All because of the girl covered in tattoos with purple hair.
It had been five months since I’d left with her, leaving behind the shitty life I had become accustomed to. We had traveled to so many different places after Colombia. Seen so many different things. The sky was the limit. It was a reoccurring joke between us, every new place we went we had new passports, all new identities. Sometimes we would pretend to be newlyweds, madly in love with each other.
That was my favorite.
We played the roll too well. Almost forgetting it was a ploy. I didn’t fucking care, it always gave me an excuse to touch Briggs inappropriately in public. It changed everywhere we went and it was fucking hilarious coming up with new ideas with her. Never a dull moment. Not once.
But one thing was for sure.
One thing never changed…
We were friends.
Getting to know her was like waking up from a dream, like I had been sleeping my entire life. Just waiting for the moment she would come into my world and make me start living.
Which was the only way I could explain it and even that didn’t do it justice.
I knew I sounded like a goddamn *, but nothing compared to seeing the world through Briggs’ eyes. I realized pretty quickly that I hadn’t even started really traveling till she was by my side. It was supposed to be for business but we were having the time of our lives, partying, getting high, and meeting new people everywhere we went. She still didn’t get high off her own stash so she would buy from the suppliers before it officially became hers.
To see the world like that was surreal and it was all made possible because of her. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t all fun and games. For the first three months, I worked my fucking ass off trying to make money anyway I could to support us. It was pretty easy since technically I was just a tourist passing through. Business owners loved that, being able to pay me under the table for a few days’ work.
If I wasn’t keeping Briggs safe with the shit she had to do, I was working on my own. There was no way in fucking hell that I was going to be dependent on her and I never wanted her to think I was using her for money.
She always told me she knew that wasn’t my motive for traveling with her, but she also didn’t want me to leave her side. She missed me too much when I was gone even if it was only for a few hours in the day.
She hated it.
It was unreal how fast you could become attached to a person. Which was funny because all I ever wanted was to run away from my life and everyone in it, but there I was.
Wanting to spend an eternity in hers.
Briggs didn’t like to talk about the past. In fact, she refused to let me in to that part of her life, the part that led her up to this point in time. I respected her wishes but I didn’t like it. I figured over time she would open up to me when she was ready. I just had to be patient.
Her future was mine.
I knew I was her first real friend. She told me that often, and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t love that she chose me. Even though it made me sad for her, knowing how lonely that must had been. I was lucky in the sense that I grew up with Alex and the boys, even though we weren’t on speaking terms now. I still managed to send my parents and Half-Pint a postcard every once in awhile.
I knew Briggs worked for Alejandro Martinez but not because his name came out of her mouth. The business associates, as she called them, said his name often. It was hard for me to follow since they mostly spoke in Spanish. It was a nice fucking surprise the first time I heard her speak it so damn fluently.
I jacked-off in the shower like a fucking thirteen-year-old boy when we got back to the hotel that afternoon. Remembering the sexy-as-fuck tone of her voice as she was talking to the men. I pictured her face the entire time and came so fucking hard I saw stars.
One night, two months ago, after working with a construction company for a few days, I came back to the hotel and she was smiling like a fool. Of course I walked over to her and caught her expression in the air, placing it on my heart. That had become our thing. And it always made her smile even bigger, lighting up her entire face. It was the first time I ever saw her so fucking happy, and I didn’t even know the cause, but I didn’t care.
The look on her face was all that mattered to me.
She pulled me on the couch next to her and told me I didn’t have to leave her anymore. I was ready to tell her the same shit I had been saying for the last three months. But she interrupted me, placing her finger over my lips to silence me. She continued telling me that she got me a job with Martinez. That I was officially her bodyguard and before I had any time to react to what she just shared.