Page 135 of The Sidekick

“Put your phone on speaker and set it across the room from you,” he says in a tight voice when I don’t respond. I hear him curse himself, but it’s muffled.

I do as he says and set the phone in front of the closet doors before sitting cross-legged on the floor to stare at the phone. “Ok, I’m ready.”

“I shouldn’t have said-”

“Please just tell me?” I interrupt as my nerves take over. I draw my knees up to my chest and hug my legs, hiding my face.

“I know Max. He’s in my class,” he says in a strangled voice.

He knows Max? Grumpy Max is in a yoga class of his? That’s not so bad. Wait, why is he bringing this up?

Clarity hits me like an anvil dropping on my head.

He knows Max. How well? Enough that he’s bringing it up now. What have they said about me? Did he tell him how naive I am? How easy it is to boss me around? That I’m easy?

Was this a test? Toss Asher at me and see if I fold like any other woman would? The questions won’t stop, and it begins to get harder to breathe as they loop around. I guess I don’t have to confess anything to Max. He already knows.

The wrenching pain in my chest radiates down my arms and is overshadowed by nausea as the need to be sick attacks me. I must make some sound because Asher’s voice snaps at me.

“Tera. Stay with me, angel. I’ve got you. Let me-”

His words fade out as I hyperventilate. He really does have me. The same way Trevor had me. This is the throwaway I was stupidly hoping wouldn’t come. I heave and stumble to the bathroom to be sick.

I must be too loud because Shade comes in and curses, holding my hair back as I empty my stomach and continue heaving even after it’s empty. When I’m done, I go limp. Shade flushes and leaves, coming back with a cool towel to wipe my face off.

“Let’s just go,” my voice comes out hoarse from straining as I rest my forehead on the toilet seat. My arms are feeling too weak to hold me up without the added support. “I give up. I can’t get away from them. We’ll have a great life in Mexico. We can send Andi postcards.”

“First of all, Mexico is overrated. Two, we don’t run, remember?” he says. I struggle with a groan of defeat.

I flop back, and he’s there with his legs on either side of me to support my weight as we sit on the floor and contemplate the toilet.

“Asher said he knows Max.”

Shade pauses, “He probably takes a class of his.”

“Why would he bring him up to me?” I ask grimly.

Shade sighs. “Now that the initial freak-out is out of the way, let's think about this.”

“I don’t want to,” my shoulders hunch, and Shade’s arms wrap around me, his knees pulling up to really cage me in.

“Too bad,” his arms tighten threateningly.

“Really?” I whine, and my chin drops to my chest. He essentially has me in lockdown. I’m too tired and weak to put up a struggle and get away.

“It’s talking or getting black-out drunk at a strip club. I’ll pour oil all over you and convince you the stage is a slip-and-slide. Choose wisely.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” I chuckle weakly.

“You’re right, that was a really shitty threat. We’d have a great time until we got arrested.”

“So true,” I sigh as I agree. “I have bail money, and I’ll be a cheap date.”

“What did he say?” The dictator insists on continuing.

“That he knew Max.”

“And you freaked out because?”

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