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Right. Sure. Of course. You whimpering sack of adolescent girl emotions.
I wanted to shoot myself.
“I didn’t think it did,” Matthew says, but the way he looks at me makes me feel like he knows what’s going on in my head. Like he half expects me to join him on the pullout.
Hey, why not?
Stop it!
“But hey, I’ll take you up on the offer,” he says.
“Great, just don’t think I’m going to be waiting on you or make your bed or anything. Help yourself is the motto here.”
“Sure.”
He follows me down the hallway and comes to a stop behind me when I fling the closet open. I take out some sheets and a pillow, and when I twist to face him, my mouth goes dry when I realize how close we are.
I can see the days’ old stubble peppered across his jaw.
He takes a step forward and takes the sheet and pillow, his hands brushing against mine. “Thanks.”
I clear my throat. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve always been a sucker for strays.”
Matthew flashes me a smile. “You won’t regret it.”
“I better not,” I yell at his retreating back. When he rounds the corner, I press a hand to my chest and sag against the wall.
What have I gotten myself into?
Chapter 4: Up close and personal
Matthew
One day later
“I’ve decided I’m doing this.” Five pairs of eyes turn to look at me as if I have just sentenced Jen to death. I raise my hands up in mock surrender. “First time I’m hearing this.”
Damn it, Jen.
She was uncomfortably silent on our drive here, and after our small altercation in her apartment last night, I thought she might have loosened up a bit. Apparently, I was wrong.
“Don’t look at him like that,” Jen says in my defense. “This is my decision alone.”
The Slade brothers look at each other, and I can feel the tension rise. When Bennett had let us in a couple of hours ago, I was already conscious of the disdain towards me. I didn’t notice it then, but the more I watched them all together, the more I saw how they interacted with Jen as if she were one of their own, all hugs and smiles and concern, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. I just wish she had told me her decision earlier so I wouldn’t look like a buffoon now.
Owen leans in, fingers interlaced, and looks at Jen seriously. “Bennett gave us the backstory, Jen, and although I appreciate what you’re trying to do, I really think this is a mistake.”
“You know how much you mean to us,” Mark chimes in while shooting blades at me with his gaze. “And based on what we know, putting your trust in Agent McCray here doesn’t seem like a very wise choice.”
“I never said I trusted him,” Jen says.
Thank you for the vote of confidence, Jen. Really making me look solid here.
The problem is, they don’t have a clue just how bad this could get. This is the mob we’re talking about, and they’re pretending like this was a business transaction that could be solved with negotiations. They’ve never seen the bodies we’ve had to fish out of the river, the families we’ve had to comfort after telling them their loved ones were dead, the complete neighborhoods that lived in fear with heads low, children clutched tight, with no guarantees they’d see the next day.
I know what Travis and his lot can do. I know how important this is.
“Then why put your life in his hands when you know we can help?” Owen asks. “We have our security, and we can definitely hire more. Simone will be safe, we’ll make sure of it.”
