LAYLA ABRAHAM

"Are we sure he even knows anything?"

"You think he's innocent?"

Layla huffed and leaned back in her chair insolently. "I don't know what to think anymore." She sighed and rubbed her temple in frustration. "I've been pretending to date him for weeks now and he doesn't seem to know anything. Whenever he talks about what happened to him, he can't seem to remember even leaving the bank, but also claims he was transferred to another building but doesn't remember how. Even I remember more than him!"

"2 weeks."

"What?" She blinked in confusion at the detective.

"You've actually only been pretending to date him for 2 weeks."

Alejandro chose that moment to finally chime in, having chosen to remain quiet and moody the entire conversation. "16 days to be exact."

Detective Hardy chuckled again. "Impatient with sharing your girlfriend, are you?"

He scowled in response. "I don't share."

"Your current predicament says otherwise."

Layla was sure that if they weren't so mean and horrid to each other, detective Hardy and her bodyguard, Alejandro, would have been great friends if they allowed it. In some ways, the two were so similar.

"You mean the predicament that you've blackmailed us into?" His scowl deepened.

"Well, I wouldn't have had something to blackmail you with if you kept your dick in your pants." Hardy grinned widely, knowing that he was right. "Plus, blackmail is such a nasty word." He paused briefly, almost as if searching for the right word, as if there even was a right word. "I prefer coerced."

"Coerced, my ass!" Alejandro scowled again.

Layla was starting to worry that he would be getting permanent lines and wrinkles with all the frowning and scowling he had been doing these past 2 weeks, or 16 days as he had pointed out earlier.

"Be honest, you're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Hardy smirked. "A little." At his admission, he turned to send her an apologetic look since she had been roped into it as well. "But just because I find your frustration funny doesn't mean that this didn't need to be done."

Layla huffed. "Can we get back on topic, please?"

Hardy and Alejandro shared a knowing look.

"You've got yourself a feisty on there, Serrano." The detective chuckled.

"Don't I know it?" He grinned and looped his arm around the back of her chair, hooking his foot around the leg of her chair and pulling her closer to him.

Thankfully, when she glared at them both, they cut it out. Their hot and cold attitude towards each other was starting to give her a headache. It was like watching the tennis match, except instead of a ball, she was following the intricate, well-thought out insults they shot at each other.

"When was the last time you saw him?" The detective asked, his tone growing serious as they steered back on track.

"Last night."

"That's what? The third date in the past week?" A small smile played on his lips, a shiny glint in his eyes.

"Fourth actually." Alejandro's mouth dropped down into a tight scowl. "Four dates in a week is ridiculous." He muttered quietly under his breath and the other two ignored him even though he had a point.

The detective understood that they were in a complicated situation where Layla was pretending to date Byron while she was actually dating Alejandro. He couldn't blame the man for being frustrated with the situation, even if he wasn't all that fond of him.

He suspected that if he had to sit back and watch his wife go out with another man, he would have permanently been in a foul mood too.

"What did you guys talk about yesterday?"

Even though the question had been directed at her, Alejandro jumped in to answer.

"He wants to make it official. He said he wants nothing more than to be her boyfriend."

"Alejandro." She called his name softly and reached up to cup his face, turning his head to face her.

When she locked eyes with his stormy greys, she couldn't help but pout. While his tone was harsh and his words fierce, his eyes were sad. She understood that he was suffering as she was forced to go out with Byron time after time to fish information out of him, but it was something that needed to be done.

If there was another avenue she could take, she would in a heartbeat. If the detectives eased up on dangling their relationship over their heads, she wouldn't be forced to all this.

Alejandro was helpless as he was forced to watch with front row seats as she spent time with Byron, but she was helpless too. She was going out with a man she didn't love, with the man she did love, forced to watch over them. While he was hurting, she was hurting ten-fold.

Hardy felt like he was intruding so he excused himself under the pretence of needing to grab a bottle of water. Neither of them even noticed that he had left, too busy staring into each other's eyes.

"I know this is difficult for you," she began, her voice soft. When he nodded slightly, she leaned up and placed a chaste kiss along his jaw, needing to be close to him more now than ever before.

"It's difficult for me, too."

