Page 19 of Furious
Heart pounding, he stole a glance at Rain and Mason and clamped his mouth shut. He’d never seen Rain so relaxed, so happy, and he deserved to stay that way.
When Tristan had started dating Eve, Rain had seemed afraid of him. He’d also had an extra lock on his door that looked like he’d installed it, and sometimes he’d slept under his bed. While Tristan hadn’t had siblings or children of his own, he’d suspected that Rain’s behavior had stemmed from abuse.
But Rain had eventually come out of his shell under Tristan’s care, and now he was free, living a life without his mother in it. Tristan understood how much courage that had taken, and he’d do everything he could to keep Eve away.
Clearing a quick break with Owen, Tristan was in the parking lot in under a minute, his chest squeezing with anxiety as he peered around. Spotting her toward the back, on the hood of his car, he stormed her way, and she perked up when she noticed him.
“What are you doing? You can’t be here.” It had been a year since he’d seen her, and she hadn’t changed one whit. Ageless as always, she seemed closer to twenty than forty-two, but their time apart and his thru-hike had given him clarity, ripping her mask away.
Now, he saw her for what she was, a narcissist who leveraged her beauty and played the fool, doing everything she could to get what she wanted.
“I came here to see Rainy, but guess what?” She took a puff off her fruit-scented vape and blew a sickly-sweet cloud into the air. “I sawyou. Did my baby get you a job? Tell him to get me one!”
“He doesn’t work here anymore.” Tristan was surprised at how smoothly that came out.
“That’s not true.” She jumped down from the hood, her eyes unusually sharp. “One of those nice young men by the door came over to check on me! He said Rainy’s here today with that cradle-robbing photographer who stole him from me!”
Disgusted by her antics, Tristan glanced warily at the staff smoking outside the kitchen. He was lucky that she hadn’t barged right into the hall; she tended to make a scene when she didn’t get her way.
“What do you want, Eve?” Trying not to frown, Tristan met her eyes, keeping his voice even.
“I want to see Rain,” she huffed. “I need his help.”
“You’re not getting money from himorme.” Tristan leaned on whatever backbone he’d managed to build. “You dug this hole yourself.”
“Don’t you dare turn me away, Tris!” Her voice got louder. “I’ll get to him one way or another. Or we can negotiate.”
“Negotiate?” Did she think he was stupid?
“Help me stay on my feet for a few months, and I’ll leave Rainy alone.”
“That isn’t a negotiation, that’s extortion,” he sneered. “Haven’t you done enough-”
“He’s my son!”she hissed, her eyes flashing. “Not yours.Mine. And he owes me.”
Tristan wanted to argue that Rain owed her nothing, but that wouldn’t get them anywhere.
“I’m not asking for a lot, Tris.” The anger in her gray eyes vanished as her voice went soft. “Just help me out for a little bit, and IpromiseI won’t look for Rainy.” She held her bejeweled hand up in a pledge.
Tristan could see the threat for what it was. If he didn’t do what she asked, then she’d ruin this place for Rainandhim, and he couldn’t have that.
“Fine. But only for a few months,” he spat, hating himself but also feeling a strange sense of calm. Sure, he was going back on his pledge to have a backbone, but this way there’d be no more surprise visits. He’d essentially be paying her to go the hell away.
“Yes!” She jumped up and down, clapping her hands like a little girl, and Tristan let out a long sigh, looking back toward the building.
The group outside had gotten smaller, but there was a figure against the wall behind them, someone he hadn’t noticed before - a blond figure all in black, watching intently, and Tristan’s heart sank because he knew even from far away that it was Jax.
7
JAX
“AreyousureI’mnot putting you guys out?” Jax asked, flattening empty boxes and piling them at his feet.
“Are you kidding? We have the room, and Finn is super excited about it.” Ollie added another flattened box on top.
“And what about you?” Jax squinted, taking a sip of tea from his thermos. He didn’t even know why he was asking, because if this was a problem, then he wouldn’t be there. Moving twice in two months had been difficult on him, but once again, Finn and Ollie had come to the rescue.
The face-off with his landlord had resulted in a visit from the cops, and the neighbor’s doorbell camera, along with Jax’s video, had shown that Gus had been in the wrong. The police report allowed Jax to wiggle out of his lease, but he hadn’t been able to get anything else on short notice.
