Chapter 10
Veronica
I held my hair up as I checked myself in the mirror, wondering if I looked good in the swimsuit I was wearing. It was white with black straps that crisscrossed over my shoulders and kept my back bare. It was the third swimsuit I tried on and I still wasn’t convinced.
“I wonder what my bodyguard is going to think when he sees me wearing this,” I murmured to myself.
Wait a minute. What did I just say?
I gasped as I realized what I just said and started slapping my face lightly.
“Oh my God, Veronica. What is wrong with you?” I cried, looking at my reflection worriedly. “You cannot possibly be thinking such thoughts about that asshole! You’re not dressing up in a swimsuit for him! What the hell?” I shrieked, mad at myself for my slip-up.
No, there was no way this was happening. I was not after that bastard’s approval, and I most certainly wasn’t having sexual thoughts about him. That was just certifiably insane.
“You’re just having a nice swim with Leila, and you know that Leila is a critic when it comes to all things fashion.” I told myself, nodding as I found a legitimate reason for worrying. “Yeah, that’s right. You just don’t want Leila to embarrass you by saying you look like a tramp,” in front of him.
Jesus, snap out of it already!
I shook my head and took a deep breath before grabbing my white-rimmed sunglasses and looking at myself in the mirror one last time. Yeah, I think this will do.
I took my stuff and left the dressing room, almost bumping into Jason who was waiting outside of the door. I glared at him before walking away, refusing to talk to him. After what happened the other day, I woke up to see him attaching cameras all over the place. I asked him what his problem was and he said he had to put surveillance cameras all over the perimeter, just in case someone trespassed into my property. He also said it was to keep track of people who came and went, and I told him it was unnecessary. He completely dismissed what I said and installed those damn cameras anyway.
And earlier, when I was about to get out of the house to come to this sports center, the buffoon stopped me and asked where I was going.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m going to the sports center with Leila. We’re going swimming,” I said, annoyed and feeling like I had an overprotective parent.
“Why would you need to go there when you had a perfectly good swimming pool here?” he asked, and I glared at him.
“Does it matter to you where we swim? It’s more fun there. There’s a lot of people,” I said. Duh!
“There’s also a higher chance of getting into trouble. A lot of people mean a lot of suspects,” he said, and my mouth went agape. Was he really saying that?
“Jesus, Jason. You can’t forbid me to go anywhere just because there are a lot of people there. You can’t tell me where to go, what to do, because you’re not being paid to do that. You’re paid to protect me, not shelter me.”
I had a hell of a lot more verbal ammunition to exhaust on him but he raised his hands up in surrender, stopping me from speaking.
“Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry,” he said, and I huffed, crossing my arms in front of my chest and looking away. “Tell me where it is and I’ll drive you there, then,”
And that was how the nice relaxing day I wanted to spend with my best friend became an outing for a trio. I’m trying to de-stress, and this is not helping.
I went out towards the swimming pool, and Leila was already lying down on the beach chair with her head tilted up as she sunbathed. I sat down on her left and grabbed the bottle of sunscreen on the table, squirting a small amount on my palm before rubbing it all over my hand.
Leila turned her head a little towards me and I could see her eyes roving over my body with a critical eye. She stayed quiet for a long moment, making me nervous a little that I had just failed in my mission to look spectacular.
“That looks nice on you,” she said lightly, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Did he see you in that thing?” she asked, and I looked at her, pretending like I didn’t know who she was talking about.
“Who are you talking about?” I asked innocently, and she tilted her sunglasses down so she could look at me in disbelief, her eyebrows raised.
“You can’t expect me to believe you don’t have a clue,” she said, before pushing her shades back over her eyes and leaning back to soak up the sun’s rays. “But for your sake, I’ll rephrase my question: Did your sexy as fuck bodyguard see you in that tiny thing you call a swimsuit?”
I rolled my eyes at her.
“Probably? I don’t know. I almost bumped into him on my way out of the dressing room,” I answered.
“That man is so hot. I’m amazed you’ve lasted this long without jumping him,” Leila said, and I scoffed at her.
“Excuse me? He is so not all that,” I said, lying through my teeth. He totally is, but Leila didn’t need to know that. She laughed sardonically, though, seeing through my statement.
“Sure, and I’m the most gullible person in America,” she countered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “There’s no shame in admitting your bodyguard is off the charts sexy as fuck, Ronnie. It won’t make you any less human,” she admonished.
“Yeah, well, so what if he’s hot? The rest of his qualities overturn his stellar physical attributes, anyway,” I said, puffing my cheeks.
“So you admit he’s got a stellar physique, hm?” Leila said, and I winced at my blunder. “And what are these less than desirable qualities you’re talking about?”
I spot Jason on the other end of the pool, watching me and everybody within the vicinity closely, not even trying to blend in by wearing swimming shorts or anything. He caught my eye and I smirk at the chance to talk smack about him, a part of me hoping he could somehow read my lips and know every horrible thing I was going to say.
“He’s a grade A jerk, egotistical, creepily silent, bossy, self-centered and arrogant son of a bitch,” I told Leila.
“You do know that ‘egotistical’, ‘self-centered’, and ‘arrogant’ are synonymous with one another, right?” Leila asked.
“He’s too full of himself that it needs to be described multiple times,” I reasoned, making her giggle.
“You know, you are just making me more and more convinced you have the hots for him,” she said confidently, and I gaped at her. What, is she on drugs or something?
“Did you just not take into consideration that everything I listed off about him was terrible adjectives? Why would you even think I find him even the least bit attractive?” I asked.
“Oh, but on the contrary, I did consider them. As well as the unresolved sexual tension between you two that is so thick, I’m going to need a chainsaw to carve through it,” Leila answered.
“I hate him,” I said obstinately.
“There’s a thin line between ‘love’ and ‘hate’, sweetie,” she said, still not convinced.
I was about to tell her she was wrong when we heard a sudden scream coming from the pool.
“Hey! That kid! He’s drowning!” a man cried, and Leila and I watched in horror as a small child was flapping around in the middle of the pool, his head bopping up and down the water.
“Oh my God,” Leila uttered, bringing her hand up to her mouth as her face paled with fright. I looked around for a lifeguard when I saw Jason run toward the pool and dive in. He came up a couple of feet away from the kid and swam over to him, pulling him to his chest as he swam towards us.
He heaved the kid’s body over to the floor, while a couple of guys went and helped bring the kid up. He quickly climbed up to the surface and knelt at the kid’s side, checking his pulse and putting his ear right in front of the kid’s mouth.
“He’s not breathing,” I heard him whisper, and I watched him place both of his hands on top of the kid’s chest and started performing CPR.
I placed my hands together as I prayed for the kid to wake up when the little boy’s mouth gushed with water and then he started coughing. All of us heaved a sigh of relief as the little guy opened his eyes and Jason flopped onto his ass, his chest rising and falling heavily as he breathed.
“My baby! My baby!” someone shouted, and we watched a woman pulling another little girl by the arm run towards the crowd, pushing them away until she was right next to the little boy. She dropped to her knees and hugged the little boy to her chest, crying softly.
I smiled quietly at the touching moment between them before my eyes fell onto Jason, who silently accepted the crowd patting his back and telling him he did a good job. I felt Leila come up beside me, cupping her hand over my ear as she whispered.
“Does this make you change your mind a little about him?”
I said nothing in reply, but as I continued to stare at Jason’s back, I had to admit maybe there was a piece of me that thought he wasn’t such a bad guy.
Maybe.