Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

going over there just in case someone was taking video. I should have though.'
    'You would have made it worse. He was furious and told us we didn't have any right to tell him who he could or couldn't see. He didn't remember her name, but he said, and I'm quoting here, "She wanted it."'
    Joley groaned. 'Damn that man. He had to have known she was a child. Give her alcohol and she'd say anything he wanted to hear.'
    'Well, if you were looking for remorse, he didn't have any, and he could have cared less that the girl was missing.
    Jerry's pretty hard, but Dean's cavalier attitude that the girl was still missing got to him. Jerry fired him and Dean said all kinds of things about you, which pissed me off.' Brian showed her his knuckles, looking a bit sheepish. 'I haven't hit anyone since eighth grade. I had to tell the cop I hit him, and believe me, that didn't sound so good when the guy ends up dead.'
    'Did they ask you about the Russian mob?' He nodded. 'After our conversation about Nikitin I was worried. And a few of his men have been hanging around here checking things out.'
    'I was running with Ilya Prakenskii,' Joley said. 'He gets upset when I don't take a bodyguard with me.' She was careful to watch him closely just in case he'd observed Ilya leaving after her.
    'That's good, at least we know he didn't do it.' Brian frowned at her. 'Your face changes when you talk about him. Do you two have something going on?'
    'I don't want to talk about him.'
    Brian scowled at her. 'Oh, you so have something going on with the bodyguard. Isn't that against the personal protector code or something?'
    Joley knew she looked guilty. 'He's not my bodyguard and we're not in a relationship. We're just sort of dancing around the idea.'
    'Look, Joley,' he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose and peering at her. 'I'll admit he's got some kind of mesmerizing cobra-before-the-strike appeal, but you can't be serious. And before you go all crazy on me, you remember you told me to say something the next time I saw you going off the deep end for a loser.' He held up his hand. 'And don't say he's not a loser. Maybe he's not a pill-popping, woman-beating asshole, but he's the kind of man who would strangle you with his bare hands if you weren't faithful to him.'
    Outrage swept through her. 'I have never cheated on anyone. Never .'
    'There you go, losing your mind. I knew you would. I meant to point out what kind of man he is, not what kind of woman you are.'
    Joley threw her arms up into the air, signaling she'd had enough of the conversation. 'Let's go,' she said. 'We have to talk to everyone and settle them down for the show. Everyone has to be freaked.'
    'Logan was afraid Tish might leave, but she's not like that. She's steady as a rock,' Brian said, stepping aside so Joley could exit the bus first.
    Lights immediately blinded her as cameras went off all around them. Hands caught at her, tearing at her clothes. She was jerked off the stairs and she nearly fell, catching herself at the last moment. A hard hand shoved her in the back, propelling her forward and down. She fell hard, Brian's shout mingling with the questions coming from all around her.
    She caught a glimpse of the Reverend's bodyguard disappearing to the back of the swarm, malicious satisfaction on his face.
    Flashes went off as she pushed herself off the ground. One cameraman crouched beside her as if to help her up. 'Are you and Brian a couple? Are you seeing each other?' He thrust a recorder closer to her.
    'Joley!' Brian called to her, clearly trying to get through the mass surrounding her.
    More flashes went off. 'You're all such gentlemen,' she murmured under her breath, wishing she had Hannah's powers. She'd turn them all into toads - well, maybe Hannah couldn't exactly turn them into big, ugly, wart-covered toads, but she might be able to pull off the warts. She rarely went anywhere anymore, not even with her sisters, unless she was in her hometown, where the people protected her. This was her life, every second recorded and photographed until there seemed nothing left for her.
    Large hands caught at her and yanked her to her feet, setting her up against a hard body. Ilya dragged her beneath his shoulder, his long arm covering her head, and caught at Brian with his other arm, pulling him in his wake as he began to walk them through the pushing and shoving photographers. His eyes were twin glittering diamond chips, hard and burning with fire. He kept moving even when