Honeybunch, New Mexico - 3. Chapter Three

“Get away from him!”

The people destroying the car and attacking Topher all stopped upon hearing me shout. My hands were clenched tightly into fists, and my feet were firmly planted on the ground, no way I was going to run away as an innocent person was assaulted, especially when that person was Topher Maguire. I did feel a little intimidated when one of the men approached me with a metal baseball bat, but I remained where I was with my back straight.

“And who the fuck are you?” the man said, wearing a cloth mask that covered the lower half of his face. “I think it’s best for you if you just run away before I have to break your kneecaps!”

I looked at Topher who was still on the ground with a hand on his stomach. He tried to stand back up, but the other man who was assaulting him stomped his foot on Topher’s stomach, causing him to yell out in pain before curling into a fetal position. The men started laughing, and one of them said he deserved it for what he did for a living. I narrowed my eyes and gritted my teeth as Topher continued to groan in pain, and when the same man raised his foot above Topher’s head, that was when I reacted, and boy did they not see me coming.

When the man who confronted me turned around, I struck my fist at the back of his head, and the man stumble as he held his head. He dropped his bat, which I took into my hands. The other men looked stunned, but they quickly recovered, and they all began coming towards me with their various weapons, ready to kill me most likely. One man swung his weapon towards my face, which I ducked from and struck the bat on his knee. He fell to the ground and cried as he held his knee with another man jumping over him to reach me.

Unfortunately for him, I swung the bat upward and struck the man below his chin, causing him to stumble and allowing me to swing the bat at his shoulder. He quickly fell to the ground as well, and I was getting a rush as I dispensed with every man who all fell to the ground just the same. One of them grabbed my bat, trying to pull it away from me and just before another man swung his weapon from behind me, I ducked and the loser unintentionally hit his friend right in the face instead. I then quickly jabbed the handle end of the bat at the man’s stomach, making him keel over before stumbling and hitting his body against the ruined car.

Only one person was left standing and as I stomped towards him with my bat, he quickly dropped his own weapon before running away. The other men thought the same as they stumbled back onto their feet and ran off as well, one of them muttering that the money wasn’t worth dying over. I raised my eyebrow, wondering who paid them to do this, but I quickly returned from my thoughts when I saw Topher trying to stand back up. Dropping the bat, I went to him and offered my hand, which he accepted, groaning as I helped lift him back onto his feet.

“Are you okay, Topher?” I asked with a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Wincing as he straightened his back, Topher then looked at me and said, “Where did that come from?”

“What do you mean?”

“What you just did. You beat up those guys like it was nothing.”

I blushed and said, “Well, I’ve been taking classes and…” I turned when the side mirror of the car fell to the ground, and Topher cursed repeatedly as he walked to the vehicle that must’ve been his. “Is…Is this your car?”

“Yes, it’s my car!” Topher exclaimed as he assessed the damage that included the cracked windows and severely dented exterior. “I can’t believe this shit!”

“Do you think it was random attack?” I asked, picking up the side mirror from the ground.

“I doubt it. One of them said my name before they started hitting my car like a damn pinata!” Topher swore and cursed some more and when he saw that I was holding the broken side mirror, he grabbed it and tossed it across the street. “God damnit!”

I just stood a few feet away and allowed Topher to vent his anger. He then winced and held onto his stomach, and I quickly went to his side and helped him sit on the curb of the sidewalk.

“Maybe you need to go to the hospital,” I suggested.

“Don’t worry. I got hurt much worse as an INK agent.” Combing his fingers through his hair, Topher then said, “They must’ve known I’m with INK. I don’t know how, though. I was always observant about people possibly following me when I drive, and I always take a different route back to my place and… Shit. I need to get back home right now.” He struggled to stand back up, and I helped him get back onto his feet. “I…I need a ride.”

“I’ll drive you,” I offered.

“No, you don’t have to. You done enough. I’ll just—”

“It’s okay, Topher. My car is close by. Just give me your address, and I’ll let my car drive us there,” I insisted.

Topher sighed and said, “You have a car that drives itself?”

I nodded. “Is that a problem?”

Topher chuckled. “No.” Looking around, he then said, “Fine. You can drive me back to my place. Just let me call a tow truck to get my car… Where the hell is my phone?”

Topher and I looked around, and I then spotted his phone that had a huge crack right on the center of the screen. Picking it up, I handed the phone to Topher who just groaned before pocketing it. I offered my phone, and he reluctantly accepted it. We then walked for a minute to my car as Topher called a towing service. After that, he handed me back my phone, thanking me as we approached my car. He sat on the front passenger’s seat and after he told me his address, I quickly tapped it on the screen attached to the console. Then an artificial voice started giving the first direction, and I started driving out of the downtown area.

