Page 94 of Finding a Melody

“You did? Then I know the job will be well done. Show me what you’ve done.”

“I-I’ll just make some drinks,” I said.

They started at the front door and as they branched toward the living room, I went for the kitchen, getting coffee going, and also a pot for tea. Their low rumbles moved throughout the house, only disappearing when they headed upstairs. I used that moment to flip through the folder Roman gave me.

The first page was the incident report of my break-in. I didn’t look too deeply at it, already knowing that answer. Then the next page was the incident report of the car chase. Nausea filled me, and I quickly skipped over it.

The next few pages was information I’d find in a newspaper or through gossip. The gang dealt with drugs mainly, small, bored towns the perfect moneybags for them. Clippings of members who had been caught running drugs or selling them, but not much else on them.

After flipping through all that, I got to Roman’s plan. There seemed to be a few options he had drawn together in terms of having guards close by or from a distance, the schedule and protocols they’d follow, what they’d do if anything did happen.

It was pretty thorough, almost made me think I was some kind of celebrity with their own security team. It was also a bit scary, making it all seem so real.

“So what do you think?” Roman asked, making me jump. He and Bryan were on the other side of the counter, waiting while I was completely oblivious to their presence.

“Is all this necessary?” I asked.

Roman shrugged. “Do you want over the top or no one there to protect you when the time comes? The house is pretty secured. Bryan did a good job.”

Bryan seemed to perk up at the compliment. “You taught me, of course it’d be solid.”

That drew out a deep chuckle from Roman. “You’re all good kids. No reason to get mixed up in gang bullshit.” He pointed at the folder. “That’s the basic plan, and now that I’ve seen your security, I can tweak it to better fit your situation. I just need a better idea of your living situation.”

We spent the next hour talking about my life, my traveling routines, the people I met and needed to meet with over the next few weeks. Luckily, there wasn’t too much, especially with Laurens out of town. The guys, Micah and his family, my doctors, and lawyers were about it.

Never, not once, did Roman seem judgmental as I talked briefly about my mom and the hospital, and that whole situation.

By the time he left, I was starting to feel settled again, like everything would be okay. His confidence in protecting me did that. Roman was helping me get my life and home back, and all for nothing. I tried to set up some kind of payment and that had pissed him off.

Apparently helping me was doing him a favor too, though he wouldn’t say what it was.

“I’m glad you called him,” Bryan said. “He’s good at his job.”

“You’re so confident in him.”

“While he mainly works at his diner, he’s also a co-owner of a security firm nearby. They’re the go-to for parties and private security.”

We talked a bit more about him as I made myself some tea, but once I was done, I really was pushing it now. “I really do need to get some work done today.”

Bryan didn’t seem bothered by it at all. “Of course. I’ll just chill in your living room.”

We headed into the living room, where he beelined for the couch, already digging through his bag and pulling out books.

I watched him for a moment, but he didn’t say anything as he carefully placed his textbooks on the coffee table, trying to organize his work. Something bothered me as I watched him. I didn’t like how lonely he looked.

And I didn’t get why he looked so lonely to begin with.

“I have an extra table in my studio,” I said carefully, not sure if he even wanted to be bothered. “If you want, you can do your homework there while I work.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to interrupt or bother you or anything.”

I shrugged. “I’m not doing anything complicated. You can join me.” I smiled teasingly. “And if you bother me, I’ll just kick you out.”

He chuckled. “Fair enough. All right, that sounds good to me.”

Upstairs in my studio, I showed him the spot he could turn into his workstation before going over to my own spot behind the piano. The work I currently had wasn’t that hard. It was some straightforward work to create the music for already written songs, and a couple of assignments to create music sheets out of already composed music.

I jumped into composing music, knowing those would take me the longest to do. I typically worked on a week-long deadline for each song on these kinds of projects, but usually ended shorter than that if my workload wasn’t too hard.