Page 48 of The Sidekick

“What do you do all day?” He pops open one of his soft drinks and holds it because there isn’t a table to put it on. I work hard to keep the roaches out of here, but at this point, I wish just one would leap onto his pants or something. He would leave like his butt was on fire.

“I work, and I sleep, ok? No different than anybody else.”

“Are you eating?” He looks my frame up and down with a frown.

Shade saying that triggers an anger that overwhelms me every time I hear that phrase. So I lost some weight, so what? I’m eating more now. When I can.

“I eat when I want to!” I yell and throw a candy bar at Shade like a knife thrower. My aim proves true, hitting his forehead with a satisfying thwack.

“I owe Alec twenty bucks,” he mutters, promptly opening the wrapper and taking a huge bite. “Abuse tax.”

“Why do you owe Alec twenty bucks,” as suddenly as the rage came, it leaves, making me feel hollow and a tiny bit guilty. It isn’t like he knew it was my trigger phrase. Or did he?

“He said your aim was spot on, and I refused to believe it. Have you ever trained with knives? Or gone to a shooting range? I’d pay to see that.”

I’m a little proud of myself for assaulting someone with chocolate but losing the candy tempers it. The stupid bars are one of the only things I’ve been able to eat without too much of a struggle.

“I threw axes with my brother when we were little,” I confess, and he chokes on his drink. “What? We were young, and the neighbor kept leaving it out. We had our tetanus shots.”

“You’re telling me you were an ax thrower as a kid?” He asks with disbelief.

“Not professionally,” I roll my eyes. “We did a lot of stupid stuff as kids. Didn’t you?” Am I really asking this jerk about his life? Ugh.

“No.” His flat response makes me frown.

“You hatched as an adult?” I mock, and he glares at me. The remorse is instant. Regardless of his status, he drove a long way to see me. I shouldn’t be mean just because I can.

“I’m sorry. That was mean.”

He looks at me like I’m crazy. “You’ve literally never been mean to anyone. If you were mad, I never knew, and you’ve never said a word.”

“Yeah, but I thought it really loud. That counts.”

He blinks slowly, “Do you have an interpreter? Or a translating Tera app?”

I give him a half-hearted glare and open a candy bar. “Where’s my abuse tax?”

He pulls a can from the 12-pack and hands it to me.

“I’m really surprised you don’t have a computer,” he breaks the silence as he looks around.

“Why?”

“Because the one you left at the bar was a sweet machine. Did you put it all together yourself?”

“Of course,” I scoff, offended. Then I add in a bitter tone that’s becoming too familiar to me, “Surprised?”

“Yes and no,” he shrugs. “You’re smart, Tera, I’ve always known it. You just hide it really well.”

“If that’s your idea of a compliment, you need to resign yourself to being single,” I grumble the words and lower my eyes to hide that his comment made me a little happy.

He actually laughs at the taunt as if we’re sharing a moment. I guess we kind of are? Does he like it when people are mean to him? That’s a kink I don’t understand, but to each their own.

“So, what are you doing here?” I break and ask. I know he’s here because he found me, but what’s next? Am I getting kidnapped? Do I have to make a ransom call to Andi for release?

“I’m on vacation, and I wanted to catch up.”

I raise a suspicious eyebrow and deadpan, “Really.”

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