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“Who?” Tazer asked.
She swallowed hard and wiped her eyes. “A therapist. After seeing everything that Caroline went through, I know I have to start living my own life and not live in fear. At least that was the plan until today. I won’t be able to stay here much longer.”
“No, you’re not leaving. You’re safest here, in Chance,” Tazer said to her.
“I won’t be safe anywhere
once they find out where I am. They’ll want to finish what they started, and in Skip’s screwed-up head, he’ll think I’ll forgive him and he’ll want me to come through on his promise he gave that night.”
“Which was what?” Tazer asked.
She was quiet a moment. “Let’s just say that I was a bargaining tool to help make something disappear.”
“A bargaining tool?” Max asked.
“Apparently I was the reward, the payoff, for whatever favor Skip asked for.”
“Damn, Shelby,” Tazer whispered.
Max exhaled. “This guy Mickie that you saw in Charlesburgh, was he part of this situation?” Max asked.
She didn’t say a word. “He was there, when Blade showed up.” She closed her eyes and willed away the images in her head. She remembered the feel of Blade’s hands against her skin and the feel of the cold blade of the knife as he threatened to cut her into pieces like he did to the others if she didn’t shut the hell up.
She felt the hand on her shoulder, and she gasped and stepped back.
“I’m done. I’m finished. You get the gist of it.”
“I know you’re scared, Shelby. We don’t need to know the specifics right now. We get what you’re not saying. We’re going to protect you from this man and the others. It was a good thing that Tazer was there and ensured that you weren’t followed here. Now it’s our responsibility to take the next steps together. No more secrets. You see anyone from New York around here, or elsewhere, you contact me right away.”
“And me, too.”
“Tazer, you’re not her guardian. Kenneth, Sam, and Bender are.”
“No. Didn’t you hear what I said? They could get killed or hurt because of me. Look how close Cameron got to killing C.J. Caroline is still trying to recover from that. I won’t put those men in harm’s way. I won’t put my sister or anyone else,” she said to them.
“It’s not your decision. I’m in charge and I have the final say.”
“I can do it for now. Maybe it will pass and Mickie won’t find her.”
“Her sister’s case was all over the media.”
She covered her mouth a moment. “He said something about hearing about me being alive. I don’t remember, but maybe he saw the news reports. There were reporters everywhere, even at the hospital,” she said to them.
Max exhaled. “I’m sorry, Shelby, but your protection is priority. I understand that you want to protect the Pace men, that you care about them, but I have a job to do, too. Your sister can be protected by her men and will be made aware of the situation. In the interim, Kenneth, Sam, and Bender will find out what is going on and they will demand to be part of protecting you.”
“Can you pick someone else instead? I can’t have them here. I can’t tell them what happened and allow them to get close to me. I can’t do that,” she cried.
“Calm down, Shelby. They’ll insist in being part of this because they already care so much about you,” Max said to her.
She shook her head. “I don’t accept his. Find someone else to help watch over me or I’m gone. I’ll leave here and disappear. I won’t let people I love get hurt or get killed. I won’t,” she said to them. She didn’t care that she just admitted to basically loving Bender, Pace, and Sam. She knew she did already and she hardly knew them. But the attraction, the connection between them was forceful, life changing, and she knew she didn’t deserve them. They deserved a woman who was clean of scars, of damage. Not some stupid woman who allowed a man to control her and then sell her off to pay some kind of stupid debt. They had almost succeeded in raping her, but then that call came and Mickie disappeared and Blade just wanted to play games with her body and her head as Skip watched.
She clenched her eyes closed and tried to calm her breath.
“We’ll work it out the way you asked, for now, but no promises on it staying that way,” he said to her and she held Max’s gaze with tears in her eyes.
“No promises of me sticking around if danger comes this way,” she replied, and she knew the moment they left she would have to formulate a plan. There was no way she was risking getting her sister hurt or killed, or the Pace men. This was her situation, her troubled past to get free from. Disappearing again might be her only option.
* * * *
