The Way You Are by Carly Fall Read Free Book Online Page A

mouthed to Zach. Garrett rolled his eyes at his own stupidity. Instead, he gently punched Zach in the shoulder, and Zach walked away with a wave Garrett could only guess meant ‘you’re welcome.’
    “Hello, Garrett. I’m sorry I’ve been out of touch the past few days. How are things going?”
    “Great. Zach’s settled in and we’re just hanging out waiting for you.”
    “Good, because I’ll be there tomorrow evening with a new assignment for you.”
    “Oh yeah? Who?”
    He listened as Joe told him about the twenty-three year-old daughter of a billionaire oil tycoon who had almost been kidnapped. Her father wanted her in protective care as he worried for her safety, especially since he was hosting a large dinner at his home with some worldly and important people.
    Shit.
    He’d had a couple of clients, and they’d been older gentleman and quiet, not wanting to do much but sit around and watch television. They’d been easy—pretty much keeping to themselves. Little had been required from him.
    A twenty-three-year-old billionaire’s daughter put everything into a whole different ball field.
    He imagined her tall, blonde, rail thin, with fair skin and an attitude and ego big enough to jam herself up in doorways. She most likely had some eating disorder and preferred to sleep in until noon after partying all night with celebrities and major league athletes.
    A snotty, spoiled, entitled brat—that’s what he knew would walk through that door tomorrow. He’d seen it before.
    He remembered being around thirteen and taking the subway from the Bronx to upper Manhattan where he helped his Nana clean the houses of some of the city’s wealthy citizens. He’d hated it as he looked around at all the upper-end furnishings of the townhouses and large, lavish apartments. He’d marveled at the shiny, silver appliances in the kitchen, the smooth walls, usually colored in some soothing brown or grey, the gleaming floors, and the thick carpets. He couldn’t help compare the home to the two-bedroom shithole apartment he shared with his Nana and its light blue kitchen appliances with rust stains or the yellowing linoleum below them, the plaster-cracked, thin walls that never seemed to keep the heat in, or the noise and cold out.
    He could almost see the floorboard beneath the threadbare, dark brown carpet covering the living room floor, and despite the promise of a new paint job from the landlord, the brownish paint that used to be white chipped and cracked from age.
    He and Nana had tried their best, but the cockroaches always seemed to find a way in despite how clean they’d kept the apartment.
    “Be thankful you have a roof over your head, boy,” she’d used to tell him when he’d complained. “You and me got the blessing from the Lord above, and that’s all we need.”
    As he’d scrubbed the rich people’s toilets, the kids who lived in those fine homes would sneer at him, while the parents ignored him. Wealthy people looked down on human beings in lower social classes as people to be used to clean their houses, trim their lawns, cook their food—whatever their needs, someone could fill it. And, as he knew firsthand, that translated into a complete lack of respect, as if the wealthy dealt with a nuisance instead of another living, breathing human.
    Yeah, he knew exactly what he would be dealing with tomorrow, and it irked him to no end.
    “Maybe she’d be better off with someone else,” he said. “Like Brody. If she’s rich, she’d probably love the yacht.”
    “ By Sea is not an option right now. You, Garrett, are my only choice. I’ve met the young lady, and she seems delightful.”
    What. Fucking. Ever.
    “How long is she going to be here?”  He rubbed his eyes, resigned to his fate.
    “No longer than ten days.”
    He sighed. Ten days of being in the company of some entitled bitch’s presence? He could handle it, and reminded himself he was a goddamn Marine. If he could deal with the theatre of