“A safe house?” Kyle frowned and looked between our supervisor and me. “For who?”
“Lola,” I breathed her name out, the syllables giving me renewed energy. “She wants—no, needs—out. We can help.” I ground my teeth together. “We’re meant to be the good guys, yet we’re willing to use her to take down—”
“That’s a lie,” Ryan barked out. “You’re fucking her. That’s why you want her away before she finds out exactly who you are.”
I puffed out my chest, getting sick and tired of his bullshit. “Watch your mouth.” I pointed at him to stop myself from diving across the table to grab him. “I won’t warn you again.”
“Or what?” Ryan asked, stepping closer to me, and that was all I needed.
“I’ll fuckin' end you, you bastard!” I pushed forward, my body vibrating with anger. Jord’s arms wrapped around me from behind, stopping my forward motion, and Kyle grabbed Ryan. “You have no idea what she’s going through. No idea the shit she has to deal with!”
“Enough!” Aaron roared. “This is just another reason why you need out.”
I stopped trying to get out of Jord’s hold at his words and pulled in a breath, but it did little to calm me. “You know if you pull
me out, we won’t get another man inside, not for a long time.” I stared at Aaron, hoping what I was saying was enough to persuade him. His eyes narrowed, and I had a feeling he was thinking about why we wanted to take Hut down, the personal connection he had. “You know this is our only chance.”
He placed his hands on his hips, blowing out a tired breath. He stayed silent for what seemed like minutes, and finally said, “I think you’re right.” He pointed at me and stepped forward. “But after what you did today...” He shook his head. “Go home for a week, remember who you are and what your goal is: to take this motherfucker down.”
I opened my mouth, about to refuse to go, but Jord murmured, “Take what he’s saying. He could pull you off altogether.” I understood what he was saying, so I nodded, thankful when he let me go.
Aaron stayed for a couple of minutes, catching up with each of the guys, but he didn’t say another thing to me, just squeezed my shoulder and nodded. He’d want me in his office tomorrow morning, that went without question.
“You fucked up,” Jord said when Kyle and Ryan had left the house, and I couldn’t say anything to him because he was right. “Is she really worth it?”
“I…” I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Yeah, she is.”
“You need to be sure about that, Brody, because this will—”
“I know what will happen.” I met his intense stare, reading the silence like a letter. “I know exactly what will happen but”—I rubbed my chest at the ache leaving her caused—“I’ve never felt like this. It’s more than wanting her. Fuck, Jord, I need her. I need her like I need my next breath.”
Jord was quiet for so long I wasn’t even sure he was still listening, and then he cursed. “Well, shit.”
“Yeah…I gotta get her out of there. Hut beat the shit out of her last night because he thought he found out, and then Ted… Shit, I have no idea what he’ll do to her next time.”
Jord looked around the house, finally halting his gaze on his computer. “I need to show you something.” I raised a brow and stared at him as he opened up the bottom drawer to the unit under the desk. He pulled out a manila folder and looked back at me. “After the last time we talked about you flipping her, I had a feeling that you wouldn’t.” He held the folder out to me, and I took it. “We’d investigated her at the beginning, but since you’ve been under, we haven’t—”
“Wait.” I held the folder in the air. “Did you investigate Lola?”
His lips flattened into a thin line. “Damn straight I did. You’re gonna want to know what I found, especially as you’re going home for—”
I slammed the folder on the table, causing sheets to scatter across it and onto the floor. I didn’t need him investigating her, as far as he was concerned she didn’t exist. This was the exact reason I hadn’t told any of them when I was searching for a safe house. They didn’t understand—they’d never understand.
“Keep your fuckin’ investigative file and go fuck yourself.” I stomped past him, my anger rising to a boiling point.
“B!” I heard his footsteps pound on the floor, but ignored him all the way to the door. “Just read it, you don’t know—”
I pulled the door open, stepped out, and slammed it behind me, cutting him off.
Seven days. She’d be alone for seven days, and I couldn’t even trust that my team would look after her. All I could do is put the time to good use and come up with a plan on my own to get her out of there.
Chapter Eighteen
LOLA
I scrolled down the webpage, getting more despondent the more I searched. Each listing got more expensive as I went down the page, and I realized this might not work. I had enough for a deposit and to get myself set up, but I had a budget. Apparently, my budget was next to nothing.
I huffed out a breath and clicked for the next page, knowing nothing will be on that one either, but there was no harm in searching.