“I know. You said so many times yesterday.” He grins.
I called Thunder yesterday,and he agreed to help me. We ended up talking for several hours in my car outside Lucy’s apartment before I left to get a few hours of sleep.
“I hope I’m not keeping you away from someone,” I say.
He leans back in his seat. “Only person upset by my absence is Lightning, and he’ll get over it.”
I laugh. “Want to send him a selfie of us?” Lightning is a great guy, but he can be a little obnoxious at times for my taste. It’s probably why I like to mess with him at work.
Thunder chuckles. “That would piss him off. But seriously, you’re not keeping me from anything. I’ll always be there if you need me, got it?”
“Got it. Thanks.” I stare at Lucy’s place grateful to have a friend like Thunder. “How’d it go last night after I left?”
“Uneventful. No one has come or gone the entire time I’ve been here.” He takes a sip of coffee without taking his eyes off me. “Something wrong? You’ve shifted in that seat about five times in the last two minutes. You got hemorrhoids or something?”
I bark out a laugh. “Would you really want to know if that was my problem?”
Thunder frowns. “You’re right. I don’t.”
I let out a breath and decide if anyone can understand, he can. “I leave in three days. Joseph’s still missing. Lucy won’t talk to me. She has no plans to leave this place. And I have no idea if she’s still in danger from Vince. How the fuck am I supposed to leave her with no protection?”
I huff in exasperation, then realize I need air. The space in here is too small. I feel too confined. As if sensing my dilemma, Thunder rolls down my window. I take a deep breath.
“I reread everything you sent me,” he says quietly. “Vince is her uncle, right?”
“Right.”
“You think he’d hurt her?”
I nod. “Vince is into shady business. I don’t know the full scope, but I don’t doubt that he would use her to get his money back. If Lawrence thought his daughter was in danger, I’m sure he’d pay.”
“But your email said Vince and Lawrence are brothers. Why doesn’t Vince just ask for some money?”
I take a drink of my coffee. “Lawrence and Vince had some sort of falling out when I was in high school. I don’t know the details, but one day Lucy mentioned her dad said Vince wasn’t allowed in their home ever again.”
Thunder drums his fingers on the steering wheel. “You didn’t ask what happened?”
I laugh. “I was eighteen and much more interested in making out with Lucy than talking about her family.”
Thunder grins. “I get that. You think Vince’s goal is to get to her dad?”
“That’s where the money’s at. So yeah.”
“Look, I don’t know this family, but if someone was really using my kid to extort money from me, they wouldn’t be long for this world.”
I turn to Thunder. “You think Vince made an empty threat?”
He shrugs. “I can’t say for sure. Some families are pretty fucked up.”
“That they are.”
I take another sip of coffee as I process the situation.
I need to know if Vince poses a real danger to Lucy, or if it’s like Thunder thinks, an empty threat.
“Is she the one?” he asks.
“The one what?”
