The gang handed out assignments, everyone prepared to move out and I approached Jules.
“Hey,” I said.
“You hanging in there?” she asked, looking at me closely.
I nodded. “Listen, I... um...” I started but May came up to our group and I stopped.
“It’s okay. You can talk in front of May,” Jules told me.
“About anything?” I asked.
“Hon, if you mean about you freakin’ out yesterday about Luke makin’ out with Jules on her couch while Vance was watchin’ on the monitors in the surveillance room, then yeah, you can talk about anything,” May put in.
My bugged out eyes swung to Jules. “Vance was watching?” I breathed.
“Yeah, I didn’t know that, neither did Luke. Vance installed cameras in my house during my troubles and he was on duty in the surveillance room the night Luke and I... um...” Jules stopped then started again. “Ava, you have to know, it didn’t go very far.”
“Vance was watching?” I breathed again. I didn’t know Vance very well (read: hardly at all) but I figured Vance was a lot like Luke. “Did he throw any lamps?” I asked.
I saw Jules relax before she grinned. “No, but he wasn’t too happy.”
“I’ll bet,” I said, thinking she got off easy.
“Did Luke throw a lamp?” May asked.
“Yeah, after he caught me with Ren,” I told her.
May looked at Jules. “Who acts like that?”
I thought this was a good question but I didn’t share. Instead I said, “Jules, listen, I don’t want you in on this operation.”
Both Jules and May looked at me. May’s eyes narrowed. Jules looked surprised.
“Why? She’s The Law. Right now, way I see it, she’s the best thing you got goin’ for you,” May said.
I looked at Jules. “I can’t explain it now but I think Jules understands.”
I saw the light dawn on Jules. It didn’t dawn on May. Therefore I reckoned May wasn’t in on the pregnancy news.
“You can’t cut her out of the action just because she made out with your boyfriend,” May protested.
In any normal situation a girl would be obligated to cut out another girl because she made out with her boyfriend.
This, however, wasn’t a normal situation.
Still.
I ignored May, it was up to Jules if she wanted to share that I was protecting her because she was pregnant. Instead, I looked for a compromise.
“Can you be the information person? Operate a Command Central? People can check in with you, you can keep tabs on things, where people are, what they’ve learned. I don’t know, that kind of shit?” I asked.
Jules smiled. “I can do that.”
“Hang on a second, Jules can drop a guy twice her size. I don’t –” May cut in.
“I’ll explain it later,” Jules interrupted her.
“But –” May went on.