Scooping her up in his arms, he pulled her into his lap and locked his hands on her hips. Dipping his head, he brushed a featherlight kiss against her lips. Barely a kiss, more of a teasing brush of his mouth against hers.

"I just miss you." He confessed with so much depth in his eyes that she felt like crying.

From their short time together, Layla had quickly learnt that Alejandro wasn't great about speaking openly on his feelings or emotions, choosing to bottle them up instead. But when comparing their first week together to when they started officially dating, his progress had been plentiful.

She really appreciated that he was so open and trusting with her, but couldn't help but feel that ever since detective Hardy had approached them with the ploy of trying to get information out of Byron – or just finding out if he even knew anything – he had returned back to his shell. Alejandro had stopped telling her how he felt and whenever she tried to ask him about it or get him to open up, there were always disturbed. Whether it was Byron himself, a call, text or work, they barely had any time for themselves.

They were physically together but mentally apart.

When that realisation dawned on her, she suddenly found the thought very hard to swallow.

Layla had only agreed to doing this for the detective because she wanted to continue seeing Alejandro without losing him as her bodyguard or harming his business in anyway but in the midst of things, she felt like she had wedged an iron wall between them. It appeared that he had been crying out for help but she couldn't hear him; the wall keeping them separated.

"We've barely gotten any time to ourselves these past 16 days. Both of us are either working and once we get home, Byron always wants to hang out." he couldn't help but snarl in distaste at the mere mention of his name. "I can't remember the last time we just sat, the two of us, and talked." Alejandro sighed and pulled her further into him, guiding her face to rest in the crook of his neck.

"I just miss you. That's it. I know this isn't easy for you either."

Pulling away from him slightly to look up at him, she clasped his face in her hands and guided it down to rest his forehead against her. She stared up at him, her eyes not once wavering from his, pouring as much love, affection and adoration as she could into that one look.

Alejandro couldn't help but gulp at the intimacy of the situation and when her lips parted, he could hold himself back no longer.

Her claimed her mouth ferociously, pouring everything he had been feeling over the past 16 days into that single kiss, needing her to know how much he needed her. How much he loved her.

"I miss you too." She whispered against his mouth, her tongue slipping in to play with his. "So much."

He nodded and stared at her with so much raw emotion that it was all she could do to stop the tears.

"You've got me. All of me."

"And you, me." He sealed the promise with what started out as a sweet kiss, but quickly grew urgent and hungry; desperate. Before they knew it, Layla was straddling him on the chair with her knees rested on either side of his hips, clutching his face in her hands as if he was the most precious gem in the world.

To her, he was.

When they ran out of breath, he moved his mouth down her jaw and down the slope of her beautiful slender neck, leaving open mouthed kisses in his wake.

"I refuse to let Byron come between us. Or anyone else, for that matter." He whispered into her ear. Tangling his fingers in her hair, he pulled the locks gently to expose more of her beck to him.

She nodded, her eyes closed shut, her body and soul weak to his touch. In that moment, he could have asked her to jump off a cliff and she would have agreed if it made him happy and meant that he would go back to kissing her. Alejandro Serrano had so much power over her, yet he didn't even bother commandeering it. All he wanted was her love and attention. That was a small price to pay if it meant keeping him in her life indefinitely.

In that moment, she made a decision. Regardless of what the detective would further say, she refused to go out with Byron anymore. She would agree to whatever he said just because he had the upper hand, but behind his back, she would do absolutely nothing.

It was apparent that Byron knew nothing and the information which he did have to offer was absolutely useless. She didn't plan on wasting any more time with him when she could spend it with the gorgeous man she was currently wrapped around.

Pretending to date someone else was unhealthy in any relationship, especially one which they were forced to keep a secret.

When the door swung open, they both pulled apart, much to their shared disappointment.

"Break it up, love birds." Hardy closed the door behind him, giving himself away as he returned without the water bottle he had used as an excuse earlier. Either that or he had gulped down the entire bottle before he returned, which wasn't all that plausible.

Alejandro eased up enough to allow her to move to sit down in her own chair, his arm now moved to rest on the back of it.

Hardy sent Alejandro a pointed look, warning him to keep quiet before he turned to Layla. "So, what did you talk about with Byron yesterday?"

She shrugged and leaned into her lover's embrace. "Just normal stuff, but at one point, he did ask me if I had saw him in the building."

