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Chapter Five
Letty
I spot Pastor Braden and the biker as they head back toward the church. I turn my focus back to the computer program in front of me so it looks as if I’ve been working and not trying to lip-read the conversation between the two men.
A knock sounds a few seconds later, and I sit up straight and smooth my hands over my hair before letting them come to rest in my lap.
“Come in.” I turn toward the door with a polite smile on my face. “How can I help you, Pastor?”
Too late, I notice his expression and the fact that he isn’t alone.
“Letty, this is Shades, and he’s the proprietor of one of the small businesses in town that the church assists with…things. Whatever he needs, give it to him. Please.”
I frown at his words and, more than that, the tone in which he says them because it doesn’t make sense. None of it does. “Are you sure?”
“He’s sure,” the man, Shades, answers with a smirk.
I turn back toward my computer and pull up one of the many spreadsheets on my desktop.
“Okay, what is the small business, and what do you need Mr. Shades?” I don’t turn around because once again, I can feel the weight of his stare at the back of my head.
“It’s just Shades,” he corrects and steps around the pastor, the thunk of his heavy biker boots on the wood floor the only sound in the room.
“You’re not going to find my business on that spreadsheet.”
I turn at his words and let my gaze settle on Pastor Braden, trying to question him without saying a word. He diverts his gaze and shakes his head.
“You won’t find it there, Letty. Just give him what he needs. It’s listed as AHSB Funds.”
The words are barely audible as they come out, and I am officially worried.
Worried and scared, but this is my first day on the job, and I can’t afford to make waves. Not only will my mom never let me live down getting fired, but I don’t want that to follow me around to another job and another for the rest of my career.
“Okay, Pastor Braden. I’ll help get Mr. Shades sorted.”
He nods, looking like someone other than the kind and gentle man I’ve known for years, and leaves me alone in the office with the threatening biker.
I let out a long rush of air and turn back to the computer screen to close the software program I’ve been working on. It’s just a way to distract myself for a few more seconds until I can get my emotions under control, and I have a lot of emotions going on right now.
This is all too confusing, and I feel as if I can’t ask any questions. Besides that, I don’t think I should ask any. I don’t know if I even want to know what this is about. What if Shades is making the pastor do something illegal?
Be brave, Letty. Protect the pastor and the church.
My inner warrior fires me up, and I spin around in my chair and glare at the infuriating biker.
“Such a tough guy,” I sneer.
He flashes a smile that’s arrogant and self-satisfied, almost triumphant, and shoves his hand into his pocket.
“I am a tough guy, sweetheart. One of the toughest you’ll ever meet.”
“And you show that by tossing out threats like a petulant child? That tracks,” I say sarcastically.
He shrugs his broad shoulders. “Threats push through all the bullshit that I don’t have time to deal with, like your snooty objections to something you don’t know a damn thing about.”
“No, you don’t,” I growl and push up out of my chair, walking toward him with one threatening finger aiming right at his chest. “Don’t come in here and act like I’m some naïve little girl just because I don’t know about your shady business or why Pastor Braden feels the need to help you. I’m just trying to do my job.”
He smirks again and takes his hands from his pocket to cross them over his chest. “Because he’s a good man of God, and it’s his Christian duty. Right?”
