"I'm bored. Can't you do something to entertain me, June?"

I slowly ran my tongue over my teeth as I mentally counted to ten to keep my mounting annoyance at bay. It had been six months since I had been assigned to protect the most snobby, self-centered, arrogant rich boy I had ever had the displeasure of meeting. Drew was the son of a super important politician that was known for his radical and passionate reform campaigns. Because of this, his son was regularly targeted for kidnapping attempts to try and force the politician to back off from whatever law he was trying to take away or implement at the time.

When I graduated as a bodyguard from one of the top security training schools in the nation, I had hoped I could use my skills to protect someone a little less... childish. Even though his personality was difficult to deal with, he was a pretty hard working person. Drew was actually a famous fashion designer and had made a name for himself as a guru for young women's formalwear. Whenever he was interviewed and asked where he got the inspiration for his designs he would say, "I just design what I would want to see my future girlfriend wear." Suffice it to say, he was extremely popular with the ladies. In fact, one in ten kidnapping attempts that occurred were actually overzealous fans.

"I'm not here to entertain you; I am here to guard you. And my name is MAY not June," I responded after my calming exercise was completed.

Drew was sitting in a plush armchair outside of his father's office because he had been summoned for a meeting for who knows why. Something flickered in the corner of my eye and I flinched slightly as a small red rose that still hadn't completely bloomed came into my view. I blinked and looked over at Drew, who was extending the delicate flower to me with his usual smirk.

"Hang in there, Miss Bodyguard. You're doing a good job," Drew said.

Wordlessly I took the extended flower from him before the door to his father's office opened and he whisked inside without a backwards glance. I looked down at the small red rose in my hand and wondered where on earth he had been hiding it for it not to have gotten squashed.

I leaned against the wall, keeping one eye sweeping the hallway suspiciously while the other remained on the rose in my hand. As immature and overbearing as Drew's personality could be, he had recently begun to do little things like this that made guarding him a little more bearable. He was still an obnoxious know-it-all, but at least he had his sweet moments.

As I kept my eye on the hallway I remembered back to when my professor at the security academy had pulled me aside before graduation and told me about a job offer that had come in. I had been more than hesitant to even meet with the client when I heard I would be protecting a privileged young man only a few years older than me. But after hearing the situation and reading through the incredibly generous contract, I had swallowed my pride and accepted the job.

I had been specifically chosen because of my excellent results in tracking and stealth exercises. Apparently, Drew found his constant supervision a little stifling and had an uncanny ability to lose his bodyguards and completely disappear for hours at a time. Of course in those unprotected hours he was vulnerable to kidnappings which his father would not tolerate, so I had been given the position of "personal bodyguard." It was my job to keep up with him even if he pulled one of his disappearing acts.

The first time I had seen the grasshead seemingly meld into a large group of shoppers and disappear I had been shocked at his fluidity and ability to become so in tune with the crowd that he could simply melt away. However, I had only lost him for ten minutes before I figured out where he had gone. When I first started guarding him he seemed determined to prove that he could give me the slip, but the more often he tried to pull his disappearing act, the more I picked up on the signs that he was about to attempt a break and I got better and better at following him.

This ability had a downside though because every once in awhile I would be so focused on not letting him get away that I wouldn't communicate with the other bodyguards and both of us would disappear from their radar. I could distinctly recall the first time that I had followed after Drew by melting into the crowd myself and the senior bodyguard scouting the area from afar started yammering loudly into my earpiece asking me where we had gone.

For better or for worse, Drew now understood that he wasn't going to be getting his free hours that he had enjoyed before I came and he had eased off on the disappearing acts almost entirely. Sometimes I felt a little bad for keeping him from having any real private time outside of his home, but at least I wasn't required to guard him while he was inside his father's mansion. I was required to live in said mansion, unfortunately, just in case someone was brazen enough to try and kidnap him in his own home, but unless he called for me I was free to do whatever I wanted while in the mansion.

