Page 13 of Defended By Bam
Rogers came up and smacked my back. “You made it finally.”
“Finally? I made pretty good time. Didn’t want to speed. How much did Allie fill you in?” I asked.
“Enough. She wasn’t sure about a few details. Let’s go fill in the gaps so I can get with Crowne,” Rogers said.
Hammer said, “There’s some open rooms for them to crash until they get things sorted out.”
I led Rogers out to the hall. When I saw Glenda talking to Brooklyn, I froze for a split second. Shaking off the weird feeling I’d done something wrong, I explained Rogers needed to speak to her. After a little back and forth and Glenda intervening to help her get comfortable, we headed to the back where there was a pool and plenty of lounge chairs.
The pool wasn’t in working order last year when we got the place, but a few of the bunnies got together to figure out how to get it cleaned up and working. This time of night, most of them were busy in the clubhouse, and even if there were some folks lingering, Rogers would tell them to head inside.
I found myself almost touching Brooklyn every time I was near her. There was some pull I couldn’t explain. My hand just kept gravitating toward her. Not even in a sexual way, just a protective way. Maybe I just felt bad for the woman. I wasn’t a saint but having an older sister who always looked out for me made me softer toward women.
When we got outside, nobody was by the pool, so Glenda and Brooklyn headed to a chair and gently made the exchange ofSadie. Something about the two of them being in close proximity was unsettling and it didn’t make sense.
Brooklyn was just a woman in a shitty spot, and Glenda was just a woman that took the edge off with me occasionally. So why was this getting under my skin?
“Have a seat—Brooklyn was it?” Rogers asked as he found a few chairs surrounding a round table. “Brooklyn Black?”
She sat, folding her arms over her chest and nodded.
He sat across from her, and I sat next to her. Rogers started. “Do you need any medical attention?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m good.”
“Alright. Sorry to get straight to it, but I need to give some details to my connection and we need to know who we’re housing. Was the cop your husband?”
She shook her head. “No. I just lived with him.” That answer surprised me, but also was a relief.Why the fuck did that matter?
“Is he the father?” he asked, looking in Sadie’s direction.
She nodded, looking down at the ground next to her. “I don’t know how it all works, but she has my last name. I was told if he wanted to change it, we’d have to do DNA tests, but I don’t know if that’s true.”
Rogers smiled. “I’m not sure. Laws are different in each state for that kind of thing, but that’s important information. What’s his name?”
“Marshall Jones.”
“Has this happened before?” he asked as tapped on his lip, looking at hers.
She nodded.
“Ever report him?”
She scoffed. “Yeah. Lot of goodthatdid. He even took me to the hospital once. A nurse was asking me lots of questions and seemed suspicious. Then suddenly I didn’t see her again.It was probably a shift change but I always wondered if he had something to do with it.”
“The doctors didn't do anything?” I asked, leaning my elbows on my knees. I tried to let Rogers do his thing, but it just came out.
“They looked at my x-rays, shined a light in my eyes, poked me a little. But he told them I had an accident and wasso worriedhe brought me right in.” She was staring at the table, a blank look on her face. “He probablywasworried because I was unconscious for a little while. It’s one thing to have a clumsy baby momma, totally different to have a dead one.”
“Is that when you reported him?” I asked.
“Nope. It was obvious they were already on his side. He’d gotten me good once before that. Sadie came to investigate and I freaked out. When he saw her, he stopped long enough for me to run. I grabbed her and locked us in her room and called the police. Of course his buddies showed up, hardly asked me anything, and Sadie was too scared to say much. Plus, she was at that age only I could understand her anyway, ya know?” she asked, looking up. “Oh, well maybe you don’t know,” she said with a humorless laugh.
“How old is Sadie?” Rogers asked.
“Four. She just started pre-k.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Sorry. Funny how I can recount his shit but get emotional because she’ll miss school.”
This time I couldn’t stop my hand from grabbing hers.
