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otpmikeira · 7 years

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A Piece of the Soul || Bodyguard AU Fic

Written By the Fabulous : @volkov-mikhail

I stood at the foot of the stairs, my hands folded behind my back. I dropped the signature bodyguard stance only a few times over the past hour to glance at the watch around my wrist. Rolling my eyes each time, and scoffing when I heard the clacking of heels a floor above me.

“O’Conner, let’s go! You’re late already!” I yelled up the stairs. Of course, the princess had to look perfect for the gala this evening. Even if that meant showing up almost an hour late. But what did she care, anyway? She was Keira fucking O’Conner. She got just about everything she wanted, without argument.

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” My stance had somehow transitioned from professional to slouchy and scowling, my arms crossed over my chest.

“It’s about damn time,” I muttered, getting a whiff of her perfume right before she flew past me to the closet, digging around for her overcoat. She always wore rose, smelling as fresh as a vibrant pink petal in the middle of summer.

“Calm down, grumpy pants,” she was saying. “It’s not like you’d get in trouble if I was late.” When I opened the front door, she was wrapped up in her burgundy jacket, her bedazzled clutch tucked under her dainty arm. Instead of gracing her with a reply, I grunted a complaint in Russian, closing the door behind her and following her out to the car.

“Where’s Richard?” I asked, unable to hide the smirk crossing my lips. “He finally got too annoyed with you?”

“Actually,” she snapped, climbing into the driver’s seat of my black Volvo. “He had a music event to go to. He’s going to show up later.” Did she think I didn’t notice she was trying to drive my car? I gave her an incredulous look, waving her off.

“Nice try.” She always liked to think she could just hop in my car and drive wherever the hell she wanted to go. She liked to make things difficult like that. Keira’s response was an eye roll before she climbed across the dash to the passenger seat. I saw a flash of emerald material beneath her jacket, and the golden straps of her heels before the fabric of her dress spilled back down her calves, concealing her legs and feet.

“Anyway, I like showing up alone to these sorts of things.” She said, referring to Richard and his absence.

“Is that because he never shows up to these things?” The silence that followed made me feel like an asshole, so I shut my mouth and started the car.

“It’s because all the cute boys at the gala take turns asking me to dance all night.” She replied, cocking her head towards me, daring me to insult her again. I averted my gaze to the street ahead and bit my tongue. When our gazes locked, we both had this terrible habit of tossing heat at each other, challenging each other to say something past the very fine line our relationship teetered on. I would be lying if I said it was strictly professional. I’d witnessed too many personal moments of hers to consider myself removed emotionally, and she could probably say the same.

Not that I was attached to her emotionally. Just that I had seen shit, you know. Like with her mom, with her career. The moments she needed to be let alone, I was outside the door, my chest tightening with each cry she’d let escape. I knew things about her, things that not even her mother knew.

But Mrs. O’Conner was another story completely.

“We’re here.” I said, steering the car and my thoughts to the task at hand. A valet came out and took the car while I came around and opened the door for Keira. When I offered my hand to help her, she ignored me, stepping out of the car with graceful ease. How the hell did she do that? Especially in those five inch heels?

I slid on my sunglasses, my hands folded in front of me, following close behind her. I was dressed a step up from my normal attire. Instead of dark wash jeans and a black tee, I pulled on some black trousers and one of my nice black button-down shirts. I also ditched the leather jacket, combed my hair back a little, and shaved that morning. Apparently, it was a big event for Mrs. O’Conner. And everyone associated with her needed to look top notch.

I opened the large doors for Keira, holding my hand out. “Jacket,” I said, beckoning for it as soon as we stepped inside.

“I can put it away myself,” she said, pulling it off and walking it over to the coat check, smiling warmly and greeting the man. He seemed genuinely flattered that the reputable Keira O’Conner was giving him the time of day.

She emerged from the dim corner of the lobby, looking up at me. “Ready?” she asked, her fingers fiddling with the clutch between her hands. It was then that I noticed her dress. The dark green fabric clung to her curves, flaring out mid-calf. The fitting of the dress itself was designed by someone who truly understood the woman’s figure. With the low cut and the even lower back, it stole my fucking breath away.

“Mikhail,” she said again, and my eyes finally lifted back to her face. The bold red lipstick highlighting those gorgeous lips, soft eye makeup that made her steel gray eyes pierce everything she gazed at.

“Yes.” I said. She was so unbelievably beautiful.

“Are you sure? Because you look half out of it,” she grinned a little, the dimple in her cheek winking at me.

Fuck.

“C’mon, O’Conner.” I started past her, pushing a hand through my hair, but she reached up to stop me. Her arm tightened on my bicep and like a spell I stopped in my tracks, turning to look down at her. “Are you ready?”

“No,” she said, biting her lip. Her eyes flicked to the set of double doors that led to the party. We could hear the music coming from within, along with the loud chatter of people who were quite possibly buzzed and well on their way to getting drunk.

“C’mon, do you really care about what any of these socialites think?” I asked, determined to keep my gaze on her eyes and not let them slide south.

Her eyebrows furrowed a little, but she said nothing. To some, it was nothing. But to me, it was everything. She didn’t give a shit about the snotty rich people inside. What she cared about was the woman receiving the award that night. The woman who was progressing in her career by humiliating Keira, and threatening her to go along with all of it.

For the second time that night I felt like an asshole for being mean to her.

“Don’t think about it tonight.” I murmured, offering my arm to her. This time she took it, her fingers digging into my arm like it was her lifeline. “You owe her nothing.”

With a deep breath, she nodded. “We need a drink.” We both smiled wryly at each other, and headed into the gala.