Sighing quietly I twirled the stem of the rose between my thumb and forefinger, watching as the layered petals spun in an interesting pattern. I knew I had no reason to complain about the way things were right now, but I was looking forward to when my contract ended after the new year. I was sure Drew's father would request that the contract be extended, but I was ready to move on and protect someone a little less high maintenance.

A creak of the door had me straightening my back immediately and I looked over to see Drew give a carefree wave of one hand towards his father before doing one of his characteristic fringe flips. It was annoying, but Drew really was an attractive guy. He had a rare green color to his hair that matched his guarded green eyes. Being a fashion designer he was always dressed to impress. Oftentimes wearing tight shirts to show off his well-toned body from all the exercise he did mainly for self-defense purposes, but also just to show off to his lady friends. Which were not few and far between, if you knew what I meant.

Drew was always surrounded by gorgeous women. Whether they were models he had worked with, actresses that were fans of his designs, fellow fashion designers, there were even some normal girls that he would invite to his fashion shows that he had known back in high school or university or what have you. In fact, he was always so surrounded by so many different women that the media were hard-pressed to figure out which woman he actually fancied since he was never with the same woman more than once a month.

"I just need to stop by my studio briefly and then we can head home for the rest of the day," Drew said with another flip of his perfectly styled bangs. I attempted not to roll my eyes and extended the rose he had given me back towards him silently. He looked at the flower and gave an overly dramatic sigh while placing his hands on his hips.

"Come on, July. Last time you said the rose was too big so I got you a rosebud this time. Why won't you accept this one?" he asked with a small, sarcastic pout. This time I did roll my eyes and I walked forward, snapping the stem of the flower and slipping the bud into his vest's front pocket.

"It looks better on you," I said simply, tucking the broken stem into my pocket and motioning for him to take the lead. "And my name is May."

I could hear Drew chuckling as I followed after him. He ended up staying in his studio longer than we had scheduled, but his studio had an incredibly high tech security system throughout the entire building so I didn't really care if he took his time. I actually really enjoyed watching him work like this. Sometimes when Drew was designing a new piece for his latest collection all of his arrogance and narcissism seemed to fade away and he would look like an excited kid as his hand flew over the paper with confident strokes.

Once he was finished at his studio, we returned to his father's mansion on the outskirts of town and I allowed my shoulders and back muscles to relax. I turned towards the servant's wing where my bedroom was located but I came to a sudden halt when I felt a hand wrap around my wrist and hold fast. Blinking in surprise I looked over my shoulder to see that Drew was giving me a strange expression.

"Where are you going?" he asked, sounding almost petulant.

"To my room so I can change into comfortable clothes," I responded with a quirk of my eyebrow.

As a personal bodyguard, I wasn't required to wear the typical black suit normally associated with my position. Instead, Drew had taken great pains to design me a functional businesswear look that consisted mostly of slitted pencil skirts and fitted jackets in a variety of neutral colors. I, of course, wore spandex shorts underneath the ridiculous skirts in case anything actually happened and someone was asking for a roundhouse kick, but since Drew was technically my client I put up with the outfits he made me when we were in public.

"What's uncomfortable about the clothes I made you?" Drew asked with a huff. I let out a huff of my own and pulled my wrist from his grasp.

"I'm not a girl that enjoys skirts, sir. The sooner I can get into some leggings or sweatpants the better," I said, once again moving towards the staircase that would lead me to my room. I could hear Drew's footsteps following me up the staircase but he didn't say anything so I ignored him, figuring that he was planning on going to the exercise room down the opposite hallway from the bodyguards quarters. When his footsteps continued following me even after the staircase though I wondered what he was doing but didn't really have the energy to ask him, so I continued to ignore him.

Just as I had reached out to put a hand on my doorknob my entire body tensed as arms wrapped around my waist. I felt Drew slip his hand into the pocket of my jacket where I had placed the stem of the rose he had tried to give me. He pulled it out, leaning his chin against my shoulder and twirling the stem of the rose in front of my face.

"Why is it," he whispered right next to my ear, sending goosebumps down my neck, "that whenever I give you a rose you always break off the stem? I never see you throw them away... Do you...?"

