Tazer placed his hand behind her back and guided her out. “Lunch,” he said straight-faced, and she saw the exchange between the men. It was like a hidden code for something. As they headed out and she glanced back at Kenneth, who immediately pulled out his cell phone, she felt sick.
“Why did you do that? He is going to ask questions. He’ll force you to let him know what’s really going on. He’s probably calling his brothers right now. God, I can’t do this. I can’t take it,” she said and before she got into the car Tazer held her by her shoulders and gave her a little shake. She looked way up into his eyes. He was so serious, it scared her.
“You love them. You want them to be safe. You’ll do as I say and you’ll get through this. We protect our own around here, and you heard Max. He won’t let you take off and try to handle this alone. Now, I think you’ll find that the information Parker came up with may be something we can work with.”
She glanced at Parker. He gave a wink.
“It will be okay. We’ll protect you,” Parker added. She got into the car, and as they drove away in Tazer’s truck she spotted Kenneth in the window on his cell phone and he looked ready to kill.
* * * *
“Goddamn it, Max, you better come straight with me. I’ve got my brothers on their way into town to see you and then to see Shelby.”
“Calm down, Kenneth, and I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“Why the hell not? She’s our responsibility. We claimed guardianship with you and you believe she cares for us, too, but is just fighting it because of her past. What the fuck is going on?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“What the hell do you mean you can’t tell me?” he yelled into the phone and saw that his entire staff was listening to him and appeared worried. He headed into his office and slammed the door closed. He was pacing. He saw red when Tazer walked Shelby into work this morning and now he was fuming at seeing him and Parker pick her up for lunch. One look from his good friends and he knew something was up and they were protecting her. From who? From what?
“It’s not my position to disclose what is currently going on. Tazer and his brothers are acting as her guardians.”
“Why? Is she in danger?” he asked, his heart racing and concern for her well-being getting his temper rising and his gut clenching. She was going to be their woman. They were trying to be so patient but this was insane.
“Kenneth, I’ve assigned them to her. There is nothing romantically happening between Shelby and the Hayes brothers, okay?”
“No. It’s not okay. How could you assign them to her when you know damn well where we stand and that we’ve claimed guardianship of her? That means if she needs help, is in any kind of danger and needs protection, it’s all our job, not theirs.”
Max exhaled. “She asked that you not be her guardians.”
“What?” he asked, shocked.
“I’m sorry, but for now, it’s how it must be. You should know that Tazer and his brothers are on top of things.”
“No. That’s not enough. I’m going to find out. She will change her mind and that’s final.” He closed up the phone and then slammed his fist down on his desk. He was so upset, and he was hurt. He actually felt betrayed. It wasn’t right. Why was she pushing them away? Why was she being hurtful doing this? He thought about it so hard his head ached. He knew she had something happen in her past. Hell, Max had mentioned that when Caroline was abducted and they were searching for the guy who did it, Max found out Shelby was using her mother’s maiden name. No big deal. She had said she was trying to start over and everything was legal. Now it was obvious something was happening here to get Max to assign Tazer and his brothers as her guardians. That meant trouble was coming. If Shelby was in danger, he and his brothers would be the one to protect her. Why was she not letting them?
He grabbed his keys and headed out. He was going to get to the bottom of this and that was final.
* * * *
Things couldn’t get any worse, or so Shelby thought. The moment they got into Rita’s, everyone looked at them and seemed shocked. They assumed she was seeing Tazer and Parker, but the men went right about being professional and guided her to a table in the back. That was when her eyes landed on Eliza Grace’s. Shelby immediately saw the sadness and then the anger. Eliza Grace would think that she was taking them away from Eliza. Shelby knew the woman liked them, but she had fears. Now she would think the worse. She had to do something before she lost a friend.
As she was going to ask Eliza to join them, Eliza stood up, ignored Parker saying hello, and she hurried out. Shelby would have to explain things later.
“Well, first things first. Your men are not going to let us be your guardians for long,” Parker whispered, and she opened her mouth to speak but Tazer stopped her.
“What he means is that they really care about you, Shelby. You saw Kenneth’s face. He is pissed and I give him and his brothers another five minutes before they come in here demanding that you tell them what is going on. So let’s go over things quickly,” Tazer said to her.
She listened as Parker explained about the information he discovered on Mickie as well as on Skip. They had a hard time finding info on Blade because they didn’t know his correct last name. The man had aliases.
“It’s Fisher, I think. I remember hearing Skip call him that for something. Blade wasn’t happy about it, or that I knew the last name. I remember him giving me a look. It was like I knew something I shouldn’t have been privy to and now I was a threat.”
“Okay, we’ll look that up further when I get back to the house,” Parker told her.
“I don’t know why Mickie would care to find me or even tell Skip I’m alive and here in South Carolina. When I think about it, about what went down, they should have been relieved that I left, and that I never tried to press charges.”
“Why didn’t you?” Parker asked, and she felt the twinge of embarrassment. She held his gaze and her eyes welled up with tears. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked like that.”