Page 53 of Protecting Josie
“You apparently worked too. You got your captioning job back? That’s awesome.”
She sighed. “It’s a relief.”
“I bet.” Remi also said something about Josie going to get her things in Vegas, but Blink wasn’t sure he wanted to bring that up. Because he didn’t want her to tell him she was going to find a new apartment and move back to Nevada.
“And I have to go get my stuff. My ex-landlord says he needs the space.”
Blink nodded. It was uncanny how they were always on the same wavelength. “No problem. The weekend is coming up. We can drive up there and figure out what to do with it all.”
Josie bit her lip and dropped her gaze from his, looking anywhere but at him. He hated that whatever she wasthinking was making her uncomfortable. He put a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “What? What’s wrong?”
She shrugged. Then huffed out a breath and pulled his laptop closer. Blink let her go, and she sat down and started typing something fast and furious. When she was done, she turned the computer toward him.
He said most of my stuff is boxed but he didn’t have a place to store my furniture. So he left it in my apartment for the guy who moved in. He said he’d pay me for it, which is fine. But I need to figure out what to do with the boxes of my things. I could rent another apartment there, but I don’t know that I want to live in Vegas anymore. Never really liked it, and since Millie and Gen are there, and aren’t very happy with me, I’m not sure I should stay in Nevada anyway. I like it here, but don’t want you to feel obligated in any way. I’m sure I can find an apartment here in Riverton. Now that I have my job back and will get some money from my landlord for my furniture, I could probably afford the security deposit and first month’s rent.
Blink understood why she’d wanted to write out those thoughts. While Josie was talking again, it was in short bursts. “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “You don’t need an apartment, you can stay here.”
Josie stared at him with a worried frown on her face. “I can’t stay here forever.”
The first thing that sprang to Blink’s mind was, “Why not?” But instead, he said, “Maybe, maybe not, but you don’t need to worry about finding a place to live right away. Give yourself some slack, you just got back from something traumatic. Let me help you, Josie. We’ll go to Vegas and pick upyour things, and if we need to, we can find a storage place here. But I’m sure Safe has space in his garage or something. How much are we talking about?”
Josie shrugged. “Depends on how he packed everything. Maybe twenty boxes or so?”
“Right. So I’ll rent a little trailer, just in case. We can go through the boxes, and you can take out what you want and need in the short term and bring it to the apartment. We can play renting a storage unit or talking with Safe by ear. Now…what’s this about Millie and Gen? They’re still giving you a hard time? More than that email you got from Millie?”
Josie looked away once more, telling Blink all he needed to know.
“Did you get another email?” he pressed.
She nodded.
“Let me see it.”
This time, Josie shook her head.
“Why not?”
“Because. They’re upset. Millie lost her son. She didn’t mean what she said.”
“What did she say?” Blink asked.
Josie simply stared at him.
Blink sighed. “Please, Josie. I know you feel awful about what happened, but it wasn’t your fault. Bad decisions were made, on your part and on his. It’s part of being human. If you’re being harassed, that’swrong. You were a prisoner. The fact that either of them feel it’s okay to harass you about Ayden’s death is totally fucked up. Do we need to take out a restraining order?”
Josie shook her head urgently.
“Please let me read the email,” he said, putting his hand on Josie’s thigh. She felt fragile under his touch, but he knew better. This woman was made of steel. Anyone else would be a shell of a human after what she’d been through. And she not only seemed to be coping well, now that she was safe, she was blossoming.
With a sigh, she clicked a few things on the computer, then turned it back to him.
It didn’t take long to read the email. It was short and to the point…and absolutely vile.
You killed my son. I knew from the moment I met you that you were the devil. And you led my Ayden to his death! If it wasn’t for you, he’d still be here. He didn’t even want you to go to Kuwait, only asked out of pity. He was dating that woman in his platoon. She was his soul mate, and you wouldn’t get your claws out of him. I hope you suffered, but even if you did, it wasn’t nearly enough. It should’ve been you, bitch. It should’ve been you!
The email wasn’t signed, but the address had Millie’s first and last name in it, so it wasn’t hard to figure out who it was from.
The words on the screen were hateful and nasty, and it made Blink’s heart hurt to read them. How could one human being wish such awful things on another? Without thought, he closed the laptop and pulled Josie onto his lap. She didn’t struggle, just turned into him. Her legs hung off one side of his lap and he tightened his arms around her.