"I will give you five seconds to remove your arms from around me," I interrupted, my voice coming out in punctuated bursts as I tried to hold in my growing fury.

"Don't be like that, August," Drew whispered, winding his right hand a little tighter around my waist. "I have a lot I want to ask you privatel...."

Without out remorse, I slammed my elbow into his sternum, causing him to jerk away from me and then turned, shooting my left leg up to slam into his right shoulder and sending him sprawling onto his back. He groaned in pain but I was surprised when he jerked up into a seated position almost instantly, his eyes shimmering with anger as he grabbed the shoulder I had just kicked.

"What the heck is wrong with you? Aren't you supposed to protect me?" Drew yelled angrily, pointing the rose stem he had taken from my pocket accusingly up at me. I gripped my hands into fists and glared angrily down at him.

"Why did I ever agree to be your bodyguard? I hate playboys like you!" I yelled furiously, spinning on my heels and slamming my door violently in his face.

I could feel my entire body shaking from anger and revulsion at what had just happened. My eyes went over to the small glass vase set up on my nightstand where dozens of broken rose stems were standing proudly. Letting out a disgusted grunt I turned away from the sight of them and marched towards my dresser, removing my comfiest oversized black hoodie and black leggings. I threw the stupid skirt that Drew had given me months ago into the back of my closet and pulled on my comfortable loungewear angrily.

When I pulled my door open again I was only mildly happy to see that Drew had vanished from the hallway since part of me had been hoping for an excuse to rough him up a little more. Letting out a disgusted snort at the place Drew had landed after I kicked him, I turned towards the only place that could offer me any kind of comfort in this situation. The kitchen.

Since it was way past dinner time, my favorite room in the house was empty and I opened the fridge without abandon. After rummaging through my options I selected a container of leftover Japchae, a Korean dish with glass noodles as the base and loaded with lots of different veggies and thin slivers of pork. Moving over to the freezer with the Japchae container under my arm, I also selected a tub of half-eaten Red Bean Ice Cream.

After microwaving the japchae just enough so it was room temperature I brandished a pair of metal chopsticks and began to promptly shovel the food into my mouth. As I ate, I kept replaying what had happened today in my mind's eye.

What had that playboy been thinking? I'm his bodyguard, not one of his many lady friends that hangs on his arms and twitters whenever he says something mildly amusing. I growled angrily in my head as I continued to pick up mouthfuls of the delicious, slightly spicy noodles and veggies. The house chef loves spicy things and she had sliced pieces of jalapeno peppers into the japchae mix; when I bit into a particular mouthful with more jalapenos than anything I blamed the spice for the tears prickling my eyes and making my nose runny.

I thought he was different, a treacherous thought slipped into the back of my mind in the middle of my silent rantings about what an idiot he was. Swiping my eyes with the back of my hoodie's sleeve, I sniffed delicately and reached with my chopsticks for another mouthful of Japchae. When I heard a small ping of metal against plastic though I looked down to see that there were only remnants of the delicious food in the corners of the container that should have been big enough to feed three people.

Feeling slightly guilty, I set aside the empty container and turned to the red bean ice cream instead. As I was prying off the lid, a movement by the door that led into the kitchen caught my eye and I leaped up from the stool I had been sitting on and brandished my spoon threateningly towards the shadowy figure. I blinked in surprise when Drew, his shoulders hunched over in the most repentant gesture I had ever seen him make, walked out from his hiding spot behind the door and stood in the entrance of the kitchen. An island where I had been eating separated us, but even so I felt unpleasant goosebumps erupt along my skin as I glared angrily at him.

"What do you want?" I snapped angrily, still holding out my spoon like it was a knife. Drew's green eyes moved from the spoon up to my face and I felt my eyebrows furrow when he sighed heavily.

"To talk. I promise I won't touch you again," Drew said, his voice calming and gentle, like he was talking to a spooked kitten or something.