I thought about playing a playlist of favorite songs, but I then decided not to since I thought Topher needed the silence. So, we sat in the car, silent, as the car drove itself to Topher’s place. It only took fifteen minutes before we reached his neighborhood and when we reached his house, Topher sighed in relief upon seeing his front yard that looked undisturbed. But then Topher cursed, saying his front door looked like it was open, and he exited my car as soon as I stopped the car on the driveway. I followed him to the front door, and I saw that it was slightly open with the lock broken. He then went into his house with me right behind him, and I was startled to see his living room completely ruined. The couch was torn apart, the coffee table was flipped over, the television was shattered, those were just the few things that were damaged in his house.

Topher looked completely shocked, with his usual tan face looking completely pale. I then followed him to the kitchen where dishes were shattered on the linoleum with a bunch of food that must’ve came from the open refrigerator. Topher rubbed his hands on his face, and all I could do was stand there, not knowing what to do. I wanted to comfort him, say that everything was going to be all right. But I never experienced a home invasion, the closest I could relate this to was when my locker was spray-painted with a profane word that remained there for two weeks before it was painted over with a color that contrasted greatly with the other lockers. That experience was nowhere close to what Topher was experiencing right now.

Topher then ran out of the kitchen, and I followed him through a short hallway. We then entered what must’ve been his bedroom where drawers were removed from the dresser with its content thrown on the floor and the mattress was flipped off its bedframe. Topher quickly walked to the nightstand that was undisturbed, unlike the rest of the room, and he opened it to take something in his hand. He sighed before putting whatever he found into his pocket. Closing the drawer, Topher looked around the bedroom again before he sat down the side of the exposed bottom of the bedframe. He was bowing his head, looking exhausted, and I moved to sit right next to him. I opened my mouth, wanting to ask if he was okay, but that was obviously a stupid question, so instead I extended my hand out, pausing halfway since I was unsure of how he would react. But I placed my hand on his shoulder and fortunately he didn’t shove my hand away as I rubbed his shoulder and back.

Biting my bottom lip, I then said, “I’m sorry, Topher.”

Topher breathed out and dropped his hands from his face before looking at me. “I can’t believe this fucking happened to me… I finally managed to settle down somewhat with his house, which I worked hard for with my job as an INK agent. Now…I don’t know what to do.”

“Do you want me to call the police?”

Chuckling, Topher said, “Sure. Why not? But I doubt they’ll be of any use.”

“We can talk to your neighbors. Maybe they saw who broke into your house.”

“It doesn’t matter, Chip. Even if they did see the people responsible, they were most likely where masks like those assholes who attacked me and destroyed my car.”

“Well, we won’t know for certain until we ask. Topher, what just happened isn’t something that can be ignored. We need to—”

I was interrupted when I heard a muffled noise close by, and Topher heard it as well, standing up and slowly walking to the closet. I looked to see something move between the closet door’s shutters, but before I could warn Topher, the door burst open and a person ran out of the closet and out of the bedroom. Topher and I sprinted to catch up with the supposed home invader, but he was faster than I expected, and then Topher veered in a different direction, only leaving me to chase after this criminal. He was too fast though, and he was about to escape through the front door. But then out of nowhere, Topher appeared at the other side, punching the man right in the face, causing him to fall onto the floor as he made painful whimpers.

“How…How did you—?”

“I went through the back door and around the house. Just one of the many techniques I was taught during my training,” Topher said as he grabbed the perpetrator by the front of his jacket. “Now. Tell me who the fuck you are and why did you think it was good idea to trash my home? Speak!”

The guy didn’t say anything at first, he just muttered something incoherent before Topher shook him and asked him to speak louder. In the meantime, I decided to call the police, telling the operator the current situation, and was told that the police would be there in five minutes.

“Tell me now before I do something I’ll regret!” Topher shouted.

The guy looked like he was still teenager, maybe high-school age, based on his eyes who decided to flip Topher off. Baring his teeth, Topher then walked behind the kid and locked his arm around his throat. The kid started making choking sounds, kicking with his feet and clawing at Topher’s arm.

“Tap my arm when you’re ready to speak. Until then…”

“Topher! Stop!”

“Don’t worry, Chip. I won’t hurt him,” Topher assured.