Alejandro's scowl deepened but he kept his mouth shut.

"Did you?"

"No," she shook her head. "I don't remember seeing anyone in that building except the man in the balaclava."

"Did you hear anything?"

Layla hesitated this time, but eventually shook her head. "No."

"Why did it take you so long to answer that question?"

"Is it possible the rooms could have been sound proof?"

Hardy frowned and made a note of something on some paper in front of him.

"What makes you ask that?"

"If Byron was really in that building with him, could I have not heard him?" She questioned, her eyebrows furrowing together as she thought hard. "I mean, when I needed the bathroom, he blindfolded me and took me. Why would he blindfold me if there wasn't anyone else there? They could have blindfolded them too."

Hardy nodded. "Perhaps he just didn't want you to notice something about where they were keeping you, but I see your point. We're not going to rule out the possibility of the rooms being soundproof." He sighed and stood up, folding the paper in half and slipping it into his pocket. "That should be all for today."

"Wait!" Layla called after him, jumping to her feet before the detective could leave. "What about Byron?"

"What about him?" He asked nonchalantly.

"I really don't think he knows anything. It's been over 2 weeks now and I seem to know more about what happened than he does. How long do I have to pretend to be going out with him?" Her tone grew more desperate and agitated as she spoke, her eyes pleading with the detective.

Detective Hardy chewed on his lip as he mulled over the thought. "Even I'm starting to suspect that perhaps, he truly is innocent in all of this."

"Can I stop seeing him then?" Her hope encompassed the words.

"I bet that makes you happy." He nodded with a grin on his face, directing it towards Alejandro. "Just let him down slow and easy so as to not raise any suspicions."

"What does that mean for us?"

"You and Layla?"

He nodded.

"I'm willing to conveniently forget that you two are engaged in a relationship for the time being since you did do as I instructed, but as soon as I suspect that your relationship is clouding your judgement, I'm going to replace you as her bodyguard, and I definitely won't be hiring from Serrano Bodyguards." The last part was a promise, the threat clear.

"That won't happen." Alejandro shook his head, a determined look on his face.

"Make sure it doesn't." And with that, he opened the door and left the room.

Layla turned to Alejandro. "Do you really think Byron doesn't know anything?"

He got up to his feet and stretched his arms above his head. Her eyes followed the movement of his fitted shirt lifting up, teasing her with a taste of the delicious muscles and toned skin underneath. When he glanced down at her, he refused to hold back his smirk once he caught where her eyes were trained.

"Either that, or he's an amazing actor. Either way, you no longer have to pretend to date him so you're all mine again."

"I've always been yours." Her lips stretched into a beautiful smile, shining brighter than it had done recently.

"That's what I like to hear." He hummed before pressing a kiss on her awaiting mouth.

When they walked out of the interview room – refraining from holding hands because they didn't want to raise any more suspicions, especially if it meant that Alejandro would be removed as her bodyguard as a repercussion – Layla stopped him.

"I just need to use the bathroom really quick."

He nodded and made a move to ask one of the officers on desk duty about the whereabouts of the nearest bathroom.

Her response died in her throat as she felt someone stare into the back of her head. Turning around, she spotted the culprit straight away.

Dressed in a standard dark navy uniform just like all the other police officers, there was nothing particular special about him that stood out to her. Well, nothing other than his nonwavering gaze when he thought she wasn't looking.

When her grassy green eyes met his muddy brown pupils, he seemed to panic as he swivelled his desk chair to such an angle where she could no longer see his face. Her mouth frowned at his strange and sudden reaction, almost as if he was embarrassed or annoyed that he had been caught staring.

Had they met before? No. He didn't look the least bit familiar to her and she was sure that they had never met before. If they had, she would have recognised him.

When Alejandro returned, she tore her eyes away from the officer with a small frown on her face.

Alejandro smirked at the look on her face, misjudging it for desperation. "Come on, let's get you to the bathroom before you wet yourself. I don't think any of these officers are equipped to clean up after toilet accidents."

She playfully smacked his chest and allowed him to guide her to the nearest lavatory. One joke from him and all thoughts of the officer with the smouldering gaze and muddy brown eyes were forgotten.

-

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Layla Knight

06.06.2020