I was tempted to throw the spoon at his head and vault over the island to escape while he was distracted, but I was pretty sure I would be fired if I went that far. So after a tense few seconds, I slowly withdrew my hand and gingerly took my seat on my previously occupied stool. Drew picked up a stool and set it down on the opposite side of the island where he sat, clasping his fingers together before leveling a serious look at me.

"I am sorry if I offended you or acted impolitely earlier," Drew said, his voice as serious as his eyes, and I felt something in my heart squirm at his directness. I was used to Drew who was always teasing me and causing me grief. This new Drew was like a completely different person and I found myself feeling a little suspicious.

"'Impolitely'," I repeated with a glare. "That's a gentle way to say you touched me inappropriately without permission."

Drew frowned and I could see a flicker of defiance in his green eyes, but then he let out a puff of air and slowly nodded his head.

"You have every right to be mad. I.... misunderstood... our relationship," Drew said, although it sounded like he was forcing the words past gritted teeth a bit. Not that it sounded insincere, just that it was obvious that it was costing him quite a lot of pride to say it. I blinked slowly at him and felt myself frown slightly.

"What do you mean you misunderstood?" I asked in confusion, prying off the lid completely and digging in my spoon into the half-full carton of ice cream. Drew grimaced slightly and unclasped his fingers to wave his hand in front of his face dismissively.

"Before I answer that question can I ask you something?" he asked, his voice still serious and devoid of his usual sarcasm. I popped the cold scoop of ice cream into my mouth and narrowed my eyes at him for a minute but eventually nodded, slipping the spoon between my lips and deciding that his apology was sufficient for us to have a conversation.

"Why did you say you hate playboys? You seemed a lot more vindictive than the average playboy-hater."

Drew looked slightly uncomfortable asking the question and I noticed he tried to give one of his cocky smirks but it seemed awkwardly forced. I stared at him for several minutes, wondering if it was worth explaining to a guy like him, but he seemed to be more awkwarded out by the personal question than I was, so after another bite of ice cream I decided to tell my him my story.

"It's the reason I became a bodyguard in the first place," I explained with a shrug of my shoulders, pushing the oversized sleeve of my hoodie back so it didn't dip into the ice cream as I went for another spoonful. "I grew up in a pretty bad neighborhood. It was fairly common to hear about things like muggings or rapes happening close to where I lived, so my dad always made sure I had pepper spray on me."

"Why didn't you move away if it was so dangerous?" Drew asked with a shocked expression. I rolled my eyes at him and tried to remind myself that he had grown up never wanting for anything.

"Money was tight back then. We did eventually move out once Dad saved up enough to rent a studio for his taekwondo dojo and he started getting more students. But back then we just had to make do and survive as well as we could," I explained between bites of ice cream. "One day, when I was in middle school, I was walking home with my little brother and I heard the most awful scream."

A shiver went down my spine at the memory of the shrill, terrified sound. Even now, nearly ten years later, I sometimes woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with that scream ringing through my ears.

"A high school girl had been snatched while she was walking home and some guys were playing with her like she was some kind of amusing toy," I said, feeling my anger beginning to boil as I remembered the scene. "I pushed my little brother into the bushes to hide and I ran over and sprayed the thugs with my pepper spray. They both started swearing like crazy and I grabbed the girl and ran towards my home. The guys ended up chasing us, although they were stumbling around like idiots because they couldn't see well. Luckily my Dad had just gotten back from a private lesson and he saw what was happening. He took care of the two thugs and called the police."

Drew's eyes were wide after hearing my story and I couldn't quite tell what he was thinking. He didn't comment at all though so I continued.

"The girl I ended up saving held onto me and thanked me for almost a full ten minutes. I couldn't imagine how scared she must have been and I decided that no matter what, I was going to learn how to protect people who couldn't protect themselves." I looked around me, taking in the ridiculously huge kitchen I found myself in the middle of and felt a small smirk tweak my lips up. "I didn't really expect to become a bodyguard, but there aren't many career options for someone who has mastered three different forms of martial arts and has a pension for beating up bad guys. My Dad wanted me to take over his dojo, but I didn't feel like that was really the difference I was trying to make in the world. And I briefly considered becoming a police officer, but more often than not police officers get called AFTER a crime is committed instead of actually preventing the crime from happening. But when I was scouted by the Security Academy during one of the martial arts competitions I entered, I felt like it was exactly what I had been looking for and I immediately signed myself up."

