stuff. I wasn’t being stupid on that, it was a legit fear of mine. What if I pooped and he went into the bathroom after me? How embarrassing would that be? I couldn’t kick Clyde in the room and blame it on him, I didn’t have any powers that would allow me to freeze time.
A hand grabbing my wrist snapped me out of my irrational panicking, and I looked up to see Canon squatting in front of me, his thumb on my pulse as he frowned at whatever he was thinking. “You good, Zuri? What’s got you panicking, girl?”
Like I was going to tell him the truth.
“The fact that tampons and pads kill dolphins and whales,” I blurted, then immediately regretted it. Unfortunately, at that point, there was no return. “I’m thinking of heading out to Antarctica to join a campaign to stop whaling next year, and when I looked into it, I read up on how they were finding dolphin and whale bodies with tampons and pads inside them. I’m too squeamish to use one of those cup things, so I’m kind of screwed. Does that make me a dolphin and whale murderer? Do you think they’ll ban me from signing up to help them fight the war against whaling?”
When you start a job, give it everything you’ve got. How deep did this humiliation hole go?
All of the men stood staring at me, not saying a word.
Eventually, Bond said slowly, “Anyway, uh, there’s not really a lot of reason to panic about…” he waved his arm around, “stuff. At least not the stuff going on with the crazy dude. What you want to do with your holla-hole is up to you, and I’m sure the dolphins and whales will thank you for caring.”
Then, throwing his hands up in the air, he stomped over to a free chair and sat down heavily. “I can’t do this. I don’t even know why I tried to be the one to end the silence, but that shit was awkward.” Pulling at the neck of his t-shirt, he stretched his neck from side to side. “I feel like it’s hot in here. Is anyone else feeling hot?”
With red cheeks, DB rubbed the back of his neck. “I think the main point is that you’re safe, Zuri. The guys here tonight are just the tip of the iceberg, ‘cos Mace, Ellis, and the others are working with us, we just didn’t want to take all of our eyes out of town to come to the meeting. Garrett’s programmed all the numbers you need into your phone, and we’ve all got your number in ours, so we’ve got you covered.”
Weirdly, I did feel better knowing that. Fighting the war on my own had been terrifying, but battling it with a lot of the town behind me felt a helluva lot more doable.
“Maybe she should learn to shoot?” Bond suggested, taking a step back when Garrett glared at him. “Maybe not.”
“Uh, I can already shoot. I’ve got guns everywhere around the house.”
Every eye focused on me, some looking scared, some intrigued, some shocked.
It was Garrett’s terrified one that made me laugh and add, “And knives. My dad taught me how to defend myself properly.”
Chapter Thirteen
Garrett
It’d been a week since we’d had the meeting with everyone at our house to introduce Naomi’s issues and update Tamsin on hers, and everything had gone silent.
The men had disappeared as quickly as they came, and it was confusing the shit out of all of us. Had they moved on? Had they been called away for something else?
And something was eating at Tamsin, and she wasn’t telling me what it was.
Two days ago, the hospital administrator had called to say that they couldn’t hold her position open any longer. It was understandable but also shitty because there wasn’t much she could do about it.
I’d had a long talk with her about finances in case she needed help, and come to find out, when she’d moved, her dad had taken a chunk out of a savings account she had with an inheritance from her mom’s parents, who’d died. When they’d sold their property, her parents had put half of it into a savings account as a down payment on one of her own when she was ready.
She’d carried the money with her on her journey from New York to Piersville and had handed over some of it when she’d opened her account. To avoid any questions, it’d been a small amount, and every