I slept the whole flight home, since I hadn’t slept the night before, and was anxious to do a light workout before finishing the essay. It wasn’t to be, though. Chains had left me a message while we were descending, and needed backup tonight.
Shit.
I had an essay to finish.
I was exhausted.
I needed to jerk off before my balls turned purple.
And tomorrow I was testing for my yellow belt.
I called Chains on speakerphone as I drove home.
“Hey, mate. Did you just land?”
“I did. What’s up?”
“You’re probably knackered after a road trip. I was going to see if you’d pick up Sasha Kingsley from the airport and take her home for me, but I can find someone else. Grim has the flu, and though he’d haul his ass out of bed if I let him, we really don’t want him to get her sick. She took a quick trip to Limaj to see her mom, and she’s landing in about thirty minutes. With her diplomatic status, she’ll be through customs in ten minutes and all you have to do is deliver her to her father at the Charleston Hotel.”
“I can do that.” Sasha was Casey Hart’s oldest daughter.
“You sure?”
“Yup.”
“Stop by the office and pick up a weapon. I don’t expect any trouble—we purposely had her put it out on her social media that she was coming home day after tomorrow—so it should be quick and easy. If anything happens at all, you call me, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m in the middle of…something I can’t get away from, so this is a huge help.”
“All right, heading to the office now.”
“Great.”
I turned in that direction and felt a shift in my attitude. Suddenly I wasn’t tired anymore, and I forgot all about my essay. In fact, I couldn’t wait to get to the airport to pick up Sasha. I’d met her a handful of times since her mother was a big hockey fan and came to many of the games with their family, and this was kind of important. There was no imminent threat or he never would have called me, since I truly had no experience, but he’d said there would be things like this to test me, to make sure I was up to the task.
It wasn’t necessary to have a permit to open carry a weapon in Nevada, so I’d bought a shoulder holster and put it on when I got to the office. I didn’t own a gun yet, since they were still teaching me about all the different ones, but I really liked the Sig Sauer P226. It was a decent size but not too big, and I had great accuracy with it. Not that I intended to use it, but it was my favorite so far, so that’s the one I chose.
Chains seemed to be in a hurry and distracted, so I checked to make sure it was loaded, put the safety on and put it in my holster. Then I headed out and made my way to the airport. We’d talked about jobs like this a dozen times, so I knew the drill. I had a special badge that I used to get into the parking lot of the private hangar where the king’s jet landed. I parked and went inside, feeling a little like a weird combination of badass and fraud. I’d just gotten off a plane with my hockey teammates and now I was carrying a gun and protecting a princess. It was surreal.
I saw Sasha right away, standing with her personal bodyguard, a guy named Axel. I was essentially a driver, but there was strict protocol for a transport like this. Even though they’d done their best to hide her date of arrival, there were still employees at the airport who could leak time and place.
“Hey, man.” Axel looked up at me with a smile.
“Hey.” I glanced at Sasha and she smiled too.
“Thanks for picking us up,” she said. “Do you mind if I sit up front? I’m a little queasy—there was turbulence on the descent and I’m afraid I’ll get sick if I sit in the back.”
I looked at Axel. “Are there rules about this?”
He shrugged. “In general, it’s best if she sits in back, but for something like this, we can make an exception.”
“Let’s go.” I reached for her carry-on bag and Axel had her large suitcase. We headed outside and got in my SUV. Axel drove a special company SUV when he took Sasha back and forth to school and such, but since they were short-staffed tonight, I didn’t mind using mine.
Sasha climbed into the passenger seat and sat back, putting on her seat belt. I got behind the wheel and headed for the Strip. Sasha was staying with her father and stepmother, and they lived on the top floor of the Charleston Hotel. We’d pull up to the hotel, Axel would take her in while I brought her luggage. We’d use two separate elevators, just in case, and then meet up and leave together. Sounded simple enough.
“Are you new?” Sasha asked me as we drove. “You look familiar.”
I smiled. “I’m Dax O’Day.”
“From the Sidewinders!” Her eyes widened. “Oh wow, how is this possible?”
“It’s a long story, but I’m probably retiring from hockey at the end of this season.”
“Are you going to be a Royal Protector?” Her eyes shone with excitement.
“I…don’t know.” I figured it wasn’t a secret from her since the Royal Protectors kept her safe. “For now, let’s just say I’m moonlighting for Westfield & Carruthers Security, to get some training in and decide what I want to do.”
“Oh, cool, so I’m your guinea pig.”
I glanced over at her to see if she was upset about that, but apparently not, because she was smiling.
“The guy in the back seat is probably badass enough for three or four regular guys, so I think you’re pretty
