CHAPTERFIFTEEN
ZAK
I takeanother six pack from the fridge and walk around Theo’s island, down the hall and into the living room and can’t help but smile when I see my girl beaming at her long lost sister.
Crazy.
I get why Theo didn’t mention her, sort of, but it still shocked the hell out of me. At this point in our relationship, I’ve talked more than I have the last twenty years and I thought we knew everything there was to know about each other because of it, but apparently my blonde bombshell will never not surprise me in some way.
This definitely beats her spilling her guts about the belly dancing classes she took for three years.
Maybe.
That was a surprise only because Theo is so uncoordinated and accident prone, but I’ve seen her skills and damn can my girl shake her hips.
Still, to say I wasn’t a little bit hurt that she hadn’t told me about having a half-sister would be a lie, but I get it, I’m over it, and I’m really fucking glad we were able to get Tate and James somewhere safe.
He’s asleep in our bed, huddled up under a mountain of blankets clutching a stuffed—oddly enough—spider to his chest while my brothers, my girl, and I sit with her clearly exhausted sister in the living room.
We grabbed pizza on the way home, checked in with Prez, then stuffed our faces and let the girls catch up some while James colored quietly on the floor. It was obvious Tate wasn’t going to get into anything serious until he was asleep and after she put him to bed, we’ve been patiently waiting for her to fill us in on what the fuck is going on.
“Have you been in San Diego long?” Theo asks as I settle in behind her on the couch.
Tate shakes her head then takes the beer I offer. “Maybe a year or so.”
Theo tucks her legs up underneath her. “You were in New York until then?”
“Yeah.” Tate takes a long drink and pulls her knees to her chest. “Valetti sent Gino to San Diego because he wanted to expand to the west coast and...” She glances around the room, her eyes lingering a little on Spider before she turns back to Theo. “And since Gino still owns me, we had to go with.”
“Please don’t be upset with me for what I’m about to ask, but what the fuck happened, Tater? I need to know what’s been going on in your life, why you disappeared from mine.”
Tate nods, then chews her lip just like my girl does.
They don’t look a lot alike, but there’s enough there to know they’re sisters and when Tate does stuff like that it’s more than obvious.
“You want me to start from the beginning?”
“Please.”
And Jesus, she really does.
Tate tells us about how her dad took her in order to pay a debt to Valetti, how Valetti gave her to Gino, his son, as a birthday gift when he turned eighteen. She tells us a horror story of epic proportions, one that rivals each of ours and yet, I can tell without a shadow of a doubt, it’s not the whole truth.
Bought and sold like property.
Forced into stripping.
Abusive relationship.
All things my girl already knew without seeing her sister in a decade and a half.
Tate is hiding something, possibly lots of somethings and while I’m sure she has good reason for it, reasons that include fear, exhaustion and protecting her son, if we’re going to keep her safe—not that anyone has asked but we’ll do it anyway—then she’s going to have to be upfront with us. At the very least she’s going to have to be upfront with Theo.
But no one is going to push Tate tonight, not when her exhaustion is obvious, her bone deep weariness clear. This is probably the first time in fourteen years that Tate isn’t worried about closing her eyes or what monsters may pounce when she does.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” she asks us on a yawn. “I don’t want to put you out.”
Theo shakes her head and gets to her feet. “Of course not. You and James can sleep in our bed tonight and we’ll figure out a more permanent solution in the morning.”