Two hours and four mojitos later, Keira was letting loose with some of the other girls on the dance floor. She’d done well on stage when the speech about her mother began. She clapped politely, smiled proudly, and even gave her mom a hug in front of the cameras. She was rewarding herself for a job well done, because the roughest part of the night was over. And she fully intended on enjoying herself tonight, drinking away the unresolved mixed feelings about her mother.

I knew exactly what she was doing. I also knew she deserved to let some of that weight roll off her shoulders, so instead of telling her to stop drinking (like I normally would have) I simply sat back and counted her drinks. I even bribed one of the waiters to swap one of the drinks with water and make it look like a mojito. Ker was tipsy; she didn’t even notice.

“Mikhail!” she called out for probably the third time that night. She waved me onto the dance floor but I just snorted and waved her off. She knew I took dance lessons when I was younger. And ever since I accidentally let that information slip, she was trying to get me to dance with her. Which I highly doubt was what her mom was paying me for.

Anyways, every time I shook my head, she told the waiter to get me another drink. I was casually sipping, leaning against the wall off to the side and watching the guests dance. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t buzzed at all. I hadn’t really kept track of what I was drinking, or how much for that matter.

I was too distracted. Keira was so mesmerizing. There was something different tonight. Her hair was brushed all over one shoulder, leaving the other side exposed. I wanted to kiss the milky skin where her neck and shoulder met. I wanted her to stain my lips and neck red with that lipstick she wore. I wanted rose petals to be all I smelled. Watching her dance to the beat of the music, moving with the steady thrumming of the latest pop song had me nodding along to the rhythm. Every so often she’d glance over at me, just for a second. She’d look away quickly, but only after she processed that I was staring at her the whole time.

Once the song ended, another began. This one was much slower, the chords from the piano’s introduction emanating throughout the large ballroom ((Please Don’t Go by Barcelona)). Couples began to pair off, while the single stragglers made their way over to the bar to get a refill. Keira’s eyes met mine this time, and when we locked gazes, I downed my drink and followed her silent request. Dance with me. Something about the way she looked at me told me I had no choice.

When I reached her, my arms immediately found their way around her waist. A moment ago we were across the room from each other. Now there was barely a breath separating us. I smelled mint on her breath from the mojito as she tilted her head up towards mine. We swayed to the song, falling towards each other, chests, hips legs touching now. We were still gazing at each other, and it felt like some of my soul was escaping me, sliding between her parted lips and settling into her chest. A piece of my soul that I would never get back, no matter what. Terrified that I’d never get it back when I realized how deep I was. How much I needed this, needed her.

“Mikhail,” she whispered in a soft gasp. I realized my grip on her had tightened, that I could feel her chest expand every time she breathed.

Instead of speaking, I finally turned my head down to hers, my nose touching hers, my breaths coming out shaky. “Keira…” My fingers slid up her side, from the curve of her hip, over her ribs and brushing the soft skin of her shoulder, meeting the ends of her auburn curls. “My Ker.” My eyes fell shut as the song lulled us in the sea of couples dancing. I was as light as air, floating beside the clouds with this beautiful girl in my arms. I tilted my head to the side, lips brushing against hers.

“Mikhail,” she murmured again, her lips moving against mine. Her hands squeezed my arms and my eyes opened wide, looking down at her.

“Sorry,” I said, my heart racing. I needed to get away from here, from her. Before I did something stupid. Before I knocked us off the line we’d been teetering on for months. “I’m… I should go…” I pulled away. Her hands slid down my shoulders and arms as I put distance between our bodies. When our hands touched, it took everything in me not to hook my fingers through hers and tug her out with me.

But somehow I held myself back. I turned away, rushing out of the ballroom and into the cool wintery air. I paced in front of the building, running my fingers through my hair, trying to catch my breath. My chest hurt, why did it hurt like this? Why did every step I took away from her feel so fucking wrong?

I wasn’t thinking straight. That was it. It had to be. I would put my conscience to rest by blaming it on the alcohol. Because clearly I was drunk and out of my damn mind. I dig through my pockets for the keys to the car, realizing belatedly that I left them inside Keira’s coat pocket so I wouldn’t have to carry them.

“Fuck.” I turned to head back into the building, but stop suddenly when I see her standing there. Her breath came out in short puffs, visible in the cold. She was holding her jacket in one arm, my keys in the other.

“You forgot your…” and just like a spell again I’m walking towards her, forgetting all about how wrong it would be to kiss her. Because since I spent half the night wondering what she tasted like, I had nothing holding me back in this moment.

I take the last few stairs two at a time, rushing up to meet her. Her eyes, stormy with lust that reflected my own. Many things unspoken remained unspoken as I reached out for her. Her eyes closing in anticipation, lips parted, awaiting mine. And all I could think was, finally.

“Keira! There you are,” Richard’s irritating voice cut through, searing the moment, searing everything. I clenched my jaw to hold back the awful things I wanted to say.

“Oh, Richard,” Keira said, blinking as if she were confused as to how she got out here. “You came.”

“Of course I came, babe.” There was distance between her and me, growing larger the closer he got. “What are you doing out here in the cold?” he took her jacket, purposefully ignoring me as he led Keira inside.

She glanced once over her shoulder at me, barely able to meet my eyes before turning away, leaving me standing in the wintery night, cold and alone. Still missing that piece of my soul, still wondering about the taste of her lips.

#MY BABIES #Bodyguard AU #Mikeira #This was my birthday fic #and OH MY GOD what a fic it is #SHDLKHWERKLEWR #:D #Written By the FABULOUS #volkovmikhail

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