*Extended chapter

~~~~~~~~~~

Ethan pulled up to his family's estate, sloppily parking his car as he let himself through the front door of the prestigious Shelton manor.

Ethan took several long strides as he passed numerous pearly white archways, giving his jacket to the head maid as he adjusted his shirt one more time before entering the diner room.

His smile was dazzling as the remaining Shelton family turned their heads towards Ethan. Ethan bowed his head at them as he slipped into the usual seat besides his dad - avoiding the glare from his mom.

"Just once... I would like it for you to make it on time." Camilla Shelton sighed, as she continued cutting the ribeye on her plate without acknowledging her son.

Ethan apologised as he explained his lateness to the routine family dinner tonight. "Work was super busy, so I had to stay behind and catch up on it whilst I was around."

"Maybe if you didn't leave everything to the last minute..." Kristen whispered as she ended up giggling slightly once she saw Javier knowingly smile after hearing that.

Javier gave an apologetic look to his son when Ethan exaggerated a hurt expression on his face. This was soon glossed over as Ethan described the troubling night he had.

"Where should I start..." Ethan laughed for dramatic effect.

All of the cutlery clinking on the plates were silenced as they all paused their actions for Ethan.

"Half of the clothes for the upcoming show suddenly disappeared after we wrapped up the practice shoot. The cameraman forgot to put his memory card in his camera, so none of the amazing photos were saved!"

"Oh crap..." Javier added in between Ethan's list of frustrations.

"Skyler harassed Tamsen into giving her my new number. So now she's barraging me with texts to get back together, and to use her as one of our models!"

Kristen recalled the last bombshell Skyler dropped before they officially broke up. "How can someone be so shameless to lock themselves in your office, and threaten to smash the window with a chair?!"

"She what?" Javier asked perplexed.

Ethan nervously laughed it off as he glared at his sister for sharing too much information. Kristen only ducked her head as an apology before keeping her lips sealed.

Camilla laughed to herself as she reasoned, "She was always such a fun character. And so pretty too!"

Ethan quickly changed the subject because he knew that his mom was going to shift the conversation into getting himself a wife.

"But the worst thing that happened tonight was some back chatting corporate spy, impersonating one of the underwear models, and testing my patience to not throw him out of the building myself!"

"There's a spy!?" Camilla screeched, "We need to get this sorted - quickly!"

Kristen interrupted her mom as she went on to say, "I'm almost positive Ethan's being dramatic like always..."

Ethan vigorously shook his head no because he was certain the guy he met earlier was shifty. "I'm pretty sure that this bastard was the one that stole half of our clothes!"

Camilla grabbed her phone from her Louis Vuitton bag. "I'm calling someone to deal with him. The security footage will surely have captured him in our building."

Javier was certain that he sent Thomas to the office before he left the bodyguard in his apartment. Given that Ethan hadn't directly mentioned him yet, Javier had a hunch that this 'spy' was Thomas.

"Tall guy wearing a suit? Dark hair with brown eyes, and a muscular body with a jaw that could cut glass?"

Ethan slowly turned to Javier with a very confused, shocked, and nervous look. "You're kind of scaring me with how accurate you're being..."

Javier pulled out a file from his briefcase and passed it to Ethan. The older man watched his son's eyes change from warily confused, to surprised astonishment. "That's him!"

Ethan continued to read the file as his eyes descended down the page. "Why do you have so much information about this guy?"

Camilla and Kristen were silently eager to hear an explanation. Ethan still had his eyes glued to the file, while Javier nervously laughed.

"Meet your new bodyguard!"

~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh yes!" Camilla shouted across the room, "You hired someone already?"

Ethan kept looking side to side between his parents. "You both did what?"

Kristen leaned over the table and hovered over the word with her finger, "Bodyguard. The guy's pretty attractive too, can I get one?"

"Here!" Ethan encouraged. He shoved the file into Kristen's hands, "Take this dude called Thomas!"

Javier stood up from his chair and gained everyone's attention. "Ethan, this is for your own safety."

Camilla chimed in as she shared her concerns about her son. "You're taking the attack last week too lightly, Ethan. And we don't want to see you get hurt!"

"This is just so you can keep eyes on me!" Ethan harshly accused. "Because I don't want to go on a date with the random floozies you set me up with."

Camilla gasped as she defended herself. "All of those girls were beautiful, smart, and rich! They're perfect for you Ethan!"

Ethan ignored Camilla and directed his attention to Javier. "Dad, I told you I can sort everything myself. I don't need some stranger stalking me, and reporting back every little detail I do!"

The shouting match in the dining room caught the attention of Harrison Anders. Harrison sauntered into the room and kissed his wife on the lips. "Sorry I'm late babe, did I miss anything?"

Kristen was in the middle of explain everything to her husband, until Ethan interjected. "Just my parents trying to control my every moment that I'm awake..."

"It's only for 2 weeks!" Javier laughed, "Don't be so dramatic Ethan... And I think this will be a good thing for you!"

"Why?"

"So someone can help control your chaotic energy." Kristen laughed as she avoid Ethan's deathly glare.

Camilla stood up from her chair and moved closer to the still seated Ethan. "This is the best for you sweetheart."

Ethan was uncomfortable with this idea, because he hated the lack of boundaries. He was the kind of man that loved his personal space, and he didn't want someone to report back to his parents above every little thing they see.

"We can't be sure that the thugs won't come back Ethan, and I was there when I had to pick you up off the floor." Javier passionately grabbed Ethan's hand and held it gently. "I'm worried for you Ethan."

Ethan felt an intense amount of pressure from the people around him. Looking at his parents, Ethan knew that they had their own concerns - but they just weren't listening to him.

"I don't need someone watching my every move... I don't need some stranger following me like a fucking shadow... And I don't need anyone trying to protect me... I can take care of myself."

Abruptly leaving the Shelton Manor without anybody stopping him, Ethan quickly stormed off and drove away in his car.

