Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Life was a different thing.
Like the life my dad lived where he was ambitious. He wanted to make money, make partner, make a name for himself, and he was mother and father to a daughter.
He sucked at it, but he didn’t shirk it. There was never a time when he seemed pissed he was saddled with me. He lived his life. He worked. He dated. He golfed and played tennis. And yeah, in a perfect world, maybe he should have spent more time with me, and when he did, he was less hard on me.
But he stuck. He wanted to. Because he was my dad.
I was getting the supremely uncomfortable feeling I’d been too hard on him.
Big Petey cut into my thoughts by handing them back to me. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, Di. You were livin’ your own life too.”
“Right.”
“You wanna talk about that more?” he offered. “I got some livin’ under my belt myself. May not have all the wisdom, but what I got, I’m good to share if you wanna lay it on me.”
God, Big Petey was the best.
“I think I need to process a few things first, Big Petey. But thanks.”
“I’ll be here awhile, you need me.”
Not that it needed to be announced, since it happened way before that moment, but…yeah.
I really liked these guys.
All of them.
“You wanna jump to a not-at-all less sticky subject?” he asked, lowering his voice.
I scooted closer to him and lowered my voice too. “Suzette.”
He slouched to the side to get nearer to me. “Hugger says she spoke to him. Said goodnight.”
I nodded. “It felt like a big breakthrough.”
His face got scary. “What she went through, reckon it was.”
“Yeah.”
“Time to push, Di.”
Ugh.
“Yeah,” I repeated. “Got an idea about that?”
“I figure we gotta set priorities. Do we want her under police protection first, or do we wanna know her real name?”
“I want her safe. But this isn’t about what I want.”
“In part it is, darlin’. You put yourself in front of her as her shield, and that was your choice. But she’s usin’ you as a shield, and that was hers. We got you. We’re here for the long haul. But I cannot say we can offer better than the US Marshalls if the FBI gets involved and they look after her. And that isn’t a betrayal of what you promised. You promised to keep her safe. Did you promise how you’d go about doin’ that?”
He was genius.
“No,” I replied.
“Okay, then, if it was me, I’d give it to her. Go in her room. Say she’s been here awhile and maybe it’s time to talk. Tell her it’d be good to get it out. Share it with somebody.”
“Big Petey?” I whispered.
“Right here, Di.”
“Can I tell you something?”
His face got scary again, before it turned tender.
“I know, love,” he said so gently, my nose started stinging with threatening tears.
They’d all figured it out, why I’d lost my mind and got involved with this mess.
All of them had.
I didn’t mind. I wanted them to understand and not think I was a harebrained idiot.
And it was nice not to have that in the way and know they were already handling me with care, so I didn’t have to worry they would.
“Should I tell her?” I asked.
“I think yes. If you got it in you to share, I think she feels very alone and that’ll make her feel less of that.”
I nodded.
“Go now. Get it done. Let’s see where she’s at so we know how big a job we got ahead of us.”
I nodded again, pushed out of the couch and headed to Suzette’s room.
I didn’t know if Hugger was a light sleeper and I didn’t want to wake him if he was. I also didn’t want to invade Suzette’s privacy.
So I tried to strike a happy medium, opened the door, stuck my head in, words of greeting on the tip of my tongue.
They died before they were formed when I saw her quickly drop her hand with her phone in it and tuck it under her thigh where she was sitting cross-legged on her bed.
And the look of sheer terror on her face made my mouth get dry.
I slipped in and closed the door behind me.
“What was that?” I asked.
Her eyes darted this way and that, like she was trying to form an escape plan.
I came closer. “Suzette, what was that?”
“You’re gonna be mad,” she said in a small voice.
“I’m not gonna be mad,” I assured her.
“I think I need to go someplace else,” she informed me.
My heart started beating really hard.
“Like where?”
“Somewhere away from you. Somewhere away from the guys.”
I took another step closer. “Are the men frightening you?”
She shook her head and did it hard, her face beginning to crumble. “No. No. They did at first, but they’re all real nice.”
Cautiously, I sat on the side of her bed. “Talk to me, Suzette. What’s happening?”