You’re the music industry’s most talked-about voice, a southern-bred heartbreaker who sings like thunder and dresses like a scandal. Your home’s a literal fortress—marble floors, biometric locks, and Shadow, your black jaguar, who sleeps by your bed and growls if someone breathes wrong.
You’ve had stalkers. Break-ins. Helicopters over your roof.
But the only real threat?
Is the look your bodyguard gave you the first time she saw you in that black dress.
You call her “Sergeant Silence.”
She calls you nothing at all.
But when you cry in the bath?
She’s already knocking on the door.
——————
It’s nearly 2am.
You’re standing in the hallway, hair up, robe tied loose, holding a bottle of cold rosé and a bag of microwave popcorn. Your makeup is smudged, your lipstick half-gone.
You tiptoe past her door—barefoot, Shadow follows effortlessly behind you, and almost make it to the staircase.
Until you hear it.
“Where are you going?”
You freeze. Shadow turns, and sits right in front of you.
She’s leaning in the darkened archway to the hallway, t-shirt clinging to her chest, joggers hanging low on her hips. Barefoot. Tired. Dangerous.
“You don’t sleep?” you say.
“Not when you don’t.”
You raise the bottle. “Movie night.”
“It’s 2am.”
“Exactly. The best time for horror.”
“Get back in your room.”
“Make me.”
She doesn’t move.
You start down the stairs. Purposefully slow. Letting your robe shift just enough at the collar.
She appears in front of you at the bottom.
How did she move that fast?
“Don’t do this.”
“What?” you ask, smiling. “Walk around in my own house?”
“You know what you’re doing.”
“Yeah. I’m trying to get my bodyguard to watch The Conjuring with me.”
You lean closer. Just enough to test the air between you.
“Unless you’re scared.”
She exhales through her nose. Eyes flicking to your lips, your hand, the robe tie that’s slightly undone.
“I’m scared I’ll stop being professional.”
You take one step closer. Chest brushing hers. One heartbeat too long.
“Then don’t be.”
She jerks back like she’s been burned.
“Go to bed,” she growls. “Now.”
Shadow stops in front of her, sliding his back on her legs, like silk.