She made the calls she needed to, and let herself lie back on the bed, just for a minute. She hadn’t been sleeping much between trying to do as many interviews as she could in a day and lying awake trying to figure out what she was going to do about paying her bills.
* * * *
Hal walked back into the living room with a shit-eating grin on his face. R.J. looked at him. “What’s up with you?”
“You should go sneak a peek. Our girl’s back there sleeping and her robe slipped open,” Hal answered, still grinning.
“You pervert. Why didn’t you cover her up, asshole? I’ll go do it.” R.J. jumped up from the couch and headed back to the bedroom. Lena lay on her stomach on the bed. The robe had moved up to her midback, leaving her ass bare. She had one leg bent at the knee, leaving a very nice view. R.J. grabbed the throw that was on the end of the bed and unfolded it, placing it over her delectable ass.
Lena stirred as he placed the blanket but settled immediately when he placed a soothing hand on her back and quietly whispered, “Shh, baby, go back to sleep. We’ll take care of you.” He couldn’t resist bending down and brushing a soft kiss across her forehead. He stepped back to the foot of the bed and stood watching her a minute, feeling a bit like a voyeur, before he turned and walked back to the main room where Hal was waiting.
R.J. had poured them each a shot and Hal grabbed his, tossing it back. “Did you order some snacks?” he asked.
“I thought I’d let her nap a while then call, unless you want something while we call Mel and talk this over. We need to make a plan. This is going to be about more than just protecting her,” R.J. said, walking over and getting his phone.
“You feel it, too?”
“Yeah, I think Mel did, too, after what he’s said.”
“Do you think she would go for what we want?” Hal asked, sitting in one of the big chairs on either side of the couch.
“Jeez, Hal, how would I fucking know that? You know as much about her as I do at this point. Damn, man, do you think I’m a fucking mind reader?”
“Shit, calm down. You know you’re better at reading people than I am, that’s all I was asking.”
“We need to spend some time with her and see where if any place this goes. After the last two assholes she was with, I wouldn’t blame her if she swore off men forever,” R.J. said, wondering if they even had a chance.
Hal, Mel, and R.J. had all been friends for several years and had discovered that dating different women didn’t work for them. R.J. didn’t know if they were all a little damaged or just wired differently than the rest of the world, but they were happiest when they all three concentrated on a project together, whether that project was professional or personal.
Once they realized this and started dating women together they found their strengths and realized they each had something different to offer a woman. They complemented each other and where one of them was weak another was strong. There was no jealousy. They were a team working together and all three pieces fit.
Hal stood and walked back to the bedroom, pulling the door closed so that their conversation with Mel wouldn’t wake their sleeping beauty. He hoped she would be theirs.
R.J. had Mel on the speakerphone when he walked back into the room. “Did you find out anything more about the people that are after her?” R.J. asked.
“From what Lance was able to find there is more than one group after her. Franklin Franks the second was involved with some very bad characters. He blamed everything on our girl and all the paper traces back to her. The Feds are involved and they want her for questioning. You know how those assholes can be. I’ve talked to my contact there and he’s agreed to let me handle her for now. How long he can keep things quiet, I have no idea. What’s your read on her?”
R.J. explained what had happened so far that afternoon and what his impression of Lena and her situation was. Hal added his views and the three discussed strategies for keeping Lena safe. They argued for several minutes about what she should be told about the trouble she was in and were still arguing when Hal saw her walking down the hall from the bedroom.
* * * *
Lena woke to the sound of raised voices. She listened for a few minutes before she walked out to see what was going on. She couldn’t have heard them right. It sounded like they were talking about protecting her and that she was in some sort of trouble.
Hey, did you have a nice nap?” he asked, walking over to her.
“Yeah, I heard you guys. Were you talking about me?” she asked. Maybe she hadn’t heard them right.
Hal walked her back to the couch and once again she found herself sitting between the two men. “Lena, we are talking to Melvin Ashcroft, our partner and the man you interviewed with on the phone. I don’t know how much or what you heard, but before you say anything the four of us need to talk.”
Lena sat on the couch, wondering what she had gotten herself into now. Trouble seemed to find her no matter what she did. It was like she was a magnet for it.
“Hi, Lena. I know we’ve talked on the phone before. I’ll be back tomorrow, but I don’t feel we should wait until then to talk,” the voice on the phone said.
Lena nodded, then realizing the voice couldn’t see her, said, “Okay.”
Mel went on to explain what was going on. Lena sat listening, her eyes wide. She couldn’t quite process it all. “Wait, you mean all those loans I processed at Franklin’s request were bad?” she asked, her voice full of doubt.
Hal placed one hand on her thigh and answered, “We are checking into them, but yes, a large number of them were not what they seemed.”