to watch her for when she needs protection.”
“Well, they’ve been doing a shit job, since one of the letters got hand delivered to her locker. And you don’t appear to have heard about any of this. Admit it, Caleb. Was it Connor? Are you two having a little fun, like in the old days?”
Caleb stabs a finger at my face. “You don’t have the right. You don’t have the fucking right to be anywhere near her, you piece of—”
“This is why we came here?” Bethany puts her hands on her hips. “So you could have yourselves a pissing contest in front of me? Are you serious?”
“I’m your brother,” Caleb says with a growl.
“You’re domineering.” She glares at me. “So are you. Both of you are bastards.”
“No argument here, sweetheart.” I give her a wink, mostly to annoy Caleb.
“Neither of you get to control me. Neither of you have any rights on me except what I agree to.” Her dark eyes pin me to the wall. “And I have a performance.”
Caleb doesn’t want to blink first, and neither do I. We both let Bethany walk out the door. Noah’s waiting in the car downstairs. He’ll watch over her for a few minutes. We need to work something out, man to man. Bastard to bastard.
Her footsteps fade to nothing. Then it’s just me and him.
“You fucking her?” he asks.
“Like she said, that’s none of your business.”
“She’s my little sister. I protected her before you even knew she existed. Now you think you can take over because you have a goddamn Escalade and a government contract? I know what you really want.”
I step forward, putting my face an inch away from his. This is the language that bullies understand. It’s the language that I speak more fluently than English. “Because I want your sister’s pussy? Yeah. You didn’t need Mamere’s crystal ball to figure that one out. So what are you going to do about it?”
A vein pulses in his forehead. “I can kill you. I can ruin you. I can—”
“You can stop running your mouth for a goddamn second, and answer a question. Before you puff up your chest anymore, know this: your sister’s safety is at stake. Have you had any contact with Connor?”
A tense moment. “He came at me six months ago. Said he’d just gotten out of lockup, had this crazy idea it was my fault, said I owed him something.”
“Funny how ratting out your friends pisses them off.”
Black eyes flash with hatred. “You’re one to talk.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You and I? We were never friends. You wanted to use me, but I used you first. Now tell me where Connor is.”
“I don’t fucking know. He didn’t exactly leave his business card.”
“Think.”
“I don’t know! He looked high as fuck, and I gave him some money so he’d calm down. That’s all. I gave him some money because I felt sorry for him.”
I’d love to keep pushing, pushing, pushing until Caleb lets loose with something more helpful. Unfortunately, I think he’s telling the truth. At the very least he’d offer to sell out his so-called friend for money if he had a line. Plus he seems genuinely pissed off at the idea of anyone—me, Connor, or goddamn Captain America—touching his sister. He’s always treated her like she was six years old.
“He contacts you again, you call me.”
A sudden laugh that seems almost boyish. “He contacts me again, he’s a dead man. And I wouldn’t make any long-term plans if I were you, North. No one who messes with Bethany gets away with it. That’s a promise.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A teacher from Bakersfield, California, played the video game ‘Just Dance 2015’ for 138 hours 34 seconds, earning herself a world record and raising over seven-thousand dollars for charity on the live stream.
Bethany
My piece-of-shit apartment is exactly the same as I left it.
Josh was wrong. Nobody cares enough to break in.
I had him drop me here instead of the theater because the rest of my performance clothes are still hung up over the kitchen sink, drying for weeks now. I’ve been at his place too long. He offered to buy replacements, but I didn’t want that. He’s not going to give me another thing. Not today. I wrench the clothes off the hooks and shove them into my messenger bag.
I don’t know how I’m going to get over that ridiculous visit to my brother’s place. I don’t need to see him at his house. We cross paths at Mamere’s and that’s enough for