Joaquin moved to a part of my back that barely hurt, so I didn’t have to concentrate as hard on being still and not begging for mercy. I decided to chat with my bodyguard, since he was my captive audience.
“Is my apartment ready for me to move back in?” I asked.
“It’s not. Give it a few more days.”
“I don’t want to.”
He released a covert sigh. “I know. You’ll have to.”
“Do you like being in charge?”
“I do.” He didn’t even hesitate. At least he was self-aware enough to recognize that.
“What happens when you’re not?” Joaquin huffed a laugh on the other side of me. Clearly, he was enjoying this line of questioning as much as I was. So sue me if I was curious about my constant shadow.
“People get hurt. Chaos.” He lifted a shoulder. “Possibly nothing, but I don’t like to find out.”
“Mmm. What happens when you meet someone who holds their control like a closely guarded treasure?”
Ronan didn’t answer right away. He stared me down with eyes like a stormy sea.
His clasped hands opened like a lotus flower. “In that case, I’d like that person to trust me enough to hand their control over to me.”
It took every bit of my willpower not to shiver. If I messed up Joaquin’s lines by squirming, he’d probably hide “Iris smells like cheese” or something equally rude inside the design.
Joaquin flicked off his machine, and my ears kept buzzing even when it stopped.
“Two-minute break to catch your breath. Do you want something to drink?”
I propped myself up on my elbows, careful to keep my tank over my tits. “Coke, please.”
He grabbed a can from the mini fridge tucked under a table and handed it to me with a bendy straw sticking out. I took careful sips and side-eyed Ronan, who had stood up, keeping his eyes averted from my bare skin. Deciding I’d had enough of his uptightness, I chatted with Joaquin. He asked me about my music and told me he landed a bit part in a movie that had filmed down the block. I got him laughing with a story of the last girl Adam had declared he was in love with, whose name he kept forgetting.
“Jesus, tell Adam the next time he falls in love, I’ll tattoo her name on the inside of his eyelids. Short of that, I don’t think the kid will be able to remember.” Joaquin tattooed the whole band, so he knew each of us well.
Except, of course, Callum. No one knew Callum.
Joaquin got back to work, and Ronan settled himself in his corner again. Well, settled might’ve been inaccurate. He was just as alert as ever. Even though my eyes were closed, I felt his intensity like an oncoming storm, charging and thickening the air.
“So, Ronan, what would you be doing if you weren’t guarding our fair Iris here?” Joaquin asked.
“The company I work for, LSS,”Lost Simian Sisters, “designs security plans for companies and individuals. I only take guarding details on a temporary basis. The rest of the time, I’m implementing plans.”
“Hmmm…that’s even more boring than I thought. Who’s the most pain in the ass celeb you’ve worked for?”
“You know I can’t tell you that. I’d have to kill ya.” That sounded distinctly like a joke.
They bantered back and forth for a few minutes, and I slid deep into the space between awake and asleep. Their voice became part of the music playing, words indistinguishable.
I almost missed Joaquin say, “Okay, baby, this part might not feel too good,” but I could never miss the slow drag of his gun against bone. I whimpered, working hard to keep my body still.
“Shit,” I panted. “Oooh…” My nails dug into my forearms, willing myself not to writhe.
I was the biggest wimp alive when it came to pain. I had no tolerance for it. My first tattoo had been the size of a dime on my inner wrist, and I’d nearly passed out. I’d sucked it up, though, putting on a mask of bliss for my stranger of an artist and the guy who’d come with me. If I hadn’t met and come to trust Joaquin, I would’ve kept hiding my reactions, but over the years we’d been working together, he’d given me the room to be honest and show how I was feeling.
In turn, he worked as fast as he could on the sections he knew would be the death of me if he didn’t.
“Breathe, baby girl,” he reminded me.