Page 10 of Protecting Vera

“Sit down, Vera, and rest. Let us finish cooking. I’m Q, just the letter, nothing more.”

“Oh, you all cook?”

They all looked at her like she had a screw loose. “Of course, we cook. I’m Zip.” The man was tall, with thick hair and a beard. He would be the type of guy she would shy away from based on the men she’d grown up around in Texas.

“Q and Zip,” she said as she looked at them and raised her eyebrows.

“And I’m Bud.” Bud wasn’t as tall as the other two, but he had a nice smile and less facial hair.

“I can help with breakfast.” She didn’t want Ben to regret having her live with him.

Zip waved her off. “Rest. I know the last few weeks have been stressful for you. I talked to Thario the other day. He says you’re taking his advice and staying well hidden.”

She was a little surprised they’d all talked about her. “How much do you all know about my situation?”

Ben took a seat next to her. “These guys are on my team. I trust them with my life. They know because I asked their advice. They are good guys and won’t let anyone know you’re here.”

His words made sense, but they were unexpected. “Oh.”

Ben’s soulful brown eyes met hers and held. “We deal with a lot of crap in our jobs. We’ve seen much worse.”

Anger rose, and she said the words before thinking. “Worse than him chaining me to a tree and then chopping off my hair?”

Ben took her hand and squeezed. “What he did was fucked up. No question, you’re very strong. We’ve seen people just give up, though they only had like two miles left. They could have walked to safety, and they didn’t. None of us believe what you went through wasn’t terrible, but we aren’t going to judge you. You’re a survivor and that’s amazing.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be angry. I’m just still dealing with some emotions from it all.”

Zip pointed the fork he was holding at her. “Totally understandable. The one time I was captured and held it pissed me off. When I got free, I set fire to their compound. I was so pissed.”

His words threw her off. What did he mean captured? “Oh, wow.”

Q chuckled. “I remember hearing about that. The place exploded, and that’s how the helicopters found you. Vera, what you went through was awful. Don’t let anyone discount that.”

Bud nodded as he flipped the pancake on the griddle. “We’ve seen bad shit. It sucks when stuff like that happens.”

Zip turned off the burner under the bacon and plated the final pieces. “Do you think he would have come back out to get you?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea. It had been around twenty-four hours. I was so thirsty. Luckily it started raining. I was cold, but the rain meant water.”

“Fuck, that’s awful. And the cops did nothing?” Q asked.

She shrugged as anger built. “Nothing. They decided I was the problem.”

“Well, you’re safe here with us.” Zip set the bacon on the table. “It’s time to eat.”

She hadn’t expected Ben’s friends, but she felt better after talking to them. They had seen a lot. A part of her felt bad about having to stay at Ben’s place. She’d had thoughts that maybe she was blowing everything out of proportion, so she’d reacted to their words.

They ate and talked but they were talking about work and she didn’t understand everything because they were using acronyms and it sounded like they were talking in code.

After they finished, she got up to clean, but the guys took care of cleaning, and she only had to wash her own plate.

Ben turned to her. “We’re planning on going to the beach for a few hours. Do you want to join us?”

Her lips screwed up to the side. “I don’t have anything to wear.”

“You could wear shorts. It’s not too hot, and Ellis will have an umbrella.”

Confusion filled her. “Ellis?”

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