For the second time that day, I put my utensil into a container expecting to find another bite of deliciousness waiting for me only to be greeted by the empty bottom. I frowned into the ice cream tub and sighed, letting go of my spoon and pushing the tub away from me once more feeling slightly guilty.

"So... why did you accept being my bodyguard if you think I'm on the same level as those thugs?" Drew asked, staring steadfastly at the empty ice cream tub I had pushed to the side and avoiding my gaze. I winced slightly at that comment and for the first time felt a little guilty for having reacted so strongly to Drew's weirdness earlier.

"I didn't mean... You're not..." I struggled to try and find the words to explain why Drew hugging me from behind and acting so weird had caused me to flip out and remember the guys that had tried to rape the high school girl in my past. Drew glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, seeming to be waiting for me to put my thoughts into words before offering any other comment.

"I'll admit I had hoped to become a bodyguard for someone a little less... flamboyant," I said, gesturing to his fashionable appearance. "But I took the job because it sounded like you were legitimately in trouble. Even if you are kind of loose with your romantic life, that doesn't mean you deserve to be kidnapped to try and get at your father."

Drew stiffened suddenly and he opened and closed his mouth without a sound several times before dropping his forehead into his hands with a large sigh. I blinked in surprise at this unexpected reaction, but after a second he raised his head and stared at me with his vibrant green eyes.

"I know I may give the impression of being... 'loose'," Drew said, seeming to gag on the term momentarily before frowning heavily and staring into my eyes. "But contrary to popular belief I do not fool around with every woman that makes eyes at me. You should know that better than anyone as my bodyguard."

I blinked silently, opening my mouth to refute that statement, but my argument died on the tip of my tongue as I looked back through the memories of following Drew these past six months. He always seemed to have a new girl on his arm at whatever event or party he attended, but come to think of it, there was never once where he spent the night outside of the mansion unless he was traveling. And even then I could never remember him inviting a woman to visit him late at night. I sat back on my stool and cocked my head, once again going through all of my memories and trying to decide why I had labeled him as a playboy cad in the first place.

"See," Drew said, his cocky smile finally making a reappearance as he flipped the fringe of his bangs in a self-satisfied way. But his arrogance vanished as soon as it had appeared and he leveled a serious look at me.

"I recognize that I skipped a few steps today when I hugged you like that. It's just that... you are so fun to tease and I guess I thought you would just push me off or wave me away like you always do. But I was kind of hoping that you might not at the same time..." Drew said, his voice becoming muffled towards the end while he dropped his chin into his propped up hand as he flicked his gaze between me and the island tabletop.

"Why did you think I wouldn't react negatively to you suddenly pressing yourself up against me?" I asked gruffly, ignoring the little thought in my head that was shrieking at how cute and vulnerable he looked right now. Drew lifted his eyes to meet mine and he shrugged in an almost helpless gesture.

"I thought... that you had started seeing me as a man instead of just as your client," he muttered into the palm of his hand.

I swallowed quickly as I tried to both puzzle through what that could mean and at the same time completely disregard it. My mind was having trouble staying on task and I felt uncomfortable with where this conversation was going so I quickly stood up. Pulling my used spoon out of the tub of ice cream I tossed it into the sink before throwing the empty tub into the garbage. Without looking at Drew I moved past the island and began walking briskly out of the kitchen.

"Wait, May." Against my better judgment, I felt my feet come to a stop and I turned my head only slightly so my ear was facing towards him but I couldn't actually see his expression. "What DO you do with the broken rose stems?"

The image of my small vase filled with the tattered stems immediately came to mind but I pushed it out of the way. Relationships between a bodyguard and a client weren't necessarily forbidden, but they were definitely discouraged, and there was no way I was going to encourage whatever Drew was hinting at right now.

