was always taking care of someone else when she should be looking after herself.
He didn’t like it.
But it was her, and one thing he’d learned in his life, you had to let people be who they were.
So he jerked up his chin.
He did the shot when she let him go and turned away to grab her phone.
“Rob?” she greeted. “Yeah, I’m okay.” Pause and, “Yeah, Danny’s here. We’ve had dinner. We’re just about to settle in, watch some TV and get some rest.” Pause then, “No. I haven’t told Sidney. Mostly because I didn’t want her worried but also because there was nothing she could do. But I’ve…well, for various reasons, I’ve cut ties with Mick and Dad.”
She stopped talking then whirled to Mag, and her eyes were big.
Cute.
Mag ignored other things about her face, including the fact one of her eyes couldn’t get as big as it should when she made that face, and he focused on that cute.
Strike that.
He latched on to it like it was a lifeline.
“You did?” she asked with unhidden surprise. “I-I…really don’t know what to say. But I think this is good. It probably doesn’t feel good, and I know she’s my mom, but you deserve better.”
When she stopped speaking, Mag wasn’t sure, but he thought he caught her mouthing He left her.
“What?” she asked into the phone. “Yes. But not tonight. I know you’re worried but I’m really all right. I’m with Danny and he’s,” she ducked her chin, “proven adept at taking care of me.”
Mag felt some tension release in his neck and instantly his shoulder felt better.
It wasn’t the Fireball dousing the burn inside.
It was those last words Evie said.
She turned a little away and spoke again into her phone.
“Maybe we can set that up sometime later. I do want you to meet him but right now he’s not a super big fan of my family so maybe we can give him a little time, I’ll work on that with him and we’ll figure something out.” Pause then, “Yeah.” Pause and, “That means a lot, Rob. Truly, it does. And you being how you’ve been through all of this means a lot too. I’m sorry it led to what it did between you and Mom, but sometimes things happen for a reason.”
She looked to Mag as she ended it over the phone with her stepdad.
“Me too, Rob. Thank you. Love you and talk to you later. Try to get some sleep.” Pause and, “’Bye.” She dropped the phone from her ear and announced, “He left Mom and he wants to meet you.”
“You’re right, I’m not a super big fan of your family, so I’m all in to break bread with Gert, who digs you and shows it, but that dude’s gonna have to wait,” Mag replied.
“Gotcha,” she mumbled.
Mag poured another shot and downed it.
Evie watched.
When he was done, she suggested, “Maybe we can lie down and watch a little TV.”
“I was vacuuming.”
Her head ticked.
“Sorry?” she asked.
“It was not a priority to vacuum. It was a priority to cover your ass. And I was vacuuming. Not covering your ass and look at you.”
“Danny,” she whispered.
But he couldn’t escape it no matter how hard he tried to block it out with her voice and her hair and her cute that he was learning could transcend almost anything.
Except that purplish-red along her cheekbone that was swelling upward and partly closing her left eye and the striated grazes that were already scabbing over that ran about an inch long under her right eye.
He poured another shot, saying, “You were probably out of your mind scared.”
“I was, that he’d hurt you.”
In surprise at these words, his gaze lifted again to hers.
“Please, sweetheart, let’s stretch out in front of the TV.” She shot him a grin. “I’ll watch Anaconda.”
“She lands on her feet,” he muttered.
“What?”
“You land on your goddamned feet!” he thundered, turned, and sidearm-threw the shot glass with such force, it embedded itself in the drywall opposite, liquor splashing a thin stream the entire way, fire searing through his shoulder as he did it.
He then pivoted back to her.
“It’s my job,” he thumped his chest, ignoring the new throb of pain that sent through his shoulder, “to keep you on solid ground.”
He stood there, his chest rising and falling, and each time it did, a nag of pain shot through his wound.
His arm was in a sling and he was staring at the woman he was set to make his, who looked like she’d followed her