Page 42 of Clean Hack
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Weird Fucking Night
Clean
“I need to go,” Lucy said suddenly.
I turned my head in her direction trying to hide the surprise from my face.
“I have to go back. I have to get her out of there.”
I had no idea what or where she was talking about. But I did have a clue that it had something to do with the people that had been in this room. If she was trying to mess with this MC then I was going to have to try to persuade her in a different direction.
“No,” I said firmly but softly. I had thought that I’d try a little less bluntly, but apparently, my brain wasn’t having it. “I’m not letting you go anywhere near that place. You see what kind of men these people are. And I know you’re smart enough to know that there are going to be more than just a few of them there. I can’t…I can’t let you go back there.”
“Listen…Clean,” she said, standing up as straight as possible and eyeing me with a look that told me she wasn’t going to back down.
“Derrick,” I said before she could get another word in.
Sure, I wanted her to know my name, and I did chuckle in my head at the fact she called me Clean. Though it was kind of my name to most people, there was something in the way that she said it that held a personal touch in her tone. She had a name for me like I did for her. I had no doubt right then that all this time that was what she called me in her head. But there was also the need to say something to throw her off a bit. She wasn’t going to let me tell her what to do and I knew there was no changing her mind.
“Derrick,” she said under her breath, her eyes looking down to the side like she was testing it out and also a little shocked that she knew my name now. “I’m going. Thank you for…well, all of this. I owe you. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t see this through. I need to do this.”
“Then you wait for me,” I said firmly, pinning her with a stare that was practically begging.
“I think I got it from here,” old man said from beside me.
I didn’t like this. At fucking all. I never left a job unfinished. But then again, I’d never been put in a position like this before.
“I know what to do,” he said, sounding more like a crotchety grandpa trying to convince his children that he wasn’t that old just yet. “I may be rusty, but some things you just don’t forget. Bet if I wanted to ride a bike right now, I’d be able to. Same shit, different situation.”
Lucy looked at the old man with a horrified expression for half a second before her mouth fell open and a laugh erupted outward. I couldn’t help but smile and chuckle silently.
“I’ll pay for the damages,” I said turning to him.
“No,” he replied back, waving me off with a bony hand. “I think you and I both know, this place isn’t where I get my money. And that I don’t got no need to worry with how much I’m spendin’.”
Well, that was true.
I gave a firm nod, having nothing else to say. The two of them had pretty much backed me into a corner that I felt I couldn’t get out of.
I reached for Lucy. She understood what I was saying with that simple gesture. She snatched up her bag off the edge of the bed then walked towards me. She passed me and I couldn’t help but crowd her behind her, lightly placing my hand on her lower back. I couldn’t explain it, but something about it felt comforting, needed, and right all at the same time.
“Thanks for staying at the Sea Breeze Motel,” the old man called as we stepped over the threshold. There was a hint of joking in his tone. “Hope you enjoyed your stay.” His wet laugh followed us out into the night air.
Lucy shook her head but I could see her body shaking with silent laughter.
“This night is so fucked,” she breathed out as I opened her door and helped her up into the passenger seat.
I couldn’t have agreed more. But even with all the insane chaos, I still had this lucky feeling around me. After all, this fucked up night had led me to the woman I’d started to think about more often than not. The one that I wanted to know more about, I mean, not just more, I wanted to know everything. I felt some kind of crazy connection even before I laid eyes on her, which only intensified the moment I saw her.
She was holding it together pretty well, but I could tell there would be a full, hard crash coming soon. Everything would hit her after this was all over. However, I wasn’t really sure whatthiswas. She seemed to be here on some sort of mission and I had turned into the puppy that was just tagging along blindly. There were questions but I feared that if I asked them it would shatter her strength and distract her. Since there was no way to talk her out of whatever she was about to get into, I chose to keep right there with her and protect her with my life. Strange considering I’d just met the girl. But then again, I felt like I had begun to know her from the conversations that we’d had. Who said that you had to be in someone’s physical presence to care for them? I didn’t believe that shit for one minute.
“How pissed would you be if I just drove off?” I asked with a tinge of humor in my tone.
Her brown eyes cut over to me as her brows furrowed.
“Wouldn’t that be kidnapping?” she asked slowly.
