Free If Not For You by Jennifer Rose Page A

back.
    “We’re good,” I said, sitting back to join him. I was so relieved that Gage wasn’t going to push me or question me. “I’m so sorry. I’m going to blame my crass actions on the alcohol.”
    “Shhh…” He shook his head to silence me.
    “Want to watch a movie?” Gage asked, taking the controller from a bowl on the table and turning on the TV. “What do you think?”
    “I think I shouldn’t take up all your time. You should go have some fun, find a pretty lady to spend the evening with, go dancing or something,” I suggested, quite prepared for him to take his leave of me, and curl up with a book or go to bed early.
    “I have a pretty lady to spend the evening with right here” he said and squeezed my hand in his but didn’t release it and I didn’t pull away, and after a minute or so he weaved his fingers with mine making it absolute. He wasn’t going anywhere.
    “You’re sweet, are you sure?”
    “I’m sure, now what do you want to watch?” Gage asked, scrolling through a list on the LED screen.
    A chirping sound came from his pocket and he excused himself to the balcony. I continued to scroll the TV’s listings in his absence. I could hear his voice, but couldn’t make out what he was saying. Gage was only gone for a minute at most when he returned, he looked annoyed and held his phone up into my view.
    “I have to go do something right away…for work,” he said as he walked to the door and I started to get up and see him out.
    “I’ll only be a few minutes okay, stay where you are…I’ll be back.”
    He opened the door and slipped half way turning back in to face me. “If you want me to come back that is?” he asked with his dimpled smile.
    “Come back.”
     
    ***
     
    I slipped into my room after making sure that Tandy had stayed put. I opened the laptop and checked for emails. Apparently Mr. M had been trying to get me all day. The call from one of Mr. M’s men alerted me to check in before the old man had a heart attack.
    Yep there it was, the inevitable email, the one that chewed my ass off. The old man wanted to know what she did today and wanted to know now . I recalled Tandy’s reference to her father, as being an overly protective bastard and I smiled to myself at her accuracy.
    Rotten fucker must have made her life a living hell , I thought. If he was as much of a prick with her as he was with his staff, no wonder she was such an angry virgin.
    Thankful that Mr. M helped me and grateful to have a job and a roof over my head, I was aware that Mr. M could be a real martinet, exceedingly demanding and contemptuous. That he had to have everything his own way and got it, he had power and money and a well-appointed security detail to solve minor or major issues should they arise. Anyone regardless of their position that got in his way, he shattered them. No fear, no apprehension and no regrets.
    Still a virgin.
    I’ll admit I was having trouble getting my tongue around that one, a twenty two year old virgin in this day and age? That was a phenomenon. The feeling of guilt that suddenly hit, when a thrill ran through me at the thought of being Tandy’s first, made me shake my head and brought me back to reality.
    Mr. Manning, here’s your update. Tandy sat at the pool, had a few drinks, sunbathed and went for dinner, then back to her room. G.
    A few moments later came a reply.
    She’s spending all her time alone? That’s good. Have you seen anyone approach her?
    What was I supposed to say, no one but me? That I had approached her and damned near rubbed up against his daughter the virgin? Hell no! I didn’t have a death wish.
    I haven’t noticed sir. She spends most of her time alone from what I see, I would assume men have looked, she is pretty after all. I couldn’t say. G.
    Tandy is pretty in her own way. Thankfully she’s really not the type to draw a crowd.
    Appalled by the comment I just read, I was seeing red. Pretty in her own way, doesn’t draw a crowd?