I was still afraid that Topher was going to choke the kid to death, but then he tapped Topher’s arm, and Topher quickly released his chokehold. The kid fell onto his hands and knees, trying to catch his breath before he choked out something about not being the one responsible.

“What are you saying? Speak up!” Topher demanded.

“I…I said that I wasn’t the one who broke into your house and destroyed your stuff,” the kid rasped.

“Bullshit! Why were you hiding in my closet then, huh?”

“The people responsible already left when I arrived. I saw the front door was open and decided to go inside.”

“So, you thought you could salvage whatever wasn’t already destroyed or taken?”

The kid didn’t respond, and this caused Topher to growl. He then reached for the mask, and the kid tried to resist by kicking and moving his face away. I watched as Topher grabbed the kid by the arm, lifting him back onto his feet before ripping the handkerchief mask from his face. I expected Topher to ask the kid another question, but instead he looked at the kid with wide eyes. It seemed that he recognized the kid, and then the sound of police sirens was distantly heard, causing the kid to struggle from Topher’s hold on his arm. The kid was able to do so easily, and he ran out of the front door with Topher just standing there, looking down with the mask still clutched in his hand.

“Topher? Are you okay? Why did you let him go?” I asked, stepping in front of him.

Topher just shook his head and rubbed his face before saying, “Long story, Chip.”

I raised my eyebrows at that statement, but I didn’t ask Topher anything else when a police cruiser stopped in front of the house. Topher didn’t look like he was going to move, so I decided to walk to the police instead. Outside, I tried to look for the kid, but he was long gone, only seeing a neighbor from across the street who came out of her home to see what was happening.

For an hour, I talked to the two police officers about the home invasion, letting them look around the house and inspect all the things that were damaged or stolen. Topher didn’t contribute much, only giving one-word responses as he sat on his torn-up couch with his head bowed. After the inspection, the police officers asked whether he had home insurance. When he said he didn’t, they then said that there wasn’t much else they could do other than ask the neighbors if they saw the people responsible. Topher didn’t say anything as he lied down on the couch and closed his eyes. With nothing else the police officers could do, they soon left, and I just stood at the doorway of the front door, watching the police cruiser drive away.

Closing the door, I then walked to the couch where I sat on the armrest. I looked at Topher who had his arm draped over his eyes, and I cleared my throat to get his attention.

“You’re still here?” Topher asked.

“Yeah. Of course I am. Topher…I know this is really hard for you right now, and I just want to help you out.”

Dropping his arm, Topher sat up and looked at me before saying, “Look, Chip. I know you mean well. But right now I need some time by myself. So, you can go home with your self-driving car back to your five-story mansion at the ritzy part of the city. I can handle this.”

I looked at Topher and wondered why he was shoving his anger at me. “Where are you going to stay for the meantime?”

“Here. Where else?”

“But Topher. The lock on your front door is broken, and one of the windows in your kitchen is broken as well. You can’t stay here.”

“Well, I very much can’t leave, so the people who wrecked my place can get the few remainders I have left.”

A suggestion then formed in my head and before I could stop myself, I then said, “Then gather what’s left and pack them. You can live at my place until you can get everything sorted out.”

Topher looked at me like I was crazy, and I probably was. “Chip…I appreciate the offer, man, but I don’t want to rely on other people to solve my problems.”

“Forget about your pride, Topher. You need a place to stay, and I’m sure you don’t want to sleep in a place that was just broken into,” I explained.

“It’s not about my pride, Chip. I’ve already been a burden to everyone else in my life, from my parents to the school system. Besides, I’m sure you don’t want someone who walks around in just their underwear at three in the morning just to get a midnight snack in the kitchen.”

“On the contrary, I don’t mind having some company in my home,” I stated.

“Company? That’s what you call it, huh?” Topher laid himself back onto the couch and with a sigh said, “I’m just going to pack whatever I have left and stay at my grandmother’s place. She has been bugging me to visit her. I’m sure she’ll gush when I tell her that I’ll be sleeping on her couch.”

“But, Topher—”

“It’s okay, Chip. You’ve done enough. You scared away my attackers and talked with the police about what happened when I couldn’t. Asking for more would be too much.”

“Well, can I at least help you pack, and then I can drive you to grandmother’s place?”

“No, I’ll do it myself. And I’ll call a cab to drive me there. Fortunately, my phone still seems to be working.” Topher slowly sat up, and looked at me for a moment before saying, “Go home, Chip. Be with your family and your lawyer boyfriend, Chet. I’ll handle this.”

