Page 20 of Tinley's Daddy
He peeled my hand off his chest but held it and guided me back to the couch.
“Let’s sit back down.” He ran his thumbs over my knuckles. “Is this okay?” He nodded toward our hands.
“Yes.”
“Good.” He grinned.
I got the feeling he wanted to add “girl” at the end of his sentence but held back. I appreciated it even though I felt every bit of his praise in my body.
“All the men who were here in the hotel have been put into custody. The FBI team is questioning the two Americansarrested last night. They are all part of some international task force on sex trafficking, and you could really help them out.”
“What about the other girls?” I took my hand back and regretted it. “Can’t they tell them what happened?”
“They can and they are, but you are the only American among them, so the FBI is very interested in what you can tell them.” His hand remained where I dropped it.
“How much do I have to tell them?” I placed my hand in his again. The little voice had returned.
“Only what you’re comfortable with.” He squeezed my hand. “And I will be with you the whole time if you want.”
I squeezed his hand back.
“Once it’s over, I have a plane ready to take us back to the States or wherever you want to go.”
Tears sprang to my eyes.
“Oh, hey, Tinley.” He scooted closer. “What’s wrong?”
I glared at him. Everything was wrong.
“I mean, what made you tear up now?”
“I don’t know.” I sighed. “I don’t really know who I am anymore. It’s been two years, and I don’t even know where I would go.”
“Well, how about we worry about that later?” He squeezed my hand again and then stood up.
He grabbed the pen and paper I used yesterday and brought them back to the couch. “We make a list and mark them off step by step.” He perched the pad on his knee and waited. “Anything you need or want, we’ll put it on the list.”
“I don’t know where to start.” I curled up in the corner of the couch.
“The order doesn’t matter, just throw stuff out.”
“We’ll see what sticks.” I giggled.
Josh joined me. He had a great laugh.
“Exactly.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “I want to have these taken out.”
“Okay.” He wrote on the pad. “Remove extensions.”
“Dentist.”
He grinned but wrote it down. I waited for the hurt to hit me, but it didn’t. Josh wasn’t laughing at me.
I threw out everything I could think of.
Clothes, shopping for essentials, getting back to the States, talking to the police. I purposely didn’t mention finding my family, finding Damon’s family, but they were on my list, too.
