Her Temporary Bodyguard

(Part 3) Chapter Two

He was surprised that she didn't slam the door in his face. She didn't exactly invite him in either, but when he saw that the door didn't close all the way he took that as enough of an invitation and walked inside the apartment. He made certain it closed fully and set the deadbolt and chain in place. Logan was not going to let Tara brush him off. His friend expected him to keep her safe, at all costs. This was one mark that Logan could not afford to lose. Tara Barclay was family to one of the few men whom Logan respected.

"Look, I don't know what the story is between you and your brother, but he thinks that you're in some sort of trouble. The dangerous kind, if those thugs were any indication. He asked me to stick with you and that's what I'm going to do," Logan said as he turned to where Tara stood in the small kitchen. She stretched up on her toes to reach the cupboard above the refrigerator and pulled down a bottle of Jack Daniels. She filled a short glass half way and downed it in one swallow, barely wincing. She poured a second drink but left it sitting on the counter, her green eyes turning to scrutinize him.

"You said your agency is called Gilbert-Barclay Investigations," she stated.

"Yes. Jason and I started it together three years ago."

"So, have you known him long?" Tara asked, her voice muffled slightly as she lifted her glass to her lips. Logan watched her swallow a mouthful of whiskey with a fascination that he could neither understand nor afford.

"I've known him for a while," Logan replied.

"Why are you here?"

"I told you, Jason thinks you're in trouble."

"But you don't know what kind of trouble, do you?" She shot him a dark look and finished her drink without breaking eye contact. Irritation stirred within him but Logan wasn't going to let it show. It wasn't her fault that Jason hadn't filled him in.

"Why don't you enlighten me?" Logan suggested, leaning against the counter.

"Because I'm supposed to know?" She reached up into her hair and pulled out several pins, dropping them with a clatter on the counter.

"Surely you must have some idea," he said. With a confident tug, Tara removed the red wig, revealing a mass of messy black hair. She shook her head and it all tumbled down around her shoulders.

"Why don't you call Jason up and ask him, hm? While you're at it, why don't you ask him why he's making you waste your time on someone he doesn't give a damn about," Tara snapped. She brushed past Logan angrily and a moment later, the bedroom door slammed shut. Logan closed his eyes briefly, counted to ten and then exhaled. Sisters, he thought, were about the worst kind of women to provoke.

He turned off the lights in the kitchen and wandered around the rest of the apartment. There wasn't much, just a cramped living space, a microscopic bathroom and the closed door to Tara's single bedroom. Logan looked every inch over thoroughly but nothing had been disturbed from where it had been earlier. He listened to the slaps and banging of doors and drawers as Tara stomped about in her bedroom and felt mildly guilty that he'd snuck into her apartment without her knowledge.

As he moved her worn out armchair across the room to place it in front of the bedroom, he could hear Tara humming to herself. He didn't recognize the tune but it was almost as mesmerizing as her hauntingly beautiful voice. Jason hadn't told him about that either. Logan sighed, knowing that he couldn't get distracted. He wasn't sure that being rendered unconscious was enough of a deterrent. One man, perhaps, lingering in an alley to wait for a pretty woman was creepy but likely an isolated incident. The two men that Logan had fought had training and, despite Tara's insistence, if he hadn't been there she would have been long gone. The question was, why were they after Tara?