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“What’s to talk about? I’m used to having a body guard.”

“I’m your friend, too, Nick. Come on, you don’t think I faked all of that, do you? I would have done it all, even if it weren’t my job. I care about you.”

“If you knew about all this mess, why did you even bring me here?” I furrowed my eyebrows. I was very angry over the whole thing, but I’m not entirely sure why. I felt like she lied to me…like I, all of the sudden, couldn’t trust her anymore…like she shoved a knife in my back.

“It was best to bring you. After that stupid MTV news report, don’t you think SOMEONE would have figured out who you were? We both know Dani did. I couldn’t risk leaving you there, Nick. What if the wrong person recognized you? I told you I would protect you, and I thought that I was doing a pretty good job,” her eyes portrayed a glint of hurt.

“You brought me right to them!” I yelled, balling my fingers into fists, at my side.

“The best place to hide something, from someone, is right under their nose! Haven’t you ever lost a pair of keys and spent an hour looking for them just to find that they were already in your pocket? Don’t you get it? If I left you there, you would have been by yourself without a clue that you were even in danger. Someone could have watched you from outside your window and you wouldn’t have been the wiser.”

“Oh, so now I’m dumb?!?” Okay, so I was reading everything all wrong and taking things completely out of context but COME ON! Wouldn’t you do the same thing?

“I didn’t say that, Nick.”

“That’s exactly what you are saying.”

“NO, Nick, it’s not. You STILL only know the tip of the iceberg! There is more to it than you! If I hadn’t come down here to kick asses and take names, AJ would have been killed! If anything, you know them better than anyone else, I needed you to help me get them out of there. Who else could have taught me your secret language? Huh? You used yourself as a distraction to help defeat some of those guys, Nick. Don’t you see….bringing you along was the only choice.”

“You don’t know that AJ would have been killed, Chelsea…Sarah…Jordan...what the fuck ever I am supposed to call you now.” I was standing only a foot in front of her as my voice continued to boom down at her.

“First of all, I know damn well he would have been killed AND I know exactly HOW it would have been done…THANK you very much! Don’t question me, Nick…I know what the fuck I am talking about…remember? CI fucking A? Just because the demands had not leaked into the press doesn’t mean they didn’t exist, NICK,” her voice finally rose to a volume that matched mine. She had tried to stay calm and talk to me rationally, but it wasn’t happening. “Second of all, it doesn’t matter what you call me because as soon as this is straightened out, in a day or two, you will go back to your Backstreet Boy life and probably never see me again!”

Okay, why did that second part sting? It felt as if my heart just dropped to my feet. What she said, and the feelings it stirred up in me, just angered me more. I couldn’t believe what was happening! This wasn’t supposed to be part of the movie! Who wrote this script? I don’t want my life to be some dumb action movie anymore!

“Well little Miss CI fucking A, since you know so god damn much, why the hell did it take this long to get me out of this shit?!?” I could feel my face heating up more as I screamed at her. She held firm, to her ground, something I wasn’t used to.

“IT’S…NOT…ALL…ABOUT...YOU!!!!” she poked my chest as she stood on her tip toes to get her face closer to mine.

“Then why, the fuck, have you been my god damn body guard for the last year and a half?” I leaned down, bringing my nose within a couple inches of hers.

“Actually, I have been assigned to you since the day you testified in court!” she gave me a cocky grin before huffing at me. “You witnessed more than you realize, Nick, THAT is why you needed me.”

“This is unbelievable! You have been on my ass since THEN?!? Here, all this time, I thought we were friends and I could trust you. I guess, that was a load of horse shit, huh?”

“Technically, I haven’t EVER been ON your ass, NICK!” she stormed over to the door and whipped it open. She glanced back at me and in a low, soft voice, without looking up at me, she spoke once more, “I never had to show myself to you, Nick. I could have stayed in the shadows, unnoticed. Becoming your friend was by choice. I’m sorry you don’t understand that.” Shaking her head, she walked out of our hotel room.

“Fucking peachy,” I scoffed, plopping onto the bed. This is absolutely ridiculous! All this time, the only friend I had, was just there because she HAD to be! Figures, story of my life. I got up and started to pace the floor, milling everything over in my mind. Why was this bugging me so much? UGH! I really hate this whole damn situation. Why was I even fighting with her?

Looking at the clock, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I stopped pacing and did the math. It had been over an hour and a half since she left the room. Had I, really, been pacing that long? Panic started to surface. I quickly pulled my sneakers back on, grabbed the room key and rushed out the door. Where could she have gone? What if something happened? I didn’t make it far before I saw two shadowed figures, sitting on a bench, a few yards away from me. As I got closer, I could hear them.

