The Always Cambridge Series chronicles the life of Holly Cambridge through her tumultuous childhood and violent teen years and the consequences that stem from being the daughter of mob boss, Bill Cambridge. ~ Holly Cambridge is just a typical kid, or so she thinks, until one day, she takes a good look around and realizes her friends don’t have bodyguards dogging their every step.
At the age of sixteen, Holly is assigned a new bodyguard, Randy Phillips. He is a tall, muscular, God-like force in the young, impressionable and lonely girl’s life. He is her friend, her confident, her conscience, and the older man she adores beyond reason.
Randy Phillips is fully aware of his young charge’s adolescent crush on him. Although he is flattered by the adulation, he maintains a safe distance and professional demeanour until Holly is wounded in a rival family blood feud, and the course of both their lives is changed forever.
I stopped, turning to face him. "None of this is any of your doing," I repeated his words quietly back to him.
He smirked but his eyes remained serious. "Smart, aren’t ya, little one. But my job is to keep you safe and I wasn’t here." He stuffed his thumbs into his jacket pockets and said so softly that I had to lean in to hear him. "I was so scared I wouldn’t get here in time. I could hear your voice. And his." He shook his head, remembering.
My eyes filled. "I was scared too. But I knew you’d come. And Paddy. I trust you. The two of you are always here for me."
He stepped closer to me and I had to look up. "Patrick said the threat isn’t over. He said that man was not it."
"No, Holly. He was just another bad man in a long line of many who walk the halls here."
I shuddered at the thought.
He kept his head bowed but looked at me through lowered lashes. "Are you afraid of me now? After what you saw? Not just last night, but your friend, Timmy?" He exhaled shakily. He seemed to need my reassurance that I was still okay with him. I’d never seen him like this. He was never anything but confident in my eyes.
"We are all bad men here, Holly." His stormy grey look was intense. Was he trying to warn me? It was not something I wanted to hear right now.
"Is the man dead?"
I heard his teeth grind. "He was alive when the others removed him from here last night. I didn’t kill him."
I turned away from him. Angry. "Well, that makes it alright then, doesn’t it!"
"Yeah, that’s right, Holly. See what’s really going on. Take your blinders off. You’re a smart girl."
He grabbed me and spun me back around to face him. His eyes narrowed. "I’m not a good guy, Holly. No one on this whole goddamn compound is good except for you and the longer you stay here…" He let me go and stepped away from me. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Sometimes you look at me and I can see in your eyes that you think I’m…" His lips thinned as he searched for the right words. "…like I’m your own personal saviour. I’m here to keep you safe, Holly, but I can’t save you from what’s going on here. I can’t stop this from tainting and shaping your life. This is going to be your life forever. You’ll always need protection. You will never have that normal life that I see that you crave."
"Don’t say that! Don’t say it, Randy!" I rushed at him, wanting him to stop.
He pulled me into his arms, he whispered into my ear, "See what’s going on. Accept it. The sooner you do, the easier it’s going to be for you."
People Also Bought:
