"It's good money, Marks. You should really think about accepting this offer."

The young blond man leaned back in his chair, his hands resting on the back of his neck. His lips were pursed as he toyed with the idea. He couldn't help but be a little hesitant. Something about this deal seemed off. He didn't meet the other's eyes.

"If it's such a sweet deal then how come you aren't offering it to someone else with more seniority and experience?" he questioned. He raised a brow in suspicion as he awaited an answer from his boss.

His gaze landed on the large middle-aged man sitting behind the even larger wooden desk. The older man sighed and rubbed his face, almost as though he was dreading giving the explanation, and he was. He knew he would ask but he had yet to come up with a good way to explain without telling him the bad news. He reached forward and rifled through a few large manila folders on his desk, picking one out, flipping it open and pushing it toward his employee.

Cato Marks curiously leaned forward, bringing the folder onto his lap as he quickly scanned the information as he leafed through the stack of sheets.

"The client is the owner the country's largest stone masonry company, Benne-"

"Bennett Quarry?" Cato asked incredulously, his eyes widening. It wasn't just some company; it was the company their city was known for all across the country. The headquarters in the heart of the city had been there for at least twenty years now, and quickly became its crown jewel. It might as well be a landmark with it's fifty plus floors and shining glass windows which covered it completely. "You want me to take on a case from Bennett? But sir-"

Brutus put up his hand to silence the other, not wanting to hear it. "It is probably the biggest client we've had in the past five years, and clearly it would be at the utmost importance that we deliver the best possible service we can." The younger man still looked skeptical.

"But sir, why me?"

Brutus sighed and folded his hands on top of his desk. Cato could have sworn he saw something in the older man's expression that he never usually saw. Embarrassment, perhaps?

"Mr. Marks, you would not be the first to take on this assignment," he muttered begrudgingly. Ah. There it was, Cato thought.

"What happened to the others?" he asked, continuing to flip through the documents that were being held inside the folder. As he did so, he saw the words 'verbal threats' along with 'attempted assault'.

"Well... to put it simply, they quit. But that's not important," he added quickly. "The reason I feel that you would do better is the fact that you are younger and while you may have less experience, the skills you would bring to this assignment are valuable. I'm confident that you could complete the job and keep the client safe."

"So you want me to protect Bennett from some moron that said he'd get his revenge?" Cato asked as he continued to quickly read through the forms.

From what Cato could understand, Bennett had fired some employee and not unusually, the man had been upset and had gone so far as to threaten Bennett and his family but hadn't been arrested. What could they arrest him for anyway? He had stormed out of the company but something still didn't sit right with Bennett. He had the former employee watched for a few days but still felt uneasy. That was where Brutus came in and was approached by the business tycoon.

Brutus seemed to be amused by this and chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. "Oh. no. I wouldn't put you in charge of protecting the man himself. He has a small team watching out for him and his wife. You'd be in charge of taking care of his kid."

Oh. Cato felt his shoulders sag a little and his expression fell in disappointment with this information. "His kid? You want me to babysit some rich guy's brat?" He closed the folder and lazily tossed it back on his boss' desk before leaning back in his seat with a huff. Here he thought he was finally going to get his first exciting job only to walk into this letdown of an opportunity.

Brutus gave his young employee an admonishing look. "Don't be like that, Cato. This is a great opportunity I'm giving you."

"Opportunity?" Cato let out a snort. "You're only giving me this job because everyone else bailed on it. My job is to protect clients, maybe get into a few fights once in a while. Not wipe the snot from some kid's nose and play nanny."

Brutus stood up from his seat, his hands resting on the dark wood of the desk's surface as he leaned toward his young employee. "I don't think you're seeing the bigger picture here, Marks. First of all, this isn't some little kid you'd have to be watching; she's a young adult. And yes, you'd be watching her but I wouldn't offer you this job if it didn't do some good. The benefits here are more than the typical job: the pay is amazing, you'd get to work in a secure environment, and all you really have to do is drive the daughter around and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. She'll be happy, her father will be happy, and our business will get a good reputation for future clients."

Cato looked up at his boss from where he was sitting and eyed him as he contemplated the offer. It did sound like a rather simple job, but Cato could tell why Brutus was insisting on pushing him into it. It was simple, his boss wanted a good rapport with such a huge and influential company and the man who owned it. And that was fine. Smart, even. Who wouldn't want to be on the good side of the richest person in town? And if everything went smoothly, Brutus' business would probably skyrocket after some positive word of mouth. But when was he finally going to give Cato a more exciting assignment like the ones he'd hoped for when he first joined the bodyguard business? So far he'd only gotten to guard several old geezers that were already on their way out but they happened to be executives or hold some sort of title. And what had happened to them? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was so mind-numbingly boring. He might as well have taken some monotonous nine-to-five desk job.

But this particular job did have some benefits. For starters, he wouldn't be watching over some drooling kid. And it may be boring but at least he'd get to hang around what was sure to be a mansion. He bit his lip as he tried to think of some glaring downside but he found that he couldn't think of anything. He let out a soft groan.

"Fine... I'll take the Bennett job," he said as he pushed himself to his feet. "The pay better be as good as you say it is."

Brutus gave him a rare little grin of victory as he looked up at the blond from his desk. He chuckled as he reached for the folder and opened the cover to see Bennett's file and searched for another form toward the bottom of the pile.

"Good. And since I figure it will be helpful, here's the girl you'll be looking after. Try to refrain from your notorious flirting and getting our asses sued." He picked the form he was looking for and held it out for the other.

With a roll of his eyes, Cato snatched the sheet from his boss' hand and quickly scanned it. Of the various little boxes and type that covered the page, his gaze went right to the top and read the name of his new ward.

Clove Bennett