No Angel

Part 3

Simba and Andy arrived to find the office abuzz trying to do damage control on the plane situation.

After putting on a blouse and blazer in the lift so that she was dressed more office-appropriate, Simba lead Andy though the madness to her desk. She gave him her chair to sit in, then went to make them both a coffee.

She returned with a mug for each of them. Leaning back against her desk, Simba observed Andy over the rim of her cup. His blonde hair, while normally carefully dishevelled, now had a new level of unruliness to it and Simba was overcome with the strange urge to start fixing it for him.

Stop that! she silently chastised her inner fourteen-year-old and looked more closely at the inside of her mug.

Andy on the other hand, was making no effort to hide his staring. The girl was kick ass and beautiful and he was completely intrigued by her. He knew it was highly inappropriate to be imagining the things he was about her, but if Maurice was going to fill the office with beautiful females, Andy couldn't help but notice. He'd definitely never felt such a strong urge to take one home with him like he did with Simba though.

Stop, he thought to himself. You're just grateful she saved your life, that's all.

"So how did you end up on protection detail anyway?" Andy finally asked Simba, trying to make small talk and distract himself from his thoughts about her.

"Only the best get assigned to Short Stack," Simba answered immediately. "And I'm the best."

Andy raised an eyebrow. "You haven't been here that long have you?" She looked far too young to be that experienced.

Simba shook her head. "Not that long? Just gone six years since I was first recruited. Not the longest by far, but I'm practically a senior citizen to some of these new girls."

"You must have been the youngest recruit ever," Andy said.

"I was," Simba told him with a smirk. "I had a lot to prove, so I did. That's why I'm the best. I even tried to get them to send someone else to protect you this tour, but Fox was more than happy to remind me that I was the most qualified to go."

Andy understood why she hadn't wanted to follow him around the country, he imagined it was a rather tedious task with his touring tendencies. The other part of what Simba said interested him, though. "Why are you the most qualified?" he asked.

"Lots of reasons," the agent answered vaguely. She took a sip of her coffee indicating she was done with their conversation before Andy could speak again.

Andy wanted to ask more questions about her, but was interrupted by another girl, no older than Simba, walking straight up to them, looking nervous.

"A-a-agent Simba?" the girl began nervously, but Simba smiled warmly at her, trying to ease the girl's nerves. "Maurice wants to see you, right now."

Simba's kind smile instantly fell flat and she groaned as she put her coffee down on her desk. Turning to Andy, she told him very clearly, "Wait right here, Dot's gonna stay here and keep you company."

Andy looked at the girl with a smile but the only look he got in return was her seemingly about to faint. That was how most of the young agents got around the bands that worked for Maurice. Simba wasn't different though, maybe that's why Andy found himself so intrigued by her.

Simba stalked away to Maurice's office—a place Andy, Shaun and Bradie had visited many times—and Andy waited at her desk. The thought of Shaun and Bradie, though, reminded Andy that he should call them and let them know what was going on. There probably wasn't going to be a show tomorrow night at this rate. He pulled his phone out and began to dial.