Chapter 14 Nick
Nick
After the barn incident, I figured the girl was going to run, so I sat on the porch and pulled up her room’s security camera and watched as she curled up in a ball on the bed, not even bothering to get under the covers.
The amount of effort she puts into messing up as little as possible is astounding. She’s meticulous in everything she does. It seemed like she spent five minutes obsessing over cleaning every speck of dirt off Jester as if he doesn’t live outside.
“I’m sorry if I didn’t do a good enough job, I’ve never cared for a horse before.” Her face was sullen. That kind of obsessing is not from OCD. Raw fear shone in her eyes afterwards as if the animal doesn’t spend its life walking in the dirt.
Apologizing for things that are out of your control is a learned behavior.
Was I too hard on her? Maybe. It’s not in me to go easy on someone.
I watched her climb out of her bed and creep down the stairs. It was all I could do to keep from laughing when I saw her looking at me from the window on my phone’s security feed.
I should’ve turned around and waved at her. That would’ve really set her off. She should’ve tried to walk out of the back door. But no, she decided to climb out of her window.
As soon as she reached the ground, I sent Ethan a text to go shut and lock the window in case she changed her mind and tried to climb back in. I’m surprised he was awake. He looked so mentally exhausted before he went to bed.
After the girl fell asleep, he met me on the porch. The conversation plays on repeat in my head while I watch her walk away in the shadows.
“Why are you so hard on her, dude? She’s been through a lot.” They’ve developed a friendship of sorts.
She doesn’t shy away from him like she does me, and honestly, it irks me. With his easygoing nature, I’m not surprised. Still, she is going to have to learn to trust me in order to successfully complete this job.
“What do you suggest I do? Hold her hand and baby her? That’s not how life works. She has to learn to stand by herself.” I take a sip of my whiskey—Weller Full Proof, my favorite. I savor the smooth amber liquid.
“I didn’t say hold her hand.” He gives me a hardened stare.
“Should I shove her off the bridge she jumped from and see if she sinks or swims?” It could be arranged, but as much as I hate to admit it, I’d have to jump in after her—again.
“You just can’t even begin to understand her level of ‘damaged,’ can you? You don’t need to know her full story, just look at how she reacts to everything that comes her way,” he pleads with me to understand.
I rub my fingers through my stubble, trying to figure out the best way to have this conversation and not end up being the asshole, per usual. He’s grown attached to her. Ethan’s heart is too big for his own good.
“Bold of you to assume I don’t notice or understand her reactions. I notice everything. But life is cut and dry, you either sink or swim. There’s no fake it ’til you make it when it comes to success, and I don’t tolerate sloppy.” I refuse to waver on that.
“Can you at least cut her some slack? She’s trying. She stands up to your ass just fine. Don’t count her out, Nick. She might be broken but she’s not irreparable.”
“I know. That’s why I am doing everything I can to help her. Did you forget I’ve hired a therapist and assigned her work on the farm?” More than I’ve ever done for a stranger. He knows that.
Have I helped fund charitable cases like the trafficking victims Vade rescues? Sure. But never, ever, has any of it been done at the place closest to my heart. I don’t bring any of my non-farm employees here. Ever. The girl is the first.
“No, but if she’s going to put the broken pieces of her soul back together, you’ve got to quit knocking them out of her hands every time she picks them up.” He stands, crosses his arms, and stares dead in my eyes.
“Touché. I can’t make any promises, but I will try to…” I rock back in my chair.
“Not be such a huge dick?” Ethan snaps.
Well…if the shoe fits…
“You mean just because I have one, I can’t act like one?
” I try to add some humor but he’s not buying my bullshit.
“Fine. I will try to be nicer, but I’m not going to take it easy on her.
Resistance builds strength. She has to learn to overcome her own obstacles.
” She will never learn to be tough if I hand everything to her on a silver platter.
“Is it really necessary to put her undercover since we can’t say for sure The Lucky Rabbit had anything to do with the two minors? You can’t base a mission off a suspicion. You need evidence.” He leans against the porch pillar.
“Do you think I don’t already know that?” I blink at him. His concerns are valid. We can’t prove that whoever Madam LaBell is, didn’t just write her name on a random matchbook.
