The Trouble With Bodyguards: Part 3 Page 3

  He plucked a picture from the small pile at the bottom of the box, the image there barely visible in the dim room. But he knew it well, the sparkle in her eyes, the shape of her bottom lip, curved into a smile, as if the man behind the camera had said something sassy right before taking it. He ran the edge of his thumb along the fullness of her hip, her body softening as she settled into her new life. He missed her, hungered for her. He could remember the warmth of her skin under his palm, the taste of her lips. He lay awake at night, dreaming of her body laid out before him, helpless as he explored every inch of her skin. His cock would harden, throbbing with need, aching to be buried deep inside her, their bodies fused into one.

  He blew out a breath, frustrated to be locked in this cage, this prison. He needed to get out, to go to her, his love, so that they could begin their lives together. Things had been going so well. He had most of the doctors here convinced; it was only a matter of time until they would set him loose. Then Gina had ruined it all today, at the dining room table, instigating things until he slipped and said that in front of Doctor Jacobson. Stupid, fucking Gina. He needed to stay as far away from that crazy bitch as possible.

  Chapter 4

  He skirted her in the dayroom, staying as far from her as possible in the confined space. He had not spoken to her in group this morning, had not participated at all really. Instead, he choseto sit in silence, drawn into the testimony of others, his nods of approval at their progress toward healthy thoughts his only contribution to the session. He had successfully avoided her at breakfast, sitting at a crowded table, enduring the company of the droolers rather than risk another interrogation session from crazy Gina. He didn’t want to slip, not again, and reveal his true feelings to whichever staff member was in attendance at his table.

  He stepped behind a pillar, blocking her from view. She sat cross-legged on the couch in the middle of the room, a magazine open on her lap. She was enthralled, completely focused on the glossy pictures in front of her, licking her finger to dampen it each time she turned a page. He wondered where she had gotten the magazine. She must have brought it with her, or her family dropped off a care package. He had snatched up most of the magazines in this place, and all of the newspapers as well, squirreling them away in his room to comb through for pictures of his love.

  The thought that Gina could have a new magazine, one that he had not seen before, flitted through his mind. He needed to see it, to take it from her, so that he could know. Were there pictures of her in there? Pictures that he didn’t have, that he hadn’t seen?

  He peered around the edge of the pillar, trying not to attract attention as he strived to catch a look at the magazine. She sat with it splayed out on her lap, leaned over it as if she knew that someone would try and take it from her, and she needed to protect it. Fuck, I can’t see anything from here. Leave it, not worth risking starting something up with Gina. Things were going well since he had decided to avoid her. It wasback to the status quo. He didn’t want to rock the boat, but he had to know what the fuck was in that magazine.

  He crept toward her, staying near the windows and out of her direct line of sight, not wanting to catch her eye if she should happen to look up from her reading. He slid past the game table, where George was sitting alone, picking up the pieces to a puzzle and licking them before setting them back down onto the table where they had started. Cringing, disgusted at the behavior of some of these people, he hurried along his way, pausing with his back to the glass. He stared at the back of Gina’s head, willing her to lift the magazine, to examine some page a little more closely, giving him the chance to catch a glance of at least the type of magazine.

  He stepped forward, irritated that no matter how hard he willed it, she just wouldn’t lift the damned magazine. He outstretched his hands, aching to tear it from her and take it for his own. The pages would be lined with her face, her body, and images of her reaching for him, calling for him to come and rescue her from her painfully lonely existence. He stood on his tip toes, trying to peek over the top of her shoulder, to catch a glimpse of his angel on the page once again.

  “You know,” she said, not looking up from the page,“you are really bad at this. If you want to fuck me, just ask.”

  “What,” he said, stuttering.“I don’t want to…” his words trailed off, his face reddening as she looked over her shoulder at him, her green eyes sparkling with mischief as she raised her eyebrow.

  “Yes,” she said, closing the magazine and turning to him, crooking her elbow over the back of the couch.“Yes, you do. I’ve seen it since I walked in the door of this wretched place; you’ve had drool on your chin. And not like Mr. Lick-the-puzzle over there.” She gestured to George, who giggled to himself as he placed another cardboard piece in his mouth, sucking happily.

  “No…I,” said Jacob, stumbling over his words. He didn’t want to come right out and call her a crazy bitch, letting her know that it was just her magazine that he was after. Then she would have leverage on him. She would keep it from him on purpose, teasing him with what he wanted most, what he needed.

  “I was just going to ask you how you are doing,” he said, composing himself. He could act the part, even when attacked by her special flavor of crazy. This bitch was abrasive, threatening everything that he was working toward. She could upset his plans and ruin his chances of making it out of this place alive. He needed to take control of this situation, wrangle her before she turned everything to chaos.

  Settling himself in the armchair near where she was perched on the couch, he folded his hands in his lap, trying to plaster a look of caring concern on his face. He fought with himself not to snatch the magazine off her lap and tear off down the hall with it, locking himself in his room as he devoured the glossy pages. He didn’t even look at it, keeping his eyes steadily in contact with hers, drawing her into conversation. Engaging, as the doctors called it.

