Page 120 of The Sidekick

“You’re deflecting, Tera,” Andi says gently.

“It’s worse when I’m stressed,” she mutters dismally. My frown becomes a scowl. “With all this stuff going on with Max, any time I think about it, I want to throw up.”

She has an eating disorder.

The knowledge knocks me sideways with surprise. A few puzzle pieces click into place. Max got her drinking smoothies because she was having trouble. Does he realize how much trouble?

That explains the poor-fitting outfits she usually wears to class. The only time I’ve ever seen skin was when Shade dragged her to class. I almost swallowed my tongue when I saw her.

She’s hiding her body so others won’t judge.

I will deck the first fucker that dares to say a word wrong to her.

“Any ideas how I can help? Is there something I can do?” Andi asks in a muffled tone. Probably changing back into her normal clothes.

“Nothing really,” Tera mumbles. “Unless you can magically get my brain to stop thinking food is evil.”

“Tera’s brain, listen up! Food is her real best friend, and I’m tired of your shit!”

The light giggle that comes out of her makes my heart hurt. She’s facing something serious that concerns the shit out of me, but she’s doing what she can. She’s fighting. I’m fucking proud of her for that. How many demons does my angel face every day and keep getting up?

“You know what you need?” Andi continues, and there are a few thumps like she’s hitting the walls of the changing room.

“I’m afraid to ask,” Tera sounds teasing and unsure.

“Someone to feed you.”

“What?” She sounds thoughtful as we both wait for Andi to explain.

“You said the affirmations don’t work sometimes because you feel like you’re lying to yourself. So, what if a guy gave you the affirmations and fed you? I’m sure there are people out there like that.”

“That would be wonderful,” she sighs wistfully as if it’s a dream that could never happen in real life. “I’ve never imagined anything like that.”

Fuck, I volunteer. My dick agrees enough to make me light-headed at the thought of feeding her bite after bite.

She can never know I was here. If she found out I just heard all of this, she would definitely run. How do I get out of here without her seeing?

“Are there really guys that would do that? How weird would that conversation be? Hey, can you tell me I’m amazing and feed me a sandwich?” She says in a mocking, low tone.

She’s already looking for pitfalls when all she would have to do is walk around an aisle and witness the raging hard-on I’m trying to quietly adjust so it isn’t as noticeable.

“Let’s look it up on the dating app after you get off work. There has to be a category list for the dom side of things, right?”

Hold up. She’s on a fucking dating app? That does not sound like her at all.

“Umm,” Tera’s lackluster response makes me narrow my eyes.

Go on, answer her. Just how much trouble are you in, angel?

“You haven’t even opened it, have you?” Andi demands.

She better not have.

“Did you even download it?”

“Umm.”

“Tera! I signed you up for it and everything. The hard part is done! All you have to do is log in and say, ‘Meh, I could do him.’”

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