~~~~~~~~~~

Thomas put the book he was reading down when he saw a car speed out of the front gate. Identifying Ethan in the driver's seat, Thomas stayed 3 cars behind Ethan as he followed the man out of the drive.

10 minutes later and Thomas found himself parking across the street Ethan had just entered.

Ethan had been in the liquor store for a while, and Thomas had a hunch that they weren't exactly in the friendliest part of a neighbourhood.

A few minutes later and Thomas saw Ethan come out with a bottle of scotch in his hand. Pacing his way to his car, Thomas saw the exhausted expression on Ethan's face.

"Please don't drink and drive..." Thomas whispered to himself.

Thomas was supposed to stay vigilant and distant since Ethan seemed slightly hostile. Although he was determined to do his job, he didn't want to force Ethan's hand when he seemed so down.

But the reasonable part of Ethan had the same mindset, as he immediately began to drive back home instead of drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

A sigh of relief came out of Thomas as he continued to follow Ethan home. Even though Ethan eventually made it to the front door of his own home, Thomas stayed parked outside as he did his job and made sure Ethan was safe.

A couple of hours later and Thomas found comfort when the lights in Ethan's house were turned off.

'Maybe he's just sleeping the alcohol off now.'

Thomas knew alcohol was never the right answer, and that was why Thomas wasn't much of a heavy drinker. But if it worked for others, then Thomas wasn't going to meddle.

Knowing that Ethan wasn't in any more danger, Thomas was eventually satisfied and left Ethan to sleep in privacy.

~~~~~~~~~~

*The next day

~~~~~~~~~~

It was very uncharacteristic-like for Ethan to make it into the office early. But the man defied the odds by being the first one in the office.

All of the passing eyes were shocked to see Ethan in his office at 7am. Tamsen was one of those people as she stopped outside Ethan's office. "No... Fucking... Way..."

Ethan looked up from his computer, and furrowed his brows at the secretary. "What?"

Tamsen closed the door with Ethan inside, paused for a couple of seconds, and then opened it again. Her rapidly blinking eyes were humorous to Ethan because of how her long eyelashes increased her dramatics.

"So this isn't a magic trick," Tamsen laughed in disbelief, "How are you the first one in?"

Ethan grabbed some random files in his hand and banged them on his desk, straightening the bundle of edges. "Believe it not, but I'm a very busy and dedicated businessman."

"Riiight... And let me guess, you're also a secret C.I.A agent as well!"

Tamsen was finishing her round of giggles while Ethan sat with a straight face. Before Tamsen could sit behind her own desk, Ethan called Tamsen to lean in closer so that he could tell her something very important. "If there's anybody that you don't recognise and they ask for me, make up an excuse and tell them I'm not in. No one that you don't recognise are allowed into my office."

Tamsen hissed slightly as she didn't like the pressure being placed on her. "But I'm really bad at lying!" She began to twiddle with her nails as she flailed her hands whilst she talked. "It makes me really nervous, and I sometimes stutter, and then I get these sweat patches the size of Jupiter, and I-"

Ethan stopped her blabbing by holding his hand up to silence her. "Just say I'm busy! That way it isn't a lie, and it's slightly believable."

