Learning that the stalker was connected to my parents’ killer left me unusually energized the next day. I was ready to take on the world. Whether or not I was ready to take on an algebra test was another question.
Even with my nose buried deep in my algebra book, I heard the light tap of shoes crossing the floor as I sat in the library waiting for Kathryn to do some last-minute studying. As usual, the silly girl was trying to sneak up on me just to prove she could do it. Unfortunately for her, I had trained for ten years to be aware of everything in my surroundings. Unless I was badly distracted, I was very hard to sneak up on. Suddenly the footsteps stopped and I had an overwhelming feeling that I was being watched. I peeked up from my algebra book and stared directly at—not Kathryn.
“Hey,” Egon said.
“Oh! Hello.” I pretended I hadn’t heard him coming. I also pretended I wasn’t in total shock that he was speaking to me.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.” He pulled out the chair across from me and quietly sat down. Then he simply stared at me, not the expressionless way he had stared at Mason when he rescued me, but with a very subtle sparkle in his green eyes and the hint of a smile on his lips. Not an actual smile or sparkle…I had the impression that the real thing was being reined in, waiting for just the right moment to explode all over me. I played with the pages of my book, wondering what to say. Egon never blinked. If I’d been holding a dictionary instead of a math book, it would have been opened to a dissertation on the word awkward.
“Come here often?” he finally said.
“Umm, yeah. Every day.” It’s a library. We’re in school.
Oh, moron, he was making a joke. Little Miss Ingénue, yep, that’s me.
Egon leaned forward in his chair and unleashed a very charming smile at me. “I didn’t really get a chance to talk to you at the assembly, and I was wondering, you know…”
“Wondering?”
“I kind of offered to be your bodyguard, and I was hoping you didn’t take it the wrong way. I mean, you don’t even know me, and that could have come off as being very rude. It’s just that I tend to say stupid things in a crowd because I’m not really comfortable around people. You know what I mean?”
“No.” I honestly didn’t. “I mean, you’re famous.” According to Kathryn—I had never heard of him before. “You have to be used to crowds.”
Egon giggled. It was a hysterically girlish giggle, but I didn’t say anything.
“I guess when I’m the center of attention, my tough guy side comes out. I’ve been trained to act that way for the media. That’s not the real me, Rinnie. I was hoping to get to know you a little better. After all, every bodyguard has to know who he’s protecting.”
“I know, right?” I had no idea where this was going, but I must say, I was enjoying it.
Egon rested his chin on both hands. “So, tell me all about yourself.”
Oh, crud. That’s where it was going.
“Not much to tell,” I said. Technically, not much I could tell. “I go to school, I have practice after school. I hang out with Kathryn. We study together. I don’t know, my life isn’t all that exciting.”
“What do you practice?” Egon’s smile was so sweet.
“Kung fu. There’s a little school in town.”
Egon folded his hands. “Kung fu, huh? I know some kung fu people on the MMA circuit.”
“MMA?” I said, pretending I didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Mixed martial arts. Cage fighters. Hey, maybe you’d like to get into the competition. I’ll bet you’re pretty good!”
“I’m not that good!” I laughed.
“Just pretty, then?”
Heat rose in my face, and hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop my lips from pulling into a stupid grin.
“Well, you are,” Egon whispered.
I covered my face with my hands, embarrassingly flazzled. I totally had to change the subject. “Let’s talk about you. Where did you live before you moved here?”
Egon sat back and took a deep breath. “Oh, here and there. I actually grew up in Greensburg, but we moved away. My dad wanted me to follow the MMA circuit. He got me into it when I was younger, and I guess I was pretty good. But I went through trainers like water.”
“Why? Were they too hard on you?” I giggled, knowing firsthand what hard training looks like.
“No, I was a quick learner. I kept getting better than them. Within six months they couldn’t last thirty seconds in the ring with me, and I had to find a new trainer.”
“Impressive,” I said.
“Not really. I found out that most of my trainers were ex-fighters who couldn’t make it in the ring. They weren’t that great to begin with. But they taught me one thing that a great fighter probably couldn’t have—how to act like you deserve the reputation.”
“And how is that helpful?” I asked.
“Comes in handy when you’re facing a tougher fighter,” he said softly. “Like when I stopped Mason from picking on you. He’s a pretty intimidating dude. He’s a lot stronger than me, so I knew I had to play mind games.”
“What do you mean?”