"I throw them away, of course. What else would you do with a flower stem?" I said over my shoulder, still not turning to face him because I didn't want him to see the lie on my face. Drew made no comment though so I faced forward and walked swiftly towards my room where I shut the door and leaned against it, trying desperately to calm my rapidly beating heart.

*******

A few weeks later I walked out of the security office heaving a sigh of relief. After sharing that strange conversation with Drew I had been careful to act like normal. Drew didn't mention our conversation either and everything seemed to have gone back to the way it had been, except for one thing. Drew no longer gave me random roses throughout the week. I told myself this was a good thing; I had never accepted the roses in the past anyway, so it was good that he had given up trying.

However, I could feel a strange tension building between us as the days passed and I couldn't express how relieved I felt after receiving the approval for my days off request for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As I walked back towards my bedroom I wasn't paying attention and nearly ran straight into one of the night shift bodyguards that I had become friends with during my time here.

"Oh, Jasper! I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," I apologized with a light laugh. Jasper waved his hand dismissively with a small smile.

"Don't worry about it, May. I heard you asked for some time off, did you get approved?" he asked, glancing in the direction I had just come from.

"I did! I'm really excited to spend Christmas with my Dad and little brother. I haven't spent a holiday with them in years," I said with a happy smile.

"What did you just say?" Years of training kept me from flinching at the unexpected sound of Drew's voice, but I felt my palms go cold as I turned to look at his astonished expression from down an adjoining hallway.

"Hello, Drew. I didn't see you there," I said awkwardly, waving slightly at him. He frowned, obviously unamused at my attempt at deflection and he began walking over to Jasper and I, although his focus was trained completely on me.

"What's this about not being here for Christmas? Aren't you supposed to watch over me at the Christmas Eve event I have planned? I'm going to reveal a special evening wear dress," Drew said, his voice snapping with more annoyance than I had ever heard from him before. I clasped my hands behind my back to keep myself from rubbing my arm awkwardly and forced myself to meet his gaze head-on.

"You have plenty of bodyguards that can fill in for me. My brother has been studying abroad for three years now and this is the first chance I've had to have Christmas with him since, so I requested the time off," I explained, trying to sound unconcerned by his unusual show of annoyance. Drew frowned heavily and took a step closer to me, looking like he intended to argue with me, but then all of his frustration seemed to melt away and he turned away from me, letting out a quick sigh.

"I hope you'll enjoy your holiday then," he said, his words clipped. Before I could thank him though he marched away from me. I glanced up at Jasper, who looked as bewildered by the weird exchange as I was, and I let out a silent sigh.

I definitely need some time away from him, I thought sadly as I watched him whisk around the corner and disappear from my view.

Drew completely ignored me for the three days before I was to leave for my hometown, and even though I felt a little guilty about it, I left without saying goodbye to him. Things were getting really awkward really fast and I hoped that a two day break would get things back to normal. Although inwardly I kind of doubted it.

I groaned as my cell phone vibrating like crazy against the coffee table woke me from where I had passed out on the couch while talking to my Dad and little brother, Max. Reaching out for my phone I checked the caller ID and frowned when it showed the name of the unit leader of my bodyguard team. After only half a second's hesitation, I pressed accept and held the phone to my ear.

"May here."

"May! I know you're on holiday, but we've got an emergency," the deep voice of my unit leader stated firmly and I felt my heart plummet into my stomach.

"What do you mean? What's happened?" I asked, scrambling from the couch and lunging for my shoes.

"The idiot gave us the slip! He was supposed to go to that Christmas Eve party and reveal some new design, but before the party started he disappeared and we just got a ransom call from some group saying they've got Drew and they'll kill him if their demands aren't met.

My entire brain went numb at that point. I could hear the muffled voice of my unit leader still in my ear but it seemed like the world was fading away as those horrible words ran over and over again in my mind. They'll kill him.

"Do we have any idea where he is?" I growled, shoving my foot into my shoe and reaching for my coat and purse before tugging open the door to my Dad's apartment and flying out into the cold night air.

