Page 28 of Burke (The Haven #2)
S hirley stared at Burke over the hood of the vehicle. “You don’t need to come,” she cried out, checking her watch anxiously, “but I have to go.”
“I’m coming,” he declared. “There’ll be three of us. Jaxon’s riding with you, and Tommy and I are coming right behind you.”
She frowned as she looked over Jaxon. “I don’t… Do you really think that’s necessary?” she asked, her voice fading, as she realized they thought there would be trouble.
Jaxon asked, “Why don’t we confirm that there won’t be trouble first, and then we won’t have to worry about it?”
She took a slow, deep breath, trying to regain control over her emotions.
Ever since she got that panicked phone call from Silvia, Shirley had been racing to get to her sister, and it just seemed as if everything had slowed down her progress.
She’d already arranged with her sister to meet her at a certain location and had told the men where that was.
But, when she realized that Burke was planning on coming too, she’d balked, knowing that her sister would throw a raging fit.
“She might very well throw a fit,” he agreed, with a nod, “but, if you’re in deep trouble, we don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
“Right, I understand.… It’s just the thought that we’re going in there, expecting something like that…”
“Not expecting,” Timber clarified. “ Prepared , just in case.”
She looked over at him, seeing the reason and the calm attitude he displayed, and she slowly nodded. “Fine,” she whispered. “From my point of view, I’m really, really hoping that nothing goes wrong.”
“Of course,” Timber replied. “We are too.”
She winced and nodded. “But you’re still expecting it, aren’t you?”
He gave her a ghost of a smile. “Again, not expecting, but let’s not get caught with our pants down.”
“Right,” she murmured. And with a nod toward the men, she announced, “Fine, but I’m leaving now.”
“We’re going ahead of you,” interjected Burke, as he hopped into Jaxon’s vehicle.
“Or you can just go with her,” Timber noted. “Jaxon is good, but you would be even better.”
“You know that’ll just cause trouble.”
“But it also might make Silvia and Frankie reconsider.”
With that, a quick reshuffle happened, and Burke took over the wheel of Shirley’s vehicle, having her scoot over to the passenger seat. Then Tommy and Jaxon went on ahead, taking Jaxon’s vehicle.
“Do you really think we need all this?” Shirley asked, as they drove out. “Silvia called out for help.”
“She did call out for help.”
“You really don’t like her, do you?”
He looked over at her and laughed. “It’s not about whether I like her or not,” he clarified, “but I’m also very aware of what games she can pull.”
She winced. “And I shouldn’t even be bringing it up to you because you, of all people, are completely aware of what she’s done.”
“And what she’s still likely to do to you this time,” he pointed out. “You don’t know who she is on the inside anymore because the person you knew would never have done this.”
“No, she wouldn’t have,” she conceded, with a groan. “I just can’t believe I’m even in this situation. What was the point of doing all this if it’ll just cause me nothing but hell?”
He looked over at her and nodded. “For one thing you need to see with your own eyes if your sister is truly in trouble. For another thing, you’re doing me a huge favor, which is also why I want to confirm that I’m there in case anything goes wrong.”
She shook her head. “It’s more likely to go wrong because you’re there.”
“Maybe,” he agreed, with a nod. “However, I plan to stay hidden, unless you need me. If they try to kidnap you, I will make my presence known. So, if it comes to that, seeing me is definitely a possibility, but at least then she would know that I blamed her, and it would be out in the open.”
“She’ll be absolutely livid with me.”
“Do you think she isn’t already?”
She winced at that. “She’ll get even more livid,” she corrected. “There will be punishment, and somebody will have to pay for it.”
He shook his head. “This isn’t a normal way to live. You do know that, right?”
“What isn’t?” she asked, distracted as she looked around at the trees. She frowned. “I don’t even know what’s wrong, but I feel a great sense of… panic.”
“About your sister?” he asked.
She frowned as she thought about it. “I really don’t know. It just feels… very wrong.”
“It is very wrong,” he stated. “A lot here is very wrong.” He drove carefully and quickly, the other vehicle moving ahead of them at lightning speed.
Shirley noted, “I guess my car doesn’t travel quite as fast as Jaxon’s, does it?”
“No,” Burke agreed, with a laugh, “it sure doesn’t, and they’re making good time.”
She pointed. “They’re disappearing off into the distance on us.”
He smiled. “And that’s okay. We all know the rendezvous spot, and they’ll confirm when they get in position.”
