Page 15 of I've Got You

“I wonder if you could help me. I was here the other day and my boyfriend and I got in a fight. He dropped me off and then came back here. I was wondering if he’s still here.”

“You know I’m not supposed to tell you that.” The guy doesn’t flinch when he holds out his hand and I nod at Judd. He groans but hands the guy over a 20.

The guy sighs. “What room was it?”

“129? The corner one down in the lot. The one closest to the pool.”

“Sure. The guy that was staying there checked out yesterday. But we did find something in his room.” He holds out his hand again and Judd rolls his eyes, handing him another 20. With another wave, he grumbles and hands him another 20.

“Yeah. So we were cleaning out the bathroom and found this.” He hands us a bunch of paperwork, obviously a lease.

“Thanks a lot, man. It’s a good thing you kept that.”

He nods but I know he was looking for money and trying to figure out how best to use that information. I think he has a pretty good idea of what was going on in that room.

We run back to the truck and Judd punches the address into his GPS. It doesn’t take us long and we’re sitting across from a big, dark house with all the curtains closed.

“I think we should call the cops.”

I groan. “They’re not going to come until we’ve seen something illegal.”

“Well, I’m not letting them catch you again. So I guess I’ll go check it out.”

“You don’t know what you’re looking for,” I argue.

“It’s not that hard to tell that something’s off. I’ll be right back. You stay here. I mean it.”

I nod my head, hoping that he doesn’t see that I have my fingers crossed behind my back.

As soon as he’s out of sight, I dart around the opposite direction. I can hear a low rumble of noise and I follow it to a ground-floor open window.

I inch closer until I can peek inside and my heart drops into my toes. The little blond is awake but she’s tied to a chair. There are more girls in the room but they’re all in various stages of alertness and undress.

I lean closer and then accidentally trip over a rake in the bushes. I yelp and fall to the ground.

There’s yelling inside and I grimace, turning to run. Before I can move, one of the men from yesterday grabs my arm and grins. “You must have nine lives, kitty cat.” His eyes drop down my body and all of a sudden I wish I was wearing a helluva lot more layers. “I think we might be able to come up with another way to dispose of you this time. Much more lucrative. Hate to see a pretty girl like you go to waste.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and then something whooshes past my head. A heavy thud follows that.

I open my eyes to find Judd glaring at me. “What did I tell you?”

I smile tentatively. “I’m gonna be punished later?”

“I think that’s the least of your worries right now,” he growls.

He hauls me out of the bushes just as another one of the men takes a pot shot at us.

He throws me over his shoulder and runs. “I wonder if you’ll ever be able to stay out of trouble.”

“I don’t think I like your tone.”

“Oh well. I think I’ve got a good excuse.”

Sirens start in the distance coming closer and closer. Then three police cars whip around the corner and slide to a stop right in front of us. Judd drops down and hides us behind them. One of the officers pulls his gun and points it at the guy with the gun who lifts his hand and drops the gun. One cop runs to grab him and the rest of them swarm the house. More and more seem to show up.

“I need to see if she’s okay, Judd.” He eyes me and then heads over to one of the cops. The man nods and Judd motions me over. Walking to his side, he holds my hand, his thumb painting little circles on my hand, making me weak in the knees.

“Stay here. I’ll get the girl I think you’ve been trying to help. She’s pretty shook up so maybe she’ll feel better if she sees a friendly face.”

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