Jesus Christ. What did you say to someone who could be carrying a killer disease, just because they were born unlucky in the genetic lottery? His heart hurt for her and the mess she found herself in.
"What were you thinking, Six?" Mac asked.
"We need to try to confirm if it is Ivan or Vasilii who has it in for her, and why. I got the plates of the two vehicles that were used the night before last and yesterday. I suggest we start there. See who they belong to."
"I'm on it," Mac said.
"And I think we need eyes on Ivan, see who he is talking to, meeting with," Six added.
Mac nodded. "Great idea. Let's give that to Buddha and Gaz. Bailey and Ryder are coming in for interviews today so I need to be at the office for a little while."
Cabe tapped his fingers on the table. "This ties up a lot of our guys. What do we do about the work we have lined up?"
Shit. The woman had just told them that she could be carrying a deadly disease and was one of the leading researchers in the field. "It'll have to wait until we've taken care of Lou."
"That's all noble and shit, but we have bills to pay. You know that."
Louisa pulled out of his arms. "Don't worry," she said, looking up at him with those sweet brown eyes. "I can pay you." Six stiffened as she turned to look at the other men at the table. "I'm serious. I can afford to hire you. And it makes sense. You already said you needed money to build. It's not a big deal."
"Lou, sweetheart. Can you give me a sec with the guys, please?" Six asked.
She cast a glance toward Cabe and Mac and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Please. Don't fall out with your business partners over me."
He placed his hands on her biceps. "We fall out over shit all the time, have done since we were five years old," he said, turning to glare at Cabe for a moment. "Just let us talk, and I'll come get you. Go sit in the garden with your coffee, okay?"
"Fine. But I'll be mad if you guys fight over this."
Six smiled at her and moved her bangs. "So noted."
Six watched her walk toward his room to reach the garden.
"Dude. What the hell?" Cabe said. "Thought we said she should go to the police."
"Yeah, well, for the record, we did. Things escalated pretty quickly. I want to help her, and I get we have to charge her, but I don't want to screw her over."
Mac laughed. "Are we talking financially or … ?"
"Fuck you." Six couldn't help but laugh.
"Joking aside, you know if she becomes a client, you can't be in a relationship with her, right?" Mac said.
He dropped the grin and ignored the way his chest tightened. They were only just getting started, and now he had to put the brakes on knowing just how good it felt when she came apart in his arms.
Cabe nudged him. "We can't be seen to be hooking up with clients. Does our rep no good whatsoever."
Six ran his hands through his fingers. "Yeah," he admitted reluctantly. "I do. Can we just … let's come up with a price that doesn't make me feel like an asshole."
Hours later, after they'd agreed on a fee and Louisa had wired them their retainer, Six watched Louisa as she puttered around in the kitchen. She'd eaten only a small amount of the pizza he'd ordered, even though he'd ordered a fully loaded veggie one just for her. He didn't know the first thing about Huntington's and wondered if he should be getting foods that kept her strength up or something instead of feeding her dough with cheap tomato sauce and pre-cut vegetables.
She wiped down the counter and then took the plates out of the cupboard, restacked them, and put them back inside. He wondered if she realized that she did stuff like that when she was stressed. From his spot in the dining room, he saw her gravitate to the bookshelves in the living room, which she promptly began rearranging. He wondered what her logic was. Grouping by type, so he'd find all his business books separate from his fiction? Or alphabetized, regardless of genre? Knowing Louisa as he was coming to, it would be a mix of both.
"You know she's a client now, right?" Cabe muttered under his breath, packing up his laptop.
Yeah. I fucking do. "I'm aware," he said calmly, trying not to give any more away to Cabe than he had to.
"Bro. I didn't do this to piss you off." Cabe stood and rubbed his chin, something he did when thinking. "I'm sorry we need to charge her but we can't afford to work for free because we feel bad for someone. And from the way you're looking at her, I'm sorry we have rules about dating clients. You get that, right?"