“I wonder why the sheriff’s office hasn’t picked them up yet?” she asked, as she stared out. “Maybe they don’t care. Maybe it’s just not enough of a case for them to give a crap about.”
“And that’s possible, but it’s not likely. Still, it is something we have to consider.”
“I don’t want to consider anything,” she muttered, “not with Frankie involved.” When Burke didn’t say anything, she looked over at him and asked, “You believe me, right?”
“Of course I believe you,” he stated, glancing at her. “That’s never been in doubt.”
She breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I have to admit this whole thing’s got me feeling particularly… unnerved.”
“Stay calm. It will do you no good to let the fear take over.”
“You’ve got a gorgeous place to sort yourself out, and a part of me is so jealous because you get to stay in a place where you’re safe and where you don’t have to watch every word you say and everything you do,” she shared.
“Plus the crappy little jobs I was doing,… they were terrible. Yet it didn’t seem to matter.
Anything and everything could go wrong, and it felt as if I was working in a minefield all the time. ”
“Sounds like it was time for a new job.”
She snorted. “Whether it was or not, it absolutely is now because I don’t have any choice.”
“Just remember that Silvia did that too.”
“And yet it’s not as if I warned her about it.”
He frowned at her. “Do you know many people you have to warn about proper behavior when you’re at work?”
“No, but she’s never been anybody who cared.”
“I need you to think about this as we drive into town,” he stated calmly. “Can you think of any instance where your sister thought about or helped you in any way at all?”
She winced. “You’re really thinking she is doing something dastardly here, aren’t you?”
“Dastardly?” he asked, his lips quirking at the old-fashioned term.
“I don’t even know what to call it,” she said, with a mirthless laugh. “I just know that boyfriend of hers is one scary son of a bitch.”
“And that’s why we’re all moving forward,” he stated, “because, if she is in that kind of trouble, we’re all there to help her.
She’s obviously got a lot of issues, and hopefully she can square herself up and can move away from these cons.
However, just because she has issues doesn’t mean that she continues to get a free pass. ”
“I know,” she muttered, “and I don’t think she really gets that either. She’s—”
“Has she ever been there for you?”
She frowned as she thought about it. “I don’t know what you mean by being there for me .”
He sighed. “There aren’t too many instances where that needs an explanation. Has she ever gone above and beyond to help you?”
“No,… I can’t think of anything. It’s always been me in trouble and her laughing from the sidelines, but I always felt as if maybe she was laughing because it was a self-preservation thing.”
He pondered that for a long moment. “Are you okay with that? With her looking after herself to stay alive and well?”
“Yeah,” she replied casually. “That’s what people do, right?”
“No,” he declared, “that’s not what people do.” She looked at him, and he shook his head. “I don’t know very many people who would do something heartless at the expense of somebody else.”
She shrugged. “Apparently we know a lot of different people.”
“And that is true,” he agreed. “If your sister was in trouble, would she go to your father?”
“Sure, she definitely would,” she replied.
“So, why do you think she hasn’t done so now?”
She frowned at that. “Maybe she couldn’t get a hold of him.”
“Would he agree with the boyfriend abusing her?”
She thought about that. “I don’t think so. I can’t imagine that would be something he would be okay with. He never beat her himself,” she shared, thinking about it, “so I can’t imagine that would be something he would be willing to accept now.”
“And yet he hit you.”
“A couple times,” she nodded, “not always, not often, but yeah,… there were a few times.” He just nodded, his jaw working. She added, “I can’t get upset about that. I haven’t had anything to do with him in a very long time.”
“Good,” he replied, “and yet, over this mess, you might need to.”
“I don’t know about that. I’ve done a lot to avoid dealing with him.” Then she groaned. “Honestly, I’m not sure how to react right now.”
“So don’t. Just sit back, relax, and give yourself a chance to think. Give yourself a chance to even feel and to realize that we don’t know what’s going on. So a little bit of time and patience will help both of us.”
She looked over at him. “Why do I always forget how nice you are?”
“Oh no, no, no, no, no,” he said. “You don’t get to put me in the nice category.”
She started laughing. “Sorry, you’re already in the nice category.”
He groaned. “That’s like being friend-zoned,” he replied. “It’s really terrible on a guy’s ego.”
“It’s terrible on anybody’s ego,” she noted. “Not just guys. Being friend-zoned as a woman is rough if you wanted something different too.”
“And yet,” he pointed out, “I guess in a way it’s a kindness if it’s not something that the other person wants.”