“Cálmate, hijo.” Carlos shook his head at Javi, brushing his hand across his shoulder. “You know I wouldn’t condone any violence against a child. There’s a reason I put him to work on that ranch.” He turned to me with a raised brow. “Shiloh, I think your tortillas are burning.”
I didn’t get a chance to say anything else before Carlos turned and walked out of the house.
“God, he gives me the creeps,” I mumbled with a shiver once he was gone. “What the fuck is he even doing here? This isn’t exactly the social scene for the mayor.”
“What the fuck was he talking about, Shiloh?” Javier asked with a raised brow, not buying my attempt at brushing Carlos’s comments aside.
“Nothing,” I shrugged nonchalantly, quickly spinning to turn the stove off before the house caught fire.
“Bullshit. You were running your mouth again, weren’t you? What did Peter do?”
“Don’t worry about it. I handled it,” I said as I took the charred tortillas off and threw them onto the counter to cool before I carried them to the trash.
“Shiloh, just fucking tell me what he did to you.”
I turned to face him and crossed my arms over my chest, looking up at him with a scowl.
“I handled it,” I repeated, wanting him to drop it. He didn’t need to know what happened.
“When was this?”
I rolled my eyes and sighed, “I dunno. A few weeks ago.”
“And?”
“And nothing. For fuck’s sake it’s not like he hit me or—”
“Did he touch you?” There was a level of scary calm in his stance that I didn’t like.
“I said something snarky to Carlos at the Labor Day BBQ at Town Hall you forced me to go to with you, and he sent Peter to make sure I didn’t speak to him like that in public again.”
“What did he do, Shy?” I could tell he was getting frustrated with me as he gritted out the words between his clenched jaw, but if he knew what Peter did, I would look like a weak-ass puta.
I ignored him and turned back to the stove.
“I’m gonna go grab the meat,” Javier grumbled, leaving me alone in the kitchen.
Isn’t he fucking tired of all this bullshit?
The sliding door slammed shut and I watched Javier toss the tray of meat onto the counter.
“You almost done?” He snapped.
“I dunno. Areyoudone acting like an asshole? I didn’t do anything wrong here,” I hissed back.
He let out a deep breath, all the anger and rigidity leaking from his body as he sulked over to me with a pout. Javi leaned his hip beside mine against the counter.
“Porfa, güerita, dime,” he whispered. “His nickname is Pedrofilo for a reason. Tell me he didn’t touch you like that.”
I swallowed, guilt swirling in my chest.
“Javi, it was nothing, so quit asking.”
“I just don’t understandwhyyou won’t tell me. You’ve nevernottold me when stuff happens…Right?” He raised a brow skeptically and I pulled my lip between my teeth.
Lies, lies, lies.I shrugged, tossing the warm tortillas into a kitchen towel and adding fresh ones to the stove. Javi grabbed my arm and turned my body to face him.
“Shiloh,” he said in warning, his grip on my arm tight, dropping all pretense of playing the whiney brother card on me.
