Bare Yourself (Consumed)

“I’ve got a friend that may be interested in doing business with you. He’s got this project he wants to put together, but doesn’t have the financial backing.”

He leans his elbows on the table with interest. “What kind of project?”

I rack my brain, trying to come up with something out of the blue—what can I say, I didn’t think this through—and remember a video I watched a while back on YouTube.

“He’s got this idea about magnet motors.”

His brows pinch down into a frown. “Magnet motors. What do you mean?”

I search my mind, trying to remember the video. Fuck Lukas and his woman trouble.

“I don’t know the logistics shit of it, but something about motors running purely from the pull of magnets and not depending on gas or electricity.”

“Hmm… interesting,” Colt says.

A blur of red catches my eye and I look over Colt’s shoulder and see Tera walking determinedly toward Lukas, who’s standing in the mouth of the hallway. She stops with her hands on her hips and says something to him, causing his mouth to turn into a firm line. He says something back and reaches out to grab her arm, but she snatches it back.

I bring my eyes back to Colt, when he says, “Is this just an idea he has, or has he formed any plans? Does he know how it works internally?”

I pick up my beer and take a swallow to stall for time. I put it back down and wipe the back of my hand across my mouth.

“I’m not sure. He mentioned it to me the other day, and I told him I knew a guy that might be able to help.”

Colt pulls a business card from his wallet and tosses it to me. It skids across the table. I look over his shoulder just as Lukas grabs Tera’s arm and starts dragging her down the hallway behind him. I’d be concerned, but I’ve seen this shit before. Tera’s never acted afraid of Lukas, so I know he won’t hurt her.

“Tell him to give me a call and we’ll set something up for next week.”

I nod and pocket the card, already forming an excuse as to why my friend never called him. I’d feel bad if it wasn’t for the fact that Colt’s wallet won’t hurt from the loss, and he can afford to not be concerned about a potential fake client.

I grab Willow’s hand and drag her from her chair out to the dance floor, ready to do what I wanted to do a few minutes ago.

Later that night, I step out of the shower, dry off, and wrap the towel around my hips. Willow was supposed to join me, but after being in the shower for ten minutes and no sign of her, I figured something kept her away.

The bedroom is empty when I leave the bathroom, so I walk down the hallway to the living room. Willow’s heated whispers can be heard through the cracked-open sliding glass door. It’s hard to make out what she’s saying, but the closer I get, the better I can hear. She has her back turned toward me, so she doesn’t see me approach, and she’s so distracted by her conversation she doesn’t hear the door sliding open.

I’m just about to clear my throat to let her know of my presence when her growled words stop me.

“Fuck you, Bryan. You need to go home and leave me and Minnie and her family alone.”

My blood runs hot at the anger in her voice, then turns to lava when I remember Bryan is the guy she spoke about the other day. The guy that’s into drugs and isn’t such a nice guy anymore. She didn’t say much about him, but I got the sense he’s in some pretty heavy shit, and it sounds like he’s trying to drag her into it. She also made it sound like he wasn’t in her life anymore.

I ball my hands into fists, and a growl leaves my throat before I can stop it. She turns. Her eyes go wide and she swallows when she spots me standing there. Her shocked gaze lands on my closed fists, then they fly to my face, where I’m sure she can see the anger in my eyes. The shock fades and is replaced by dread, then resignation.

This is the second time I’ve caught her on the phone talking to someone she obviously doesn’t want to talk to. The last time her voice sounded scared; this time she’s pissed. I let her get away with not sharing with me what the conversation was about the first time because it wasn’t my place to demand an answer, as we barely knew each other. This time is different. We’re both emotionally invested now, and I refuse to let her blow it off like she did before.

She keeps her eyes on mine when she says into the phone, her voice still angry, but also carrying a note of sadness, “I’m hanging up now. If you come to Minnie’s house again, we’re calling the cops. Please, Bryan, just go home.”

She doesn’t give him time to reply before she hangs up. Her head drops, and I don’t like that she’s keeping her eyes from me now. I walk toward her slowly, giving her time to compose herself.

Once I’m standing in front of her, I lift her head by her chin.

“He’s the reason you left Texas, right?” I guess, reining in the anger of that asshole making her life difficult.

“Yes,” she answers in a small voice.

“Tell me what’s going on.” The demand comes out harsher than I intended, so I relax my facial features slightly and slide my arms around her waist.

I can see in her eyes she’s going to try to play it off again before she even opens her mouth, so when she says, “Tegan—” I cut her off.

“No.” I give her waist a squeeze. “I let it go the last time, because it wasn’t my business, but now it is. Tell me what that asshole wants.”

She flinches and looks to my chest. It’s several seconds before she lifts her gaze again, and the wind gets knocked out of me at the utter sadness there, along with tears that are threatening to fall. I catch one with my thumb just as it slips from her eye.