Page 59 of The Villain

“Oh. Um, no? I can figure out a way to transfer it,” she offers quickly.

“Meh, who cares?” Easy come, easy go.

“You can leave the store now,” she says gently. “I was wondering about a few things. Do you have a second?”

“Sure,” I answer easily as I walk out. I notice Felix follows but Brody goes into the store.

They don’t act like bodyguards. Who’s taking care of Andi while they follow me? And why steal my phone? A taunt to Shade because of our game? That doesn’t seem to fit right either. This puzzle just got a hundred more pieces added to it.

A lot of things aren’t adding up.

“Are you still coming to my party tomorrow?”

“Of course.” Why would she think I wouldn’t?

“Are you still going to protect Shade?” Her voice drops lower. Ah, the real question then.

“He told me to get lost,” I point out without any emotion. I get into my truck and pull away, Felix is right on my bumper as he hounds me.

“He says he’s sorry for being a jerk.”

The emptiness flails, reaching for the angry pain that brings up.

“And he didn’t mean it when he told you to get lost. He calmed down after talking to me.”

“You didn’t tell him to stay away?” I ask blandly. I put it on speaker so I can focus on driving. They know my temporary place is downtown in one of the shady areas but not the precise location. There’s a lot of back streets and I have them memorized. I never take the same route home. But this game is starting to bore me. Boredom and annoyance aren’t a good sign for them staying above ground.

“No?” She sounds surprised. “I trust him with you South. I would never tell him to stop seeing you.”

“He thinks I’m fake.” Maybe she can help me understand since he’s not going to.

“He doesn’t get it yet,” she hurries to say. “He’s so used to the BS it’s his first thought in everything. He always pushes people away when he gets upset. It’s like a go-to move. I ignore it all the time and just keep going whether he likes it or not.”

Tera ignores it? She would walk away quickly at any sign of an altercation before. But she thinks it’s ok to stick around with Shade when he’s mad?

“He doesn’t know what he wants and he lashes out. You know what he needs better than he does. You should ignore it.”

I almost slam on my brakes.

“Ignore it?” I hiss out in surprise. She knows how I’ll take that. What is she thinking?

“Yeah,” she says defiantly. “He’s being a jerk to you and I don’t like it. If you think it would make him happy to walk away then go for it. But you decide now. Not him.”

Whoa. How many bans does that lift?

“If you walk away from him then I’ll never bring him up to you again.”

Huh. An all or nothing game.

“I’ll play.”

Shade

Why did I say it? Why can’t I keep all the shove away bullshit out of my conversations with her? What was I thinking? I told her to get lost.

She did.

I haven’t seen or heard from her in days.

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