Chapter 4
Walking into the gardens, I didn't realize how beautiful the gardens were. With the sun glistening off of them, the seemingly endless flowers were so beautiful. The flowers had light emanating from them, due to the sunlight shining off of the dew that was on the flowers. It stunned and bewildered Aaron. He had never seen nature so beautiful. It felt as if he could sit there for hours and just do nothing. Let nature just take his imagination away from reality. However, Aaron was snapped back to reality when he heard Amanda yell for him.
"Get over here." She yelled, waving her arm, motioning Aaron to come closer.
"I'm coming," I yelled back, briskly jogging towards her. "Now, explain to me why exactly am I skipping today's lecture to meet you out here?"
"I needed to ask you something. Something that I can't really ask anyone else," Amanda said, looking a little nervous.
"Okay. What is it?" I said, trying not to show how nervous I was being asked a question like that.
"If I were to ask you to be my unofficial bodyguard, you know, someone who you go out with me and protect me, would you accept it? The offer, that is?" Amanda asked, fiddling with her fingers.
"Wait, what? You mean, like posing as your boyfriend or something like that? An undercover bodyguard?" I asked, somewhat bewildered.
"Not like my boyfriend or anything! Just as a friend, you know?" She said, pretty much looking like a tomato at the first mention of boyfriend.
"Why me? How do you know I could protect you?" I asked, pacing back and forth.
"Because of this," she said, pulling out her phone and bringing up a video.
I recognized the video instantly. It was a security video of a fight I was in at a bar about three months ago. And here is the story behind that.
Three months ago…
I was walking towards a bar, minding my own business, when I saw some commotion at the door. A few guys were pushing a girl back and forth, laughing at the pain they were causing her. I didn't want to get involved, but that wasn't in my nature. As I walked up to the door, I purposely waited until she was going to bump into me. I stopped her when she was pushed into me.
"Are you ok?" I asked, holding her carefully to make sure she didn't feel any unnecessary pain.
"Yea. I'm ok," she said, hiding the bruise she had above her eye.
"Take care of her, would ya?" I asked the bouncer, Jeff, who I knew pretty well.
"Sure. Just don't go to crazy," he said, showing her into the bar.
The 4 guys that were pushing her around attempted to make their way into the bar. However, they were stopped by the bouncer and me. I looked at Jason and gave him the look, pretty much asking if he had my back. He nodded, showing that he did. It wasn't like I would need it, though.
"You guys aren't allowed here," I said, stepping forward. "Now get out of here."
"Or else what, tiny man?" one of the guys said, trying to act all tough.
"You shouldn't have said that," Jason said, taking a step back and crossing his arms.
One of the guys took one step forward and I sprang into action. With one quick jab to his abdomen, he doubled over. Once I saw him do that, I brought his head down to my knee and knocked him unconscious. Once he hit the ground, the other three flinched and hesitated. The one I presumed to be the leader, moved his hands, creating gestures I knew all too well. They were military. That pissed me off beyond belief.
Once he completed the gesture, the other two attempted to swarm me and pin me down. It was too easy. I simply ducked down, balled both my hands into fists and gave them both a quick uppercut to the chin. They flew back a few feet and landed on the ground, on each side of the leader. With shock overcoming his facial expressions, the shock turned into anger and he charged at me. However, he was different from the others. I noticed he started to do a semi-crouch, instead of coming at me full force. He made for a jab to my chin. I dodged it, just barely, while throwing a counter to his left side. He was able to dodge it effortlessly.
'Looks like this could be fun,' I thought, accepting the decent challenge he could give me.
But, my thoughts changed from respect to laughter, as he was now attempting to throw a barrage of punches at me, starting to get sloppier and sloppier. I decided to let him have a little fun. Instead of dodging all of his punches, I decided to block them and make it seem like I was slowing down. It was fun, toying with him for a bit. But I had my fun. To end this quickly and effortlessly, I decided to sweep his leg. After I threw him off balance, I moved to a straight up position, directly over his floating body. With a little smirk, I threw an elbow to his midsection and he hit the concrete like a sack of potatoes. Once I saw he was still conscious, I kneeled down next to him and couldn't help but smile.
"I would take your guys and go home. And, if you ever come near here again, you will regret it. Because I will send you to the hospital. Capiche?" I said.
"Yea. We won't come here again," the man said, attempting to scoot away as fast as he could from me.
"Good. Now, go to the hospital, get looked at. Then, report to your CO. And if you don't, he will know. Now, leave!" I said, saying the last part with the best, low voice I could to scare them away.
With that, all four got up and left the area. As I turned to make my way into the bar, I couldn't help but notice Jason was laughing.
"You know, you could've finished them in like thirty seconds. Why take so long?" he said, looking at me curiously.
"What? I needed the workout. Plus, I needed to have a little fun," I said, stretching my arms and legs.
He and I both made eye contact, and started to laugh as hard as we could. After our laugh, I headed inside. Looking around, I realized that the woman who was being tormented by them had left. Not wanting anything in return, I sat at the bar and continued with my planned evening.
After finishing my little flashback of those events, I realized that the woman in the video looked vaguely familiar. And then I put two and two together. Man, I felt like such a dumb ass.
"That was you I protected that night, wasn't it?" I asked her, slipping my hands into my pockets.
"Yes it was. And it took me awhile to get your entire background information. Where you were going to school, your personal information, that kind of stuff," she said, putting her phone away and cracking a little smile.
"Yea, but why me? I'm just a normal guy. I'm out of the military and just trying to live a normal, civilian life," I said, turning around and starting to make my way to the exit of the gardens.
"Because, I think I might be kidnapped soon, held for ransom." She said, walking towards me, with a twinge of concern in her voice.
"How do you know that? You can't be certain about it," I said, stopping in my footsteps.
"I'm not certain. I just have received some weird letters and phone calls over the last few days," she said, almost right at my backside.
"So the whole driver thing, and everything else leading up to this moment, was all a test?" I said, starting to hear the anger in my own voice.
"Yes, it was," she said, moving her hand towards my arm, in an attempt to be apologetic.
Out of blind anger, I turned and grabbed. Once I grabbed her, I pinned her onto the closet tree I could find, making sure I didn't hurt her. Once she was pinned, I stared directly into her eyes.
"First, you want me as your driver. Then, you tease me. Now, you want me as your unofficial bodyguard because you think you might be kidnapped? And you decided to test me to see if I was good, before asking me that? Sound about right?" I asked, not trying to scare her.
But I was pissed off.
"That pretty much sums it up, yes," she said, with a scared look on her face.
"Next time, don't test me," I said, regaining my composure. "Just ask. I always try to help my friends and anyone who is in need. Sorry about grabbing you and getting angry."
I then let her go and started to walk away. However, I stopped after I heard some branches move. I pulled out one of the throwing knives I carried with me and threw it to where the sound was. I must have hit someone, or something, because I heard a grunt of pain and someone starting to run away. Amanda rushed to my side and grabbed my arm, I'm guessing out of fear.
"Don't worry," I said, looking down at her. "I'll protect you."
She stared up at me, this time with a small amount of fear and admiration in her eyes. Without saying a word, we both departed the gardens and made our way to the parking lot. Once we got to where my car was, I disarmed, pulled out my pack of smokes, and lit up a cigarette. I know it's bad for you, but it helps me whenever I do something like that.
"I have two conditions: 1) You will always listen to me and be by my side," I said.
Without answering me, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number. After a few seconds of talking, she hung up the phone and smiled a little.
"Done. I have now been switched into all of your classes. And what is the second condition?" Amanda asked, hoping it would be an easy one.
"I need you to arm me and my team. Once that happens, I can start protecting you," I said, getting ready to put out my cigarette.
"Your team? What team?" Amanda asked, looking a little bewildered.
"The team I am about ready to call and assemble," I said.
Once I was done saying that, I started to make a couple of calls. However, the whole time I was on the phone, only one thought was going through my mind.
'Dammit, Aaron. What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?'