Page 34 of H E R

“What do you need from us?” her guy says, and I’m tempted to ask who the fuck he is when Jule answers for me.

“Complete secrecy,for life.”

“Money?” he wonders.

Jule shakes his head and the nameless guy looks at Piper and nods. “You have our word.”

I scoff, but when Jule glares at me, I raise my hands, surrendering. He’s being erratic and stupid. We have no idea who these people truly are. I need answers before I can comfortably offer them hidden shelter and expose what Itrulydo.

Behind my hobby as a freelance journalist and now nightlife waitress, I offer refuge to those desperate for protection, those who need to escape from the terrorism of this corrupt city.

It’s where most, if not all, of my money goes. We live in poverty-like conditions because that’s exactly how we need things to appear. Jule, Jasmin, and I own a private lot with a main house, guest house, barn, and some farm animals. A trusted couple who we hired to maintain it resides in one of the homes. A few times a year, we offer housing, a sort of witness protection service if you will, free of charge. Once new identities and safe destinations are established, the people move on.

My father came from a prominent family, and when he chose to marry a sex worker, his family disowned him. He still had his own money, though, and he invested it in purchasing a farm fifty miles out of city limits. He left it to me after his death, but instead of moving there, I’ve used it as a refuge.

We’ll move there soon. But not yet.

I glance at Piper; she looks like she hasn’t slept in days, and I nod. Fuck, I hope I don’t regret this. “Pack light, we leave immediately.”

Jule and I have been gone for less than two hours, and by the time we return to the trailer, shit has hit the fan and I’m sure things cannot get any fucking worse. We have a new neighbor. The latest, state-of-the-art trailer is the biggest on the lot and the envy of all. The water tank is enormous, a two-thousand-gallon mammoth.

Why the fuck did he move here? To fucking spite me, that’s why. To give me a heart attack. I want to bang on his door and fucking smack him.

Jasmin bites her nails and watches me, all humor gone from her heart-shaped face. Dylan is the owner of a brand-new trailer that looks like a two-story, two-thousand-square-foot, high-ceiling mobile home. He’s fucking crazy. I think he even got a fucking landscaper to come and put new grass down.

It’s two-hundred feet from us. He’s our next-door neighbor, for fuck’s sake.

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Maybe he likes the neighborhood?” Jasmin offers, dry humor in her tone.

My mouth pops open, and I close my eyes as they roll to the back of my head. “I highly doubt that.”

“He’s outside, he’s going to sit down on an outdoor chair, those that lean back.” Jule is giving us a play-by-play.

“He’s sunbathing?” Jasmin asks, annoyed.

Soon it will be moon-bathing. I slap the thought away. The last thing I need right now is to fantasize about Dylan bathing in anything. My renewed anger toward him helps.

“Whoa, he’s got a dog. Like abigone.”

Jasmin and I practically run to the window. We hit the shade, and it dances against the glass.Fuck, I’m sure he saw that. It’s a black Cane Corso, and he’s massive. Tall and lean, but muscular, like his owner.

I step away from the window. “I don’t have time for this. Piper is waiting just outside the dirt road. I only came by for the truck.”

We keep it hidden and the plates are kept under an alias. A different one from the incognito status we use for the property. We don’t want anyone tracking it to any one of us. In order to get to it, I’d have to go to the shed directly in front of our neighbors that live two trailers down. The people here would never divulge what’s in there. But now we have a fucking cop living next to us.Shit!How do I get it out without him seeing it?

“How do we do this?” Jule speaks my thoughts and I’m silent. I have no fucking clue.

“I say Justice goes out there.”

My eyes are huge. I’m shaking my head, about to protest, when Jasmin lifts her hand up to silence me. “Hear me out. This will work,you know it will. Go out there and talk to him and I’ll get the truck out.”

“What if he sees you?”

She shakes her head. “He won’t be looking at me…just you.”

Jule squints, finally realizing the reason why Dylan won’t notice anything but me.Idon’t even know the reason. He’s got the hots for me? I don’t know. WhatI amcertain of is that he’s fucking crazy.

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