Chapter Text
Lottie wasn’t sure what came first, her passion for defying her father in absolutely everything she could, or the infamous disappearance of her lack of self-preservation.
Part of her preferred not to think about it too hard. A different part of her could easily identify the moment in her teenage years when she realized that she held a similar value to him as his most prized possessions. Valuable. But another object in his collection nonetheless. She could be just another one of his things that she could destroy. And she could hit two birds with one stone.
She could crash his classic cars with no passengers but herself in it. She could throw parties that ruined his mansions and got her a visit to the hospital. She could go off the property and marked routes with his purebred horses.
And, her latest favorite, go out wearing the jewels he gave his wife, and sneaking away from her assigned bodyguards.
To be honest, they made it all a little too easy for her. The bodyguards were huge guys, but they were slow, bored out of their minds, and most importantly, they severely underestimated her and the lengths she would go to just to upset her father. The best part? The fact that every time she escaped and ended up getting in trouble the bodyguard in turn got fired. She would feel bad if she wasn’t convinced they were better off working for somebody else, somebody who actually wanted to be protected. Besides, it meant that the next ones rarely got to know about her usual tricks.
She really thought nothing would change and no one would be able to stop her until she tested her luck and her father’s patience a little too far.
Then, one day, as the city darkened, the sun sank in the horizon, and the street lights begrudgingly turned on, when her current bodyguard stopped the car at a red light, right as it turned green, Lottie jumped out of the car. He couldn’t chase her without causing a serious traffic issue. By the time he managed to park somewhere safe, she would be too far away to reach.
The plan was simple. She was wearing the most hideous necklace she found in her mother’s closet. It was ridiculously expensive though. She would go into the sketchiest little shop she could find to pawn it. She would probably get about half of what it was worth, but the rest of it she’d get when she saw her father’s reaction when he found out. It was exhilarating, walking through those narrow streets wearing thousands and thousands of dollars proudly exposed on her neck. It was like dangling her father’s pride over the fire and smiling as the flames licked it slowly.
There was one problem though. If she admitted defeat and decided to actually call it a problem. There was the fact that she very much could get robbed before even reaching the shop and pawning the heinous necklace. It was, technically, part of the plan. In fact, it could make it better. She’d go home with no money to show for it and further anger her father. In fact, she might even earn herself a new black eye or similar minor wound from a nervous thief making sure she wouldn’t fight back. That was part of the appeal of the whole charm. The problem was the possibility that she would run into a thief who wouldn’t think twice to kill her anyway, just in case. This, still, was appealing to her. The press would make a huge deal out of it and print disgusting lies about her. Whatever. She wouldn’t be alive to see it. But her father would be very much alive to suffer through it.
However , not even she could deny that, when she heard heavy footsteps following her down the streets and through every unexpected turn she took, Lottie felt fucking scared . Dying to annoy her father was always a fun concept until she got a little too close to succeeding. Only in those handfuls of seconds before the car crash, before the expensive drinks mixed with more expensive drugs knocked her out, before the horse avoided the cliff, before the bodyguards knocked down the robbers trying to cut her ear along with the diamond earring… she started to have second thoughts.
As she started walking faster down the alleyway, looking for a way out or a safe place, she imagined a different life. She thought about standing up to her parents, speaking her mind, and yelling every accusation of neglect accumulated throughout her life. Better yet, she imagined just walking away, dropping the Matthews’ name and fortune and life-threatening games. She imagined being someone else, someone gentle and reliable, someone with a peaceful and genuinely enjoyable life. Someone who wouldn’t die in a perfectly preventable accident or bleeding out in a dark alleyway. Someone who wasn’t so excruciatingly alone.
But then…
Then, in a rapid succession of events, there was a heavy thud behind her, the sound startled her, and she started running, a slender hand landed on one of her arms and instead of pushing or pulling her to the ground or yanking her around in any violent way, Lottie found herself getting spun around almost gracefully until her back landed against a wall of a small alleyway off the street she was getting chased in.
Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She could swear she didn’t know if she was terrified or exhilarated at the prospect of finally, finally having crossed a line and getting a rusty knife in the stomach to free her from the weight of the stupid necklace on her neck and the disgust she felt for her family and herself.
Instead of a knife, a gun, or even a fist, Lottie met the most incredible green eyes she had ever seen.
“Hey, Charlotte,” the woman said.
She was around Lottie’s height, a few inches shorter, with bleached-blonde shaggy hair, a smirk that demanded Lottie’s attention despite her knowing she shouldn’t stare, and she wore a heavy leather jacket.
Also, she had one forearm pressed tightly to Lottie’s collarbones, effectively pinning her to the wall.
“What do you want?” Lottie asked her. She took too long to say something, but her voice came out steady enough, so she took some pride in that.
