Every movement registered.
I hit the elevator button and stepped inside when the doors opened, the box of it feeling too small and too slow.
My reflection stared back at me in the metal panel.Sunglasses on, jaw tight, and my shoulder already stiffening up.
Could Tyson have really done it?
No.
Maybe.
Fuck.
I hated even thinking it.Not because of him, but because of Britta.If he was involved in any of this, it would gut her.
The elevator doors slid open and Britta burst out of her apartment.
She moved faster than she should have, crossing the hallway and throwing her arm around me before I could get more than one step out.I stumbled back a half step from the force of it and wrapped my arms around her automatically.
“Sugar,” I grunted.
She leaned back just enough to look up at me but didn’t leave my arms.Her face was pale, eyes wide, breath still a little quick.“Are you okay?”
I nodded.“I’m good.Just a bit sore from diving onto the sidewalk.”
“Trouble really just seems to follow you around,” Tyson drawled from the open doorway of Britta’s apartment.
I looked over Britta’s shoulder at him.He was leaning there like he didn’t have a care in the world, but I could see the tension in him too.
Or maybe I just didn’t trust a damn thing about him anymore.
“Or Madison is just overridden with trouble,” I said.
He tipped his head.“Yeah, I guess that all depends on how you look at it, huh?”
I was still holding Britta with my hand spread across her back and my other arm around her waist.
Tyson clocked my hands on her, and I knew he was irritated.I was getting sick of his protective brother act.She was in her twenties, not fourteen.
“Since you’re back,” he said, “maybe I can try another day to spend some time with Britta.”
“Yeah,” I said, my voice flattening, “I don’t know if that’ll be anytime soon.Maybe when everything calms down.Until then, I’ll be with Britta.”
Tyson’s face changed.
Not much, but just enough.
He didn’t like that one bit.
“You telling me I can’t see my sister until you figure out your club bullshit?”
I let Britta go, but stayed close enough that my arm brushed hers.
“Oh, you can see her whenever you want,” I said.“But I’m going to be there.It’s just a bit weird how you suggest I get out, and then I get shot at two minutes later.”
I hadn’t planned on saying it, not yet, but I was keyed up, pissed off, and standing there with my body still humming from almost catching bullets.
And Tyson had spent the last few days acting like I was the enemy while I was the one sleeping on couches, standing watch, and making sure his sister kept breathing.