  “This place sucks,” she said, shoving the magazine deep into the bag that she kept hanging from her body—day and night. He followed her movements, his heart dropping as he realized that if she got away, he would have no idea where she would leave it. She could toss it into a trash bin at any moment, or that damned thing could stay in that bag for eternity. He would need to stay with her, watching for the perfect moment to make it his.

  He crossed one leg over the other, getting comfortable in the chair. Inside, he was screaming at himself. He had wanted to stay far away from her, keep himself safe, but the urge to get his hands on those glossy pages was too strong. If he walked away now, it would eat at him until it was all he thought about, day and night. Then, he would be right back where he started.

  “Sorry to hear that you feel that way,” he said, pumping his tone full of caring concern.“Is there anything that I can do to make you more comfortable? We’re not bad people; we just have to learn to deal with our issues.”

  “You sound like the fucking shrink,” she said, laughing loudly, drawing the attention of others in the room. George looked up from his puzzle, giggling loudly with drool running from his puzzle-filled mouth. Sally, the paranoid schizoid in the corner, huddled herself into a ball and whined softly to herself, too afraid of the world to allow any of it to come inside her shell.

  “I’m just trying to be friendly,” Jacob said. This chick set his teeth on edge. He wanted to smack some sense into her, make her realize that she was doing this to herself, that it was her behavior that had put her here. If she had just behaved herself andate her fucking dinner like a good little girl, she wouldn’t be here. She just had to play along with her mother, who may very well hate her and be trying to kill her, until she was old enough to move out and go about living her life. Instead, she had thrown a tantrum like a deranged toddler and ended up being locked in here, her every word and action scrutinized as the doctors decided which medicinal cocktail would work to numb her to the realization that life sucked and that everyone was out to get her.

  “Yeah,” Gina said, rolling her eyes,�
��friendly. I know what you’re really after.” She lifted the hem of her skirt, showing him the white cotton panties beneath.

  “Never mind,” he said, getting up from the chair.“I try and be nice to you,” he said, looking down at her,“and you act like this.”

  She giggled, covering her mouth like an innocent, letting her skirt drop back onto her lap. He threw up his hands, turning his back on her and walking away. How did she manage to rile him up so quickly, and why? She got some sort of twisted pleasure out of making him crazy, getting him to drop his mask of placated calm, and forcing him to show his true colors in a matter of seconds each time he talked to her. He would have to stay away from her, which meant that he would risk losing his chance to get his hands on that magazine.

  His palms began to sweat, his heart pounding in his chest,as he contemplated the suffering that he would go through. Each moment until he ran his fingers along those glossy pages would be agony. He wondered if she actually took her meds at bedtime, or just pretended to swallow them like he did, spitting them into the trash to avoid the coma-like sleep that they induced mere moments later. He could go into her room at night; none of the doors had any locks on them around here—other than the one that led to freedom. He could look through her things. He would find it; he would take it from her; and it would be his.

  With this thought, he calmed, his breathing steadied, and he wiped the sweat that had collected in his palms on the front of his pants as he walked down the hall toward his room. Turning, he tried to catch a glimpse of her once more, hoping that she had opened the magazine again and he could see the photo on its cover. He found her staring at him, watching his back as he walked away, and she smiled crookedly as she lifted her hand and twiddled her fingers at him in a pathetic attempt to be cute.

  Ugh. He hated her. She disgusted him to the point of nausea. Perhaps he would hold onto his pills tonight, instead of spitting them in the trash can in the dining room. He could slip her a double dose, or even a triple. Might be enough to stop her trashy little heart. She would drift off into a forever dreamland, and the doctors would think that poor miss tragedy had taken her own life, as teenagers are wont to do.

  Yeah. The idea appealed to him. The image of her face, cold and blue in death, made a pleasurable warmth spread through his belly. His cock twitched in his pants, awake for the first time in ages, calling for his attention. Hurrying to his room, he pulled the door shut behind him, wanting some privacy. He sat on the floor behind the door, leaning against it so that no one would have a chance to walk in and surprise him while he was feeding this beast.

  His release came quickly. The thought of Gina, dead before him, her body still, raised the temperature of his blood and drove him mad with desire.

  “That’s the only way I would fuck you, you crazy bitch,” he said to himself, the sticky residue of his pleasure still warm on his belly.“As a corpse.”

  He chuckled to himself, tucking his penis, now still and asleep once more, back into his trousers and crossing the room to lie down on the bed. He needed to think, and he needed a plan if this was going to work.

  Chapter 5

  Jacob watched her from afar over the next few days. She would turn to him, seeking him out to catch his eye, and wink at him from across a crowded room. She probably thinks that I am still lusting after her, the stupid bitch, thought Jacob, ignoring her sly smile and turning his attention to the plate of food going cold in front of him. He had all of the details in order; he was ready. He was going to kill her tonight after the nurses called for a lights out in the dorm. He smiled to himself, the warmth spreading through his belly again as he sipped at the lukewarm punch in his paper cup.