I didn’t bother correcting Topher’s mispronunciation of Chad’s name, and instead I stood up and walked to Topher with my hands on his shoulders. “Are you sure?”

Topher simply nodded and said, “I am, Chip.”

“All right…but if you ever change your mind, just call me. I’ll be more than willing to set up a guestroom for you.”

I gave Topher my phone number, which he recorded on his own phone. He then looked at me with a smile, something I didn’t know I missed until I saw those dimples form on his cheeks.

“Thanks, Chip. You’ve always been a good friend.”

I nodded, and I decided to hug Topher before I could convince myself not to. Topher was obviously surprised by my arms wrapped around him, but he then returned the move and for a moment I just enjoyed the feel of his body against mine, so foreign and yet so familiar at the same time. Eventually, though, I had to let go of him, and he just stood where he was as I walked to the front door. Looking back, he simply nodded at my direction, and I nodded back before exiting his house and closing the door behind me. I wanted to go back and try to convince Topher again that I had no problem sharing my place for as long as he needed to. But I knew his response would be the same as I entered my car and drove out of his driveway.

***

“Topher! Wake up! It’s time for breakfast!”

I groaned as I opened my eyelids that were still heavy from another night of trying to sleep on the living room couch. The pain I felt on my stomach area had since faded away, but now my back ached every morning for the whole week I stayed at my grandmother’s place, and this morning was no different. However, I sat up upon my grandmother’s orders and pulled away the itchy, knit blanket from my body. Standing up, I left a deep impression on the couch cushion, and I wasn’t surprised since this piece of furniture was at least twenty years old. I wished I still had my old bedroom, but the room was repurposed after I moved out to become a room where my grandmother could hoard all the things she bought from various thrifts in the city. I could go on a whole diatribe about how she needed to stop buying stuff that she was never going to use, but I had my own problems to deal with, and there was no way I could convince her to throw away even one item when my place was a complete mess.

“Come on, Topher. Your breakfast is waiting for you.”

I huffed and made the short journey to the dining table where my breakfast was located, yes burnt scrambled eggs and undercooked bacon was definitely what I looked forward to eating every time I woke up. Everything a person thought a grandmother should be, like being a great cook for example, was the opposite of who my grandmother was. However, I sucked it up and sat down since I knew that this was the only thing that would be offered to me until lunchtime. I started eating my food, pretending I was eating something more appetizing. I then tried to wash it down with a cup of milk, but I then spat it out as soon as I tasted the sourness.

“What’s wrong, Topher?” my grandmother asked as she sat down.

“Grandma, do you know this milk is expired?” I said, standing up and walking to the sink to rinse my mouth.

“Yes, but it’s only a week past its expiration date,” my grandmother explained as she began cutting her eggs and bacon.

I rinsed my mouth and after drying my face with a greasy kitchen towel, I walked back to the dining table and said, “Grandma. If you need me to buy fresh groceries for you, then I’m more than willing to do that.”

“Oh, you don’t have, Topher. I can live without milk until I do the grocery shopping myself.”

“Well, can I at least help with the cooking?”

“Why? You don’t like how I cook our meals?” my grandmother said, looking offended as she took a bite of her toast.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I just want to help around the apartment since I’m stay here and all.”

“Thank you for the offer, Topher, but I can handle it. Besides, you’re the guest. Now sit back down and finish your breakfast.”

I gave up and resumed my subpar meal, knowing my grandmother was just as stubborn as me. After I finished my meal, I went back to the living room after she insisted once again that she would clean the dishes and decided to call the towing service that picked up my car who then gave me the number of the auto-repair shop that they took my car to. They told me that I would have to pay more than ten-thousand dollars to fix all the damages even with my car insurance. They then suggested that I just buy a new car and throw mine into the scrapyard. I told them I needed time to think, and they gave me only three days to figure it out since my car was apparently taking up space for another customer’s car that needed repair.

I sighed after ending the call, and I looked at the television that was shaped like a box. If it still worked, don’t throw it away was my grandmother’s motto, which I would be okay with if she didn’t also have five other, old-fashioned televisions gathering dust in the same room that I used to sleep in. Added with the aching back and crummy food, it was a bitch calling a cab to drive me to work. I could’ve taken my INK vehicle as my personal one, but I knew that parking that car at my grandmother’s apartment would only invite people to vandalize it. She didn’t live in the most ideal part of the city that was also where a gang did most of their activity, a gang notorious for smuggling in time shifters through underground tunnels that INK agents were specialized with discovering and closing down. In exchange, the shifters were indebted to this gang, becoming criminals themselves and increasing the overall crime rate of the city. So, yeah, taking that vehicle home with me wasn’t a good idea.

