Chapter Five
Trevor
The men in front of us are muttering to each other about Tera acting out of character, and I have to silently agree with them. Her behavior today was nowhere near normal. I would put it down to stress after the shooting. Depression over losing Joe. Maybe a combination of both. But she hasn’t been right for a while now, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen her lose her temper or get mad in general.
“What the fuck did they do to her?” Max grumbles from behind me as we reach the last step. We’re a lot slower with my fucked-up leg, so they have a head start on us.
“Go find out,” I glance over my shoulder at him as I rub my thigh. Stairs stopped being my friend years ago, and I didn’t need the reminder.
“Seriously?” He gives me a vicious grin and rushes ahead without waiting for an affirmation.
Of course, he’s going to rush to her defense at the first opportunity. He’s in love with her. I wonder if that thought has sunk in for him yet.
It bothers me how not jealous I am about it. It feels like she’s a perfect fit for us, no matter how much I try to deny it. I’m not sure how long Max will hold back from her now that he’s had a vivid reminder of how short life can be. He’s already started talking to her, something he’s struggled with but refuses to admit. I don’t blame him. It’s hard to swing from complete dick to asking a woman on a date in the span of twenty-four hours, even without me telling him to back off.
I’ve been putting off his attraction to her for over a year, and I’m running out of excuses. Watching her drop to her knees next to Joe plays over and over in my mind. I just lay there, struggling to hold Max back when all I wanted was to snatch her out of danger, damn the consequences.
It’s time to face up to the fact that Max isn’t the only one with feelings for her. Jesus, I called her babygirl out loud as if I had every right to. This feeling is building the dread I have over my interactions with her. I’m not going to fall for the sweet act again.
There is no way that she’s that nice all day, every day. Her angry explosion upstairs proves it. I’ve been in a relationship with someone who could fake it so well it seemed real.
I got burned over people being too nice. How fucked up is that? I don’t get that from Max, which is how we ended up together at first. He has no filter and goes out of his way to aggravate me every chance he gets. It hooked me from the start. He argues with me. He’s real.
I finally get to the car and find we’ve parked beside each other. Max has the driver’s door blocked as he demands answers from the tall older man that stared at Tera like she was scum. I have zero urge to try and hold Max back as he yells, which is another red flag.
“How long?” Max is demanding as I lean on the front bumper and cross my arms.
“I don’t know,” the guy sounds like he’s grinding his teeth in aggravation. “Maybe a month? Two?”
“She’s been ignoring her for months? And you assholes are shocked that she’s fed up with the bullshit? I’m surprised she let you idiots through the door.”
“Andi?” I ask idly.
“Yeah,” Max barely spares me a glance. “She’s been ignoring Tera, and now her little minions expect her to accept it when they ride in to manipulate her.”
“Hey! That’s not what we were doing!” One of them says in a stuffy tone. The one that looked at the walls as if they were filled with diseases. What a bunch of privileged dicks. And Tera has been around them for how long now?
“Really? It looked like you were about to kidnap a woman from her home and take her somewhere she didn’t want to be,” I interrupt calmly. “The cops would have had a field day with your actions.”
“Speaking of cops, what the fuck, man? You’re treating Tera like shit because she’s been arrested? Who hasn’t at this point? Are you squeaky fucking clean?” Max shoves the guy, and he stumbles back before bracing his feet in a fighting stance.
“Max,” I warn, and he backs away with his hands up.
“You have no idea what that woman has been up to. She’s lucky she isn’t behind bars this second.”
“That woman?” Max snarls. His hands fist again, and I step in to keep things from escalating.
“Tera is the type of person that would do anything to protect someone she cares about. I’m guessing she helped Andi when she was being threatened?” I’m thinking as I say it. The timeline seems right for when she stopped being as animated at work. That’s also when she stopped confessing everything she thought I might get angry about like I’m her priest.
“You jackasses are crazy,” one of the twins smirks as they gather to defend their friend. “She’s a thief, and she still works for you?”
I give him a skeptical look.
“Didn’t know about that?” His smug smirk would irritate me if I wasn’t ready to laugh at him.
“I know about it. Do you know what she stole?” I try to keep the humor out of my voice when I ask. It’s almost too ridiculous to be real.
“It doesn’t matter,” he says dismissively. “How can you trust her in your bar?”
“Easily,” I shrug with a laugh.
“Have you all been like this the whole time you’ve known her?” Max asks quietly. His chin is lowered. That is not good. He’s ready to kill these assholes.
“Max, in the truck,” I snap him out of it and slap the hood for his attention.
“Fuck, Trev,” he looks at me with horror. “She’s been around these fuckers for a long time.”
“Get in,” I motion to the passenger door and approach the driver’s side.
He slams his door hard enough to rock the truck. I don’t say anything to him about it as I stew in dark thoughts.
“They’ve been ripping her apart,” Max makes a choked sound and rubs a hand down his face. “Why wouldn’t she tell us?”
“Why would she?” I shake my head, filled with guilt. “She stopped talking because she knew she was doing illegal shit and didn’t want to confess.”
“Fuck. If she knew anything about us, she would have sung like a canary,” he glares at me pointedly, and I take the verbal potshot.
“Well, she’s going to know us now,” I reply grimly.
“It’s about fucking time,” he mutters and starts glaring out the window.