  …

  Lying on his back, he stared up at the darkened ceiling of his room. The lights from a car passing by on the secluded drive outside the hospital walls streaked across the ceiling, momentarily bathing the room in radiant light, creating stark shadows that danced on the walls near his bed. There he saw them, his friends and his protectors, hidden in the darkest of shadows, invisible to the staring eyes of the waking world. They approved of his plan to kill her. He had gone over every aspect of his plan with them, explaining each step and how it would ensure that no one would suspect that it had been he that had ended her life.

  He folded back the blankets, revealing that he had not undressed before bed, which was his usual habit, but was still fully clothed, ready to move as soon as the hall was quiet outside his room. He put his hand to the door, listening intently for any sound orindication that the nurses were still about in the hall, checking on beds. They were not quiet, speaking to each in a singsong voice, wishing them a good night’s rest.

  Hearing nothing, he slowly turned the handle on the door, willing it not to make a sound. He was pleased as the door came open soundlessly toward him. He peered out into the hall, spotting the orderly in his regular spot, his feet propped on the desk, oblivious to the fact that he was being observed. He stepped out into the dim hall, pulling his door shut behind him, not to alert a nurse that happened to walk by that he was out and about and not tucked safely into his bed. He had left his shoes behind, padding soundlessly along in his stocking feet. He crept down the hallway toward the women’s dorms at the other end.

  The patients were not forbidden from spending time with each other. In fact, fraternization between the patients was encouraged. The staff hoped that strong bonds could be formed, granting them not only the social interaction that they needed in order to thrive, but giving them a sense that they are not alone in their suffering. It made them feel normal, to have friends, even lovers, though some of them were never going to walk in the outside world again.

  Occasionally, a woman would disappear for a short stay in the medical wing, an unmentionable procedure performed on her to keep the population of lunatics in the asylum from multiplying. Training the members of society here, those that were lucid enough to follow a class on prophylactics, seemed an impossible task. It was easier to just clean up the mess after the fact.

  But Jacob didn’t creep down these hallways with sex in mind. His intention was much darker, and in his opinion, much more interesting than spending a few sweaty, stolen moments hammering away at Gina’s pussy. The idea nauseated him. His plans were much more goal oriented. He needed to shut her up and get her out of his life before she could cause any more damage to his carefully built persona and compromise his plan to free himself from this hell. And of course, to take his trophy, steal the magazine away to his own room to peruse their glossy pages in search of a new image of his angel.

  As he made his way stealthily down the dim corridor, he dug his hand deep into the pocket of his pants, gently fingering the small, white tablets in the bottom. He counted them;there were twelve, positively enough to get the job done. He had been pulling the tablets from beneath his tongue each night after walking away from the nurses’ station where evening drugs were dispensed. He had slipped them through a small tear in the corner of his bedspread, tucking them away where no one would accidentally find them. Today, he had decided that there were enough. He wouldn’t just reward her with a really great night’s sleep, but instead he’d steal her breath from her, leaving her to cool as he walked back to his own room, silencing her fucking mouth forever.

  They would assume that she had killed herself. He had planted the seed in the minds of the staff, hinting around during lunch, discussing the terrible rash of suicides that spread through the population of young girls in every high school. She had sat, silent and brooding during group the last few days, irritated that she was still subjected to this place. Her father had not come to rescue her, as she had counted on. Instead, he had left her here, amid the lunatics and the flickering fluorescent lights, while he enjoyed his life on the outside. She stood by her convictions, refused any denial that her mother had tried to poison her, and justified her actions to the death. He was so tired of listening to her nonsense. Spoiled little brat.

  He stood just outside her doo
r, staring at the floor for any sign of light spilling from the crack beneath onto the tile. Listening intently, he smiled to himself, hearing a gentle snore coming through the thin wood veneer. Good girl. She had swallowed her pill and was tucked into her bed, dreaming of a life outside this place, wrapped in the arms of her loving father as her mother lay on the kitchen floor, choking to death on her home baked peach pie.

  Reaching for the door handle, he wrapped his fingers tightly around the knob, the cold steel cooling the burning heat of his sweaty palm. He hadn’t realized it, how his heart was racing in his chest, how his belly tightened. He was excited, stoked to finally have a reason to do something wonderful again.

  The door opened soundlessly for him, the mechanism making no audible click, as if it too wanted him to succeed in his task unhindered by interruption. Her outline could be made out, the thin blanket covering her tossed haphazardly away, as if she had grown too warm beneath it and cast it aside. She was nude, sprawled out on her stomach. The pale light of the moon shone in the open window, illuminating where it touched the skin of her upper back and shoulders.

  Jacob slipped in the door, pulling it gently shut behind him as he passed through. Reaching into his pocket, he fondled the pills again, eager to get started, to put an end to her. He sucked in a deep, fortifying breath, noting his trembling hands as he crept toward her bedside. His heart was hammering in his chest, as if trying to beat its way free. Blood singing in his veins, he lifted a finger, drawing it lightly along the delicate skin of her lower back, disappointed that it wasn’t cool to his touch, not yet.

  She groaned in her sleep, and Jacob jumped, yanking his hand away. He held his breath, watching as she pulled her legs up next to her, cradling herself in her own arms like a newborn child. She whimpered, a sound of pleasure escaping from her lips as she continued to dream.