The Protector

SIXTY-SIX

"So, Paul, since every Protector has special... talents, what are yours?" I asked, twirling the ice cubes in my near empty glass, leaning closer to him so I could smell his cheap body spray. I think this was my third drink, but maybe, and quite possibly, my fourth. I had a hard time keeping track, drinking whatever Avery placed in front of me, which almost never ended well for me. His flirtation with the bartender was proving to be quite lucrative.

"I have all kinds of special talents, baby," he purred, twirling a long lock of my auburn hair around his finger. Kyler snickered from the other side of me, and I turned to glare at him, but was happy he was jealous. He was leaning against the bar, surveying the packed dance floor, but he almost ignored the numerous female eyes that stared him up and down as they passed by us. He shook his head and tilted his beer against his lips. I turned back to Paul, trying to ignore how close his body was to mine. He touched my hair again. "Officially, I have the gift of strength and speed," he said as he leaned in, impossibly closer. "Unofficially, I have the ability to do this crazy move in bed I guarantee you have never seen before." He said the last few words with a straight face, and I loudly slurped the rest of my drink so I didn't have to respond right away. It was certainly fun flirting with Paul, and it made Kyler jealous, which I secretly enjoyed, but I would never in a million years have gone home with him that night.

"Are you talking about the time you drank too much tequila and wet the bed in Mexico City?" Kyler asked seriously, raising an eyebrow. Paul slugged him in the shoulder with a punch that would knock most men on the floor, but Kyler was not most men.

"Dude, could you not?" Paul motioned between us, like something was going to happen. I rolled my eyes.

"Enough you two. I think you owe me a dance," I said as I gripped Paul by the nape of his black button down shirt and pulled him towards the dance door. The music was actually quite good and the dance floor was packed. Paul expertly pulled me against him and began performing an old fashioned Texas two-step. My buzzed feet were a little slow to respond, but after a few minutes he was pulling me around the dance floor and spinning me a little too fast around the other couples. I understood where the saying 'dance circles around you' came from. After three consecutive songs I was so dizzy I could barely stand up straight.

"Mind if I cut in?" Kyler asked as he appeared next to us as if out of thin air. Paul looked annoyed, but stepped aside.

"I don't know if I can physically dance anymore," I huffed, wiping the sweat from the back of my neck.

"Let me lead for once, and you won't have to work so hard," Kyler growled as he gripped my waist and grabbed my hand, but before we could begin the two step, rap music blasted through the speakers, signifying the band was taking a break. The young and rowdy crowd screamed and cheered and grinded against one another. I pulled away from Kyler, but he grabbed my hips even harder.

"Let me lead," he insisted, and the way he stared at my lips was absolutely wicked. I looked around for Rylee's prying eyes or Paul's wandering hands, but we were perfectly hidden in the center of the crowd of college kids. Kyler suddenly spun me around so my back was against his strong chest and he slowly grinded his hips against my backside. I had to hold back an audible moan from how good my hips felt from the contact with his hard body. My mouth salivated from the overwhelming fire that burned across my skin as he trailed his fingers up and down my thighs.

"I hate this dress," he whispered into my ear. "I want nothing more than to tear it clean off you. Right now." Goosebumps erupted up the side of my neck where his hot breath touched my skin. I whipped around to face him, grinding myself against him, easily matching his sexy tempo.

"Yeah? Why don't you?" I teased, leaning in so I could whisper the words against his lips. I pulled back enough to savor the way his dark eyes widened, before he gripped my backside so hard I felt as though I may come undone right there on the dance floor. I moaned involuntarily as he slipped his hand beneath my dress again. He was quick to place his mouth on top of mine to silence me as his fingers pressed against my underwear again. I used everything within my power to pull away and not kiss him back. I had to remind myself why exactly I thought this was wrong.. Undeterred, he pulled my lower lip into his mouth with his teeth. My mind flashed back painfully to the way he kissed Alana the exact same way, right in front of me, at ORO the night I was drugged. I hadn't remembered because of the poison, but all I could see was the way he kissed her, both hands on her face as the green light strobed and flashed above us.

I quickly pulled away from him without saying a word and shoved my way through the throngs of people towards the bathroom. I burst through the door and grabbed the sink, forcing the color to return to my face. What was wrong with me?! He's engaged!

"Yes, Perry's here," a voice whispered in the stall behind me. It took me a second to realize she was talking about me, but I quickly snapped my head in the direction of the stall. "But we have a bit of a problem," the voice whispered again, and I realized the person was on the phone. "Kyler Isaacs is here too. You know he'll try to kill every single one of us to keep us from taking her," the voice hissed with venom, and my breath caught in my throat. Take me where? It was definitely not a voice I recognized. I slowly moved until I was in line with the stall next door, slowly unlatching the hinge. I held my breath waiting to see what the person would say next. Was this a Resistor?!

The bathroom door opened and noise boomed inside the bathroom so I had to strain to hear what the person in the stall next to me was saying. An arm touched mine and I jumped, but relaxed when I saw Rylee standing in front of me. I pushed my fingers to my lips and pulled her with me into the largest stall in the row, next to the occupied one.

"What are you-" she began, but I put my hand over her mouth.

"Hold on," the person on the phone said as I continued to hold Rylee's mouth as she struggled against me. I stared at her wide-eyed and she settled down. "Never mind, it's just two girls hooking up in the stall next to me." Rylee looked disgusted by the thought, but I continued to hold her close to me. "Beth, are you still there?" the voice asked and Rylee instantly froze, now standing fully erect. "How much longer until the reinforcements arrive? Six minutes? Okay, I'll let everyone know. Hurry," the voice said before opening the latch and marching over to the sink. I peeked out of the crack in the stall to see a petite young Asian girl I had never seen before. She washed her hands and touched up her pale pink lipstick before opening the door and heading back into the noisy bar. I turned slowly, my stunned eyes mirroring Rylee's.

"The Resistance is coming for me in six minutes?" I asked softly, but my insides were screaming. Rylee ripped her phone from the back pocket of her tight dark jeans, her fingers moving frantically over the keyboard.

"We have a Resistance situation. Five minutes. Wild West bar Lubbock," Rylee barked into her phone before hanging up and ripping off her top. "I already text everyone here to let them know, and called it in. Prospect Bennett has already been extracted and is on his way to Lubbock headquarters." She unbuttoned her jeans and glared at me. "Stop standing there and get naked."

"Excuse me?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"We need to switch outfits. Now," she said as she rolled her eyes and stepped out of her jeans. She held her hand out to me, opening and closing her fingers impatiently. After a moment, I stripped my white dress over my head. "There's a purposeful reason we look so much alike, you and me, Kyler and Paul. Think about it. President Andrews requested doppelgängers in case this happened. As far as Beth knows, you and Kyler are still together, so we had to have him here with you this weekend, and have this plan in place." I pulled Rylee's black tank top over my head, amazed when it fit me perfectly. "We have this covered. You have to get outside in exactly four minutes. There'll be a black truck waiting for you," she said as I pulled up the perfectly fitting jeans. She tucked my hair back behind one ear so it looked exactly like hers.

"What are you going to do?" I pulled her hair out from behind her ear and shook it a little to give it some volume like mine.

"My job. I'm you. I'm the decoy," she said as she proudly pulled her shoulders back before unlatching the stall. She hesitated and turned back to me. "Perry, please be careful," she said, her gray eyes worried for the first time all weekend.

"You too," I said as she pushed her way out into the bar, not sure if she heard me or if that was the last time we'd see each other alive.