“Until we are sure no one else is going to come for you. The general consensus is without the leader and the enforcer, that the crew is going to flounder and fall apart. It shouldn’t take long. But we want to make sure that happens before you get back to your normal life.”
“My sheets are going to feel like dollar store material after sleeping on Teddy’s fancy ones,” I said, sighing. “And I don’t have a pool. I mean, not that I’ve really used the damn thing. But pools are, you know, nice. Lyle likes it too. He’s probably walking around thinking he’s been rescued by a billionaire. What a disappointment it will be for him to go back to my place.”
“Hey, babe,” Remy called, voice soft, sweet.
“Yeah?”
“You can babble on for another hour or two if you want, but we are going to need to talk about it.”
“Since when do guys ever want to talk?” I shot back, my gaze lowering, uncomfortable with the topic. “Dr. Stone seems to think I need to stay away from you.”
“Dr. Stone and Seeley have some history. From the looks of it, it’s not pretty. Easy for her to judge us all based on that. But she might have a point.”
“What?” I asked, head jerking up.
“We’ve been starting this relationship in a sort of unnatural way. You needed some rescuing. I had the skills to do that. But I don’t think you’ve been able to really stop and think about what it means to be with a man like me.”
“I’ve thought about it,” I insisted. “But it was always easy to remind myself that you were good and sweet and easy-going and trustworthy.”
“And now you’re second-guessing all of that,” he concluded. If I wasn’t entirely mistaken, there was a hint of hurt in his tone at that.
But hurt feelings or not, he was right, we needed to have this conversation.
“You didn’t exactly seem good and sweet and easy-going in that room back there.”
There.
I said it.
“No,” he agreed. “I wasn’t. And I would be lying to you if I said that was a one-off thing. That has happened before. It will likely happen again. But I can assure you that it only happens for good reason. Like the night I saved a bait kitten from an asshole who was going to use her in a dog fight.”
“I might get a little savage in that situation too,” I admitted.
“And I also feel like I need to remind you that my job comes with violence and uncertainty. As much as we try to shield that from the girls, sometimes you are going to see some shit that might make you uncomfortable. Or know some shit that might make you uncomfortable. And I have to understand if that isn’t something you are going to want in your future.
“If that is your choice, you are still going to stay in the safe house until things are in the clear. I am still going to help you rescue out those dogs. And I am still going to watch this situation to make sure everything is good. So you don’t have to make a decision based on fear.”
Did bad guys say things like that? Make assurances like that? I was pretty sure they didn’t.
“Have you ever hit a w—“
“No,” he cut me off.
“What if she was, like, trying to drown a cat?”
“Are you planning on drowning any cats?”
“No.”
“Then I’m not sure why we need that hypothetical,” he said, shaking his head. “But say I came upon that, I might wrestle the cat away from her. Then sic you on her.”
“So you do all the gross bodily injury on the men, and I get the women?”
“Seems like a solid plan to me. Look,” Remy said, pushing off the door, and taking slow strides toward me, like he was gauging if I was going to flinch away from him or not.
And, somehow, despite what I’d seen, despite what I suspected went on even after I was out of that room, I genuinely didn’t feel any fear toward him as he got closer.
“You don’t have to make a decision right now,” Remy said, stopping right in front of me. “If you need a night or a week, take that. You’re hurting. You’re traumatized. It’s probably not the best time to make a decision.”