Protect

Mae

She was crying again. She tried to stop but she couldn't bottle it up anymore. She let out sob after sob. She felt fine after waking up, but soon she felt overwhelmed. She missed her family. She missed the smell of fresh sheets and fried eggs in the morning. They were all comforting parts of her former life. Now she didn't know when she could go back to that life.

Just then Michael barged in.

" Are you okay-"

He took in her state.

" Why are you crying? You were fine just a minute ago."

He looked so worried for her. It only made her cry harder.

And then his warmth was surrounding her cold limbs and everything in the universe looked a little better. She no longer felt lost and hopeless. She felt comforted.

He wasn't soft. Not at all. He was a wall of hard muscles and bones. Her hands were on the plane of his hard back and her head was cushioned on his hard chest while his smell filled her nostrils. She loved every second of it.

After a while she stopped crying and said thank you.

" What are you thanking me for?" He asked her with a puzzled expression. His arms were still bound around her.

She lifted her head to look at him.

" This. Everything. You may be the best bodyguard I've ever had."

He then surprised her by chuckling. The man could chuckle?

" I'm the only bodyguard you've had." He said with a playful expression that made her heart beat faster.

" Huh." 

Unfortunately he let go of her.

" Go get ready, we have to leave soon."

As soon as he left she felt like pouting. She wanted to keep hugging.

After that, things went back to normal. Sort of.

As soon as Mae got a hold of Michael again she bombarded him questions and talked his ear off. Surprisingly he answered her questions patiently and hadn't pushed her out of the car for being a  pain in the ass. Yet.

 So far, she had found out that he had no hobbies, no friends he hung out with, no interests and no family he ever visited. The best piece of information she managed to find was that he felt' Black was a nice color'. Meanwhile she talked his ear off telling him weird childhood stories like the time she ate mud because the boy next door had  convinced her people actually did that. Or the time she and her sister sneaked blue cordial into the lemonade made for the members of  their mothers book club. Mother was appalled but everyone else thought blue lemonade was way more original. Michael didn't laugh but he looked like he was enjoying her stories.

" Do you like guns?"

" Why would I like guns?" he asked back, keeping his eye focused on the road while driving.

" Because I had an uncle once and he was pretty much obsessed with guns.  He had a shooting range and everything. He spent hours every day practicing. He even tried to teach me."

" Did he succeed?" he asked the question with a smirk.

" I don't know. I was really little. But I think I can grip a gun if I want to. That's about it." She tried not to look too sheepish.

They talked about nothing and everything for hours and hours. She did most of the talking but she could tell he was listening intently. When they pulled over for stops, she kept talking. She was surprised he hadn't told her to shut up yet. Eventually when it started to get dark  they fell into a comfortable silence.