Page 24 of Smooth Sailing

“And the security in this building is tight,” he went on. “But I don’t think you understand the severity of what you’re dealing with.”

“When I met her, she was two weeks out of the attack,” I said quietly, “and she still looked like she’d been dragged behind a truck for ten miles. I know the severity of what I’m dealing with.”

At receiving this knowledge, Hugger’s eyes got that scary glint again, but he quickly powered through it.

“You gotta know you don’t have the resources to see this through,” Hugger rejoined.

“And what resources are you offering?” I asked.

“Safe house,” he responded.

I shook my head.

“Not for you to decide,” he stated shortly.

“You’re right. It’s Suzette’s,” I agreed. “But I can tell you, she feels safe with me, and I can’t go with her to a safe house. I have a mortgage to pay.”

At this juncture, the very tall dude joined our convo.

“Maybe you can explain why she didn’t accept protective custody from the cops,” he suggested.

I looked to him. “She thinks Babic has someone, or someones plural, on the inside.”

This was true, and it was how I could manipulate her (mildly) into coming to stay with me.

Man-bun guy now spoke. “Your father is Babic’s attorney. Wanna explain that?”

Ah, so they pretty much knew everything, which obviously would include my name.

So I wasn’t being quick on the draw, sue me. I’d never been cornered by a pack of bikers before. I was learning that threw you off your game.

“Until today, I haven’t spoken to my father in ten years,” I told them something they clearly didn’t know.

They all looked among each other at that.

“It’d be good to know why you’re in this at all,” the last guy to speak, spoke.

“I’d explain that if I knew myself,” I said honestly. “I don’t. I heard about what happened. I knew nothing about Babic, though I also heard he’d been arrested. But when I saw my father, who, I’ll warn you, is very good at what he does, was going to defend him, I felt compelled to…get involved.”

“By putting yourself in the path of a criminally insane lunatic?” Man-bun guy demanded to know.

It was a good question, one with no good answer.

“I will admit, I may not have been thinking clearly,” I confessed, not about to share it was more about being overly emotional. “But I did it and we are where we are, so the reasons why we’re here don’t matter.”

I felt Hugger’s attention, so I turned to him, only to wish I didn’t because I suddenly felt naked. Like he could see every inch of me, not just on the outside, but deep down, places I didn’t even dwell, and by no means did I explore.

Therefore, I quickly turned my eyes away.

“If she won’t do safe house, or protective custody,” the tall one said, “then it’s about security. A man in your place and patrol outside it.”

A man in my place?

“You mean, a man staying in my place with Suzette and me?” I asked to clarify. “Or a man to take my place?”

“Although you bein’ nowhere near this shit would be optimal, if you won’t relocate, then you’re getting another roommate,” Hugger decreed.

Oh boy.

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