Page 33 of Clap Back (Carter Brothers)

“You and my sister?” he stiffened, the veins in his neck popping out with his anger.

“She’s your sister?” I batted my eyes at him.

I knew they were technically related. Even if Maven hadn’t shared quite a bit about herself to me yesterday, I would’ve known. It wasn’t hard to figure out who was family in the precinct.

Plus, he’d brought it up last night, talking about what his stepfather had done to his sister’s business because of her refusal to ‘follow directions.’

Scott puffed up his chest, ready to fight now, but Sheldon finally appeared from behind my back and said, “Who are you?”

“I’m Maven’s man. Who are you?” I challenged.

“I’m her ex-fiancé,” he said, trying to appear tough when he was anything but.

Maven rolled her eyes. “There was never a fiancé title to be an ex.”

“Amen,” Athena said. “Dodged that bullet.”

“Why the fuck are you still here? Shouldn’t you be in your high school classes still?” Sheldon snarled at her.

Maven snorted.

“How about you go back to your table with your friends, and leave us alone to finish our food?” Athena suggested. “We only have twenty more minutes left before Maven has to go visit with her lawyer.”

Scott’s anger turned to Maven again, his eyes narrowing. “What lawyer?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know why I need a lawyer. It’s beneath you.” She stood up, her body brushing along my own as she did. “You’re late.”

Unable to stop myself, I curled my hand furthest from Maven into a fist, then caught her hand with the other to keep myself from pushing Scott as he started to crowd in close again.

“Come join us,” I suggested, my hand going to hers—which also happened to be the one holding her book.

She didn’t protest as I tugged her toward our table.

“This is Maven, as you know,” I said to my brothers as I pulled a chair from the trooper’s table to squeeze between my own chair and Quaid’s. “Athena is her best friend.”

“Hi,” Athena waved.

“You’re Gavrel’s sister,” Gable said as he leaned back in the chair. “How are you doing?”

I’d heard of Athena but hadn’t actually had the chance to meet her yet.

When her brother, Gavrel, had been killed in the line of duty, I’d seen both her and Maven at the funeral.

At the time, I’d thought Athena looked young.

But she’d definitely grown into herself in the time since I’d last seen her.

Athena’s shoulders drooped for a short second before shrugging. “Making it.”

“I was just encouraging her to work on an app to help find her sister who went missing when she was five,” Maven said, changing the subject.

That had my eyebrows raising in surprise.

“Your sister went missing?” Garrett was the first to ask. “What happened?”

“You know what happened, dummy,” Gable interrupted. “This was the little girl who was playing at a park with a friend, right across the street from the friend’s house. Nice neighborhood, even nicer park. Upper crust of Dallas elite. That was why Gavrel joined the DPD. To help other kids who went missing like his sister did.”

“Oh, yeah.” Garrett winced. “I’m sorry. I should’ve remembered that.”

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