Out of Nowhere (Balls and Brawn Bodyguard #4)

7. Chapter Seven Dex

Chapter Seven: Dex

S omething had changed between Dex and Seo-jun. They’d crossed some barrier the night they’d talked about Seo-jun’s past, and then again when Dex had talked about Anna. Every meaningful conversation they had brought them closer, as did sleeping beside one another every night. Holding Seo-jun’s hand the night Dex had gotten the late-night call from his mother was a memory Dex relived over and over. Another was when Seo-jun made him his favorite smoothie. That he’d remembered and had done it out of the blue had made Dex feel unbelievably special. He was probably making too much of it, but still.

For the next few weeks, every day at the gym was much like the last. Dex got used to the ebb and flow of the routine. Weekday mornings came with a burst of people exercising before work. Most of them weren’t there to climb, but to use the weight room, treadmills, and exercise bikes. A lull followed with only a light number of regular members coming and going by midmorning until the gym closed at lunch. Then, when Brand reopened at four, things got busy again with a steady number of members arriving fresh from getting off work. A couple of hours later, in came those who preferred to go home, eat, and change before coming back to the gym. By then, the night shift took over and Brand went home.

Saturdays were extremely busy and always a challenge for Dex and Seo-jun to keep an eye on their client. Dex had become popular with the intermediate group of climbers, many wanting him to give them tips as he belayed for them. Doing so meant holding the rope and feeding it to them as they climbed, which required his full concentration; so, if Brand was out of his office, Dex only agreed to belay for somebody when Seo-jun was able to take a break and keep his focus on the client. On Sundays, Brand used the heated pool at the mansion under the protection of one of the team while Seo-jun and Dex met with the bosses and caught up with other responsibilities. Brand had made friends with some of the guys and claimed it was like being at a resort. Dex could relate—he’d felt similarly when he’d started working there. Having an ex-model for a boss had its perks. Sometimes Dex called Anna, but lately she’d been suspended from calls due to poor behavior and refusal to cooperate.

If Brand’s ex was watching him or having him watched, he couldn’t have missed Dex and Seo-jun constantly by Brand’s side. Was he frustrated? Angry? If so, he might make a move soon. But the days trickled by without anything occurring, and the nights without anymore talks with Seo-jun because, besides doing work for Jase, Dex was frequently on the phone with Anna, who found ways to call him even though calls were restricted. And when he wasn’t reasoning with Anna, he was on the phone with his mother, who wanted to talk about Anna or about how Dex needed to carve time into his life for a wife if he didn’t want to be alone in his old age.

Before Dex knew it, five weeks had flown by. The Taylor Swift concert came and went without Brand attending.

The Tuesday of their sixth week guarding Brand Nichols started out busier than normal. The day before had been Labor Day and people were coming in to make up for skipping their gym time on the long weekend. Dex and Seo-jun had discussed the case with West, Logan, and Jase, and considered the possibility that Brand might be imagining the threat, or that Matt Pierce had given up on stalking Brand. The only piece of evidence they had that the stalking had occurred was the concert ticket left in Brand’s car. Neither Dex nor Seo-jun had seen anything suspicious in the five weeks they’d been with him. They’d decided to give it another week and then reassess with Brand. If Brand still felt unsafe and was willing to continue paying for protection, they would work something out with him.

The night before, upon Logan’s request, Dex had searched online for information on an elusive woman involved in a case West and Logan were working on. Dex wound up getting only two hours of sleep before his alarm woke him up, and, because of that, he fell asleep while eating lunch the next day, jerking awake when fingers carded through his hair. “Seo-jun?” he said, squinting up at him. Had he really been stroking Dex’s hair, or had Dex been dreaming?

Seo-jun reached out for Dex’s face with slender fingers. Dex’s eyes widened then clamped shut in embarrassment when Seo-jun peeled a slice of avocado stuck to Dex’s cheek.

Grabbing a napkin, Dex wiped his cheek, mortified to find a little ham and tomato had been stuck there, too.

“You’re not getting enough sleep,” Seo-jun said seriously. “Why don’t you go back to Brand’s apartment and take a nap?”

“I’m fine.” Dex stood, wobbling a little before regaining his balance and taking his trash to the can at the back of the employees’ break room.

“You’re dead on your feet. Go take a nap. It’s not busy. You could at least catch a couple of hours and then come back.”

Dex was tempted. Weeks of losing hours of sleep every night because no one else at Falcon Security could do the online work that he did, had finally caught up to him.

“Go on,” Seo-jun urged. “Brand and I discussed it already. Go.”

Dex considered. Maybe if he did it just today, he’d rally and be able to go on as usual.

“Okay. Just this once.”

They both had a key to Brand’s apartment, so Dex took a cab back to the building. He yawned in the elevator all the way up to the fifth floor, anticipating kicking off his shoes and sinking into the mattress—maybe on Seo-jun’s side so Dex could breathe in his scent while he slept, creepy as that sounded. He knew it would comfort him and help him sleep. When he turned the key in the lock of Brand’s apartment door, he was thinking about that spicey scent when it registered that the bottom lock had turned too easily. It had been locked, hadn’t it? The top lock was definitely engaged. After a moment, Dex decided he’d imagined that it had felt unlocked. Or possibly, since Brand had been the one to lock up that morning, he had forgotten to lock the doorknob and had only engaged the dead bolt.

The apartment was dark, cool, and quiet. Slipping off his shoes off at the door, Dex headed straight for the bedroom. Just before he reached it, he sensed a movement beside him and then pain exploded in his head and everything went dark.