Chapter 2

Kaydence's POV...

I knew he was there before I even opened my eyes. The smell of his cologne hung in the air and I smiled as I rolled over throwing my fist twords him. He was quicker though and snatched my fist before it connected. He turned and looked at me his eyes full of annoyance.

"Why must you be so hateful Kaydence? Haven't I given you anything you ask for?" His voice was deep and rough making me choke a little on my words.

"Except for freedom. Damion all I want is to get out from this place and live my life without you or the family interrupting it." He laughed a little bit then his serious face came across.

"I have a compromise for you. I can't let you out without a bodyguard but what if I let you go to school. I know that you applied for NYU and I have it on good authority that you have been accepted." I felt my eyes light up as I started to get excited but if I know Damion there is a catch.

"So what's the catch besides the bodyguard?" I asked.

"You have to do what he says. No going out without him and no getting wild. Oh and you have to enroll under an alias. Which I have already worked out with the school if you want to agree with this."

"And if I don't follow the rules?" I saw a devious grin come across his face.

"Then you will be punished depending on the severity of the rule breaking. If you continue to break them or put yourself in harms way then I will yank you so fast from the school you won't know what happened. Do we have a deal?" I thought hard about it. It was freedom some what. I guess I couldn't expect him to totally give in. We still haven't found the people who murdered our families so there was still that threat.

"Okay we have a deal but I swear Damion if I see you checking in on me I will run." He grinned and then stood up.

"Then don't give me a reason to check up on you." Then he walked out of the room. My heart was racing. Was he really giving this to me? He had been so cold about giving me any kind of freedom for the last four years. It was hard to believe that this was happening. I knew that there had to be a catch but right now I didn't care. At least this gave me more of an opportunity to run if I had to.

I fell back into the bed overjoyed. I couldn't wait to get out of here and make some friends. It was going to be hard with a bodyguard following me around but I was sure I could make a deal with him to stay out of sight. I couldn't go back to sleep so I hoped up and headed to the shower. By the time I was done the sun was coming up and I was wide awake now.

I went down to the kitchen and Rose the housekeeper was already starting breakfast. It was barely six o'clock but with as many people as she had to feed it took time. Plus she always made sure the coffee was ready early because sir fucktard was always awake early.

"Hello Rose." I waved as I took a seat at the kitchen bar. She turned and smiled at me.

"Why hello Ms. Kaydence. How are you this morning? Are we still causing Mr. Night problems?" She tried to give me one of those mom looks but it just turned into a huge grin. She had probably been my only friend in this place. There had been a few of the men that I was getting close to but after Damion shot one of them for trying to take me out all of them stayed away.

"Oh you know me Rose. I have to make his life just as miserable as mine." She pushed me a cup of coffee and smirked at me. She was in her late fifties and had been with the family for thirty years now. So she had watched us grow up into the force we are now.

"You know I wish you would give that poor boy a break. You guys use to be so close before.." Her words broke off and I saw some tears in her eyes. She took my hand in hers. "Just try and give him a break will ya. You both have been through alot and I know he cares for you." How could I not give in a little to this sweet woman.

"Okay. I'll try but I'm not a push over Rose and I won't take his shit for much longer." She laughed and then turned back to the breakfast. I knew she cared for Damion like he was her own. Hell she probably thought of all of us that way. But Damion was her special guy and I think he had a soft spot for her to. He had once offered to hire some help for her and she insisted she was very capable of taking care of us all but would let him know when she needed help.

"Kaydence." His deep voice came from behind me making me jump a little. I turned to find him right behind me so close that I almost spilled coffee on him when I turned.

"Damn it Damion. You have to stop that shit. What do you want?" He walked next to me as Rose pushed a cup of coffee to him.

"I have already made all the arrangements for your school and housing. You will have an off campus apartment with your bodyguard. You will be moving in this weekend and school starts next week." I just stared at him in disbelief. Who the fuck was this and where did Damion go?

"It is six in the morning how did you do that already?"

"Well the dean owes me a favor so he took my call early this morning and the apartment I already own as a safe house." Of course he owned the apartment. I wanted to say something about the fact that the dean owes him a favor but decided to keep my mouth shut.

"So who is my bodyguard? I swear he better not be annoying." Damion smiled as the catch walked in behind him.

