Page 85 of Deserving Maisy
“I don’t hate her,” Tiny said after a moment.
“Could’a fooled us,” Brick said.
Tiny ran a hand through his hair in agitation. “She…confuses me. I don’t understand her motivation for anything she’s done.”
“Maybe she does things because she’s a good person,” Stone volunteered.
Tiny sighed. “Sometimes when she doesn’t know I’m watching her, I catch her with her guard down. She looks…haunted. Whatever she’s hiding from, it’s not good. And call me selfish, but I don’t want whatever it is to come back onus. I have a feeling whatever it is could destroy The Refuge.”
“All the more reason to find out what it is and convince her to let us help her,” Brick insisted.
“You need to back off, Tiny,” Tonka said sternly. “She saved Jas. You don’t have to help, but I’ll throw down for Ry, no matter what her name is.”
“Same,” Spike agreed.
“She’s been a miracle for most of us,” Owl added.
“Fine. I hear you. I’ll back off. But don’t blame me if we wake up one day and all our bank accounts have been drained and she’s taken off,” Tiny said, tossing his hands in the air.
Tonka scooted his chair back so fast, it fell to the floor behind him. “You’re an asshole,” he said in an even, controlled tone. “I was like you for a long damn time, man. Refusing to see what was right in front of my face until it was too late. Ry’s not going to stick around here if she doesn’t feel welcome. If she thinks you believe the worst in her. She’s already got one foot out the door. The only reason she hasn’t left already is because Maisy needs her. The second that’s done, she’s gone. And that would suck, because she saved my daughter’s life without asking for a damn thing. She was willing to confront a serial killer in the making to bring Jas home.
“Ry’s not going to steal our money. She could’ve donethat the first week she was here and we wouldn’t have had any idea it was her. Get your head out of your ass, Tiny, before it’s too late. Now…I’m gonna go check on Melba. One of her hooves has been bothering her.”
With that, Tonka marched to the door and left without looking back.
Silence filled the room until Brick broke it. “I’ll go get Savannah and tell her we’re ready for her report.”
Stone frowned. Tonka had been much more talkative since he and Henley had gotten together, but he wasn’t the kind of man who went out of his way to foist his opinion on others. The fact that he’d taken Tiny down a peg was a huge deal. But he couldn’t help but feel sorry for his friend. He was obviously struggling with his feelings about Ry.
“You gonna be okay going up to Seattle?” Stone asked Tiny quietly once everyone was talking amongst themselves.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
Stone shrugged. “Wasn’t sure you’d be comfortable leaving Ry in your place without you being there.”
Tiny sighed. “Brick’s right. Tonka too. I’ve been an asshole. I just…I have a very bad feeling about Ry. Not about her personally, but about what she’s hiding from. What she can do is so far out of my league, but I know whatever’s wrong…it could ruin all of us.”
Stone nodded. “We’ll only be gone a couple of days. When we get back, we can all sit down with her and reassure her that we don’t want her to go, that we want to help.”
“Yeah,” Tiny said.
“Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out,” Stone said firmly.
“I hope so. Because if we don’t, I have a feelingwe’llbe the ones paying the price.”
Stone opened his mouth to say more, but Savannah entered the room with Brick on her heels. Now wasn’t the best time to discuss Ry’s situation, but they definitely needed to have another serious chat with the computer genius. Soon.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Do you have enough snacks?” Luna asked.
Maisy chuckled. “Yes, we’re good. Half my carry-on is full of food.”
“Make sure you do whatever they tell you,” Alaska warned. “Drake knows his stuff. And since Tiny was a Navy SEAL too, so does he.”
“We aren’t going to war,” Maisy said wryly.
“I’m thinking you shouldn’t underestimate that asshole brother of yours,” Lara said.