“Nick just doesn’t control his anger very well. Don’t worry, he’ll come around.” I could tell it was AJ’s voice. A pang of jealousy hit me. But, why? He WAS her other favorite and, at one point, I had made plans of trying to hook them up. As I got closer, I could hear soft sniffles coming from her as AJ held her tightly in his arms.

I came up behind them quietly. She had turned her body away from AJ, so I took my chance. I tapped AJ’s shoulder and motioned for him to move. Silently, I took his place without her even noticing. In the corner of my eyes, I saw AJ smirk before walking away. I was a bit startled when she turned back and buried her face into my shoulder.

“I just don’t understand what I did wrong,” she started to sob again. I wrapped my arms around her. The scent of her hair floated into my nostrils and caused a smile to form on my lips. Obviously, she hadn’t looked at me because she thought I was still AJ. “I don’t want him to hate me!”

“I don’t hate you,” I whispered softly as I rubbed her back. She sat up straight and looked up at me.

“Nick…” she gasped before turning away to wipe away her tears. I pulled her back to me, wrapping my arms around her again.

“I was mad and…I don’t know…scared, I guess. But, I don’t hate you. I’m not exactly sure why I reacted the way that I did.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“You shouldn’t be. It’s me that needs to be sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You have just been doing your job and I had no right to make it more difficult for you. By the way, your roots are showing.” I heard a soft chuckle from her as she turned back to face me.

“I would have told you, if I could.” Her natural brown eyes locked with my natural blues. I could see the sincerity in her eyes.

“I know. But, I don’t understand, what was with the whole thing at the club that night? Asking me if I would have to relocate, because you knew who I was.”

“I knew that all hell would be breaking loose, sooner or later. I wanted you to be able to come to me, as a friend. Since I couldn’t just come out and say ‘Hey, guess what. I’m an agent for the CIA and I know who you are because I am assigned to watch over you’, I decided to come up with a story as if I was a normal grocery store clerk who figured it out.”

“So, you really did go out of your way to be my friend, huh?” All I received for an answer was a shrug of her shoulders. “I guess, I really have been an ass tonight.”

“You’re not an ass.”

“Well, the jury is still out on that one. So, uh…how different are you from Steph?” I asked, fiddling with my fingers.

“What? Why?”

“I’m just curious,” I shrugged my shoulders, waiting for her answer.

“Our occupations are different,” she chuckled. “Our personalities…those are the same. Well…with the exception of the cocky, sarcastic, ‘I’ll kick your ass’, bit.”

“You know, at one point I even thought that you had done it before or watched too many action movies,” I looked back up at her, my elbows resting on my thighs and my fingers clasped together.

“It’s mostly from action movies. Like I said before, the CIA doesn’t usually get involved in this kind of stuff. It’s kind of rare for an agent to get this sort of assignment. I’m usually stuck doing paperwork and that kind of boring crap.”

“So, why you? Why now?”

“Me? Because I offered to take the assignment and, since, they knew I was qualified and could handle it, they let me have it. As for, ‘why now?’…it’s a big, complicated, twisted mess. Unfortunately, all I can tell you is that the CIA deals with issues of national security.”

“You told me that already,” I cocked an eyebrow at her, hoping she would explain better.

“All cases are considered ‘classified’, until they are shut and closed cases. After they are closed, the ‘classified’ label may or may not be lifted, depending on the case. So, I can’t tell you anything right now, Nick. As much as I would like to, I just can’t. After everything is said and done, and IF it is no longer considered ‘classified’, I might explain things better. But, I am pretty sure you are better off not knowing, plus, you’ll be back to your old life, by then.”

“What if I don’t want to go back to my old life?” Whoa! Where did THAT come from? Wasn’t that exactly what I had been wanting since day one in the WPP? I wasn’t even sure what was going through my head at that point.

“What? I thought you would be excited,” she looked at me funny.

“Um…yeah…” I stuttered as I tried to sort my own thoughts, “maybe, I’m just tired.”

“The past few days have been pretty crazy for you,” she nodded as she stood up. I watched her, slowly, walk back towards our room. I quickly got up and followed her. I wasn’t happy with the way this was ending.

“Us.” I blurted as I walked into the room.

“Huh?”

“Us. The past few days have been crazy for US,” I said, walking up to her. She just looked up at me with a raised eyebrow and stretched out on top of the bed. I licked my lips as I glanced down at her short frame. Suddenly, a million thoughts swarmed into my head, causing me to come to an obvious realization.

“Nick? Are you okay?”

“No,” I drew in a deep breath. “I really don’t think I want to go back to my old life because…