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As soon as he’s out of earshot, Eric leans forward. “Sounds like he needs some help. Maybe you should put the cleaning business on hold and come work here. Steady wage and tips.”
Ah, fuck. He can’t leave well enough alone. Evie straightens from chatting with Caiti.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you to come visit,” she snaps.
Eric shoves his finger across the table in her direction. “No, you didn’t want me to come visit because you’re harboring a bunch of shitty secrets.”
“Eric!” Caiti interjects, but the sibling pair ignores her.
“That too! Because I know exactly how you’d react.”
“You have one second to get that finger out of her face,” I state, deadly calm and serious. The table falls quiet.
“I don’t even know who the fuck you are. Don’t tell me what to do,” Eric barks back, thoroughly drawing the attention of the patrons around us.
“Girls, why don’t you take yo
ur drinks to the patio for some fresh air,” I suggest while looking Eric straight in the eye.
“You don’t get to order my wife and my sister around.” He tries again to dominate the situation, but he doesn’t realize he’s falling way short.
I turn my head slightly to catch Evie’s eye as she quietly watches the exchange from beside me. “Evie. Outside, yeah?”
A look of contemplation crosses her face for only a second before she nods. “C’mon, Cait.” The legs of her chair scrape across the floor.
“Since when do you take orders? You would have put Tate in his place if he told you what to do.” Eric keeps at his sister, pushing my irritation to a boiling point. My skin grows uncomfortably tight at the need to do something physical.
Evie flips her hair over her shoulder as she glares at her brother. “I’m taking a well-advised suggestion. Until you can back off, I don’t want to talk to you.” She stalks off with Caiti close behind.
Eric’s glass clanks against the table. “Say what you need to say.” He leans over the dark-stained wood separating us, forearms resting on the edge, and rotates his glass between both hands. He carries the look of a defeated man.
“I get it.”
“Get what?” He finally looks me in the eye, man to man.
“The need to protect her.” I instantly raise both hands with my palms facing him before he can bite out a retort. “Obviously, she’s not my sister. But I can understand, appreciate even, why you’d hop a plane and fly ten hours straight to check out her new place.”
“I’m not sure you do.”
“I don’t have a sister, no, and I haven’t lost my parents.”
His gaze slides away, and he takes a hefty swallow while I resume.
“You have to understand that she’s not alone here. I’m looking out for her.”
“I don’t mean to be a dick when I say I’m not sure a guy who looks like you is the type I want looking out for my sister.”
“And I don’t mean to be a dick when I say that it’s not up to you to decide what that type of man should look like. You do need to try to get that I don’t want anything to hurt her, and that includes me.”
He rakes a hand through his hair. “You look like a screw ’em and leave ’em type.”
I grunt a humorless laugh. “That’s not any of your business, but Evie’s a grown woman. She can decide what she wants in her life.”
“She looks like a grown woman, sure, but when she hauls ass halfway across the country on a whim and doesn’t tell anyone where she is, that’s not the actions of a responsible adult.”
“She’s shown more maturity in her little finger than you’ve shown since I met you. I’m not sure you’re the expert on adult responsibilities.”
He shrugs. “Touché.”
