Protecting Taylor

Chapter 22

I pushed through the crowd of people trying to clear the way for Adam and Taylor. They walked hand in hand behind me.
"Careful with the wrist." Taylor said behind me.
I could barely hear her through the yelling.
"Taylor are you guys married?"
"Taylor are you pregnant?"
"Taylor who's the girl?"
"Calvin is she your daughter?"
"Calvin are you cheating on Taylor with Ellie Goulding?"
The crowd yelled out nonsense question which were ignored by the couple.
We got to the door of the restaurant and the other security guards told the paparazzi they couldn't come inside. The quietness of the restaurant was relieving.
"Mr. Wiles, your table is this way." The host ushered us to a cloth covered table.
"Is your wrist okay? It wasn't too much was it?" Taylor asked.
"No it doesn't even hurt a little."
"Alright, let me know if it does."
We picked up our menus and picked out what we were going to order. I chose the steak, vegetables, and potatoes.
"Are you excited for the BMA's?" Adam asked me.
"Yeah."
"We picked out her dress today. It looks really good on her!" Taylor said.
"I bet it does. It's alway more fun for you girls to get dressed up for these things." He said.
"I'm not wearing a dress this year. It's more of a jumper I guess." Taylor said.
"I'm just wearing a gray suit." He chucked.
"We watched the Bad Blood video this morning too! I'll show it to you when we get back to the apartment." She said.
"Have the others seen the video yet?" He asked.
"No. I can't take a chance on getting hacked. It's on my laptop."
"That's smart." I commented.
"So what's the story with the wrist?" Adam asked.
He leaned forward on the table slightly in a listening stance.
"I had engaged in hand to hand combat and he snapped my wrist."
He let out a low whistle.
"I don't know how long she'll have that cast on for." Taylor said.
"Probably for about a month." I shrug.
"Are you sure that's long enough?" Adam asked.
"That's about how long it was last time I broke my wrist."
"Damn. How many times have you broken your wrist?"
"I've broken this one three times now and the other one twice."
"How do you manage do that?" He says in a serious but light tone.
"Missions and training." I shrug.
"Have you broken anything else?" He asked.
Taylor leaned forward in anticipation as well. Her face was a mixture of interest, concern, and possibly what could have been anger.
"Well, I've broken my wrists obviously," I laugh. "Plus some fingers and toes of course."
"How do you break your fingers?" Taylor asked.
"Punching." I say simply.
"That makes scene actually." Adam nods.
"What else?" She asked.
"I've broken my leg before."
"How?" She asked.
"Umm, I was on a mission and I could either jump off a 40 foot drop or burn to death. I'm sure you know what I picked." I laughed slightly.
"Anything else?" Adam questioned.
"I've had my nose broke quite a bit. Then of corse some ribs. I broke my collar bone once."
"In the span of what? Six years?" Taylor asked shock clear on her face.
"Yeah. I've seen a lot of agents that were much worse off than me."
"Jesus..." Adam muttered.
A waiter brought out our salads and drinks.
"I'm going to be able to come to some of your shows soon." Adam told Taylor who looked very upset.
"Great! Just let me know when so I can get you passes." She beamed at her boyfriend.
"Think I'll enjoy the show?" He asked me.
"Defiantly."
"Did the fans recognize you?" She asked.
"Yeah. They were telling me how excited they were for the show. They're sweet."
"Good. I'm glad my fans generally aren't rude people."
"I liked their costumes."
"I love the costumes!"
"Maybe Adam should wear a costume to the show." I suggest.
"What will he go as?" Taylor ponders jokingly.
"He could go as a fox or a Shake It Off cheerleader or a tree or dress like I do on stage or-"
"Or I could pretend to be Taylor Swift's boyfriend Calvin Harris."
"Nah not creative enough. Besides no one would buy it anyways." Taylor laughed.
"Then I guess I'll be a fox."
"Great then it's settled!"

