Beautiful Protection

We Are Locked

Erin sighed with relief when she finally heard Will’s car revving up from outside. She stood frozen for a moment, still shaken from the confrontation earlier. Her body felt weak, her knees trembling. If Xander hadn’t been there, she wasn’t sure how far Will would have gone.

“Is he beating you up?” Xander asked, his voice low but sharp, like he was prepared to kill the man if she said yes.

“No,” she whispered, though her voice was unsteady. “It was the first time… or maybe I don’t know. He’s rarely home.”

Xander’s jaw tightened, his expression unreadable. “The documents must be important for him to lose his composure like that,” he muttered while scanning the wreckage of her room. He began picking things up instinctively, restoring some order to the chaos.

“Leave it,” Erin said quickly, ashamed at the sight of her things scattered everywhere. She tried to take the mess into her own hands, but Xander caught her by the arms, gentle, not forceful, and guided her to sit back on the edge of the bed.

“You’re still shaking. Sit. I’ll do it,” he insisted.

Her lips parted to argue, but she found no strength to fight him. She simply nodded.

Xander moved about quietly, folding her clothes, setting books back in place, even righting the overturned chair by the window. Erin sat and watched him, her eyes lingering on his deliberate movements, the way he managed to bring calm even in silence.

“Why did my father hire you?” she asked suddenly.

Xander paused, his back toward her, before answering. “It’s too early to discuss that, Mrs. Ferguson.”

“Don’t call me that.” She cut him off firmly. “I don’t think I can bear hearing my husband’s last name attached to mine.”

He turned slightly, his eyes meeting hers. “Erin,” he said, testing the name on his tongue.

Her lips curved faintly. “Better.” She gave him a small smile before quickly looking away, embarrassed at how easily she had yielded that piece of herself to him.

“Is there something going on that I don’t know?” she asked, her voice softer, almost cautious.

“It’s too early to explain,” Xander replied again. “But one thing is for certain, you can trust me.”

Erin’s shoulders stiffened at the word. “That’s the last thing I want to hear. I’d rather feel it than be told. The more people say it, the less I believe them.”

Memories surged, unwanted but sharp. Maric Pacheco. Her former bodyguard. The one Will had chosen for her. She had trusted him, let him into her space, even confided in him when loneliness weighed heavy. And what has been the result? A drugged drink, manipulated photographs, and Will storming into her face with accusations of infidelity. Her father’s disappointment. A staged betrayal she could never prove false.

She had wept oceans back then. And Maric? Gone. Vanished without a trace, as if he’d never existed except to ruin her.

Her chest tightened, and she blinked rapidly, forcing herself back into the present.

“I understand,” Xander said, his voice breaking through her storm of thoughts. “But don’t you need assurance right now, especially with everything collapsing around you?”

She exhaled slowly, realizing he was right. “I wish it were that easy.”

“Give your father time,” he said gently, dusting off his palms as if sealing the conversation.

Erin studied him quietly. He was careful with his words, yet there was sincerity beneath each one. For the first time in so long, she didn’t feel completely abandoned.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “For earlier. And for last night… you saved my life.”

Their eyes met. His gaze was steady, unreadable, but softer than before. She thought she saw something flickering there, but it vanished too quickly.

“It’s my job,” he said simply.

Before she could reply, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small square of paper. “If you need anything, you can call me.”

Erin blinked. A post-it note, with his number scrawled neatly across it.

“I wrote it earlier,” he explained, almost awkwardly.

For a moment, Erin almost laughed. Who still wrote numbers on post-it notes anymore? Yet somehow the gesture felt more personal, more real, than if he had simply texted her. She took the paper carefully, holding it with both hands as if it were fragile. She didn’t say anything, just nodded, and placed it on the bedside table once he left.

Later, he returned carrying the shopping bags they had hauled from town earlier. He placed them quietly in the corner of the room, gave her a brief nod, and left again. No words exchanged, only silence. Yet the silence wasn’t empty. It was steady, protective, like a wall shielding her.

Erin stayed in her room for the rest of the afternoon, curling up in bed with her thoughts. She didn’t dare call her father yet. Whatever needed to be said, she would wait until Sunday at dinner, when Will would hopefully not be around. Something in Xander’s earlier words gnawed at her. There was more happening, threads tied between her father and Will, and she needed to untangle them.

Her thoughts drifted back to the documents she had thrown away. Will’s reaction earlier had been far from ordinary. What could have been in them?

Driven by curiosity, she slipped out of her room and padded down the hallway to the storage room. If Melinda hadn’t cleared the trash yet, maybe she could salvage something. But when she pushed the door open, the bins were empty.

“Damn it,” she muttered under her breath, frustration rising. Melinda must have already taken them out.

Turning back to leave, she nearly collided with Xander. He was panting, his brow slightly damp, as though he had run to find her. Relief flashed across his features when he saw her unharmed.

“I thought…” He exhaled deeply. “I thought you were in danger again.”

“Well, I’m alive,” she said dryly, brushing past him.

But before they could take another step, the storage room door slammed shut behind them with a loud bang.

Both froze.

Xander immediately turned, grasping the knob and twisting hard. It didn’t budge. He twisted again, faster this time, then leaned his weight into it. Nothing. Locked. From the outside.

Erin’s eyes widened. “What… what just happened?”

Xander muttered something under his breath, words she didn’t catch but knew were curses. He stepped back, fists clenched, then turned to face her with controlled calm.

“We’re locked in.”