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“He put you in danger, Mayet! He’s smarter than that.” Tim reaches up with lightning-fast reflexes and twists his hat off, only to shove his hair back and drop the cap down again. “He put a bullseye on the very center of your forehead. And for what? To get laid?”
A scowl crosses my features. “To build trust, I assume. He told me something huge about himself to build trust.”
“Something he has literally never done before with any other woman.”
Growling, he snatches up a cell phone. My stomach jumps when he dials, then my heart squeezes when he presses the phone to his ear.
“Archer fucking Malone!”
The moment the call connects, I grit my teeth.
“Are you serious right now? You told her about Tim?”
ThisTim—Tim the Third—paces behind the bar and snaps at his brother while I sip my coffee. “Why the fuck would you tell her? She already liked you, stupid!”
“You’re gonna get me in trouble.” I raise my hand, like a good little girl in class, and grin when Tim’s lava-like eyes swing to me. “Snitches get stitches.”
“No,” he growls in response. “Knowing shit about my family gets you a ditch. Archer!” He crushes the phone in his hand. “Come and get her. Then put her in fucking Ohio or some shit before Tim comes looking for her.”
I raise my hand again and snigger. “I’m not moving to Ohio.”
“You’ll go where I fucking put you.”
He rests his elbows on the bar and listens for a moment while Archer speaks. Then Tim repeats, “Come and fucking get her.”
Hanging up, he tosses the phone to the counter lining the back wall, then he cups the back of his head with his hands and looks to the ceiling.
“I’ve known for weeks.” Since I guess I’m not done testing fate, I continue to dig my hole just a little bit deeper. “Since before my birthday. Archer was telling me about himself, and he told me where he comes from.”
“Did he tell you about Jilly?” Turning with slow, deliberate movements, Tim brings his fiery gaze back to me. “His girlfriend?”
“She was…” The words stick in my throat. “She was, uh… hurt by this other guy. Archer killed him.”
Maybe Tim is impressed with how much Archer actually told me. Or maybe he simply thinks I’m stupid. “She was targeted because she washis,” he snarls.“And before the night was out, she was dead and sent to a shallow grave.”
“She…” Horrified, I choke on the words forming in my throat. “She died?”
His plump lips curl into a cruel smirk. “He didn’t tell you that bit, huh?” He shakes his head and snags a second mug for himself. “Probably didn’t wanna scare you. But the fact is, she was a good girl, Mayet. She was normal and sweet and not like the rest of us. His interest was the one and only reason they targeted her, and it was why she was put down in the end.”
He pours his coffee and swears under his breath. “You’re good and normal and sweet too, which means if they find out he wants you, you’re already dead.” He brings his eyes back up to mine. “You wanna keep shooting off at the mouth now?”
“Is that why you won’t look at Aubree?” Tim doesn’t scare me, and his family scares me even less. “She’s good and sweet and normal—except for how weird she is. That why you won’t put her at risk?”
He stops what he’s doing and leans closer.Nowhe scares me. “Did you tell her about Tim?”
“I—”
He rips a hand across the bar and grabs my wrist. “Did you tell her?”
“No!” I snatch my hand back and rub my aching wrist. “What Archer told me was in trust. I don’t just go around breaking trust. But she likes you too, ya know?” Okay, so I’m breakinghertrust a little. But he knows, and she knows, and neither of them could be accused of subtlety, so it hardly even counts. “You want her too.”
“No.” He pushes tall and shakes his head. “I don’t.”
“Sure you do. You get all soft and gooey when she’s around.” I taunt him as he walks away. “The fact you won’t go to bed with her tells me you care. Because if the women Archer likes are targeted, then the same could be said for the women you like.”
“Seems to me that Archer doesn’t give a fuck about you or your safety if he’s telling you about Tim.”
“Or…” I push up from the stool as he comes around the bar. “Maybe he trusts me to stay safe. Or! Maybe you put too much credence in the threat you think your family is. But maybe they’re soft and gooey too.”
