Chapter Seventeen
Asher
“You told her six, right?”
I slide my eyes over to Max with a blank face.
“No, I told her three in the morning.”
He scowls at my frigid tone and checks his phone for the time.
“It’s six thirty,” Trevor says with a sigh.
“You’ve blown her off so long she’s not coming,” Max gives me a stern glare.
“She’s not the type,” I try to force myself not to feel guilty about it.
With South moving into town, Shade’s drama, and all the downright horror with Amanda, I’ve been trying to keep Addie at arm's length. My tendency to be overprotective of my siblings has been in full swing.
Addie is my biggest weakness when it comes to confessions. I know she’ll listen, add in her opinion, and smack me for doing things like an idiot. Her lack of sugar-coating things is what makes her the best at getting through to me.
There’s no way in hell I want my big sis involved in any of the terrifying reality hidden beneath this city’s surface. I can already see her with a baseball bat, ready to swing with Amanda and South right beside her. She already loves Tera without even seeing her. She’d go to war to keep her safe, regardless of the risks.
Hell no.
I’ll confess my sins to her tonight. She’ll understand me wanting to keep her safe. Keeping Tera out of everything as much as I can has been exhausting and pointless, as it turned out. Even taking her out of state in the disguise of a family emergency didn’t stop a damn thing. Max caught her on the phone whispering with South and confiscated it.
“Maybe she’s nervous.” Tera’s hand falls over mine with a sweet smile aimed my way. “I know I am. She’s your confidant. I don’t want to give her a bad impression.”
God damn, I love this woman.
“She got you to open your damn mouth and talk to us,” Trevor reminds me.
“If only the rest of us could do that,” Max jabs at him with pure, malicious innocence.
“Max,” Trevor starts in his usual warning tone.
“Addie is the best of my family,” I interrupt them to reassure Tera, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “She already loves all of you, and she isn’t shy about letting people know it.”
A hopeful smile makes her eyes sparkle.
“Look,” Max rolls his eyes, drawing my attention again. “She works down the street, right? I’ll just casually walk by and see if she’s busy since your frozen solid, overprotective ass is too scared to do it.”
I glance out the window to see her shop. There’s a different sign over the door that I can’t read from this angle. And something is drawn on the windows facing the street. That’s a little surprising. I guess Addie is going with a more attention-grabbing look.
I haven’t said anything about the tattoo shops around her that look like they’re thriving, while hers stays quiet. I know she can pull it around without my griping. She’s a fighter.
“Don’t thank me or anything,” Max snarks, standing up before I can speak. I’m surprised Trevor doesn’t try to stop him when he leaves.
“You’re sure she won’t be like the other sisters?” Trevor asks warily.
Now that Max is out of earshot, his tension is riding high.
I give him a frown. I know things didn’t mesh between my family with Max and Trevor. Daniella eyed them like sides of beef the whole time they were helping her move. So much for her boyfriend supposedly being her One. She would have been devastated if that were the case. Not flirting.
Sophia gave them wary smiles with a lot of concerned looks at Maman.
Suzette welcomed them with open arms but gave me a good heads-up.
Apparently, Maman is okay with Tera but considers Trevor and Max as unwanted additions that will cause me trouble. Suzette warned me that she’s hoping to convince me to ship them out. Finding all of that out while they were standing right next to me was a slap in the face.
When they found out Tera was pregnant, Maman’s eyes narrowed and stayed on Max and Trevor as if they were a threat.
It looks like this will be an uphill battle all the way. She’s been calling me more often and being nosier about everything in my life. It’s beginning to drive me crazy. I shut down anything negative she brings up about Max and Trevor. As if she knows them from a single look. She didn’t even talk to them.
I don’t really talk about them because I’m not in love with them. We have no problems that we can’t hash out ourselves. Does that mean we’re at each other's throats nonstop? No. We have our own way of living, and it’s nobody’s business.
Suzette gets it, and I already know Addie does.
Juggling all of that on top of a sex trafficking ring, Matthias men all over town, South’s demented courtship of Shade, and my angel’s penchant for trying to take care of problems while hiding in the background, I’ve had my hands full. Not to mention making sure Tera eats, her nausea isn’t bad, and all the foot massages and cuddles we’ve fit in.
That stress can all stop now.
The trafficking/drug ring has been disbanded in a permanent way that I don’t feel bad about in the least. Shade and South are married and spend the majority of their time at home doing God knows what. Amanda has basically adopted Tera and worships the ground she walks on. Gabriel has promised to keep Tera safe, no matter what, and out of any further ‘business’.
Everything is all wrapped up in a pretty bow, and now I can pay my dues. I’m already picturing Addie forcing me to do something embarrassing in retaliation for the extended silence that’s stretched between us.
Unfortunately, the rest of the family has Trevor on edge about meeting my favorite sis. I know Max is planning on glaring and not talking to her. I want to see how long he lasts against Addie’s persistent happiness.
“Addie calls you two the frosting and sprinkles on the angel cake, Trevor. What do you think?”
“I think I’m glad we live here instead of near your mother,” he returns with a scoff.
