have to be that all the time because she’s not normal. She’s special. And there’s gonna be times you’re gonna feel that, and if you don’t get off on her being special, then you need to cut her loose because she should be with someone who does.”
She’s special.
Well…
Shit.
Mag was shocked as all hell, but he was finding there might be one member of Evan’s family who he could put up with.
“Trust me, I’m into your sister,” Mag stated.
Sidney looked him right in the eyes.
“She’s gonna make more money than you.”
Mag stood still.
“I see you got your shit tight with this operation,” she said, tipping her head to the windows behind Mag. “But, I mean, if she wanted to, Evie could figure out how to put rockets in space. Like, every one of her teachers wanted to have a sit-down with Mom and Dad to share she needed to be in different classes, maybe even go to different schools, be more challenged to even come close to meeting her potential. She’s gonna get her degree, I know it. And then everyone is gonna want her and they’re gonna pay big to have her because she turned down like, a bazillion academic scholarships because, you guessed it, Mom’s crap, Dad’s crap and Mick’s garbage.”
She stopped talking and Mag did not start.
That was because he was fighting the need to tear Elvira’s office apart.
She’d turned down scholarships?
“Mag,” Elvira said carefully.
Mag took in a deep breath.
“Mag, hon, keep it together.” Elvira was now talking soothingly.
“What’s going on?” Sidney whispered.
“Now I gotta educate you, girl, seein’ as you don’t tell a protective alpha guy who’s fixed on your sister to make her his that your parents and brother fucked up her life even more than he already knew they did without, you know, cushioning that info. Or maybe not sayin’ that shit at all unless he’s somewhere he can rip a punching bag off its chain and toss it out a window,” Elvira replied.
“Oh,” Sidney mumbled.
“Mag.”
Mo was now there, probably due to Elvira giving him the signal.
“I got it locked down,” he growled.
He felt Mo stay close.
Mag forced himself to focus on Sidney.
“I know she’s special,” he stated. “I don’t know much about computers, and I don’t wanna know. She doesn’t know how to disassemble a gun, and she probably doesn’t wanna know. It doesn’t matter she could figure it out on her own. That doesn’t signify. She’s gonna have her strengths, I’m gonna have mine. That’s life. That’s a relationship. I couldn’t give a shit how much money she’s gonna make just as long as she’s happy in how she makes it. What’s gonna happen is I’m gonna teach her how to shotgun a beer and she’s eventually gonna make me watch all the Harry Potter movies. That’s not gonna blow us up, it’s what’s gonna keep us strong. Because that’s how I’m gonna make it happen.”
And again, Sidney was reminding him of Evie because she had big eyes and was muttering, “All righty then.”
“Now are we finished?” he asked.
“Sure,” she said.
“Talk to your sister,” he ordered.
“Will do,” she replied. She then gave an airy wave and said, “Laters,” before she started heading out.
“Later, girl,” Elvira called.
Mag got another look from Evan’s sister, a happy one, before she walked by him.
He then felt Mo get close.
“What happened?” Mo asked.
Mag looked to Mo.
“Evan was offered academic scholarships. And she’s stripping.”
Mo’s lips tightened.
“Yeah,” Mag grunted.
“Keep on,” Mo grunted back.
“I got no choice, worse, neither does she.”
“Just to say, my desktop at home is givin’ me fits,” Elvira put in.
Mag cut his gaze to hers. “Call Computer Raiders and request Evie.”
She was smiling broadly when she replied, “Will do.”
“You good?” Mo asked Mag.
But it was Elvira who spoke.
“I’m inviting that sister of Evan’s out for a cosmo,” she declared.
Mo looked over his shoulder at Elvira then back to Mag.
“You’re good,” he said.
Then he strode out of the office.
“Mag,” Elvira called.
“What?” Mag answered, his attention still on his friend’s departing back.
“Boy, look at me.”
He looked at her.
“It isn’t right, and it isn’t good, how it came about, but since it did, you got an opportunity to do something normally you would not. That is, help your girl to be all she’s meant to be. And Mag, as much as it sucks she got delayed in her path to that, and how, if you give her that, you’ll always be the one who gave it to her. That’s a beautiful thing. And if she’s as smart as everyone says