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“Look.” I straighten and pick up my glass. “You don’t know me. I get that. I’ve also spent nearly every day of the past few weeks with Evie, so I’d like to think I’m getting to know her pretty well. I’m sure you know trying to force her to come with you isn’t going to bode well for your relationship. She wants to make this work on her own.”
Eric studies the room in silence. I hope he’s mulling over my words rather than ignoring them.
I push harder.
“The first day Evie got here, she got the attention of a sleazy trucker.”
Eric’s gaze snaps to mine, and his jaw clenches.
“A few days after that, he cornered her while she went to take a shower. She fended him off with her dog and her knife in an impressive show of strength.”
“You telling me this means I’m getting her out of here tonight. I hope you know that.”
I shake my head, knowing Evie would never let that happen. What’s comical is that he thinks she would.
“What I’m getting around to saying is that I went back when she was at work and roughed him up a little. Let him know what would happen if he crossed paths with her again.”
“So you have anger issues.”
“No, I have protection issues that your sister seems to bring out in me. I don’t know what else I can say to convince you. If she has a problem, I’m going to take care of it.”
He drains his glass and pushes it to the center of the table. “What’s it to you? Why have you taken this strong liking to my sister?”
“I don’t have an answer to that. I do know that I’m going to do what I can to help her, but she’s doing a damn good job on her own. Which you’d see, if you’d take your head out of your own ass.”
“I don’t know why you think you can talk to me like that.”
“Because you think you can talk to her like this,” I fire back. My hand on my thigh curls into a fist. Not because I want to deck the guy, which I sort of do. All this talk heightens the tension in my body. I feel like I need to do something, and getting up and pacing isn’t an option right now. “She’s working hard. She doesn’t deserve your constant criticism.”
Dane interrupts with a fresh round. We pause the conversation while he deposits the drinks and whisks away the empties.
“Let’s pretend you’re right, and I put my trust in you.”
“Go on.”
Eric rubs his hand over his chin. “What do I get to do if you fuck with her?”
A chuckle escapes. This guy. Same feisty attitude as Evie, but he’s using it in all the wrong ways. “Tell me”—I rest an elbow on the table—“what you did to her ex when he fucked with her, hmm? It’s my understanding that he’s still your best friend.”
“She really told you everything,” he grumbles.
I snag my drink. “I don’t know if it’s everything, but like I said, I’ve spent nearly every day with her. She’s a pretty open book when she has a patient ear to listen.”
“What would you have done?”
“I don’t have a sister, and I probably don’t have the full story. From what I’ve heard, if anyone treated someone I care about like that, they’d be cut off.”
His shoe squeaks against the floor as he shifts uncomfortably. “Does that go for Evie? You’d protect her that much here?”
“I can’t predict the future. I personally have no intention of hurting her. She’s met some of my friends, and they seem to be forming their own bonds, so I don’t see a problem there. But if anyone else like that fucking trucker crosses her path, you better believe I’ll take care of it.”
“So do you think you’ll accept my apology for being a dick before the girls return?”
I laugh, actually feeling the mirth. “Done. I understand where you’re coming from, but you have to know you won’t get her to do much by bossing her around.”
“Don’t I know it.”
The sounds of chatter and music filter back into awareness, as if someone turned up the volume to the rest of the room, while a silence descends between the two of us.