I did ask Malcolm for a ride, but when he arrived to pick me up, he spent almost thirty minutes talking with my grandmother. Thanks to him, we were almost late, so I decided that Malcolm wasn’t the better option compared to just taking a cab. This whole week was getting to me which was made very evident by my performance at work. During this week, I had to chase after three men, all of whom took way longer to capture since my back was killing me. My back also affected me from going to the gym, no way was I going to bench press and risk doing permanent damage to my spine. I was going crazy, and it was only one week since my car and house got vandalized.

Thoughts of Chip and his kind offer of allowing me to live at his place for a while kept crossing my mind, but I smothered them every time. It had nothing to do with pride like Chip assumed it was. My reluctance to accept Chip’s help was because…well…I don’t think I would be able to stop myself trying to reignite what we once had years ago. I mean he had a boyfriend, and though I disliked the guy as soon as I laid my eyes on him, he seemed to make Chip happy, and I didn’t want to ruin that. I had my chance at happiness, but I ruined it because of my past actions, and that was probably the reason why Chip didn’t tell me he was moving until the day before. I didn’t deserve him. The only thing I deserve was what I had right now, and that was something I had to live with for the rest of my life.

Slouching on the couch, I tried to distract myself from my thoughts by staring at the television screen that was displaying the news. The news reporter was talking about the rising sea levels and the massive flooding that caused China, Japan, and the Philippines to reconstruct their cities to adapt to these recent changes. Japan has relocated Tokyo on Mount Fuji in a tier-like layout and the Philippines’s capital of Manila was now located in a massive underground cavern where its buildings jutted from the ceiling like stalagmites. Then there was China that constructed another Great Wall that saved the majority of the country from being taken by the sea which also became China’s new capital after Beijing was complete submerged a decade ago. These colossal undertakings were only made possible because of technology from the time shifters who started appearing in our world more than two decades ago. However, it was being speculated that the rising sea levels was all because of the time shifters’ presence. However, any further research on the subject were hampered by pro-shifter politicians.

I decided this was enough news for me today, and I picked up the remote control to change the channel, but of course it didn’t work. So, I was about to walk to the television to change the channel the old-fashion way when I heard a knocking on the door.

“Topher! Can you get that, please?”

“Sure.” I abandoned the television and walked to the door, opened it and saw Malcolm standing on the other side of the threshold. “Malcolm? What are you doing here?”

“Well, hello to you too, sonny!” Malcolm said with a cheeky smile. “I just thought I would drop by and…”

“Look, Malcolm. I love you, man. But right now isn’t the best time to—”

“Topher? Who’s at the front door?” My grandmother then approached us and cheered upon seeing Malcolm. “Oh, you’re here! I was wondering when you’d return. Come on, Topher. Let the man in already.”

I sighed inwardly and stepped aside, allowing Malcolm to walk into the apartment.

“Do you want to eat, Malcolm? I still have leftover scrambled eggs and bacon if you want some.”

“Oh, no, thank you. I’ll only be here for a minute. I just need to talk to your grandson about something related to work.”

“Oh, okay. Well, if you change your mind, just come to the dining table,” my grandmother said with a big smile before returning to the kitchen.

Malcolm tipped his baseball cap to my grandmother before sitting down on the couch that almost swallowed him. “So, Topher. How’s your morning been?”

I chuckled and sat down next to my partner. “Don’t ask… You said that you to need to talk to me about work?”

“Yeah, something like that… It’s more about what happened at that hotel a week ago with that shifter appearing and then disappearing in the restroom. The police investigators got the DNA of the blood you managed to find there and after putting it in a database that has the DNA record of all the shifters who crossed the wall legally, they found a match.”

“Really? Who is it?”

Looking at my grandmother, Malcolm then turned back to me and said, “His name is Oleg Tracinski. A shifter who crossed the wall legally almost a decade ago when vetting was more relaxed. However, his whereabouts soon after he crossed have vanished; however, after some investigation from INK, they learned that he could be involved the assassination of a string of politicians in this country.”

“Assassinations? I didn’t hear any of that on the news?”

“Well, that’s because they were believed to be accidental deaths or murders perpetrated by random people. However, INK is starting to unravel them and discover that these politicians were possibly assassinated. And some surveillance cameras captured the time and location of when some of these supposed assassinations occurred, and it appears that a man matching Oleg’s physical description has been seen in all of them.”

