Page 129 of The Sidekick

“Any particular reason you’re both here?” She cajoles.

“Just meeting up with someone,” Trevor smiles his polite mask smile and orders us both a beer.

“Oh,” she pouts but quickly rallies. “Anyone I know?”

I give her an ugly sneer that doesn’t faze her at all. I must be losing my touch.

“A friend of Max’s,” Trevor shrugs and turns his attention away from her. When she hurries off to fill our order, Trev sighs and rubs his face.

“Just give my idea a chance, Trev. We’re getting nowhere on our own,” I frown at his lack of intuition. He needs to get out of his own head full of regrets. Asher will not put up with that bullshit at all. I can’t wait. But I will give him a warning so I don’t feel too guilty when this is all over with. “Try to remember that this guy could probably dismantle you in five seconds, ok?”

His brows furrow with disbelief as he says, “Now you’re trying to piss me off.”

“Your funeral,” I mutter. I’ve been tossed around by the guy too much to ignore the threat. Maybe I can convince him to beat the shit out of Trevor. With Trev’s current attitude, it might not take much.

When Asher walks in with his hands in his pockets, I point him out, and Trevor looks at me with disbelief. “That scrawny kid could kick my ass?”

“He’s my age, asshole.”

I can understand where Trevor is coming from, though. Asher’s muscles aren’t flashy, and he’s not as tall as Trevor or me. With the flower tattoos and his current dressy outfit, he looks more like a straight-laced college kid who has no idea what a bar is and wandered into the wrong place. It doesn’t help that his hair always looks like it needs to be brushed. Looks really are deceiving when it comes to him.

He glances at the seat yourself sign and scans the crowd for us. I raise a hand for his attention, and he jerks his chin, showing that he sees me, and walks over. He’s never in a rush, so it takes a minute, but I watch as he looks everything over with a practiced eye. I knew he was a street kid, and this cements it for me. I mean, after I got over the tattoos.

“Is he part turtle or something?” Trev mutters and chokes on a laugh.

I frown at him. I knew he was going to be an ass, but to start off before he even sits down is above and beyond.

“Max,” Asher nods in greeting, and I nod back as his eyes slide to Trevor and narrow. “You must be Trevor.”

“I am,” Trev gives his fake smile and offers his hand.

Asher hesitates, looking down at it before he shakes. I watch Trevor’s knuckles blanch and bite back my cursing. Stupid toxic male bullshit. Asher doesn’t respond, leaving his clasp light with a smirk.

“Have a seat, man,” I gesture across from us and ignore the way Trevor’s eyes have narrowed at Asher’s blasé response to his threat.

His ass has barely touched the seat before Emily is back, all smiles for the new guy in our midst.

“Hi,” she says breathlessly, expression surprised as she drops off our drinks. I don’t know why. There have been a lot of guys roll through here that look like him. “I’m Emily. What can I get for you?”

She leans down so he has a good view of her cleavage, but he doesn’t look away from the menu on the table.

“What they’re having, thanks,” he says calmly as he leans back, ignoring her presence while somehow still managing to be polite.

“Of course! I’ll be right back with that.” She says it and then lingers, but when he doesn’t look up, she hurries to the back.

“That was well played,” Trevor smirks and slides my beer over to me.

“What do you think the next angle is going to be?” I ask Trev with a grin.

“Where I get my tattoos done,” Asher inserts and pulls his wallet out to flip a business card onto the table.

“Nah,” I frown at him, “Whether you live around here because she hasn’t seen you before.”

“It’s Emily. She’s going to flat-out ask if he’s single,” Trev glances at me like it should be obvious.

“She isn’t after me.” Asher shakes his head as he resumes looking at the menu. “She wants one or both of you and will try to see if I can angle her in. Use me to show you how friendly and nice she can be. I guess she’d take me too if I was into it.”

That shuts Trevor up as he looks at Asher again, this time really looking. I can’t control the smug smile that crosses my face. When Trev catches it, his eyes narrow.

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