For that matter, we can’t prove she even has anything to do with the girls, period. I highly doubt that’s the case. Especially if she goes by ‘Madam.’
“Vade has a strong gut feeling about this, so we are going to move forward with our mission.” I take another sip of my drink.
His jaw clenches. “What are you doing about it anyway?”
“We’ve had boats combing the waters, looking for more traffickers, but after we intercepted the last one, they’re either lying low or have found another route.
Vade set up a ground team to monitor things at The Lucky Rabbit and inside Cottontails, but nothing seems amiss other than a number of girls who work there appearing to be drugged out of their minds.
” I glance down at my phone, the girl is still in bed, sleeping soundly.
I wonder if she is going to sleep all night.
“Lots of druggies hang out and work there. They don’t have any quality control when it comes to their strippers. Surely any trick can come off the streets and make a quick buck by giving the manager a blowjob.”
He’s got a point.
“Well, if my best hacker wasn’t stuck here babysitting, you could be digging further into things. We’ve tapped the phone lines, but they’re most likely going to be using burner phones and encrypted personal computers not linked to the casino or club.”
“I could comb through things at night after Rivers goes to bed.” He gives me a hopeful—hopeful we don’t find anything—look.
“The only way we can be certain is to get someone on the inside. It’s going to take weeks, maybe even months, before she’s ready to go undercover. We will continue to monitor everything until then.”
Even if that’s not where trafficking is taking place, Vade will stop at nothing to take them down. He will find them, and she still might have to go undercover somewhere else, but I’m not going to remind Ethan of that right now.
“Just promise me that if you don’t find anything else linking trafficking to that place you won’t send her in.” He paces the length of the porch.
“I promise I won’t send her to Cottontails if we don’t find anything.
But until then, she is to continue her therapy and training.
” I’m careful to just promise not sending her to Cottontails, and not anywhere else, even though I, too, have concerns about sending her undercover somewhere.
I can only prepare her so much and the rest will be up to her to follow through with.
“Are you going to kick her to the curb if you can’t use her?”
I think about that for a long second. Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about it. “If I can’t use her, we’ll help her find a place of her own and make sure she’s taken care of until she finishes school if it means that much to you.”
He’s surprised at my answer. That makes two of us.
“Thank you. It’s been a long day. I’m going to bed.” He heads inside.
I thought she was gone for good. I can’t believe she actually came back, but now I’m walking back to the porch to have another kind of conversation. This time with a very pissed-off female who is only talking to me because she wants to keep her clothes on.
The irony is quite amusing. Usually it’s the other way around, the females that talk to me do so in hopes of me taking their clothes off. Could she be the one female that’s resistant to my charm?
“Sit,” I order.
“I’m not a dog,” she snaps.
“Please, have a seat, ma’am.” I gesture to the wooden rocking chair. “Why are you running away?”
“Why do you care?” If go fuck yourself was a look, she’s wearing it right now.
“Weren’t you scared the boogeyman was going to get you being all alone in the woods?” I’m trying to get her to lighten up a little so she will be more willing to talk to me.
“Once you’ve dealt with real monsters, the fake ones don’t scare you anymore.” She turns her head where I can’t read her expression.
Her response is like a punch to the gut. Definitely not what I was expecting. I’ve got to go a softer route; this might be my one chance to get her to open up to me.
“Listen,” I take a deep breath, “I’m sorry for the way I acted earlier.” I take a seat next to her and lean in facing her with my elbows resting on my knees so she can see my sincerity.
“Just earlier?” She eyes me questioningly.
“Fine. I’m sorry for making it seem like everything I chose to do was your fault.” That’s twice “sorry” has come out of my mouth. Ugh. I sit back. I’m not usually one to apologize.
She doesn’t speak so I continue. “I would be able to help you better if I knew your whole story. If you don’t want to tell me the dirty details, that’s fine, but I need to know the basics.”
She considers me for a minute. “How do I know that you won’t turn me in?”
“Do you really think I would’ve have gone to the lengths I’ve gone to help and protect you if I was planning on turning you in?” Surely she’s smart enough to know that.
“Fine, what do you want to know?” Annoyance seeps through her voice.
“Did you intentionally cause the explosion that killed your father?” Might as well get straight to the point.
“Yes.” She replies quickly and if I’m not mistaken, with a hint of pride.