Page 225 of The Sidekick

“I won’t.” The tone is flat but her determination is a live thing between us.

“He’s going to drive for a while and be crazy about it. He’s practically a stunt driver so don’t worry about that. It makes him feel better.”

My eyes open as a warm palm cradles my shoulder and I find Asher frowning at me.

“And then?” South draws my attention back to her.

“He’ll go home and he won’t come out for a long time.”

“We should clean up and give him some space, Angel,” Asher mutters quietly.

“You’re right,” I mutter hopelessly.

Asher gets to work gathering all the trash and putting things in bags for us to leave.

I don’t want to go knowing how much he’s going to need me. He may not want me to be here when he gets home or even in the next few days. But I want to be. It takes me a second to calm and think about what he might need instead.

Alone time to brood. He’s great at that. I’ll just call him all the time until he picks up. I can get Andi on that too.

But he can still have a guardian angel, right? Maybe a guardian psychopath?

“Can you take care of him, South?” I ask her desperately. Asher glances at me in concern before he goes back to packing things up.

“Me.” The tiny word loses tone and becomes air in her surprise.

“Yes,” I insist. I know she’s the perfect person for this. “He’s going to shut me out. He’s a runner and he needs some time. Please?”

I’ll just keep her on the no contact ban but she can do whatever else she feels is necessary to take care of him. I refuse to feel guilty about how she chooses to handle things.

“Yes.”

The flat word washes away a lot of my stress. It’s going to be a rough road, just like Trevor said. Southie is always my hidden ace of clubs.

“Thank you so much,” I sigh out.

“You never have to thank me,” she answers without inflection.

“I love you, Southie.”

I hear a huff of breath and then the line disconnects.

I don’t take offense. She’s not going to lie and say it back to me. South doesn’t fake emotion. She cares for me in her own way.

I stand and look around at the apartment sadly. I’m not going to be back for a while, I know that. But something inside me says that it’s going to be even longer than I’m hoping.

A text comes in as I take in the barren furnishings and blank walls.

Max was right and wrong at the same time.

It wasn’t just me refusing to put any personality in this place. Shade is just as bad at trying to hide everything.

“Angel?”

I glance down at my phone and find a single word.

Shade:Go

Chapter Sixty-One

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