Brooklyn's Break In #1 | ✔

ᵗʰᶤʳᵗʸ ᵒᶰᵉ

"Asher," Brooklyn said in warning, "no."

Asher pleaded, begging her with his eyes, "Babe, please, you won't even know he's there. He'll be like a shadow."

"The answer is still going to be a 'no', there's no argument in this!"

"It's for your own good."

"Asher, baby, I don't need someone babysitting me. I'm a grown woman and I can take care of myself."

"I know you are," he argued, throwing his hand up, "but what I'm saying is that it wouldn't hurt. It won't hurt to have someone watching your back."

"I don't want a bodyguard, Asher. Do you understand me?" she snapped. "I. Don't. Want. A. Bodyguard."

"What if someone hurt you," he asked, drumming his fingers to a furious beat on the table, glaring at her.

"Who?" she said, frustrated to no end. He was really pulling the last straw here. "Who is going to hurt me? Because as far as I'm concerned, I can't name any."

"A person that wants me hurt."

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"Someone like your father. He hates my guts, do you think he is capable of such things?" he questioned, hardening his voice. "Answer honestly, Brooklyn."

She thought about it. Her father was a nice guy, he took care of her and raised her to be the woman she is, alongside with her mother. Together, they made her who she is. But that was before he went down a Mount Fuji height slope. Something got into him and she doesn't even recognized that man he is now.

"Yes."

"Are you afraid of him."

Supposedly, her answer was to be 'no'. He was her father and a daughter was not supposed to be scared of her own dad. But her thoughts reoriented to the night she saw her father bring back a woman that wasn't her mom: she doesn't know him. Then it transferred to another night where she found her mom with a knife wound: he did that.

He was definitely capable of welding a sharp object.

"Yes."

He rounded the island that separated them and took held her shoulder, spinning her to look directly at him. She was scared, shaking unknowingly. Pulling her into a hug, he mumbled softly, "do you want a bodyguard now?"

Her eagle-like eye snapped back at him, hardening with renewed energy. "No," she hissed, "and it will stay 'no', no matter how many fucking times you ask."

"This is harder than I thought it would be," he muttered quietly, only loud enough to hear through their erratic breathing and loud, thumping hearts.

"You bet your ass it is."

"More convincing, then," he sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you something, babe, and listen very carefully."

She rolled her eye but nonetheless, leaned closer. "What is it, Ash."

"Don't purr my name like that, babe," he scolded, mouth in a tight line as if trying to control himself, "or else I might just have to forget this matter at hand and instead take you across the kitchen counter."

"Hmm, I might take you up on that," she ran her hands up his chest, tracing each pec slowly.

His breath hitched but before she can go any further, he grabbed her wrist to stop her. "Nice try, babe," he said, smirking.

Groaning, she retracted her hand and sat it on her lap, playing with her fingers to diminish boredom. "Go on, tell me the story that I have to listen very carefully," she imitated the last three words in her best copy of his voice she can muster.