Page 90 of My Dark Protector

“Because…” she sighed, bringing her hand up to cover her face for the next part. “Because he’s helped me once before concerning Eric.”

“When?”

“About six weeks ago. That morning you found us on the floor of his place? He helped me with Eric the night before.”

“Okay, so he helps his girlfriend. I fail to see why--”

“I wasn’t his girlfriend!” Teagan blurted. “Not then. I am now… but we’ve only been together for about… two weeks…”

“I fucking knew you were faking it.”

Teagan rolled her eyes before nodding. “Yes. You did.” She dumped two boxes of dried pasta into the now boiling water before turning back to Shea.

“You lied to me? I’m yoursister, Teagan.”

“You lie to me all the fucking time.”

Shea laughed. “Yeah, I do.” After she’d finished having her laugh, she continued. “So he pretended to be your boyfriend that day because… why?”

“Because I’m a coward who would rather force someone into a fake relationship rather than admit I fucked up.Again.” Shea didn’t respond, which Teagan took as her cue to continue. “I gave Eric the key here, and he was in here cutting cocaine on my coffee table.”

“On the one Mom gave you? The antique? The family heirloom?”

“Yes, got it in three,” she replied.

“Oh, you are so right! Dating Jaxon was the clear choice. Mom would have made you come home and live there until you were thirty.”

Teagan sighed in exasperation. “Anyway, Jaxon got him to leave.”

“How?”

“I’m still not… I’m not sure? He won’t tell me what he did.”

“Okay, we’ll table that for now… but I need to know what he did. For reasons.” Shea shrugged. “Okay, so he got him to leave and…”

“And changed my locks on the door and the windows, and put that film on the windows that keep it from shattering when someone breaks it? And he found the coke Eric had left here, and then I was too scared to sleep here so I went with him to his place.”

“And ended up spooning him on the floor…”

“You didn’t see that.”

“No, but you just told me as much,” Shea smirked.

“Fine, and that’s how you found us. I said we were dating and the rest…”

“The rest happened.”

“Yeah. But now he and I are actually together and Eric’s kind of…”

“Jealous. Insane. Vindictive.”

“Yes. You’re on a roll,” she deadpanned.

“So he’s blackmailing you with the pictures.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay so-”