Surrender To Me

A couple of minutes later, I hear him and Rob leave. It’s as if a dark fog has cleared. I rush to the bathroom and shower. Only a few minutes before, Dante was here too. I wonder what it would be like to be in here with him. My body wrapped into his as he sensually scrubbed it. Slowly brushing my nipples and bringing me to ecstasy under the shower. But would he be slow? Dante struck me as the plaster-you-against-the-shower-door-and-fuck-you-frombehind type of guy. No finesse, only brute force. Not at all what I would want. Like at all. So why am I getting aroused at the thought? “Aaarh!” He was dominating not only my life, but my mind. This had to be his plan. I needed him out of my head. I turn off the shower and walk out. A few minutes later, I stroll out of the bedroom and into the suite. Colin is sitting on the breakfast table chair, busy on his phone, oblivious to the beautiful ocean view outside. The moment I enter, he looks up and stands to attention.

“Good morning,” he says.

“Morning.”

“Mr. Morelli told me to order breakfast for you, but I wasn’t sure what you’d want.” I think I like this Colin guy.

“It’s fine.” I stroll over to the phone on the wall next to the table. “I’ll order.” He steps in front of the phone, blocking it.

He seems a little embarrassed to have to make the move. “Uh… I was told to place the order, you see.”

“Should have known. What’s he afraid of? That I’ll code room service that I’m being held captive?”

He looks down. “I just do what I’m ordered to do.” Shyness on a six-foot bulky man looks cute. I can’t get mad at him. I almost don’t want to be a nuisance to him.

“Do you have the menu?”

He nods over to a booklet on the table. I plant myself on a chair and browse through the menu. “Have you eaten yet?”

“I don’t think it matters. ”

“So you haven’t. What do you want? I feel weird eating alone.” He looks like he wants to say no, but then he orders coffee and a biscuit. I order a large breakfast just for the sake of it. Dante can afford it.

When breakfast comes, we eat it in silence. Colin is not much of a talker, I realize. Probably what makes him a good bodyguard?

After we’re done, he makes sure the plates are immediately taken back and then he cases around the suite once. “I doubt there are any bugs you missed from your initial sweep,” I say to him. “I’m not looking for bugs.” He’s staring outside when he says so, grabbing my attention. I march over to him. “You don’t talk much, do you? What are you looking at?” He gently nudges me backwards, his gaze firmly on whatever he was staring at outside. “Step away from the window.”

“Why? Am I not even allowed to look outside now?” For a moment, I think he hasn’t heard me until he glances back at me. “I’m sorry,” he says, “I thought I saw something.”

“It’s okay. Although I feel you’re being a little too cautious. I’m sure your job here is to make sure I don’t escape and not to protect me from harm.”

“You never know who’s out there. Mr. Morelli has a lot of enemies.”

“No way! Judging by the way he’s been treating me, I wouldn’t have guessed!”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“He’s better than other people, you know. If he were someone else, you’d be dead by now.”

“Speaking of which, why aren’t I? Dead, I mean?” Colin shrugs and moves away from the window to the living room area where he sits on the couch. I follow him and sit opposite him. “I was sure he would kill me that first day.” Colin shrugs again.

“I see why he likes you. You do not slip up.”

“I’m just doing my job the best way I know how.”

Talking to him is like extracting water from a stone. Try as I might, he’s giving me nothing. It’s at a time like this when I would take out my phone and endlessly scrolling but since I don’t have it, I pick up the remote and switch on the television. There’s nothing on it but telenovelas, soccer, and news. After two hours of trying and failing to understand a Portuguese soap, I give up and switch it off.

“Do you have any idea when he’ll be back? And if you shrug again, I swear…”

Colin lifts his head from his phone and says, “I can’t tell you.”

“Of course, you can’t. He must pay you a lot to be this dedicated to your job.”

“He pays well enough.”

No wonder Dante left me with Colin. He knew he would drive me crazy. I can’t stand it anymore. I need to walk. Get out of the apartment. Do something. Anything. I get up and begin pacing around the suite. After two rounds of touring

the entire suite, I ask, “Where is your boss?”

“Can’t tell you that either.”

“You can’t fault a girl for trying. But I do wonder why he leaves you with me when you could be out there doing all the fun stuff.”

“I’m not bothered by it.”

“I can tell.” I get back to the couch, and mindlessly watch the television. An hour later, the doorbell rings. Fucking finally. He must be back from wherever he had gone, but why would he ring the doorbell if it were him? Colin gets up, and walks over to the door with a hand on his pistol pointed downward.

“Who is it?” he asks as he gets to the door.

“Room service.” A strained voice answers. “We didn’t order anything.”

“Compliments of the hotel, sir. It’s a spar treatment.” He glances at me and then he says, “Not necessary.”

There’s a long silence and I’m sure whoever was behind the door is gone. Colin seems to think so too as he retreats into the room, but suddenly the door bursts open. All I see are two men with guns in their hands. As they lift their guns, I hear Colin scream, “Duck!”

I dive under the couch just as a barrage of bullets rain down in the room. At the same time, I hear Colin return fire. Or was he already dead? I couldn’t tell from the noise. It goes on for a couple of seconds and then it’s over. From my vantage point behind the couch, I see shoes streaked with blood marching over to where I was. I dared not look up. Was Colin dead? Am I about to die? “Get up.” A voice says. I can hardly hear him through the thumping of my heart and I’m too terrified to make out if it’s Colin or one of the intruders speaking. I feel a hand take hold of my arm and I scream.