“Your head hurts? Were those painkillers?” he asked.
She nodded, wincing.
“Do you need anything else for your headache?”
Not for her head, no. And she couldn’t tell him what she really needed, could she?
Getting out her phone, she sent a quick message to Dotty.
“Who are you messaging?” Cash asked.
Jeez, he was nosy.
“Dotty.”
“Why?”
She had no privacy around here.
“I need some things.”
Cash crossed his arms over his wide chest. “You can tell me what you need. I’ll get them for you.”
She rubbed her head. Should she just tell him? It would serve him right for being so pushy.
The door to the room opened, and Ralen stepped inside, looking frustrated. “I just got a message from Ink. He said that Addie needs to go out for a bit and get some supplies, and that we should take her.”
Cash shook his head. “I’m not comfortable with that.”
“With taking her out?” Ralen asked. “Well, I guess I could ask someone else to come with us. Not Butch, though. I’m not going anywhere with him. He’s an asshole. Plus, he drives like a grandpa and his truck is just too neat and tidy. It’s weird. Like, throw a wrapper on the floor or get some crumbs on a seat, or something. It’s unnatural.”
“You left half a sandwich in Crystal for three weeks,” Cash told him. “It was starting to spawn its own babies.”
“It was fine,” Ralen protested. “There was nothing wrong with it.
“And I told you to make sure he drove like a grandpa, remember? Precious cargo.”
Huh? What were they talking about? What was the precious cargo that Butch was driving around? She was really confused, but decided the conversation didn’t actually have anything to do with her.
Couldn’t they argue somewhere else?
“And it’s not that I don’t want to take her out, it’s that I don’t want to take her out.”
Ralen rubbed his head. “Bro, I’ve known you for how many years? Way too many, and that made no sense. You said the same thing twice.”
“I mean that I don’t mind taking her out, but I don’t think Addie should be walking around the streets. It’s not safe.”
Addie shook her head and gave Ralen a desperate look.
“Ink seems to think it’ll be all right, as long as the two of us go with her. We can drive. If anyone’s in danger, my guess it would be Monroe. Perhaps Dotty. They were the two asking questions about Monroe’s dickhead husband. And she’s likely to be the target. Probably no one even noticed Addie there.”
Sure. No one ever did.
He didn’t say that to hurt you. You’ve mastered being invisible, remember?
She didn’t know why, but it was kind of depressing to know that she was so invisible that no one would bother to threaten her.
“It still doesn’t mean she’s going to be safe.”
