Oxygen (Romance, Completed)

Chapter 5

I'd been expecting Emmy to meet me in Boston, but when I walked into the arrivals area at Logan International Airport, I found Bradley flanked by two huge men. One with blonde hair and one with brown, both humourless and silent.

"How was your flight?" Bradley held his arms out for Hisashi, but his smile seemed forced, his manner subdued.

"What's wrong? Where's Emmy?"

During numerous phone calls in the last week, she'd given me the confidence I could make this move, and now she wasn't here?

"There was a small incident at the airport, and she had to stay behind."

"What incident? Is she coming later?"

He waved his free hand as Hisashi reached for the diamond earring he seemed so fond of.

"Nothing you need to worry about, but I'm afraid it's just you and me, doll. And this little one, of course."

Bradley ducked his head to the side as I unpeeled Hisashi's fingers from his earlobe. His words made light of the situation, but his demeanour told me it was more serious than he let on. A chill ran through me as I remembered Hisashi's father's last words: "Don't worry, querida. Soon it will just be you and me."

Only it wasn't. He left, and he never came back.

I wanted to ask more questions, but Bradley was already marching ahead towards the exit. I hurried to catch up as the brown-haired man grabbed my suitcase.

"Where are we staying?" I asked Bradley, ducking my head to climb into a waiting SUV. I'd lined up apartments to view, but Emmy said she'd sort out a hotel room for me until I found somewhere.

"The Four Seasons. I've booked a suite with a couple of bedrooms."

"Thank you."

When we walked into the lobby, half of the people there turned to stare at our strange little group. A Japanese girl and a baby, a guy in pale purple skinny jeans and a Banksy-print T-shirt, plus two suit-clad bodyguards—I could hardly blame the curious onlookers, but that didn't make their stares any easier to take. Hisashi chewed on his fingers then shrieked, and everyone else swivelled in our direction as well. I tried my best to settle my son, but at thirteen months old, he didn't appreciate five-star luxury.

I kept my eyes cast downwards as Bradley marched to the desk and checked us in, only looking up when we went into the penthouse. The two bodyguards took up residence on the couch while Bradley followed me into my bedroom.

"You okay?" he asked. "You've been even quieter than usual. I thought you'd be excited."

I perched on the edge of the bed and shrugged. "Try terrified."

"Why?"

I'd never attempted to put the fear into words before. "It's all so new. I've never had to look for a home before, or interview someone, or live alone. Well, I'll have Hisashi, but you know what I mean."

If anything, having a child with me made things worse. I had to be responsible for a whole other human being when I barely felt capable of looking after myself. In an attempt to stop myself from panicking, I'd spent the last week trying to be practical. Whenever I wasn't practising, I'd trawled through property rental websites and registered with a nanny agency. After Emmy background-checked the candidates for me, I was left with three possibles.

"You won't be on your own," Bradley said. "I'm here to start with, and you'll have a team of bodyguards if you need help."

"That's another problem. How can I act normal with that pair following me around?" I nodded towards the living room where RoboCop and Terminator sat side-by-side, glowering.