Page 63 of The Villain

I pick up the giant bag holding Tera’s present and make my way inside.

Shade

“Look who came out of his cave,” Blaze salutes me with a beer. Felix’s jaw clenches as he casts his brother a glare.

Andi gives me a pained look and gets up to hug me.

“I fucking hate these guys,” she says in my ear.

“Same,” I utter and return her affection.

“I miss you, asshole. I know they’ve made it awkward but I still want to hang out with you. They’ve been absent a lot lately anyway. It’s open season for spending time with little sis.”

“Thanks for being straight with me.”

“Fuck that. I’m pissed off about it,” she leans into my face to whisper yell over the music. “Dad has a lot of explaining to do.”

Out of all the bullshit I’ve had to deal with in my life, finding out Andi is my sister was a surprise gift. I knew her before, of course. The spoiled brat princess version she shows off to everyone.

But when I told her about being her half-brother she welcomed me with open arms. It surprised me that she was happy about it.

I spoke to her in the last few days, waiting for Evie to come back. To ask her all the questions plaguing me and basically chew her out for being a spy. To get called a dickweed again.

She hasn’t told a soul that she knows about me being her brother. Not even her boyfriends. Everyone thinks I’m just her bodyguard. As far as Matthias knows she’s still in the dark.

She also confessed to me that my being in the wedding was supposed to be my surprise reveal to everyone. She knew it was coming but didn’t know it was me. He was going to introduce me to everyone as his son. When I ‘didn’t show’ he wiped his hands of me. I don’t think she realizes just how clean he’s trying to get them and I don’t want to tell her. She’ll freak out, even knowing exactly who I am in bio’s business.

I see everyone else is already here. Andi’s boyfriends are sneering at me. They all think I want in on their action because I hug Andi. The thought is disgusting.

Because they all have seats taken, I’m left sitting across from the assholes. And they brought Melissa.

For a second I hesitate and take them in.

I see all of our interactions without the blinders now. The things I put up with. The lying, the mockery, the downplay of anything I said until it was inconsequential. A new recruit hazing that lasted way too long. The constant talking all around me while I sat back, watching them live as I faded into nothing.

I let that happen. What the fuck did I turn into?

I suspected that Melissa wasn’t in town to help out the team. Not enough action here, despite the cesspit hiding underneath this town’s perfect image. They wanted her in. I didn’t like her, and still don’t. There’s something about her that makes my instincts say no in a big way. They thought it was jealousy and, at the time, I thought they were right.

Now? I’m pretty sure my alarms have been going off about all of them for a long time and I drowned it out so I could have someplace to fit in.

When Tera left town and Trevor and Max both lost it something clicked in me. If I disappeared like that would they notice? Care? Would anyone? If Tera, good natured and sweet with a kind word for everyone couldn't stand to be here any longer why was I, bad natured, mean, with nothing to say, still here?

Reading her diary cracked me open a little more. Her version of their behavior, and mine, painted everything in a stark light that made me look again. Seeing myself from her side as a giant pathetic kid throwing a tantrum at her skills was a slap in the face. Not that she put it in those words. The knowledge was there though.

When she came back with me I used it as an excuse. If Tera had the guts to give it one more try then I could too. I was tired of looking for acceptance without putting in the work. It got me a best friend that I could trust with my secrets without any real proof between us. A risk. It got me to confess to Andi. To put myself into vulnerable positions that ended badly. I don’t regret a thing.

I’m pissed about it all, not sad. I feel like an idiot. The child they all see me as because I allowed myself to fall that far.

I spent months hiding from everyone because at first, I was sad. I’d conditioned myself to believe the team was everything and without it I had no one else left. Around month two I had to wrestle with how wrong I was. How easy it was getting to do things for myself instead of someone else. Seeing Tera’s caller ID emojis and Andi’s come up once a day, even though I wasn’t answering.

My anger is made even worse now that they’ve shown back up. To learn that they’re Matthias’ lackeys and think I’m some dipshit newbie that they can take out at any point. It rubs my face in the fact that I was that desperate.

I take a seat, envelope in hand to give Tera for her birthday and she gives me a tentative smile. I can tell she feels guilty for yelling at me. After the shock faded I was all smiles about it. Who knew hormones would make my struggle to get her to accept her anger so easily? Pregnancy equals rage. I’m going to remember that one.

I slide the card down the table and she giggles while she opens it, tearing up at the heartfelt words inside that I would never have written before her. She brought out that little spot of good in me, changing things in my life in ways I never knew I needed.

Tera rushes around the table to give me a strangling hug around the neck and a whispered, “I’m sorry.”

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