Scratching my head, I said, “So…what does this mean?”

“It means that we got to the hotel right before Oleg was able to tranquilize the governor’s son since shooting him would’ve left evidence behind. He would’ve then taken him somewhere, killed him and stage it to look like an accident… That’s my theory anyways. It makes sense with his ability to disappear in the same manner as he appeared. Explains how he was able to escape detection when he assassinated his other targets. But here’s the kicker…all the people he might have killed were all pro-shifters. All of them were in support of tearing down the wall and all that nonsense.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would this Oleg guy kill people who are in full support of his people?”

“I truly don’t know, sonny. What I do know for certain is that the governor’s son has the same sentiment as those assassinated politicians, and my gut feeling is that he’s still in danger. The police managed to disguise the truth of what happened at the hotel to prevent hysteria, but that will only benefit Oleg as he might try to kill the governor’s son for good.”

My stomach dropped upon the idea of Chip getting killed by some shifter, and I said, “So…what do we do?”

“Well, all of INK is trying to gather any and all clues to the possible location of Oleg. In the meantime, I believe the governor’s son needs someone to be his bodyguard, someone to protect him, while the investigation continues.”

Malcolm then looked at me intently, and I said, “Who? Me? I’m no bodyguard, Malcolm.”

“No, but you are an INK agent who’s specializes in handling any worst-case scenario in the split of a second. And with your knack of detecting things that no ordinary human can do, you’ll be perfect at be his bodyguard.”

Sighing heavily, I looked at the television and said, “And why are you so concerned about protecting Chip Andrews?”

“Because of you, Topher.”

I looked at Malcolm with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“Come on, Topher. I may be oblivious sometimes due to my age, but I’m still a very observant man. You told me how Chip helped you when those men were attacking your car, and you said it with such admiration. You and this Chip boy obviously have some history together, and who better to protect Chip than someone who already knows him.”

“Yeah, but…what about my job as an INK agent? I certainly can’t bring him along,” I stated.

“I’m sure it won’t be long until we find and capture Oleg. And you haven’t used up any of your vacation days since you first started your job. Our boss won’t mind if you take a month off. You really need it.”

“What are you saying, Malcolm?”

“You work too hard, Topher. You need time to just enjoy what you have right now, while you’re still young…or you’ll end up like someone I know who got divorced and rarely sees his own kids because they worked so hard.”

I looked at Malcolm’s saddened look, and I knew that he was right. “All right…I’ll do it.”

Malcolm looked at me and smiled.

“But I have to tell my grandma first, and I doubt she’ll take it well.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep her company, while you’re gone,” Malcolm assured.

“Malcolm…”

“What?” Malcolm said innocently.

I just rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone, tapping my thumb on the cracked screen until I saw Chip’s number. I hesitated, my thumb hovering right above the screen, but then I told myself that this was for Chip’s safety. So, I tapped on his number, and the phone started connecting the call.

“Hello?”

I felt a rush upon hearing Chip’s voice. “H-Hey, Chip. It’s me…Topher.” I mentally cursed, not wanting to act shy now. “You said I can stay at your place until I got everything sorted out.”

“Yeah, I did… Have you changed your mind?”

Biting my bottom lip, I then said, “Yeah…I did. But only if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all, Topher. What time do you want me to pick you up?”

I looked at Malcolm laughing with my grandmother, and I said, “As soon as you if that’s okay.” I then gave Chip the address. “I’ll start packing now.”

“Cool. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

“Great... Thank you, Chip.”

“No problem. I’ll see you in half an hour.”

The call ended, and I dropped my phone on the couch. I should’ve told Chip the reason why I wanted to stay at his place, to protect him from a potential assassin. But I decided that it wasn’t something that could be discussed over the phone, so I planned on telling him after he arrived. Most of my stuff were still packed in three bags, so I decided to go to the one bathroom in my grandmother’s apartment to take a shower. It took forever for the water to get warm enough, and I still shivered when I stepped in the shower.

I didn’t want to smell like an old lady’s couch when Chip arrived, and I then cringed at the thought of my grandmother wanting to meet Chip. So, I knew I had to leave with my stuff, while Malcolm was distracting her to avoid that disaster. And even though I was going to live with Chip as his bodyguard, I still felt bubbly at the idea of being next to the person I cared about more than anything else when we were teenagers, and to rekindle that feeling made me feel all kinds of weird. Hopefully, I don’t fuck this up, but knowing me, that might be impossible.