Page 19 of Sawyer
Sawyer moved to press his chest against her back to remind her she wasn’t alone. He was about to eviscerate this fuckwad. “I said I was her friend,bud.”
“You see, that’s how I know you’re lying. Leyla doesn’t have friends.”
Sawyer reached for his control. “She does now. You might want to remember that.”
“Oh, I’m not going to forget,bud.” Turning to Lele, he demanded, “You know this clown?”
“Yes, that’s what I was trying to tell you. He mowed my lawn for me. He’s a good guy.”
“Yeah, I see you think that.”
Sawyer was about done with the sarcasm. He hoped it tasted good, because Sawyer was about to shove the words back down Hector’s throat.
“He is!” Lele tried to move toward her stepbrother, but Sawyer held her in place. He didn’t want her anywhere near the guy, stepbrother or not.
Something about Sawyer had flipped a switch in Hector. Sabre had a lot of footage of the man, but he’d never acted like this.
Was he really trying to protect his sister? Or was this the real Hector finally coming out to play? He put good money on it being the latter.
“Then you have my thanks. I’ll see to someone taking care of that from now on, so you don’t have to worry about her anymore.”
Sawyer allowed his eyes to run down Hector’s body, then back up. “Should have been seeing to that for the past two and a half years,” Sawyer paused before adding another, “buddy.”
Hector’s frame tensed. “Well, I guess it’s better late than never.” Hector snapped.
Sawyer shook his head. “You see, that’s where you’re wrong. Since you’re such a protective brother. The way I see it, there’s nothingbetterabout letting your younger sister push a shit mower around a steep yard for two and a half years. You weren’t looking after her. She could have had a heat stroke, and you wouldn’t have even known until she missed work the next day. God forbid she’d mowed it on the weekend.”
When Hector’s fists started clenching and unclenching, Sawyer fought back a grin. Oh yeah, Hecter got his meaning. Not that the idiot was smart enough to shut the fuck up.
“Well, I guess all of Elk Jaw is lucky that didn’t happen. You’ve had your say. You’ve got thirty seconds to get out of my bar.” Turning on his heel, Hector stalked back into the kitchen.
With the imminent threat gone, Sawyer tried to calm down andput himself in Hector’s position. If Sawyer had come in and found his sister with her legs wrapped around someone he’d never met, he’d be pissed and protective, too. He got that. But it was the sly way Hector had of putting Lele down at the same time that made him such a dick.
Being a dick didn’t make him guilty of working with the General to frame Jackson.
That was valid. You could be a dick and not be a criminal. Lele had taken a plea deal almost out of the gate at her trial. Why would she do that if she was innocent?
Fuck! He was here to find solutions that helped Jaxon. All he’d found so far were facts that made things more and more convoluted. It was possible that Hector was at the root of what happened to Jaxon. Lele could have been the fall guy. Or Lele could have done exactly what she copped to and set Jaxon up.
He turned Lele to face him. “Maybe it would be better if I go. But I’m only leaving if you feel safe.”
Her brows scrunched. “Of course, I feel safe. Hector would never hurt me. I’m not sure what all that was about, but I’ll be fine.” She glanced toward the kitchen and continued. “You have no idea everything he’s done for me. The next time we have a few minutes, I’ll share my story. I can’t believe someone else hasn’t already shared it, but if they had, you wouldn’t be interested in kissing me or anything else.”
“Lele, don’t ever put yourself down in front of me.” Reaching over, he gave her one last hug and kissed her forehead. “I’ll see you later.”
Outside the bar, Sawyer revisited his encounter with Hector. Sabre definitely needed to dig deeper into the stepbrother. The truth was in there somewhere. All he needed to do was find it.
CHAPTER 8
Lele stared at her front door, trying to decide if she had the courage to open it. She knew who stood on the other side of the door. Saul had texted he’d be over in a minute to talk. How did he always seem to know the perfect time to come over? It was almost like he could see her sitting on her couch with nothing to do.
She’d managed to avoid any real conversations with Saul for the rest of the week. She’d served him at Videotopia, but she hadn’t engaged in any small talk. Once or twice, she even stayed at the bar all night.
Why in the world had she told him she’d explain everything she’d been through? Every time she thought about telling Saul about her past and why Hector had acted the way he did when he caught them kissing, her panic took over. She ended up on the floor, legs bent, with her head between her knees.
Now there was someone in her life, someone besides Hector, who didn’t treat her like dirt. Who made time for her and treated her like she mattered, because Hector was always busy. Saul made her happy inside.
People were made to seek community. It was built into their DNA. Living in a cave on a mountain top might work for a few hermits around the world, but at least they wanted to be alone. Everyone knew everyone in a small town like Elk Jaw. They all did life together. Nobody did life with her, and that hurt.
