Chapter Nine

Kyoya was standing in the hallway of the Fairmont and looked at his watch. Today was already shaping up to be a terrible one. He had gotten a phone call from the workers who were trying to get the condo back in shape, and apparently the couch they had ordered was stuck somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, and the paint for Bobby's room was on back order. The carpet cleaners had to postpone until tomorrow due to a large house that had housed the many trinkets of a recently deceased hoarder. Now, Bobby was taking her sweet time getting ready and they were running behind. Yes, today was the worst day ever.

Bobby's door opened and Kyoya looked up. She was on the phone with someone and was speaking in Irish. She smiled at Kyoya and held out a magazine for him to look at. He wasn't at all surprised to find Hikaru and Kaoru on the cover. He had alerts on his computer monitoring the names. He knew that the two of them were seen out and about with young women. He knew that the purple haired girl in France was Bobby's cousin Faye. He also knew that the masked girl in San Francisco was Kana Tolemei. You couldn't hide things from Kyoya. But just because he knew the masked girl's secret, didn't mean the rest of the world did. Kyoya was just privy to better information and superior deduction skills.

"Thanks, Spence," Bobby finally spoke in English, giving Kyoya a frame of reference. She was talking to her twin. Why did everyone have to be a twin? Kyoya thought with dismay. If the two were anything like the Hitachiin's, which he highly suspected to be true, he was convinced that he was going to have to watch his back if the other twin showed up in Boston.

Once Bobby hung up, she smiled apologetically and slipped her phone into her pocket. "Good morning," she said. "Any news on the condo?"

Kyoya took a deep breath as he looked at the list of notes he had made on his phone. "The couch will be here in three days, your paint is on back order, but they'll put the primer up today. Carpets are cleaned tomorrow."

"So we're still here for a couple days," Bobby sighed sadly.

"It would appear so."

They had been at the Fairmont for a week, and while it was really good service, they were both running out of excuses to tell their fathers when it came to the hotel bills. Bobby had told her father that a routine inspection showed some mold in the crawlspace and under the sink of her bathroom. Kyoya repeated the story, and assured his father that he would be back in the condo as soon as they deemed it safe. For some reason, both of them had agreed that admitting that the house had been broken into was not in either of their best interests.

"You were talking to your brother about Faye, weren't you?" Kyoya asked looking at the magazine cover.

Bobby nodded as they walked to the elevator. "I have the feeling that the Chevaliers were behind that article. I can't fly to Paris, but Spencer can certainly take the train there and check in on her."

"You care a lot about your family don't you?" Kyoya asked.

Bobby nodded again as she looked at the magazine in Kyoya's hands. "Friends too." She didn't elaborate. She knew that Kyoya was aware of her social media postings of selfies with Kana. He had been sitting right next to her in a coffee shop when she posted them. At the time, he didn't ask any questions, but later that night, Bobby had been forced to explain before she could get her room key back from him.

Kyoya politely held the elevator open as Bobby stepped in. Bobby thanked him quietly and hit the lobby button. While the two had been at the hotel for the long and torturous week, they had spent less and less time talking to each other and instead would meet in coffee shops and work on homework before they went to their separate rooms. Neither could exactly place why they felt the need to stay away from the other, but there was something scandalous about entering a hotel together and leaving in the morning so the two of them had come to some sort of silent agreement that they wouldn't make it look like something it wasn't.

As soon as Tamaki heard about the break-in he launched into one of his over-zealous monologues where he insisted that Kyoya call his body guards to Boston so that they could protect Bobby. Kyoya constantly reminded Tamaki that if his guards were going to protect anyone, it would be him and not Bobby. Kyoya was an egoist after all and felt his life to be more meaningful. Though he mostly said this to make Tamaki even more upset. There was something exciting about getting a rise out of Tamaki.

Meanwhile, Kyoya had noticed that Bobby was being followed by a particularly fearsome fellow with shaggy black hair who wore a leather jacket. Bobby would acknowledge him with a nod or a slight wave of her hand and the man would disappear faster than he had appeared. Still, she insisted that her father didn't know about the break-in, but would give no further explanation as to why she was being followed by tall, dark, and dangerous. He assured himself that it would no longer be his problem because Bobby's car was fixed and she was picking it up after her classes. Kyoya was no longer her ride to school. Color him pleased.

Twenty minutes later, Kyoya was driving towards Harvard when he saw his phone buzz. He ignored the call and kept his eyes on the road. With a glance in the rearview mirror he narrowed his eyes. A small silver BMW had been following him for the past ten minutes and he debated his next course of action. He had never found himself in a position where he was followed. That just didn't happen to an Ootori. Kyoya took the next exit on the freeway and pulled into a parking lot. The small sports car slipped into the spot next to him as he stepped out.

Kyoya was just the slightest bit surprised to find Bobby's mysterious guardian step out and look at him. "Not many rich kids catch on to my tails," the man said.