"But I thought it was believable? Isn't that why you came in early today, because you had lots of work to do?"

The reason Ethan came into work early was because he wanted to avoid certain people. He wasn't in the mood for his parents to gaslight him into needing constant protection, and he didn't want the opportunity for Thomas to learn where he lives.

Plus, he still had corrections that needed to be made after last night's disaster of a model shoot. Given that people already decided that Ethan was suitable for the promotion over the highly qualified Lewis, Ethan didn't want other people to use his last name as an excuse for the promotion.

"I just have lots of people I need to prove wrong."

~~~~~~~~~~

Thomas used the elevator to make it all the way onto floor 33 with his master lanyard. He was surprised to learn that Ethan made it into the office so early, especially when Thomas assumed he would have had a hangover or something like that.

When he arrived on the designated floor, Thomas made it through the familiar path and walked towards Ethan's office.

As he turned the corner and saw Ethan's office, Thomas was prevented from walking in by a red head woman with a highly strung ponytail.

The clicking of her high heels were loud, and her voice was unusually squeaky. "I'm sorry but you can't go in there."

Thomas cocked his head slightly at the shorter woman preventing him from going further. He stood several inches taller than her, but she still shakily stood her ground.

"I'm pretty sure he's expecting me." Thomas said as he smiled at her.

Thomas tried to walk past her, but the woman nervously laughed as she blocked his path once again. "He's like... super busy right now. But I can let him know you stopped by!"

Looking at her desk, Thomas scanned the area and learnt the woman's name. "So what is he super busy with then, Tamsen?"

Tamsen's eyes grew bigger slightly, and she nervously laughed as she began to grow a shade of pink on her cheeks.

"Work!" She accidentally screeched, "Like... work stuff." Tamsen said a lot more smoothly.

Thomas rocked his head back and forth as he went to try and slip past her again. "I'll be sure not to disturb him."

"He's in a meeting!" Tamsen shouted loudly, making Thomas pause at the slight outburst. "Ethan's in a meeting with... with... Kristen! Yeah, Kristen! Like in his office... right now even!"

Tamsen was a nervous wreck standing in front of the intimidating Thomas. She couldn't stop bouncing from leg to leg, and the constant nervous laughter made Thomas feel apologetic and guilty.

Thomas caught Tamsen in her lie when he stretched his neck to see past her, and into Ethan's office. The door was wide open, Ethan was resting his legs on the desk, and he seemed to be throwing a rubber band ball up into the air.

When Tamsen followed where Thomas was looking, she ducked her head as beads of sweat began to glisten her forehead. "The meeting just finished?"

Thomas didn't think it was possible that Tamsen could look even more lost and nervous. He slightly pitied her as he tried to make it easy for Tamsen - despite the fact that she was stopping him from doing his job. "So... I can go in now?"

Tamsen gritted her teeth as she whispered confusedly. "No?"

"Javier Shelton gave me full access to this building, and that includes me going into your boss' office." Thomas pulled out the lanyard and showed it to the shocked Tamsen, so that she knew he was being truthful. "Now, I've been assigned to look after Ethan Shelton- on Javier Shelton's orders. So, can I please go in now?"

Even though it was impossible for Tamsen to physically stop him, Thomas was just being courteous.

With a single nod, Thomas finally made it past the petite woman and walked into Ethan's office.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ethan failed to catch the ball of rubber bands because he heard someone walk into his office. He was taken back to see Thomas in front of him, wearing a suit once again.

Ethan was about to open his mouth to tell Thomas to leave, but Thomas spoke first. "I think we got the wrong impression of each other last night..."

"Nope. I'm pretty sure you're just an obsessive asshole that is stalking me so that you can steal our company's secrets." Ethan said confidently.

Thomas bit back his tongue as he tried to formally introduce himself to the most important person in his life - for the next 2 weeks at least. "I'm Thomas. Thomas Miller."

"Okay Tom, bye bye."

Thomas really did hate it when people shortened his name. It was a small pet peeve for Thomas, because a lot of the time it would come of as condescending to the grown man.

"It's Thomas." He repeatedly patiently.

Ethan was sure he saw a slight tick from Thomas, with his finger seemingly twitch when he was called 'Tom'. So Ethan thought of a childish way to get his revenge on the bodyguard. "Sure thing Tommy. The door's behind you, Tommy. So bye bye, Tommy."

The man in front of him sure knew how to push Thomas' buttons so easily. They've had so little interactions with each other, yet Ethan was already burrowing his way into his skin.

