I interrupt because if I don’t, Avery might have to sacrifice a goat or something to make up for all the jinxes he thinks she’s putting out there.
“Is Shay…Shayne here?” I ask, but I think I already know the answer. She has an eight o’clock yoga class. So I’m a little shocked when Sara shakes her head.
“She isn’t. Had to cancel her class so she could go to the police station.”
“What? Why?”
“The mugging. They think they got the guy, and she had to go identify him.” Sara says this casually as she starts putting the fruit in the fridge for the night.
“She was mugged?!”
“Holy shit,” Avery adds under his breath, but loud enough that I can hear him.
Sara freezes and blinks, then frowns. “Yeah. How do you not know that?”
Yeah, how the fuck do I not know that?
“Is Trey here?”
Sara motions with her head toward his office. I turn and Avery follows. “She didn’t tell you she was mugged?”
I shake my head, but I don’t respond because I can’t think of a good reason why I shouldn’t know this. Two seconds later I’m standing in Trey’s open door with Avery right behind me. Trey’s sitting behind his desk. I clear my throat. He jerks his head up and his posture straightens at the sight of me.
“Hey, Trey.”
“Sebastian.” He walks around the desk and shakes my hand as his eyes land on my chin. “Tough win.”
Clearly he watched the game. I nod, and he notices Avery over my shoulder. “Avery.”
He doesn’t extend his hand this time, just nods. Avery deserves that, and he knows it, which is why he tagged along when I said I was heading to Elevate to see Shayne.
“Sara just told me Shayne was mugged,” I say to him.
Trey almost grimaces at that. “Yeah. She’s fine. He didn’t touch her, but he got her wallet. It’s been a pain in the ass for her to run all over town without a car trying to get her ATM card and driver’s license replaced. But it could have been a lot worse. He had a knife, for fuck’s sake.”
“A knife?” Avery sounds as horrified as I feel.
“But she’s okay?” I ask, even though he just said she was.
His face softens a little. “Yeah. Honestly, she was a little shaken up, I could tell, but she wouldn’t admit it.”
“Of course not.” I almost smile at that.
“But she’s okay. She really needs to get a car or move. Or both.”
I nod. “That neighborhood is fucking horrible.”
“Totally!” he agrees with a grateful smile, because clearly she hasn’t been agreeing with him.
“I thought she was looking into a new car?”
He sighs and sits on the edge of his desk. “She was, but she honestly can’t afford anything decent. She’s got student loans and she won’t take money from our parents. I’d give her a raise, but I can’t. Business is steady but slow. And the commercials I had planned won’t be as effective as I thought they would be.”
“About that,” Avery says and he looks as awkward as he sounds. Avery isn’t great at taking responsibility for his actions, mostly because he’s never had to. People let him get away with shit because he’s Avery Westwood. “Can I talk to you about that?”
Trey shrugs. I don’t want to stick around for this. As fun as it would be to watch Avery apologize for probably the first time in his life, all I want to do is see Shay for myself and make sure she’s okay. “Is she still at the police station?”
“Not sure. Want me to text her?”
