“A little bit, yeah.”
Arden gives him a smack upside the head. “I told you. You don’t go around hacking a girl’s computer.”
“You’re the one who wanted to show up at the motel. I didn’t think she’d appreciate that much more.” He’s not wrong about that, either. I probably wouldn’t have answered the door, even if seeing them might make me feel good. Because it does feel good to think they care. They don’t have any reason to. Our transaction is complete.
Finally, Ranger wanders past, eating what looks like a bowl of cereal. “Hey. You okay today?”
So we’re just going to gloss over this whole hacking thing, I guess. “I’m fine. Happy that I can start making plans for real instead of fantasizing. I owe that to you three.”
Dash runs a hand over the back of his neck, grimacing. “I fucked up. I know I did. But for real, no matter what it seems like, we weren’t sitting around and talking about you. Not in a bad way.”
“Why would you talk about me in the first place? That’s what I don’t get.”
“Obviously, we like you. As a person. You’re cool, and we have a lot of fun together.”
I wish my heart wouldn’t flutter like it is. I don’t need to get all starry-eyed now. Especially when I’m leaving town, so it’s not like we’ll have any more opportunities to have fun, as he puts it. I’m not mad anymore. I don’t know that I was very mad in the first place, come to think of it.
“There was more to it,” I admit. “It’s just that it feels like so much of my life was taken away. I’ve been out of control for years. Last night was one more example of how I was out of control. This time, I had no say over who got to know what about what I’ve gone through.”
“We know what it’s like.” Arden exchanges a look with his friends. “That’s why I never wanted to talk to counselors at school about my problems. Like, mind your own fucking business; I don’t need to share.”
“Exactly.” Maybe not, exactly. I might not put it that way, but the feeling is there. “I was just thinking about how nice it was to hang out with you guys. How nice it is to see the way you are together. I only have one good friend—my only friend now. And I’m not even going to have her once I’m gone, but I can’t stay. I can’t risk… him.”
Dammit. I’m supposed to be happy today. This is supposed to be the first day of the rest of my life. Instead, I’m fighting back tears in front of three men who know much more about me than they should, considering we’ve only known each other for a few days.
And I’m regretting leaving. Not only because of Thatcher, either. How am I ever going to find men like them anywhere else I go? I don’t know if I can pick up and leave and forget what it was like being with all of them. It’s not like I could put an ad out in the paper. Three hot studs wanted. Must enjoy sharing. I shudder to think.
That bastard took so much from me, and he’s still taking things.
Ranger’s eyes narrow. “Is there anything we can do?”
Arden flashes a nasty little grin. “For real. Just tell us where to find him.”
“That’s tempting,” I admit with a laugh, “but thanks, no. I have to handle my problems on my own. It wouldn’t help anything if you kicked his ass.”
“It’s cute that you think we’d stop there.” I wait for Ranger to laugh or at least grin, but he doesn’t. He only chews his cereal slowly, crunching while the other two remain silent.
Who the hell are these guys? I’m starting to think all three of them are into some pretty sketchy stuff. Here I was, wondering what men their age were doing with so much money. I’m so naïve. I never thought that maybe they get it illegally. None of them so much as flinch at the suggestion of getting Adam out of the way.
Shouldn’t that scare me? Instead, it makes me glad we’re on the same side.
“I have an idea. If we can’t get rid of this guy, we can at least make sure you’ve got enough money to set yourself up on solid ground.” Dash looks at Ranger, then at Arden, both of whom nod.
“You’ve already given me plenty. I have more than enough to get by until I find a job.”
“Yeah, but how long is that going to take? What’s your employment history look like?”
Oh. Right. I sort of forgot about that. “I’ve never had a job,” I confess. “My parents wanted me to wait until after high school because they wanted me to focus on my grades. And after that, he wanted to always be the one to provide.” I can’t even say his name. He wasn’t being generous. He was being controlling, making sure I didn’t have a choice but to stay with him.
“How are you paying for the motel?” Arden asks.
“I still had a little bit of money left over from my parents’ life insurance, but there wasn’t much of that in the first place. Enough for a funeral and to take care of the basics for me these past couple of years, like my car. But it’s almost all gone now.”
“Damn. But see, all the more reason to make sure you’ve got extra when you leave. It could take a while for you to find something decent, and even then, you want to make sure you’ve got enough for at least a few months of rent, furniture, bills, all that stuff.”
“I’m telling you, I have enough. You don’t have to do anything. I don’t want charity.”
“For one thing, it’s not charity.” Dash screws up his mouth like he’s offended. “Second, no offense or anything, but I was watching when you were searching for apartments. You can do better than that.”