Her pride, however, took another hit when the woman pursed her lovely pink bottom lip and shrugged noncommittally.
“Not much, what about you?” she asked. Her extremely casual tone clashed widely with their current circumstances. It left Lottie positively speechless. Luckily, the woman added, “I mean, besides getting stupidly killed for flaunting that fucking ugly necklace.”
“I was not going to get killed,” Lottie scoffed, knowing full well she couldn’t confidently make that statement.
“Oh yeah?” the blonde laughed. “Then why is there a dead guy on the street?”
“What?!”
Lottie made a move to push forward and lean around the corner to look out the street, but she was promptly shoved back against the wall. It wasn’t exactly roughly, but it was certainly with a lack of delicacy of respect that Lottie was used to. She groaned quietly at the feeling of her back pressing against the wall.
“I’m kidding, I just knocked him out,” the other woman laughed again. Her eyes were glimmering with her amusement, but her smirk, Lottie thought, felt honest-to-God dangerous. “But I made you look, huh?”
Lottie was, embarrassingly, too flustered to actually scoff. But she groaned when she finally asked, “Okay, enough stupid jokes, who the fuck are you?”
“Natalie Scatorccio. Your new bodyguard, princess.”
When she replied, Natalie finally lowered her arm from Lottie’s body, but she didn’t move her body back a single inch. She still looked a little too entertained for Lottie’s taste. Meanwhile, Lottie’s confusion and frustration only increased.
“Um, no. I left Ben in the car,” Lottie said.
“Yeah, duh. But daddy dearest caught on to your tricks, sweetheart. Those big guys are obsolete. You need someone that can keep up with you.”
There was a lot there for Lottie to think about. Starting with her father making a bigger effort to keep her safe, passing through someone finally understanding what she’s been thinking about the old and traditional bodyguards for a while, and ending on the way Natalie said that very last sentence, without a smirk this time, staring deeply into Lottie’s eyes, as if challenging, though Lottie couldn’t tell what exactly the dare was.
On instinct, Lottie fought back.
“You? All five feet of you are going to keep me safe?”
“Nice,” Natalie laughed and nodded at the jab Lottie threw at her. But, when she looked up at Lottie again, she spoke through gritted teeth. “Wait until you see me use a gun to save you from one more of your self-inflicted messes. Now, be a good girl, go back home, and don’t give me any more trouble for today. Your dad doesn’t pay me that much.”
For the first time since Natalie touched her for the first time, she took a step back, giving Lottie her personal space back. It didn’t feel like a victory.
“Do you think I’ll just do what you say?” Lottie retorted, raising a challenging eyebrow at Natalie, who sighed heavily at her.
“Charlotte…”
Instinctively, Lottie wrinkled her nose in distaste and said, “Call me Lottie.” Nobody but her father called her Charlotte. Even her mother, distant and uninvolved as she was, called her Lottie. Her friends, the good ones that lately avoided her as much as the ones she called when she wanted to bring trouble and shame to the Matthews family, all called her Lottie. The first instruction she gave to every new bodyguard was the same, “Just call me Lottie.” She didn’t think Natalie could pull out a brand new smirk and use that against her.
“Oh, so you do want to keep me around, huh?” Natalie laughed, but then she turned the closest thing she had been to serious so far. “I found you, okay? Game over, Charlotte . Try again tomorrow, I don’t care. But this little stunt is done. I called Ben, he’s parking the car, and we’re going home. You lost.”
“We’ll see,” Lottie replied.
She was proud of how quickly she managed to reply and how steady her voice sounded. She was not proud of the unfamiliar rage this new woman made her feel.
Without another word, Lottie pushed past Natalie, making sure to push her shoulder on the way, and using every bit of strength not to show that it surprised her just how firm and strong Natalie seemed.
Lottie walked back onto the main street. She didn’t turn her head to watch the body of the man who had been about to rob her or worse and that Natalie had left unconscious in the middle of the street. But she did give a glance quick enough to confirm there was a human-shaped lump in the ground behind her. Then she just continued walking.
Behind her, she heard Natalie laughing.
“Wrong way, princess,” Natalie called out to her.
Lottie would not give her the satisfaction of turning around and following her. Instead, she shrugged.
“Tell Ben to bring the car around this way then,” Lottie said.
Her words definitely made Natalie laugh. Lottie couldn’t even her footsteps trailing after her. Natalie was quick, light-footed like a dancer, and sly. She wasn’t afraid to knock a stranger unconscious, manhandle Lottie in sketchy alleyways, and talk shit about Lottie’s father. She was going to be a challenge. Possibly, a very interesting and entertaining challenge.
Before Natalie could catch up with her and see the expression on her face, Lottie smiled.