Vengeance (The Protectors 5)

But the apartment was quiet when I entered and I hadn’t even thought to check to see if Tristan’s car was parked out front. I knocked on his bedroom door and quietly pushed it open when there was no answer, but he wasn’t there. With it being seven o clock in the morning, I hadn’t expected him to be gone. Worry niggled at me at first, then a streak of jealously flashed through me as I realized he could very well have spent the night with someone just like I had. I had no idea if Tristan’s high school girlfriend was home for the summer. Hell, I hadn’t even asked him if he was still seeing her or if he’d met someone at Juilliard. Either way, the idea of him with someone else burned through me like acid.

I went back to the kitchen and pulled out my phone to text him, but the door opened before I could even wake the phone up.

“Hi,” I said to Tristan as he pushed the door closed and cast a glance my way.

“Hi,” he returned, but he refused to look at me for longer than a second. I was surprised by his appearance. Not that there was anything outwardly wrong with it…more like something was off. His shoulders were hunched and his skin seemed pale. There were dark smudges under his eyes and he was holding his arms around his body like he was trying to stay warm or something. But more than anything, it was the fact that he wouldn’t look at me that had alarm bells going off.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I closed the distance between us.

“I’m fine,” Tristan responded. He sounded anything but fine, but when I reached out to touch his arm, he stepped away from me and said, “I’m going to go lie down for a bit.”

“Tristan, wait,” I said as I stepped in his path. “Talk to me…what’s going on?”

“Really? Now you want to talk?” he asked, his voice pained.

He tried to push past me again but I grabbed his arms. “Wait, are you mad at me or something?”

Tristan didn’t respond at first, but then he shook his head. “No…I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well so I went down to that park by Union Bay and walked around for a bit.”

“Tristan-”

“Brennan, look, I’m happy for you, okay? I just wish you hadn’t felt the need to keep it a secret from me.”

“What?” I asked, though I knew what he was talking about.

“You met someone. I think that’s great. It’s just…you didn’t need to hide it from me.”

The hurt in Tristan’s voice was palpable and I felt like a complete asshole. “Shit, Tristan, I’m sorry…it’s just…it’s new and I don’t know if it’s going anywhere.”

“Is it one of your clients?” he asked. “From the shop? Is it because you don’t want Uncle Ren to know?”

I swallowed hard. Tristan’s reasoning made sense since I’d used work as an excuse so often. I didn’t want to lie to him anymore, but Memphis had been clear that no one could find out about us. Tristan had been told about the shooting by his fathers after they’d picked him up in New York, but he didn’t know who Memphis was.

Bile rose in my throat as I nodded my head. The silent lie was still a lie and the fact that Tristan seemed to accept it didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, it just made me feel worse and all the pleasant sensations that had still been lingering inside of me after my night with Memphis disintegrated.

“I won’t tell Uncle Ren,” Tristan said quietly.

“I’m sorry, Tristan,” I said again, though it was pointless. I was apologizing for something he didn’t know I’d done.

“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I really am tired so I’m going to go lie down.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” I asked, my concern for him returning.

Tristan nodded. “I’m good.”

“I could bring you some tea,” I offered. Tristan had never been a big coffee drinker.

“Um, yeah, thanks.”

“How about something to eat?” I asked as Tristan moved past me.

He shook his head. “Just the tea would be great. Thank you.” He sent me a smile, but it was clearly forced and I felt my insides knot. God, I was a shitty friend.

I set about making the tea, but by the time I got it to Tristan’s room, he was asleep. He hadn’t bothered taking his shoes off so I worked those off and dropped them on the floor. He was wearing a light jacket that was clearly designed for wet weather, so I carefully eased him out of it. It took some maneuvering with Tristan more asleep than awake so I had to put my hands all over him to get him so that he wasn’t lying on top of the comforter. But when I went to pull the comforter over him, he shifted at that exact moment and I saw a flash of blue beneath his shirt. I carefully pushed his shirt up and felt my stomach roll at the sight of a large bruise on his side, just under his ribs.