Chapter Nine
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Milly
Tinsley seems really scared. I don't think this is a ploy. She's shaking and her face is pale. Still, who can tell with someone like Tinsley who is willing to go to any extent to get what she wants? The men all leave us downstairs as they go with Tinsley to see at her 'death threat'. I guess she got what she wanted in the end even with this since all the guys are upstairs and all of us are down here waiting.
Rani leans back on the pillows and gives a humph. She looks pissed as hell about having her cuddle time cut short.
"Do you think someone’s really trying to hurt Tinsley?" I ask even if Trinity won't. She doesn't look too happy either.
I myself didn't mind the intrusion. It kept me from making a fool out of myself. Jag pulled me down to sit with him on one of the little lounge-looking things and there was no good way out of not going with him. I didn't want to be mean.
But I was so uncomfortable. Not uncomfortable because of him or anything. I just didn't know what to do. Do I lay like I would if a friend was next to me? Do I sit with my legs kicked out? It didn't help that he decided this was the perfect time to do that thing he does where he feeds me again too. He brought me fruit while all the others sat around us drinking wine and eating cheese. How did he even know I'm not that crazy about wine and cheese?
Then once we settled in, he started playing with my hair and touching the back of my neck. I thought I was making it all up until it got too obvious to not be real. Jag was...touching me. Just little grazes but they drove me crazy. He shared popcorn with me the same way he shared the fruit. Then everyone was ready for the movie and the lights were all turned off leaving the room lit with only the firelight and the screen.
When Tinsley came screaming into the room at first, I was just as scared as everyone else. I've never seen so many men reach for their hips. Sometimes I forget that most of them are cops but not at moments like this.
"No. I mean anyone who knows her wants to kill her but I think she's doing all of this for attention." Rani doesn't seem to hold back just because Trinity is sitting nearby and she is friends with Tinsley. "I bet whatever it is she did it to herself just to get all the men come running. What a bitch!"
I wait for Trinity to come to her defense, but she surprises me with her next words, "She does seem to be struggling this weekend. I think she even tried to hit on Roy."
And Trinity does not look very happy about that fact either. I guess the one friend Tinsley had in the cabin might be gone. The men come back down but I notice a few of them are absent. Mark, Jag, and Roy are some of them. Tinsley doesn't come back down either. I become aware of Trinity getting tense close by me. And I have to admit my heart does sink a little bit to realize that Jag was among the ones that didn't come back.
"So, what was it this time, the neighbors spying on her? Oh wait, we don't have neighbors here." Rani can hardly hold back her venom.
"No love, it looks like it’s a legitimate threat."
"What?" Rani sits forward and I feel like we all hold our breath waiting to find out what Charlie meant.
"Someone left a dead fish in her room. It was in a box wrapped like a gift and had a note attached to it. It said she was a dead woman." We all sit in stunned silence for a few seconds. "She's refusing to sleep in her room and we're going to have to do another room shuffle."
My heart sinks even further. I know exactly who Tinsley wants to protect her. "Rumer, you and Mark are going to take the room Jay and Milly were in last night." I wait for him to go on with a sick feeling in my stomach. "Tinsley is going to stay in Rumer and Mark's bedroom."
And Jag with it. Well, it was nice to have Jag to myself while our time lasted.
"Milly," I'm headed to the bunkbed room. I brace myself for those next words. "You and Jag are going to take Tinsley's old room."
Wait, what? Tinsley's old room. That room only has one bed in it. I'm going to be with Jag in a room with only one bed. And a room that someone received a death threat in. Maybe I would have been better off if I got the bunkbed room.
Jag is the first one down. "I got our stuff moved over, Milly."
Oh shit, does that mean he touched my underwear?
"I think considering what just happened we might want to put movie night on hold until tomorrow night, guys." Charlie suggests.
Everyone else lets out a moan or groan at the inconvenience of it all. They don't have to go to the dead fish room. With Hot Cop. Who may or may not have touched my panties!? I am so fucked.
"You ready to go up?"
"Um," I look at everyone else starting to head up the stairs, "sure." He takes my hand and leads me to yet another bedroom. This one is a lot bigger than the one we were in last night. It has a balcony leading outside which I remember that Tinsley said someone was standing on the other night looking at her. A shiver works its way down my back at the thought.
"I put knew sheets on the bed and made sure all the locks were good" I give him a little nod but have to run my hands up my arms to chase the chill away. "Hey, I wouldn't have taken the room if I didn't think I could keep you safe."
I'm not sure what to even say to that. The bed is right in the middle of the room and that is taking up just as much of my attention as the fact that someone wanted the person in this room dead. "I'm going to hop in the shower if that's alright."
I give him an absent nod. At least with him in the bathroom I'll be able to change and slide into bed without having to worry about how I look when I'm trying to get in. I'm pretty sure I have bigger problems than that considering where I find myself at.