Page 60 of Brage & Dinah

She bolted upright. Her heart raced. Grabbing the blanket, she wrapped herself up like a mummy and bolted out of the room.

Walking right in the unlocked bathroom door, she caught Brage under the stream of water. Dropping the blanket on the floor, she joined him.

"I've got a problem."

"Are you going to tell me what it is?" He stuck his head under the water.

Waiting until he put shampoo in his hair, she grabbed the bottle of liquid soap and lathered a squirt in her hands, rubbing the suds over his body. "Tony is staying in my apartment in Idaho. He usually stays at the Moroad compound, but he promised to pay my rent if I came here to find out what Slag was planning. I don't want him staying there. He's a freeloader. I also haven't paid rent—which was due a couple of weeks ago. With everything going on, I doubt Tony paid. I can pay online through the management company, but I need my phone to do that."

"Okay." He turned around and rubbed his hands over his face, washing the soap off his body before turning around. "I'll give you your phone back."

"Permanently?"

"Ja." He rinsed out his hair. "It's in my bag in the room. I forgot about it. It's banged up from you throwing it, but I believe it still works. You'll need to charge it."

She exhaled a relieved breath. Not wanting to question why he came to the decision to trust her, she changed positions with him in the shower and finished washing.

Seeing Brage standing in front of the mirror, she said, "I’m going to figure everything out while you're gone."

"Figure out what?"

"Well, everything I own is back in Idaho. I'm paying rent to live there. I know I said I wouldn't go back near my bro—by Tony, but why should I rearrange my life because of him? Wouldn't that be like letting him win? When I allow myself to think of what he and Brad have done to me, it makes me sick. They committed a crime. I don't even want to think about what that means or what I'm supposed to do about it. Like, was my face put on a missing child poster? I just don't—"

"Babe?" He popped his head in the shower. "Slow your roll."

She gazed at him and nodded. He was right. Paying the rent would give her time to figure out what to do with her belongings and where she was going to live. The rest of what she needed to do scared her to death.

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