"Hey guys I'm gonna turn in for the night. Thanks again for dinner, Adam. Good night!"
"Alright, good night sweetheart." Taylor gave me a small smile.
"Night, Alex." Adam said simply.
Taking Meredith with me I went to my room. They needed their time and I didn't want to get in the way of that.
I wasn't particularly tired yet so I read "To Kill a Mocking Bird" until my eye lids felt heavy. Before dozing off I laid the book on the bedside table and turned the lamp off.

"Hello agent." A burley Russian man spoke with a thick accent.
I watched quietly as he moved across the room to stand directly in front of the chair I was tightly bound to.
"I would like to ask you some questions. We will start easy."
I glared at him.
"What is your purpose for breaking into our facility?" He asked.
I chose to remain silent. Interrogation rule number one: never answer questions.
"Did you not hear me child? What is your purpose for being here?"
I didn't answer his question yet again and he brought a large hand across my face. Fire spread throughout the left side of my face.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I feel you'd enjoy the easy way much better." He smirks before circling around to the back of my chair.
My heart accelerates. I don't like not having visual on the man. He grabs my hand tightly.
"Why are you here?" He barks.
"I'll never tell." I spat.
Then I hear and feel the snap of my finger. A cry tumbles out of my lips.
"Try again!" He screams snapping another finger.
The process counties until he's out of fingers and still had no answer.
"ты глупая сука ответить мне(you stupid bitch, answer me)" He screams knocking the chair over with me in it.
I feel my arm bend awkwardly and break causing me to scream. The man rips me back up by my hair and-

"Alex! Baby come on!" I jolt up and scramble to free myself from the covers.
"Hey, relax, Alex. It's Taylor." The gentle voice says and the lamp beside my bed illuminates the room. Adam stands by the bedside table and Taylor is sitting on her knees beside me on the bed.
"My fingers are broken." I hold my hand to my chest.
"Let me see." Taylor coaxed.
I slowly reach out a shaking hand and she grabs it gently.
"They look okay. It was just a bad dream." She says rubbing her thumb soothingly over my knuckles.
"I-I-he-"
"It's just us, you're alright." Adam adds in keeping his distance.
"I woke you guys up. I'm so sorry." I feel ashamed of myself.
"You can't help it. It's okay." She says pulling my shaking body into her arms.
"I didn't hurt anyone?" I asked.
"No of course not. Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.
I shook my head no. She doesn't need to know about it.
"If you ever do need someone to talk to about it, or anything you know you can always talk to me." She said.
Taylor stroked my hair.
"I'll be in your room." Adam says quietly.
"Okay." She said.
"What can I do to help?" She asked concerned.
"I'll be alright. What time is it?"
"It's 3:30. You can't just be up for the day. You've gotta get some more sleep."
How can I sleep when hell plagues my dreams. The thought of falling back into that trap makes my stomach churn.
"I can't." I admit.
"Sweetie, I know you're scared, but you'll be tired if you don't get back to sleep." She murmured.
We both fall silent and my mind keeps replaying the nightmare. It wasn't one of my worst, but I felt so terrible for waking up Taylor and Adam.
"How about we turn of the TV and you can relax." She suggests.
"Okay." I agree.
She grabs the remote from the bedside table and turned the TV on. We go through the channels until we settle on a movie channel.
"Have you ever seen this movie before?" Taylor asked.
"No. What is it?"
"Miss Congeniality."
"I don't really watch a lot of movies." I said.
"There's so many you need to see. We'll have a movie marathon sometime." She smiles.
Taylor straitened up the covers which were balled up at the foot of the bed. She pulls them up over the both of us and turns the lamp out. The only thing lighting the room was the TV.
"Taylor what are you doing?" I asked as she settled into bed.
"I'm watching a movie with you." She said.
"You don't have to. Adam's here and I'm fine-"
"I'm not leaving until you fall asleep." She said.
I sigh knowing she would stay true to her word.
"You'll be here a while." I say lightly.
"If that's what it takes." She shrugged.
"So stubborn." I mutter and she laughs quietly.
We both focus of the screen and she falls asleep before the movie ends. I found myself drifting off during "Miss Congeniality 2." Before I knew it we were both out cold.