Page 55 of The Sidekick

“But what am I supposed to do?” I wring my hands at the thought of going back there. I don’t want to face everyone I left behind with a “Hey, sorry I went psycho, but I’m back now” excuse. Who does that?

I don’t want to look anyone in the eye as I explain how their actions affected me. I want to hide and pretend everything is ok. I want to be normal again.

Suddenly, Shade is in front of me and places both hands on my shoulders, watching me with concern. “You walk into town like you own the place and tell everyone to kiss your ass.”

“I can’t do that,” I stare back with wide eyes, painfully twisting my fingers.

“Of course you can. You have a sidekick now.”

Babygirl,

I miss your smile so much. I hope you’re getting these.

Yours,

Trevor

Chapter Twenty

Tera

“Why this first?”

It has been two long days with Shade refusing to let me drive my car on the trip back. It’s been a whirlwind of conversations I never thought I would have, bad drive-through food that I couldn’t eat, and the knowledge that he lied to me about a lot of things besides being broke.

We stayed in hotels for two nights because he wanted me to be well-rested when we got to town. Not that it helped because he refused to get separate rooms just in case I tried to run. Enforced roommates was not something I ever imagined happening to me again. Thankfully, my time in juvie made it at least passable in comfort.

He snores. And leaves the TV on at ear-piercing volumes. I’m not rested at all, and I’m halfway convinced he’s just psychologically torturing me to break my will to live. My sidekick is a demon.

“You’ll be fine,” he says with a shrug.

“Remind me about how you behaved when I step in as your sidekick,” I grumble as I stare at the house with trepidation.

From the outside, it’s a quaint home with several rooms. The paint looks fresh, and the lawn is freshly mowed. Everything is tidy. A new truck is in the driveway. I can’t picture Max and you know who living here at all. Shade better not be pulling a prank on me.

“I don’t expect you to have any mercy on me when it’s my turn,” his gray eyes meet mine, and he grins.

“Oh, it’s coming, buddy. Just you wait,” I glare back. Then, my lips give a tentative lift as he laughs.

My eyes return to the front door, and the smile drops as nerves take over.

“The busboy is there now. Satan is at the bar.” He tells me as he eyes the place with a frown. He knows I don’t like hearing you know who’s name. I’ve taken to calling him Satan, and Shade has followed my lead. It makes me giggle on the inside.

My heart gives a painful squeeze as I chew my lower lip. I’ve missed Max so much, whether we talked or not. I never needed him to speak to feel connected to him. That feeling hasn’t faded with time at all.

“I don’t know if he’ll just shrug and say whatever,” I whisper with a wobbly voice. I never even said goodbye to him.

Shade shakes his head. “I think you’ll be surprised.”

“What do you mean?” I can’t focus on him when somewhere up that driveway is a man who probably wants to strangle me for being overly dramatic and supposedly scaring the heck out of him. And I have to walk up there and tell him to kiss my butt, according to Shade.

“You never got his side of the story, did you?”

My eyes fill with tears. “I freaked. I never said goodbye to him. Or thanks for being amazing.”

“Yeah, I’d be pretty pissed off if I had a life-altering hand job from someone and then came back to nothing.” He informs me.

“I regret sharing anything with you,” I glare, trying to keep the waterworks at bay. Being snippy with Shade helps that a lot.

---