Kyoya blinked and just accepted that everyone remotely close to Bobby likely spoke Japanese. "Who are you."

"Max," the man answered. "You the kid's roommate?"

Kyoya nodded as he walked around his car. "Why are you following me?" he asked cooly.

Max, no last name, shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and leaned forward, turning to look at Kyoya. "Just making sure you get to school alright."

"Who are you?"

"Friend of the kid." Kyoya just had to assume that "the kid" was Bobby's nickname.

"I surmised as much. Why have you been following her? Did her dad ask you to?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"And you answer very little."

The man chuckled and kicked a pebble as he shook his head. "The kid's father doesn't know about the break-in. He doesn't know I'm looking out for the kid. I'm just attuned to situations and know when I might be needed."

"You think Bobby is in trouble?"

Max shrugged and glanced at Kyoya. He grinned. "Just looking out for her. Like you."

"I'm not looking out for her."

"Sure you aren't, Glasses," Max said with another laugh. Kyoya found it difficult not to react to the sarcasm. This guy was extremely weird, but apparently knew more about Bobby's extracurricular activities than Kyoya had been able to figure out. Max stood up straight and opened his car door. "Just make sure she doesn't do anything reckless."

"Reckless?" Kyoya asked as Max slipped into his BMW. In a flash, the small car shot out of the parking lot and left Kyoya looking around feeling like he was privy to some sort of spy conspiracy.

One thing was for sure, he needed to talk to Bobby. The kid? The spy?

0o0o0o0

Bobby was looking at a bunch of spreadsheets that were lying on her hotel bed. She shook her head and groaned as she fell on her back. "This shouldn't be that hard," she muttered, rubbing her tired eyes. She rolled onto her side and pulled her legs up to her chest as she took a few relaxing breaths.

Bobby opened her eyes when there was a knock on her door. She sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the door. She jumped when there was another knock and quickly grabbed the spreadsheets and shoved them in a drawer. She crept up to the door and backed up when she saw Kyoya standing at the door. Staring at the doorknob, she almost didn't hear Kyoya.

"I know you're in there. Open up," he sounded impatient.

Bobby opened the door and looked around the hall only to have Kyoya gently pushed her back into the room. He closed the door and locked it quickly and turned on Bobby as she backed up.

"Kyoya?" Bobby asked carefully. "What are you doing?"

"I was followed by Max today."

Bobby didn't say anything, but her mouth formed an 'o' shape as realization dawned in her eyes. She backed up even more, when the lights flashed off of Kyoya's glasses. "What did he want?" she asked.

"Who is he?" Kyoya asked as he looked around the room.

"I'm not entirely sure of that myself. He shows up from time to time and helps me out," Bobby answered. She turned and moved over to her king sized bed and jumped on it. As she sat cross-legged she hugged a pillow as she met Kyoya's gaze. "I used to think he was associated with my father, but the possibility went out the window when I asked my dad if he knew anyone named Max. So he remains an international mystery."

"So a strange guy follows you around and you don't ask questions?" Kyoya asked.

"If I stopped to ask questions every time he showed up, I probably wouldn't get nearly as far with some of my plans," Bobby said mysteriously as she added in a vague shrug. "I would also be dead most likely. The mysterious Max has saved my butt a time or two."

"He called you reckless," Kyoya said with a sly smirk. "So I'm not entirely surprised to hear that." He sat down in Bobby's spinning chair and looked at her.

"Is there anything else?" she asked.

Kyoya was silent for a moment as he wondered whether or not to bring up the fact that Max thought Bobby was in trouble, though she could probably tell that something was up. Apparently this guy didn't show up everyday. He shook his head as he looked around.

"Brilliant. Stay there," Bobby said as she pushed herself off the bed and skipped up to her closet. She bent over as Kyoya looked towards her.

Bobby pulled out a box and brought it over. "No tricks, I promise," she said. She stepped back and leaned against the edge of her bed with a smile. "Just a box with an offer."

Kyoya opened the box and found a bottle of Tolemei wine. "We aren't old enough to drink in America. Not even in Japan."

"Correct, but it's what's under the bottle that I'm suggesting." Bobby said as she waited for Kyoya to pull the paper out from under the expensive wine.

"Plane tickets."

"First class. We would leave first thing in the morning the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. You get to see Kaoru, and I get to see Kana," Bobby said. "The tickets are paid for, you just have to decide if you want to get on the plane."

Kyoya stared at the ticket and he was actually tempted to just say yes. "I have class that morning."

"I guarantee it will be cancelled," Bobby said. "The professors want a longer vacation just like we do." She leaned forward happily and watched Kyoya.

"Okay," Kyoya said, knowing that she was not only right, but that he didn't really want to go to that class anyway. He got too bored in that class, already knowing business ethics like he knew the back of his hand. It would appear that he would be going on vacation with Bobby in a couple weeks.