Page 31 of Needing Shianne

She shook her head quickly. "What? I have..."

"Get inside, Shianne."

The tone of his voice made her stomach twist. Slowly, she stepped backward into her living room. She crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed them to stave off the chill rifling through her body.

Myles stepped into the living room, twisted the lock on the door, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He tapped a couple of times and held his phone to his ear.

"Hey, I need you to check on a vehicle and run the plates. Light blue, Toyota Corolla. Seems to be a later model, maybe five years old or so. Plate number H1N2T9."

"Roger."

Myles pocketed his phone and then turned to her. "So, today's plan has changed. I'll take you to work and won't leave until I feel you're safe. Then, I'll pick you up later and bring you home. We'll eat lunch together and I may end up working in your office or something if there are things I can do remotely."

"But..."

"No buts, Shianne. This is not a great situation."

His phone rang and he pulled it up. "Yeah."

She watched his face as the soft, loving expression from a few minutes ago turned into the hard, kinda scary face she'd only seen a couple of times over the years when something was bad.

"Thanks. Yeah, I may need backup."

He listened. "I'm at Shianne's."

He pocketed his phone. "Tate's on his way."

"But who is in that car?"

"He's a known drug dealer. Fritz Magee."

"But why does that matter to me?"

"Shianne, remember your reel? These assholes think you were selling Fentanyl. Now, I'm only guessing, they think you're holding out on them."

"But I'm not. I wasn't ever selling drugs."

He glanced out her front window, then turned and placed his hands on her shoulders. He squeezed tighter than she thought was necessary.

"They don't know that. These aren't the kind of people you giggle with and say, 'Oh sorry.'" He let her shoulders go. "These are the kind of people that smelled money. Tate just said teal Fentanyl has been wanted on the street for some time now. It's rare. You perked up the ears and hopes of a lot of unsavory people."

She opened her mouth, then closed it. The sound of a truck pulling into the driveway captured Myles' attention. A quick glance outside, he opened the front door, and waved Tate inside. She paced the small room, unsure of what to do. She had a full day today. They were having another New Year's Ball meeting. It was their final one before Christmas in a few days. And, she had a ton of dresses to still be picked up. Without her videos selling for her right now, well, they were out there, just not her viral video. Which, in hindsight, turned out to not capture the correct audience. So, she couldn't really call it a viral video anymore.

Her shoulders sank and she took a deep breath to calm herself.

Tate stepped through the door, his face stern, his shoulders back and his spine rigid.

"Good morning, Shianne."

"Morning."

Tate turned to Myles, then a grin spread on his face. "So, what's new?"

Myles grinned and the way these fools grinned at each other made her want to run outside and drive herself to the shop.

She crossed her arms over her chest once more. "Are you two quite finished staring at each other?"

Myles turned to her and shook his head. "Tate, Shianne and I are together."

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