Jenna couldn’t handle us, boys!” Danny Salari says, referring to Mason as he tries to run alongside us. “Wonder how long it will take before she has sex with this one!” he says, getting laughs out of some of the other photographers. I grit my teeth and proceed to run faster. Soon Salari and some of the few who decided to try to run stop following us. The only paparazzi remaining are the ones following us by car. My intention is for us to head into the city on our run. While normally I stay on the lakefront trail for my runs, going into downtown will be my best chance to lose both Mason and the paparazzi.

I run west for half a mile at a steady pace, trying to keep my head straight while my eyes follow the lanes of cars to my left, trying to gage when there will be a break for me to quickly dart through. Finally, I see one and my heart starts racing. Saying a quick little pray of hopes that I don’t die, I suddenly veer left and run straight into the oncoming traffic. Car horns blare, tires screech and cars collide as I narrowly make it across to the other side. I hear Mason yelling my name and I take off even faster. I start zig zagging through people, turning right onto a new street, then left onto another new street, trying to see where I can go without being followed. After making another turn onto another different street, I look behind me and see no one that I recognize, but I refuse to take a chance as Mason could have made it across that traffic once those cars stopped. My lungs are screaming, my legs are tired and sweat is dripping down my face as I decide to slow my pace down to catch my breath. I see a huge department store that takes up the whole block with multiple entrances on each of its four streets and run inside. I follow the signs to the restroom, find it and go inside to dry off some of my sweat. I splash cold water on my face and take a couple of sips. Once I have caught my breath, I head to an exit that leads to a different street.

I get out, look up and down the street and immediately spot one of the paparazzi’s cars. I start to run, moving as fast as I can, going up and down more different streets, in and out of places that I know have multiple entrances due to their size. I continue my game until I’m so tired that I can’t run anymore and decide that I’m done caring about proving I don’t need a bodyguard. I head east to the lake and when I see the beach, I immediately run to it. I collapse on the sand and look up at the sky, sucking in as many breaths as I can to calm myself down, but instead of calming dawn, I sit up and start to cry. I wrap my arms around my knees and put my head down and let it all out because even if I wanted to stop, I couldn’t. I cry out all of my fears from last night, my anxiety of being chased and the loss of my freedom. I cry until I have no more tears to shed. I take some deep breaths and just stare out at the lake, its soothing waves calming me down.

I realize the gravity of what I just did by losing Mason. I also realize the benefits of having Mason with me, especially with Avery. Now I feel like a fool. Cal is going to be livid and I’m going to have to apologize to him. I groan out loud and am even more mad at myself. I look at my watch and am shocked to see I have been gone for close to three hours. I start to swipe the sand off my legs and grab my sunglasses that I took off.

“That was not the smartest move to ditch your bodyguard, Jenna.”

I whirl around to see Chase walking toward me, his long hair pulled back into a ponytail, aviator shades covering his eyes. With his camera put safely away in his bag, I let my guard down, especially with him saving me last night.

“I realize that. I’m not too proud of myself right now,” I sigh, actually starting to feel ashamed.

“I can’t blame you, though. Hell, I can’t even imagine what you are feeling right now.” He just shakes his head and looks at the lake.

“Chase, what’s a guy like you doing in this business? You seem so nice and intelligent.” Not to mention hot, but he doesn’t need to know I think so.

“I’m obviously not that intelligent, otherwise I wouldn’t be in this business,” he jokes with a sad smile. “Honestly, my family situation back home is not good and the money is helping out. Once things are better, I plan on quitting.”

“Will you go back to Canada?” I ask, wondering if he has a special someone at home. He’s too good looking not to.

“I don’t know. I’m kind of digging Chicago.” He smiles, “C’mon, I’ll walk you back home.”

We start walking back to my apartment in compatible silence. As we get closer, we start to see the other paparazzi members waiting for us.

“Get your game face on.” Chase recommends as we see Danny Salari leading the pack.

“Thanks again for last night, Chase.” I sincerely say as I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t intervened.

“I’m glad I made it there.”

“Me, too.”

I put my head down as keep moving forward as they surround us both and start snapping photos.

“Wow Jenna, two guys in one day, you sure do move fast. And with one of our own! Canada, how did you get so lucky as to fuck that?” Danny taunts. Don’t say anything, Jenna. Keep moving forward. My building is in view, the police barricades close.

“Watch your mouth, Salari!” Chase warns.

“What will you do about it, Canada? Absolutely nothing because you are too much of a pussy!”

All of a sudden, I hear a crack and a thud. I turn around to see Danny on the ground, blood pouring from his nose while Chase stands over him and is holding his hand with a pained expression on his face. Chase just punched Danny in the nose and I feel even worse that he did it for me.

“Chase!” I yell, getting his attention to see if he is okay.

“Keep going, Jenna! I’ll be fine.” He motions with his hands for me to keep going, grabs his bag off the ground and starts walking in the other direction.

“I’m going to fucking sue you, Chase! You asshole! You broke my nose!” Danny screams. I run the rest of the distance to the barricades and breathe a sigh of relief when I enter my building.

My relief is short lived when I see one of the doormen pick up the phone and say “she’s here” into the receiver, no doubt letting Cal know my arrival home.

Time to face the music.