CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Jeremy stared at D as he slept. It had taken hours to calm him down, but he'd finally agreed to try and get some sleep. Once Jeremy got him to bed, they'd both crashed pretty quickly. He'd never seen D so stressed, but he didn't blame him. The risk and danger to the team was real, and the fear of going back to jail had to weigh heavily on him.
Careful not to wake him, Jeremy eased out of bed and made his way to the kitchen. It was already eight in the morning, and he had a ton to do today. With two new team members, he needed to set up new bank accounts and other things that each team member needed.
Marshall had been excited to get started, but Jeremy had sent him home when D's call had come in. The fewer people at the STK house the better, just in case something went wrong. Patrick and Brad had already been asleep after their long drive, and Rani had been watching TV when he'd left.
He probably should have warned Rani, but he didn't feel the risk was great enough to worry everyone yet. This was something they would have to discuss, but Jeremy really believed that Jessica would handle her brother somehow.
One thing was for sure, outside the STK house, they needed to be careful, and Jessica needed to stay away from the house until she was sure that her brother wasn't going to follow her there.
Jeremy made a pot of coffee, and while he waited for it to brew, made a quick list of things he needed to handle. Rani had given him a list of medical supplies to order, and with more mouths to feed, someone needed to run to the store to restock the kitchen. That was something he could ask Rani and Patrick to do if things got too crazy.
He poured a cup of coffee and sat back down just as his phone rang. He wasn't surprised to see Jessica's name. He quickly answered, "hello?"
"Hey, Jeremy, hope I didn't wake you. I tried to call D, but he didn't answer."
"He's still asleep. I made him shut off his phone for a bit. How are you feeling?" As much as he wanted to find out about her brother, he needed to know she was okay first.
"Like I've been run over. My whole left side is black and blue, and my left arm is broken, but I'm okay. I'm taking it easy today, but then will force myself back to work tomorrow."
Jeremy frowned. "Don't push yourself too hard. You know the team will help you if you need it."
"I wasn't sure if I was still on the team," Jessica said softly.
"Yeah, D told me what happened. Do we need to worry about the team?" Jeremy asked.
"No, I swear you don't have anything to worry about. I had to tell my brother everything, but he swore to me he won't follow up on anything. I'll explain it all to you and D, but my brother is a man of his word. I didn't give him any information he could use. He doesn't know names, locations, or any of the inner workings of the team. I'm sure you guys have a lot of questions after everything I said, and I'll answer them all. For now, I'll stay away until you guys decide what you want to do, unless you've already decided." She sounded nervous.
"We talked a little about it. We need to speak with you, find out what your brother knows and do a risk assessment on everything, but we don't want to cut you from the team. D did mention you sounded like you were using us to seek revenge, and that is something we need to discuss. While I can understand your desire, acting on something like that without letting the team know about it could get all of us arrested or killed." Jeremy needed to know that Jessica was going to be a team player. They couldn't have secrets between members.
"Yeah, I know. I never planned on acting alone, but I was hoping to be a bit more established with the team before I brought up my past and that whole situation." She sighed. "I'm sorry all this happened. I never meant for there to be trouble."
"There isn't trouble yet, other than the small heart-attack your brother gave D last night. He thought he was going back to jail for sure." Jeremy hated that D had gone through that, but he refused to be mad at Jessica for it.
"I know. I should have never called D to pick me up. I didn't think my brother was going to show up. He wasn't answering his phone. Kevin won't do anything. He's a good cop, but he's an even better brother. He knows why I'm doing this and he won't take that away from me. We talked for hours last night about what happened, about D being in the Denver area, and he supports it, he really does. Most the cops in the area do. They've all seen far too much child abuse to not at least understand why the team does what it does. Kevin struggles with finding that line between being a cop and accepting that some illegal activities might not be all that bad. It's a judgement call he had to make, and he chose me over his job last night. I don't know if his thinking will stay that way, but I imagine it will. Still, I need to talk to you guys about it all so that you can make an informed decision if you are going to keep me around or not. I don't want to be the reason you are caught."
"We appreciate that, Jess. For now, just get better. It's probably best you don't go to the team house for now. We can't risk your brother changing his mind and following you. D and I will talk when he wakes up and then let you know when and where we can meet and discuss all this. Do you need anything right away? You got food, money, whatever to get you by while you heal?"
"Yeah, I'm good for now. Kevin is bringing me groceries later today, and I'll deal with my insurance company later about my car. Other than that, I'm just sore."
"If you don't mind, I might have Rani stop by and check you out. That way you don't have to deal with the hospital or pay for other doctors right now. Rani needs something to keep him busy. Just play it off like he's just someone you met at work or hanging out with friends. He was worried about you last night. Let him feel needed." Jeremy hoped that having Rani stop by might help Jessica's confidence that they didn't want to kick her off the team.
"Yeah, I can do that. You want me to call him?" she asked.
"Sure, but we didn't tell him about last night. You can if you want to. It's something we'll discuss with the whole team. We just needed to get all the facts first. I'll leave that up to you. As for D, when he wakes, I'll let him know we've talked, and he can decide when and where he wants to meet with you. I know that you trust your brother, but we don't know him, and after everything D's been through, he's going to be nervous and guarded."
"Tell him I'm sorry. I'll tell him myself when I talk to him, but let him know how bad I feel. I'll take the fall before I put any of you at risk again. I swear." It sounded like she was crying.
Jeremy glanced up to see D standing in the kitchen doorway. He gave him a smile and held up his finger. "I'll tell him. We'll get hold of you later today once we talk. You call Rani and get him to take care of you. Don't try and be brave. D told me you were going to be hurting today. Make Rani give you something to take the edge off."
"I will. Thanks, Jeremy." Jessica sighed. "Again, I'm sorry for all this."
"I know. Bye, Jess." Jeremy disconnected the call before getting up and pouring another cup of coffee for D. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah, I didn't even hear you get up." D took the coffee and sat beside him at the breakfast bar. "Thanks." He gave Jeremy a quick kiss. "So that was Jess?"
"Yeah, she tried to call you, but I shut off your phone so you could sleep." Jeremy wrapped his hands around his warm coffee cup. "She's upset. Says to tell you she's sorry, and she swears her brother isn't coming after you or the team. I told her that while she might trust him, we don't know him to trust him. I promised her we'd talk."
