Just Good Friends (Cheap Thrills #5) - Mary B. Moore Page 0,62

whole time.

“As everyone a P.V.P.D. knows, this is Naomi Kelly. The little girl waiting to say hi—”

“Hi,” she squeaked in the most adorable voice I’d ever heard.

It seemed the men all felt the same way because there was a chorus of aww’s from them.

“Hey, cherub,” DB chuckled. “That’s her niece, Shanti, who she has custody of. Naomi moved here two weeks before Zuri did, which was why we had a plan in place for people needing the protection of the city. The plans and building of the safe room at the precinct were already underway by that point, but it was completed slightly more quickly than originally planned because of them.”

One of the new members of P.V.P.D., Carter, stepped forward, the expression on his face hard to read. “What do they need a safe room for?”

DB raised his eyebrows at Naomi, who rolled her eyes and came closer to us.

“Just after Shanti was born, my brother and his wife were in an accident. I was babysitting her when the officers came to tell me what’d happened. After that, I started to get people turning up at my door, pretending to be CPS officers doing spot checks on how I was looking after her. Because the IDs didn’t look genuine, I refused to let them in, called the number on the card I had from them, and found out they hadn’t sent anyone round. Weird stuff kept happening, but then my parents—who both have records and drug habits—started turning up to see her. They became more persistent until one day, I went to the store to get diapers for her. She was only about three months old then, so she was in her car seat in the shopping cart.”

As she spoke, Carter got closer to her until he was close enough for Shanti to touch—which she did, latching on him and reaching out for him to take her.

“Hi,” she squealed, beaming up at him.

“Hey, sweetie pie, I’m Carter.”

“Cah-tah,” she nodded, slapping him on the chest.

Looking slightly pale, Naomi continued, “I turned around to put the diapers in the cart, and my dad was there with a gun pointed at me while my mother lifted her out of it. If it hadn’t been for two off duty police officers, they would’ve gotten her. They got away, but after they did some digging, they found out that my parents were in deep with a dealer in Florida, so they’d arranged for a couple who couldn’t have kids to buy Shanti to pay him off.”

There was silence as we all stared at her, only a few of the men not looking surprised by the story.

“That there is some daytime car crash television show shit,” Reid whispered as he sat down heavily next to me. “What in the fuck?”

Clearing his throat, Carter rubbed Shanti’s back as she lay happy as anything with her head on his shoulder. “I know Naomi’s family because we’re from the same place, but I didn’t know any of this.”

Judging by the way her jaw tensed, there was also some bad history between them. Glancing at Reid, I saw that he’d noticed it too when he raised his eyebrows at me and looked back at them all.

“The point in us telling you all of this,” DB spoke up, “is that we need to be vigilant for a multitude of reasons. We’re not fortunate enough to know everyone’s purpose for moving here. Some of them may be doing what Zuri and Naomi are, and others might be the people they’re trying to run away from. We’ve got a facility now to help the residents of Piersville stay safe and live comfortably, but we have to be part of it.

“Now, we’ve seen some of Gjorka’s guys near here, so we’ve got to be vigilant now. Just to add to that, we’ve got a duty to the other residents to keep them safe too, and you never know what’s going to happen or who’s going to be targeted by someone next. This used to be a peaceful place, but the world changes, and now we’re as vulnerable as any major city.”

“Except,” Alex interrupted with a small smile on his face, “we’ve got a smaller population, so it’s easier for us to notice a face that doesn’t fit or one that we’re not familiar with.”

Nodding in agreement, DB looked between Naomi and me. “Now, ladies. Knowing all of that, how safe are you feeling?”

I didn’t even need to think about it. “Safe. I’m worried about