"Hey roomie." I stared at Heth in disbelief. His fucking second in command.

"Really Damion. Heth? No offense Heth but this is just his way of sticking it to me." Damion got right into my face his eyes burning into mine. He grit his teeth and practically growled at me.

"Do you honestly believe that I would trust any of these other mother fuckers with you? Maybe the bullet in the last guys head wasn't clear enough for you. I don't trust anyone. Heth is the exception and I still don't trust him fully."

"Hey. What the fuck dude? If you don't trust me then this won't work." Damion turned from me to him and I saw that smirk on his face that only means that he is either going to blow or he is up to no good.

"Heth I am warning you once if anything happens to her you will be dead. I don't give a fuck if you are my second in command." Heth stated him down but he didn't say anything. He knew better than to back talk Damion. He turned and left the kitchen leaving us alone. Even Rose had disappeared at some point.

I turned back to my coffee trying to ignore him but I could feel his eyes on me. They were burning a hole into the back of my head but I refused to turn back around. His scent was invading my senses in all the wrong ways. My fucking libido was doing summersaults but I tamed her down.

Eventually he grabbed his cup of coffee and headed off to his office or wherever he goes this early in the morning. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. Fuck, ever since I turned eighteen I swear these hormones are running wild. Which isn't exactly a bad thing except every time he is close to me they kick into overdrive.

Some distance will be good. As long as he keeps his side of the bargain then I will to. Besides I am sure I can get Heth to cave on a few things if I just bat my eyes at him and beg pretty please. Rose reappeared giving me that motherly look and got back to work on breakfast. She topped off my coffee and I walked out onto the veranda.

The air was nice and crisp as I sat in one of the lounge chairs and drank my coffee. Two more days and I will be at school and away from here. Maybe then I can relax a little and enjoy my life. Hell who knows after I'm done with school maybe I will decide to come back and take my place in the family. I just want to have a choice.

Two days later...

"Did you bring everything you own?" Heth yelled out from downstairs. I laughed as he acted like he was struggling under the box he was bringing up. He flashed me a grin and then made it up the stairs. It was the last one anyway.

The apartment was actually very nice. Okay so when Damion said he owned the apartment he meant the complex. It was just a small four complex building but no one else was here except for us. Everything had already been furnished and he had already had anything we could possibly need delivered. He also had already set up a grocery delivery once a week all we had to do was put the order in.

Heth set the last box down in my bedroom and then grabbed a beer from the fridge and took a seat on the couch. He was actually a nice guy and I could tell that he was already going to enjoy the bodyguard duty. I grabbed a soda from the fridge and took a seat in one of the recliners.

"Okay Heth so I have only one thing to ask of you." He eyed me as he sipped his beer.

"What is it?" He asked suspicious of what I might ask. I mean I don't think I am asking anything to drastic.

"Please make yourself invisible while we are out especially on campus. I don't really want to answer questions about why you are following me around like some lost puppy dog." He let out a loud laugh and then smiled at me.

"I think I can manage that but just so you know technically I am enrolled in all the same classes as you. So I will be in your classes but I'm sure we can manage to make it look innocent enough." I laughed now. Of course Damion made him enroll to.

"Sure if anyone asks I'll just say you are my gay roommate." He looked shocked and threw one of the pillows at me.

"You most certainly will not. I plan on getting some sweet college ass while I'm here. Tell them I'm your much cuter older brother." I threw the pillow back at him.

"Ewww. Just take your sweet college ass to one of the other apartments." He sent me a devious grin and then jumped up off the couch heading right for me. I squealed out and managed to dodge his attack and make it to my room. I slammed the door and locked it laughing. I pulled out my speaker and put on some music. I started unpacking all my clothes and other stuff.

"You are going to have to come out sooner or later Kaydence. I'll get you then." I just smiled and kept working. By the time I was done with my room I was starving. Damn I guess I'm going to have to go out now. I unlocked my door and peeked out. I didn't see Heth anywhere but I could here his TV in his room. I started sneaking down the hallway and made it to the kitchen.

I rummaged through the fridge and finally found some stuff to make a big salad for us. I went to work throwing everything together when I felt hands wrap around me and start tickling me.

"Damn it Heth..Stop." I managed in-between laughs.

"What the fuck is going on?" Damion's voice surprised both of us and Heth immediately let me go.