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Dope’s brow rose as his lips pursed into a thin line before his gaze cut to Ella. “I’ll need your key and address. I’ll drop it off to you before you have to drive to work in the morning.”
“I don’t work tomorrow. I took the week off because …” She smashed her lips together. “Because we just found out my dad is dying, and I need time to process and grieve. I’m planning on spending the day with him, so if you could have my car by eleven, that would be great.”
Dope’s expression fell with her words. “That fucking sucks. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” She stared out of the window, silent.
I leaned back against the side of the van and closed my eyes. After sharing her news, I doubted Ella would want to try to talk to Dope or anyone else for that matter. I didn’t blame her.
I scrubbed my face with my hands, willing myself to perk up, but my ass was tired after the excitement with Sarah and Ella. We had stopped by Velvet Vortex and Ella signed the nondisclosure agreement before we dropped her off.
I stretched my legs out and crossed them at the ankles, the keystrokes of Dope’s keyboard filling the room. We’d returned to Portland, where I’d crash on his shitty loveseat, but I’d slept in worse places.
“Cheers for taking care of Ella’s car, Dope. Why the fuck did she decide it was a good idea to trail us anyway? Son of a bitch, I had no clue she was even following me. Fuck.”
Dope swiveled in his office chair, glaring at me. “She’s in your head. We’ve been helping families for three years, and not once have you screwed up this bad. Are you sure I don’t need to make some calls and schedule some fights for you? It might clear your mind.”
My lips pursed. “I don’t need to go down that rabbit hole, so quit fucking bringing it up, mate. For whatever reason, I trust her, or I wouldn’t have told her what we do. She wanted to join us, and I said hell no. I’m not putting her in danger.”
Dope scoffed. “You already have. The moment you banged her, you were a goner.”
My head whipped around, my jaw clenching while my gaze narrowed on Dope. “I told you not to fucking talk about her like that.”
Dope held his hands up in mock surrender, his eyes wide in confusion and apology, before he dropped his arms and returned to his computer. “Does she know you gotta dip for a while?”
“No. I’ll tell her when I see her again. Probably tonight or tomorrow.” I yawned. “I need some sleep first. Kip is covering the club tonight, so I’ll call her later. She needs some time to chew on what went down with Sarah anyway.”
“She seemed fine with it when we talked on the drive home, but I don’t know her that well.” Dope moved closer to his curved monitor.
“I just want to make sure.”
Dope leaned back in his chair. “Well, I recommend you do it tonight. The team is ready to move the family out tomorrow evening. But they have two more families while we’re there. I’d plan on being gone for at least a few weeks.”
“Damn. That’s longer than we thought.” I stood and stretched, my fingertips brushing the low ceiling of Dope’s dungeon. “I’ll call Ella on the way to my place. I won’t be worth shit to anyone if I don’t catch some sleep and eat.” I slapped Dope on his shoulder. “I’m out.”
“Later, man.”
“Later.” I climbed the stairs to the main floor of Dope’s house and let myself out. The bright sunlight caused me to cringe as I shaded my eyes with my hand. Climbing into my car, I wondered how long I would continue running the relocation program. For the first time in years, I had started wondering what a different life might look like.
I drove away from Dope’s place and pressed the call button on my steering wheel. Ella’s name and number lit up the display screen.
“Hey,” her soft voice filled my car.
“Hi. How are you after last night?”
“Tired, but okay. Every time I try to sleep, my mind returns to Sarah and the kids. How are they doing?”
“Good. Britny will stay in touch as the family adjusts, so just know that they’re in safe hands, but they have new identities now, and I can’t discuss any more with you.” I massaged the back of my neck.
“I understand.”
“I have to leave town for a few weeks. I was hoping to see you tonight before I go?”
“A few weeks?” Disappointment clung to her words.
“Yeah. It’s for … work.”
“Come over now if you want.”