My jaw ticks at his response, but I don’t comment. I can’t exactly defend Maman’s point of view. Especially when she told me over the phone that she wants us all to move to Louisiana so we can be closer.
I don’t want to imagine what that would be like. My flat-out refusal to move hurt her feelings. Something I try to avoid as much as possible while maintaining my independence. It’s a rough road, but our comfort has to matter more than her need to micromanage my life.
Max comes back, looking confused.
“Well?” Trevor raises a brow at him.
“Um, that’s not a tattoo shop,” Max gives me a worried look. “Are you getting Alzheimer's or something?”
“What are you talking about?” I stare back, baffled.
“That’s a crafts store, man,” he replies helplessly.
“What?” I scoff in disbelief and stand to check it out. “Addie and her damn pranks. Why am I surprised at this? It’s right up her alley.”
“She jokes a lot?” Tera bounces next to me with bright eyes. Max and Trevor follow, having a low discussion farther away. I notice Max looks concerned but try to brush it off.
He doesn’t know how far Addie will go to sell a prank. I once came to work, and my entire office had been transformed into a plushy raccoon haven. She even dressed one up with my own clothes to play me, glasses included. The rest were dressed as '80s exercise idols.
“Nonstop,” I sigh. “Nothing harmful or crazy. I bet she’s hiding to surprise us. I usually scare her when we meet up as a joke. And I haven’t told her Trevor or Max’s names, just to drive her crazy. She’s probably ready to enact her revenge.”
My resigned humor fades the closer we get.
Max is right.
The store has been turned upside down. Instead of a counter, I see shelves of yarn displayed. The construction is complete, and a sign proclaims that they’re opening soon.
“What the fuck?” I mutter in confusion.
Tera’s hand slips into mine. I look at her, unable to cover my shock.
“I’m sure there’s an explanation,” she smiles again, but this time it’s cautious.
“I saw her on Saturday,” I shake my head. “She said she was renovating.”
“Hell of a renovation,” Max mutters. Trevor clears his throat with a pointed look to shut him up.
I think back to Saturday and how odd she had acted. There was no hug or happy excitement. Now that I think about it, without my millions of troubles clouding everything, she treated me like I was a stranger. I was too focused on feeling guilty for not being at the doctor’s appointment with Tera to really pay attention.
Did she even agree to meet? I can’t remember. Some brother I am.
When did that kind of distance from her start? I’ve been so caught up with everything going on in my life that everything else has fallen through the cracks.
How long has it been since I really saw Addie? I know I told her about Tera’s pregnancy. We’ve texted since. It felt like every time we were going to meet, a new problem showed up.
My scowl deepens as I pull out my phone to send her a text. I scroll back, and my eyes catch on her freak-out over Dani’s move. I was arguing with Tera and Max about Amanda and didn’t really pay attention. Seeing it again and reading how panicked she sounds makes my stomach drop.
Addie isn’t the type to fly off the handle about anything. Why the hell did I brush this off?
I can feel my hands shaking as I send a text. It goes out but doesn’t show that it’s been delivered or seen. I wait a few minutes, getting tenser the longer time passes.
Another weird thing. Addie always answers right away.
I try calling and get an automated voice telling me to leave a message. It should be Addie’s chipper voice telling me to text and stop wasting my time. A gut-punch sense of dread almost takes me out.
“Something’s wrong,” I whisper helplessly.
“What is it?” Trevor asks me with a little impatience. When I turn to him, he takes in my expression. A change comes over him at that moment. A straightening of his spine that looks like he’s bracing himself for bad news, along with a look of fierce determination.
“Let’s be calm and contact whoever is next in line in the Broussard food chain,” he tells me with a firm nod.
Is it that obvious that I’m falling apart inside?
Screw being calm. Addie is not the type of person to shut herself off from the world without a word. She wouldn’t complain about something like the shop shutting down. She’d accept the blow with her chin up and a lot of cursing. Maybe a little pouting and some frustration.
I just don’t understand why she didn’t tell me. I was standing right in front of her on Saturday. I even asked if she was remodeling.
I think about all those messages. Her panic and my cold-as-hell responses. I’m starting to feel sick. I think the question should be why would she reach out to me. For a brush-off or my icy, absent replies?
I call Maman next. She picks it up before it finishes the first ring.
“Hi, baby! Is everything ok?”
Considering how seldom I call her, she has to know everything is not ok.
“Call Addie, Maman,” I demand shakily. “Right now. Don’t wait.”
She pauses while I watch Trevor hug Tera on one side and Max on the other. The instant assurance that everyone will be taken care of while I lose my mind is something I need. Not that I would ever tell the asshole that. The way Tera leans into him and her look of stark concern is enough to have me trying to straighten myself out. To be strong so she won’t see this weakness.
Maman clears her throat and mutters, “I’d rather not, baby.”
My eyes widen in disbelief, that brief moment of strength deserting me. “You’d rather not ? Maman. Something is wrong! Her shop is gone.”
“It is?”
I frown at the excitement in her tone.
