“She is supposed to contact us and keep us posted on where she is. How can we be her guardians if she keeps pushing us away and holding back?” Burker asked. He ran his fingers through his hair. He was really getting more and more upset. He kept thinking about the case they were helping with. About the women who were taken and turned into prostitutes. They didn’t have anyone to watch over them, support them and encourage them to succeed in life. These predators took advantage of these young women and manipulated their minds. Hell, they beat them into submission and even drugged them from what the case was revealing.
“You need to calm down. She texted us.”
“You called her and she didn’t answer. Why didn’t she want to talk to you?” he asked Parker.
Parker squinted his eyes at him.
“We can’t go over to her place and wait for her. She could get scared. You saw how shy she is. We can’t overwhelm her.”
“Overwhelm her? What the fuck is going on here, Parker? I mean really? We’re grown fucking men. We take what we want when we want it. We go in when everyone else is too scared or when the danger is so high we’re told there’s a chance we may not make it. Here we are, falling for this petite, much younger, beautiful woman and we’re walking on fucking eggshells! Why?” he yelled and then grunted before storming out of the room. He couldn’t believe this. Other men found their woman and claimed her. Maybe they needed to ease into the ménage relationship and take their time, but this? This wasn’t them taking their time. He and his brothers were scared. Scared to start a relationship they knew would be serious. They never committed to one woman before. Sure, they wanted a relationship like this because of their jobs, their intense personalities, and hoped where one may lack the others would make up for it. But then he kissed her. He was finally able to place his hands on her waist, inhale her shampoo and he wanted more. He wanted to protect her, keep her close and make her smile.
It was insane.
He pulled off his shirt and turned on the shower. He needed to calm down. There was nothing he could do about her lack of response tonight. But tomorrow? Tomorrow was another story entirely.
Chapter 5
“Are you out of your mind?” Missy Ann exclaimed.
Eliza Grace shifted her position on the bench she sat on. They went for a run together and Eliza explained what she had really been up to on Wednesdays and Friday nights.
“No, I’m not kidding. I took your advice about the bucket list thing and about reaching for some goals and achieving them. Singing on stage at a place has been a big fantasy of mine.”
“But Luther’s? That place is crazy, and so big, and rowdy. People of all ages go there, including a bunch of college kids from the local universities. Is that why you decided to do it? To fight off this fear and the memories of those college guys and what they tried to do to you?” she asked.
Eliza thought about that a minute and then remembered what happened last night. She rubbed her arm and felt the light bruising. Thank goodness there wasn’t any indication or marks.
Missy Ann reached for her arm and looked. “What the hell happened? You keep rubbing your arm like it hurts.”
Eliza Grace leaned back and covered her face with her hands. “I’m an idiot. That’s what happened. I have been so damn busy trying to prove that I’m not scared, that I’m not weak or have low self-esteem, that I placed myself in an unnecessary predicament by singing there. In more ways than one.”
“What do you mean?” Missy Ann asked her.
Eliza Grace exhaled and then took a slug from the water bottle she was almost finished with.
“Well, let me explain.”
Eliza Grace told her about the audition, getting the job and about Si, Daville and Vic and the college guys who harassed her last night.
“They sound mysterious but like trouble,” she said to Eliza Grace.
“I got the same feeling and Luther, well, he like bows down to these guys. But last night, like I explained, their words, the way they looked at me, led me to believe they were hitting on me. I let my guard down for a little bit when those college guys grabbed me and the one grabbed my arm so tight.” She rubbed her arm.
“That’s understandable. You probably had flashbacks from college.”
“I did. Si acted very protective, and calmed me down and then I realized that I needed to get the hell out of there. Luther’s and that crowd aren’t my cup of tea. Despite how awesome it was to sing on stage and perform like that, I felt unsafe.” She looked away. “I thought about Parker, Burker, Lynch and Tazer and how protected and calm they make me feel.”