"He was wearing the wristwatch with the tracker you suggested before leaving, but an hour ago the signal went dead. We have a rough estimation of where we think he is, but the kidnappers said that if they see any police interference of any kind they'll kill Drew immediately," the unit leader said with a growl in his voice. A very unladylike word burst out of me as I sprinted for all I was worth towards the bullet train station.

"Text me the last location you have of him. I'll find him myself," I said, my voice coming out ragged and strained as I ran for all that I was worth, dodging several late-night revelers that appeared to be either on their way home or to another bar.

"Do not engage them on your own, May. I'll send you the location but if you find him you need to contact us and we'll send backup to help you. Do you understand?"

"Sure thing, boss," I panted, hoping that my sarcasm was being masked as pain from running like a crazy woman. I hung up the phone, skidding into the station and leaping through the door just as a bullet train heading back to the city was about to leave. Several people cried out in disgruntled shock from my enthusiastic boarding technique, but I ignored them and pushed my way towards the front of the train.

The twenty minute trip seemed to last for an eternity and I could hardly keep my feet still for more than two seconds. Once I had finally made it back to the city, I quickly disembarked and began sprinting towards the warehouse district that my unit leader had said was the last known location of Drew.

Drew if I ever see you again I swear I'm going to kill you for this! I cursed vehemently as I ran to the edge of the huge industrial storage warehouses that took up a large section of the waterfront. Taking a second to catch my breath so that I wouldn't give myself away to anyone who may be patrolling, I stealthily made my way to the exact GPS location that had been sent to our monitoring system before the tracker had been either turned off or destroyed.

Slipping through an open window on the second floor of the large building I could instantly tell there was no one inside the building, but a flash of light showed an expensive wristwatch that had been smashed, most likely stepped on. Kneeling down next to the remnants of the watch I gasped when I saw a dark stain next to it. Shaking my head quickly I told myself that the blood probably came from one of the kidnappers and I took a deep, calming breath.

Once I had centered myself, I opened my eyes once again and searched for any hint as to where Drew had been taken. After a few minutes of searching, I found another small stain of blood moving towards one of the main doors of the warehouse. I silently followed the trail of blood, which looked increasingly deliberate rather than a normal spattering of drops every so often. If I was right, Drew was purposefully leaving bloody fingerprints every few steps, leading me right to him.

Run out of rose petals, rich boy? I thought with a grimace as I followed the trail. The sound of voices caught my attention and I swiftly sent a text to my unit leader explaining where I was and that I was getting close to the kidnapper's hideout. I ignored the response since it was most likely him ordering me to stay put, and began creeping forward. With a leap I grabbed onto the fire escape and shimmied over to a cracked window on the second floor.

Glancing into the warehouse my heart froze when my eyes fell onto the hunched form of Drew leaning against a large support pillar. Five men were surrounding him, arguing about something or other and I felt rage beginning to build up inside of me. Drew's head flopped to the side and I sucked in a breath when I saw the angry cut down the side of his forehead. My need to save Drew outweighed the need to wait for backup and before I had even created a plan my body exploded into action.

I silently slipped into the warehouse, crawling along the tops of the support beams of the building and counted and recounted the men around Drew. There were probably some men patrolling around the grounds, but I would leave them to the security team on the way. For now, I was going to make these five idiots regret the days they had been born.

Removing my coat I gave it a light toss, watching as it fell through the air and dropped behind a guy holding a gun with a small "fwump." The guy spun around and shot my coat immediately, without seeing what it was, but I had already dropped from my perch on the support beam. Aiming myself perfectly, I slammed into the guys back, knocking him face-first into the ground. I immediately threw myself into a back handspring, lashing out a kick at the nearest guy, catching him under the chin and snapping his head back which knocked him out before he had even hit the ground. Two guys came at me at once and I finished my back handspring, popping up onto my feet and dodged their wild punches before lashing out in an attack of my own.

It was obvious these guys were trained in fighting with power and taking cheap shots, which meant they were sloppy. I made quick work of them and then spun around looking for where the last guy had disappeared to.

