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Hazel crossed her arms. “I may not look like much, but when one of these big boys are holding you down and I’m clawing your eyes out, you’ll understand why I’m standing here. But see . . . I don’t want to claw your eyes out, because you’re Cami’s family. And we don’t want to hurt her. Ever. Because she’s part of our family, now. And you don’t. Hurt. Family. So take a lesson from us, wipe those frowns off your punk ginger faces, and go home. When you cool off, Chase . . . give your sister a call. And talk to her nice. Unless you don’t want to keep your eyes.”
“Or your arms,” Trenton added. “Because if you ever talk to her with anything less than a respectful tone again, I will rip those f**kers off and beat you with ’em. Do we understand each other?”
Colin and Chase watched our group with wary eyes, from Trenton to Hazel, and everyone in between. They were outnumbered, and I could see in Colin’s eyes he wasn’t going to take them all on.
Chase looked to me. “I’ll call you later. We deserve an explanation for why our family’s falling apart.”
I nodded, and they both turned and pushed through the double doors.
When Colin’s engine fired up, I looked down, embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, Calvin.”
“The shop’s good, kiddo. We’re good.” He walked back to his office, and Hazel walked over, sliding her arms between mine and pressing her cheek against my chest.
“We got you,” she said simply. I kept my eyes on the floor, but when it was obvious Hazel wasn’t letting go, I squeezed her tight.
Bishop watched us for a moment.
“Thank you,” I said.
Bishop raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t going to fight. I was just out here to watch.” He walked back to his room, and I chuckled.
Hazel let me go and took a step back. “All right. Show’s over. Get back to work.” She left for her room.
Trenton pulled me into his arms, and touched his lips to my hair. “They’ll get it eventually.”
I looked up at him, unsure of what he meant.
“I’m never going to let them intimidate you again.”
I pressed my cheek against his chest again. “It’s all they know, Trent. I can’t really blame them.”
“Why not? They blame you for everything. And they’re not robots. They’re adults, and they can make different choices. They choose to stick with what they know.”
“Kind of like you and your brothers?” I didn’t look up, and Trenton didn’t respond right away.
Finally he took a breath. “We don’t react to things because it’s all we know. It’s just the opposite. We have no f**king clue what we’re doing.”
“But you try,” I said, nuzzling up against him. “You try to be good people. You work toward doing better, being better, more patient, and more understanding. But just because you can beat someone’s ass . . . doesn’t mean you should.”
Trenton chuckled. “Yeah it does.” I tried—and not very hard—to push him away. He held me tighter.
“I’m going to make you beef tips and rice tonight,” I said.
Trenton made a face. “I love your cooking, baby doll, but I can’t keep eating dinner at three AM.”
I laughed. “Fine, I’ll have it waiting for you. There’s a spare key under the rock that sits in front of the pillar by my door. I’ll leave it there.”
“Can I take a rain check? I promised Olive I’d take her to Chicken Joe’s.”
I smiled, but I wasn’t happy about missing out on Olive time.
“Wait. Did you just tell me where the spare key was?”
“Yeah?”
“So can I use it anytime?”
I shrugged. “Yeah.”
A small smile tugged on one corner of Trenton’s mouth, and then it spread across his face. “I’m going to bet on Travis’s next fight. Try to get the money back I lost to Abby, and then some. I’m going to start looking for a place next week. I want you to come with me.”
“Okay,” I said, not sure why he had such a serious look on his face. I already knew he was working toward getting his own place.
Trenton’s smile was beaming. “It’s his end-of-the-year fight. Big money. They’ll probably get some has-been MMA fighter like they got last year.”
“Who’d they get last year?”
“Kelly Heaton. He lost the championship four years ago. Travis beat the piss out of ’em.” Trenton was clearly enjoying the memory. “I made fifteen hundred. If I can make at least that this year, we’ll be set.”
“You’ll be set. I have a place.”
“Yeah, well, maybe one of these days you’ll decide to stay the night and you’ll never go home.”
“Don’t count on it. I love having my space.”
“You can have your space. You can have whatever you want.”
I rose up on the balls of my feet, wrapped my arms around his neck, and kissed Trenton’s soft lips. “I already have what I want.”
He squeezed me tighter. “Come on. You know you want to.”
“No, thank you. Not anytime soon.”
Trenton’s face fell for just a second, and then he winked and grabbed my keys. “I’m going to start the Jeep. Be right back.”
He slipped on his coat and jogged outside.
Hazel came to the front and shook her head. “Trenton loves you, kaibigan. Like, the deep, forever kind. I’ve never seen him like this, doing this shit for girls.” She was nearly cooing every word.
I turned to her. “What did you just call me?”
She smiled. “I called you ‘friend,’ bitch. In Tagalog. You have a problem with that?”
I laughed and pushed her, barely hard enough to budge her tiny frame. “No. I have a problem with the fact that I’m almost out of cigarettes, and I don’t want to spend the money for another pack.”
“Then f**king quit. It’s gross, anyway.”
“You don’t smoke?” I asked. Everyone else at the shop did, so I just assumed she would, too.
Hazel made a face. “No. And I would never date you, based on that alone. It’s disgusting. No one likes tonguing an ashtray.”
I popped a cigarette in my mouth. Trenton ran in, shivering. “Heat’s on high, baby!” He pulled the cigarette out of my mouth and kissed me, leaning me back a bit.
