“Well, the girls said there was a break-in last night. The funny thing was Brylee’s was the only room that got hit.”
“Brylee was with you?” Tommy asked.
“Yes.”
“I see,” the officer said and turned toward the women. “Who wants to tell me what happened?”
The girls started stuttering.
Brylee stood back and tried not to grin.
“You got this?” Gage asked the officer.
“Yeah.”
Gage turned to the women. “I was going to give you rent money to offset Brylee’s, but I think you already got it when you took her money jar. By the way, her real stash was somewhere else.”
The women looked at each other with a mixture of dismay and anger.
Gage hustled her out of the apartment. “ Tommy, I think I smelled marijuana when I walked in.”
Tommy’s eyes brows rose, and his lips twitched. “Drugs? Well, that’s unfortunate.” He turned to one of the other officers. “Call in K-9. He’ll sniff out whatever’s here.” Then Tommy waved to Gage and Brylee and went to work.
&nb
sp; The last look Brylee got of her roommates was them huddled together, pale and scared. She would have felt sorry for them if they hadn’t stolen from her for so long or mistreated her.
What’s the saying about Karma being a bitch? She thought to herself and then grinned.
Chapter Nine
It was late afternoon when they hauled everything into the condo and set it by the door.
Gage looked at Brylee with concern. “Let’s get you fed. While you’re eating, I’ll put things away.”
“What? That’s not right. I can help.”
Gage gripped her shoulders. “One thing we need to talk about it your obedience, princess. If I ask you to do something, I have a real good reason why and so I expect you do it. Do you think you can find it in yourself to try to trust me?”
Brylee stared up at him and then nodded. At that moment, she would have done anything he’d told her to.
“Good, go sit down.”
Brylee sat on a stool at the counter and watched him put together a few sandwiches. Then he slid one over to her with a glass of milk.
She scrunched up her nose. “I don’t like milk.”
Gage smiled and pulled it back. “Okay, how about juice or water?”
“Water, please.”
“Coming right up.”
Gage had all the groceries put away and had eaten his sandwich by the time she finished hers.
“What do you want to do, now, princess?” Gage asked, leaning over the counter in front of her.
“I’d like to talk to Larkin.”