"Javier Shelton hired me to guard you for the next 2 weeks. So I have to make sure no one is a threat to you."

Ethan felt slightly offended by Thomas' need for an explanation. "Yes I know what a bodyguard does, Tom. But I didn't hire you, so you can just leave. Like I said to Javier before, I don't need your service."

Thomas sealed his lips shut, and grinned at Ethan so that it looked patronising. "Unfortunately for you Ethan, Javier is the one that paid for my service. So unless he tells me that I'm not needed anymore, you're kind of stuck with me."

Thomas even ducked his head to the side slightly, so that he looked like he was being condescending to Ethan - because he was.

Ethan began to truly detest this man as he fought back. "Look Tom Tom, I'm kind of a big deal up here. So I can't have you around to leak our company's secrets."

Thomas snorted as he mockingly laughed at Ethan's bizarre deduction skills. "I don't need to steal any secrets Ethan, I'm just doing the job I was hired fo-"

"You're fired!" Ethan interjected. A genuine smile came from Ethan's face as he repeated, "You're fired Tom, Tommy, Thomas, Thomas the tank engine."

Thomas presented his clutching hands in front of himself as he stood affirmatively. "No I'm not."

Ethan got up from the chair and moved to stand in front of Thomas. He glared at the bodyguard as he tried his best to make him leave. "You. Are. Fiiireeed." He enunciated slowly and loudly.

Thomas faked an apologetic look and hissed slightly as he denied Ethan's command. "I'm afraid I can't leave sadly. Javier hired me to protect you, and I-"

"Fuck off!"

Ethan's passionate scream caught the attention of everybody in the office. He didn't blink once as he ordered Thomas to leave him alone, because Ethan wasn't going to change his mind anytime soon.

Thomas smiled brightly at all of the onlookers, who were intrigued by their boss' screaming match. He chuckled to himself as he closed the door, "Ethan's just got low blood sugar. Everyone go back to work, and great job everybody!"

All of the blinds were already closed, and with the addition of the door, the pair of men were left alone together.

Heavy breathing flared out of Ethan's nose as he clutched his fists with anger. They were practically standing chest to chest as Ethan tried to look intimidating.

Meanwhile Thomas just continued to robotically smile back at Ethan as he found the situation extremely annoying, yet slightly funny to see him all worked up.

"You think I can't get past you?" Ethan challenged, "Get out of my office, or let me get out instead."

"But I thought you could get past me?" Thomas furthered his stance by crossing his arms. Still making no motion to move, he stood on his heels as he waited for Ethan to react.

Ethan pushed Thomas on his chest, only budging him slightly as Thomas gravitated back to his standing position. Ethan's face grew more red as he tried again, but to no avail of anything more.

The laugh Ethan heard from Thomas angered him more. Ethan raised his fist in an attempt to wipe the smug smile of Thomas' face.

Thomas saw this reaction from a mile away, and easily stopped Ethan before he could even raise his fist above his own head. Catching it with his hand, Thomas then swiftly moved so that he was positioned behind Ethan's back.

Successfully getting him in a choke hold, Thomas whispered into Ethan's ear. "You've got less than 10 seconds to get out. Show me that you can defend yourself, Mr 'big deal'."

Ethan felt his airway being blocked by Thomas' brute strength. He began to get light headed as his skin became a flustered pink. All of his attempts to punch Thomas' sides did nothing to release Thomas' hold on him.

Finally giving up before blacking out, Ethan desperately patted Thomas' arm as a sign of surrender. Thomas understood this as he relaxed his hold on Ethan so that he could breath, but not enough so that he could run away.

Thomas continued to whisper into Ethan's ear as he just showed Ethan why he was needed. "I thought you didn't need protecting?"

Ethan began to breath heavily again as his temper reached overtime. Making another ball of fist, Ethan immediately swung down and landed on Thomas' groin.

No matter how strong and resistant Thomas trained to be, nothing could hurt a man more than a sucker punch to the balls.

Immediately letting go of Ethan, Thomas threw him away as he held his groin in pain. This gave Ethan ample time to open the door, and deliberately swing it so that it collided into Thomas' arm.

Collecting his composure, Ethan adjusted his outfit as he told Tamsen he was going to an out of town meeting. "Tell the people in Detroit that I'm on my way."

Thomas withheld the initial cry of pain, because his attention was more focussed on his groin rather than his arm. Even though he wanted to choke Ethan out properly this time, he was held back by the pain of Ethan's sucker punch.

Now standing in the elevator, Ethan waved back at Thomas with a smug look on his face. "Bye Tom."

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