Page 30 of Guarded By Them

“You going to be okay in there by yourself?” I asked him, realizing the setup was far from ideal, considering his disability.

“I’ll manage.” He caught sight of the chipped tub and grimaced.

This definitely wasn’t the kind of luxury he was used to back at the apartment, where they’d each had their own bathrooms, and Ryan’s had been designed especially for him. Ryan would hate for anyone to feel sorry for him—especially some girl who’d probably lived a worse life even than he had—but I still couldn’t help it. My heart ached for his struggles, and there was nothing I could do to make things better, except for the thing we’d done a couple of hours ago, of course. In fact, me being in his life had made things harder. He no longer had his doctors or therapists, and I had no idea how long he could go on like that. Kodee talked about him finding new ones for Ryan when we settled down, but would that be soon enough? We didn’t even know where we were going to end up, or how long we’d be running. Ryan wasn’t built for life on the road, not anymore, and I hated that I played such a big part in his discomfort.

Voices came from the front of the cabin, where Kodee and Dillon had gone to greet Timmo. I raked my hands through my hair and straightened myself up best I could. So long as I didn’t look as though I’d just been thoroughly fucked, I was sure our host wouldn’t suspect anything was off about the relationship between the four of us.

I caught the end of the conversation as I went out to greet them.

“—be here by morning,” Timmo ended.

“Shit,” Kodee swore. “I should have grabbed more equipment before we’d left the apartment. I’d thought you’d already have everything.”

Timmo shrugged. “I’ve been working on another side of the business more recently. You want to see my setup?”

Kodee exchanged a glance with Dillon and shrugged. “Sure.”

They caught sight of me, loitering in the back.

“You want to join us, young lady?” Timmo asked.

“I guess.” I wasn’t sure where we were going.

“What about your friend?”

“He’ll be out shortly.”

Timmo didn’t seem to care one way or another. He gestured to the back of the cabin, to a door that led out onto the back. “It’s this way.”

We followed him out of the back door and into the yard. Ahead stood a second, smaller building, only this one had a metal door and no windows. Timmo had a key hung from a piece of leather cord around his neck, and he pulled it out from under his shirt and used it to unlock the door. He reached inside and fumbled on the wall for a moment, before finding the light switch and clicking it on.

“Here we are.”

I exchanged a glance with Dillon, who nudged me in the side with his elbow, then we followed Timmo and Kodee inside.

I found myself in what was clearly Timmo’s workspace.

The printing equipment was similar to the one back at the apartment, only on a larger scale. Sheaves of paper were bundled, stacked, and wrapped in clear plastic. Frowning, I picked up one of the sheets and stared down at it. My eyes widened in surprise. It was a page of fifty-dollar bills.

“Holy shit.”

Timmo chuckled. “Yeah, this is what I’m into now. The pay is better.”

But he lived in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “You have all this money, but you live all the way out here, in this...” I gestured back to the cabin but didn’t know what to say without insulting the guy.

Kodee stepped in for me, and I shot him a grateful look. “She means that you live so simply, even though you could potentially be living in a mansion.”

“Meh,” he shrugged. “I have everything I need here. Besides, men who live in mansions for no good reason get noticed. This brings in money, so I don’t ever go wanting, but living out here means no one ever asks me any difficult questions. It’s worth it to be left alone. I get to live the life I want to live—hunting and fishing and not having to worry about anyone but myself.”

I wanted to point out that he could probably do that without having to forge money, but I kept my mouth shut.

“Anyway,” he continued, “I’m good at what I do, and I enjoy it. It screws with the government, and that’s always a good thing in my book. I’d tell you to help yourselves, but I’ve got a feeling getting picked up for counterfeit money wouldn’t help you any right now.”

“You got that right.” Kodee nodded. “And we’re fine for money. We just need the passport sorted.”

“I’ll have what I need to get that done for you in the morning.”

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