“You didn’t know either? And you’re happy about this?” I demand shakily. “This place is her dream.”
Was her dream.
Our raccoon hideout is gone, and she never told me!
“It’s about time she started taking life seriously,” she continues as if I hadn’t been talking. My jaw drops in disbelief.
“Do not start in about the tattoos, Maman,” I grit out. “Did she not tell you she shut down?”
“And prove me right? You know she wouldn’t do that.”
Prove her right? What the hell does that mean?
“Is she back with you? Like Dani? Let me talk to her,” I start to pace. I can’t stop it. Someone took something I cherished and threw it on the ground. This shop was a safe haven for me. Seeing it gone is crushing. I wish like hell that I had actually paid attention that day. I didn’t know it was my last chance to see it the way it should be.
Or maybe it had been transformed before that.
I didn’t catch Addie on a break from work like I thought. She was here to see who took over our hideout. Her fucking tattoo shop. Our safe zone. Gone without a word.
“No,” Maman says, her tone slowly turning wary. “I haven’t heard from her in months.”
“ Months? ” I bark out. “She calls you once a week, just like everyone else! You haven’t reached out to ask why? What about Dani? Or Soph? Do they know anything?”
“Well, no,” Maman says after a hesitation that makes my teeth grind. “She doesn’t call me as much as she claims she does, baby. Dani isn’t ready to talk to her yet. Her not showing up for the move has proved a lot to everyone.”
“Proved what ?” I ask in a fury. “She freaked about not being there. I have the texts to prove it. She said that Dani never called her.”
“She’s covering her butt, baby. Just ignore her. Her tantrum has to end at some point.”
I pull the phone away from my ear and deep breathe my way through the rage those words send through me.
This sounds a lot like the gaslighting the sperm donor pulled while he was isolating me. Maman wouldn’t do that, would she?
My stomach starts twisting in fear.
Before I can think, I’m running to Addie’s apartment. That should have been my first reaction instead of wasting time. My thumb slides over the disconnect button in the middle of whatever Maman was saying. I don’t want to hear any more of that. I had that kind of insidious poison all my early life.
I’m seeing so many sides to Maman lately that I’ve brushed aside as maternal overprotectiveness. With the threat to Max and Trevor. Suzette telling me Maman didn’t accept all her men at first and tried to talk her out of being with them. It’s adding up, and I’m not liking the equation I’m starting to see.
“Ash, wait up!” Max calls in concern. I hear his heavy footfalls as he follows me down the street.
“I saw her earlier in the week. I should have known something was wrong. She acted like I was a stranger, and I didn’t even ask why!” I barely get the words out, even though I’m yelling them. My throat has tightened up as my paranoid brain tries to connect dots that shouldn’t be there. I’m panting even though the exercise is light compared to my daily grind.
I get to Addie’s apartment in record time and start slamming on the door like a crazy man. I’ll apologize as soon as I see her. I’m too fucking scared to stop right now.
I consider my Maman my hero for saving me. Of course I do. But Addie is on another level that no one understands. They’ve all teased her for following after me. The truth is, I wanted her to be here with me. My sunny support when everything feels like it’s going to shit. She’s been a part of my ups and downs without fail my entire life. She held me up when I broke and gave me the best advice she could. Made me laugh. Knocked my ego in the dirt when I was a fool. Kept all my secrets even when it got her in trouble.
“Addie! Open up!” My yell is as desperate as it is furious.
“Hey!”
I look over to see a neighbor glaring my way. His mouth is open to yell at me, but I don’t give him a chance.
“My sister lives here,” I snap viciously. “Have you seen her?”
Max grabs my bicep before I can take a step forward. He’s panting heavily, but his grip doesn’t let me move anywhere.
“Hey man, have you seen her? We can’t find her,” Max adds in a grim tone he rarely uses.
The stranger’s mouth closes as he glances at the door.
“Sorry. I thought you were that asshole ex and his crew. Where the hell have you been in all this? She moved months ago. You should know that if you’re her brother .”
His mocking response makes me want to deck him, but that urge dies quickly as I absorb what he said.
“She moved. Her shop closed. And you’re telling me that someone was harassing her at home?” I mutter in weak disbelief.
“We will find her, Asher,” Max tells me with a determination I haven’t grabbed yet. He sounds like he’s ready to walk through fire and brimstone to get it done.
And half my family wishes he weren’t around.
“What is happening?” I turn to him in complete confusion. A broken man looking for a lifeline. I haven’t felt this fucking helpless in so long. Addie is who I always turned to when I feel like this, and she’s gone.
“We’re taking this over. That’s what’s happening.” Trevor gives a nod to Max, who releases me.
Tera wraps her arms around me so tight I can barely breathe.
“I can find her. I will find her,” she says, nodding even though she’s crying. Trevor is murmuring to the neighbor, who’s watching me with angry confusion.
“ We will.” Max’s hand drops onto my shoulder with a bruising grip, his lips set in an angry line.
Three people surround me with love and warmth that feel both foreign and welcome. Not one of them says a word as I break into silent tears, hiding my face in Tera’s neck.