"May, watch out!" Drew cried out, right before tackling me in the stomach and knocking us both to the ground just as a shot rang out. I could feel a burst of air whizz inches away from my head, showing just how close I had come to taking my last breath. Locking my hands around Drew's shoulders, I used the force of his tackle to pull us into a roll immediately just as the ping of a bullet ricocheting off the cement floor rang out.

I leaped to my feet as the last thug stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight and I ran full tilt towards him. I dodged and weaved as I made my way towards him, wincing as a bullet grazed my left bicep, but I ignored the stinging pain and kicked the guy's gun hand, sending his weapon spiraling across the floor. Within minutes he was also unconscious on the ground. Silence interrupted only by the sound of my panting breath greeted me as I looked around, my entire body tense and on high alert for any new danger. When nothing happened, I ran over to where Drew was awkwardly trying to push himself into a seated position with his hands tied up in front of him.

"Drew! Drew, are you alright? Besides your head did they hurt you?" I asked, trying my best to keep my hysterics at bay as I dropped to my knees in front of him and grabbed his face. Without really thinking I swung his head this way and that to check for any other signs of injury before moving on to run my hands over the rest of his body to check for any other wounds.

"Stop, May, you're tickling me," Drew said with a hoarse chuckle and rage blinded me for a second as I reached out and whapped his shoulder. He flinched at the strong slap and frowned.

"Wha..."

"What do you think you were doing?!" I shouted, glaring at him with all the pent up fear and rage that I had been containing on the trip over here. He had the good sense to look away with a guilty expression but there was no way I was going to let him off that easy. "Just because I wasn't around doesn't mean you can pull one of your idiotic disappearing acts! Your life is constantly in danger! Why would you skip out on your guards when you know that?! And why didn't you go to your party like you had planned? I thought you were going to reveal a new dress or something!"

I finally stopped my rant, breathing heavily after my intense fist match with five thugs and now shouting at the top of my lungs at my infuriating client. Drew looked at me with a strange expression in his eyes and he slid them away from my view.

"Why would I reveal the dress when you weren't there?" Drew muttered under his breath. "I wanted to apologize and make you look at me, so I designed a dress for you. My plan was to reveal it at the party, but you skipped out of town to avoid me, so why shouldn't I skip out too?"

I blinked in utter bewilderment as Drew pointedly avoided my gaze. Slowly I leaned back, letting my hands drop to the ground in front of me and all of the feelings I had been trying to repress for this stubbornly determined man overtook me. A strangled laugh escaped my throat even as tears began to drip down my cheeks. Drew's eyes widened in shock and as he turned to look at me I quickly brought my hands up to hide my face as the tears of relief and anxiety spilled from my eyes.

"You idiot. Why do I have to protect someone like you?" I sobbed into my palms. I felt gentle fingers wrap around my wrists and I allowed Drew to pull my hands away from my face so I could meet his gaze. I could see confusion and concern in his green eyes but I also saw an insanely large amount of excited hope in them as well and I groaned.

"Why did I have to fall in love with you?" I wailed frustratedly. "Do you have any idea how scared I was, you idiot?" Even with dried blood scabbed on one side of his face, his smiling face was the most handsome thing I had ever seen. I didn't resist when he brought his hands up, still bound at the wrists, to wipe away the tears from my cheeks.

"Do you really love me?" he asked, a familiar teasing glint in his green eyes.

"I hate you," I croaked out, trying my best to glare at him. That only made him grin wider though and before I knew it he was leaning forward and I felt his lips press gently against mine. I closed my eyes and for a moment ignored the fact that there were five kidnappers littered on the floor of this cold, dark warehouse and just let go of the feelings I had been running away from for months.

"I love you too, December," Drew whispered after our lips parted.

"My name is May, you jerk," I hiccuped and Drew laughed.

"Merry Christmas, May," Drew said with a twinkle in his green eyes.

The sound of police sirens in the distance leaked through the open window of the warehouse and I knew that this immensely insane moment was about to end... But for reasons unknown to me I felt myself wrap my arms around Drew's neck and press a tender kiss to his lips.

"Merry Christmas, Drew.

The End