Page 93 of Elusion

“Unprovoked?”

I shake my head and fail to stop a grin.

“Damn it, Jordan.” She covers her face with her hands. “He broke up with her because my friends are too much drama.”

“Technically, he broke up with her because Johnny told him to.”

She groans behind her hands. “Not any better.”

“Sorry, I don’t understand how this is a bad thing.”

Her hands lower, so she can scowl at me. “She dragged me out of my bed and out of the house in the middle of the night. Cate was screaming, Connor didn’t know what the hell he should do, and if Pete had finished cleaning up before I got here, I might still be driving around without socks on.”

“How was I supposed to know any of that would happen?”

Since it doesn’t help my cause, I toss down the ice. Once more, I attempt to summon guilt over the situation, but a night of drama still seems preferable to the constant worry of him laying his hands on her ever again. All I muster is agitation toward Lauren’s overreaction—and Callie’s.

She stands up. “I can’t deal with you right now.”

The stool scrapes the floor as I jump up. I grab her arm to stop her from walking away. “What do you want me to do, Callie? Apologize? Because I won’t.”

“What I want is for you not to get in a fucking bar fight with Tyler in the first place,” she shouts.

I stop even trying to hide my frustration. “Ship’s already sailed on that one, beautiful. What else?”

“Don’t for one second think you get to be upset with me for being mad at you.” She rips her arm away from me. “How am I supposed to take care of Connor and Cate if she won’t let me in the house?”

Un-fucking-believable.

“That’s what you’re worried about? This guy tried to sexually assault you. If not for Johnny, he might have…” I can’t even say the word. I rake my hands through my hair and walk in a circle. How she puts her safety so far down the totem pole infuriates me. When I face her again, all the niceties have left my system. “He’s out of your life, and I couldn’t give a fuck about the rest.”

Callie holds up her hands, backing away from me, and goes behind the bar. “I’m too angry for this,” she says on her way through the curtain.

“Yeah, me too,” I say to an empty room.

I sit back down and drain my shot glass, listening to creaking boards and footsteps. Callie’s muffled voice starts yelling somewhere above me. It sounds like Pete shouts something back before a door slams. Heavier footsteps, more boards creaking, and the curtain flies open.

Visibly irritated, Pete swipes the whiskey off the bar. He drinks straight from the bottle and wipes his mouth on his arm. “She’s gonna sleep upstairs in my apartment tonight.”

“She kicked you out?”

“Yep.” He takes another swig.

Mad at her or not, I smile. She’s a force, and I fucking love her for it.

Pete grabs a beer mug off the counter behind him. “From what Trey said about that guy, you did what was best for Cal tonight.”

“Then why am I sitting here with you while my girl’s upstairs, pissed off?”

He shrugs and pours a beer. “Because you did what was best for Cal tonight.”

“Right,” I say. “Thanks for clearing that up.”

As he leans against the bar, he slides the full mug over. “In the process of protecting her, you upset Cate and Connor. Twisted Cal logic makes you the bad guy. She thinks, instead of keeping her safe, you should have worried about how it might affect them.”

If we’re fighting any time I choose her over them, we’ll fight a lot, and I might as well get used to it. I vowed to put her first and meant it. Someone in her life has to.

I scrub a hand over my face and yawn.

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