Page 29 of Newly Tied

“You were on a date,” she reiterated.

“I don’t care what the fuck I’m doing, you call me if you’re in trouble.”

“That was the thing, though. I wasn’t sure at first if I really was.”

“But once you knew, I should’ve been the call.”

“Don’t make me say date one more time.”

“Agree you were wrong,” he insisted.

She huffed out a breath. “Yes. Fine.”

“And you,” he said to me. “I’m so pissed at you.”

“Listen, I will call if it ever happens again, but really, you were on a date, and I got there very fast, and unlike you, Talia listened to me and did exactly as I told her.”

“What’re you—I listen to you all the time!” He almost yelled the last part but stopped himself in time.

“You don’t, but that’s fine.”

“What did you have her⁠—”

“I told her to lock herself in a bathroom so she was safe, and I was there before the guy could go in with his key.” I was not going to tell anyone what I’d overheard in the hall since it would be my word against his. And I suspected that with Talia going to Sutter and, I was certain, him relieving Alcott of his position, that if there were any more women, they would come forward. With how much faith Hannah had in Aaron Sutter, I was thinking he was probably a good man, much like her father, since he was her godfather. As such, he would want men like Alcott out of his company. He would make sure he found all the weeds.

“Who is this guy?”

“I handled it,” Talia told him. “My new friend is getting me a sit-down with my big boss on Monday, so I suspect I won’t be seeing him again.”

“I want him prosecuted,” he retorted.

“That would be hard,” I told him. “And you know it. But at least we’ll know precisely what was in the glass, and we can give that information to Aaron Sutter. The glass is with the CPD crime lab by now, and I bet you the chief deputy has put a rush on the results.”

“Kage knows about this?”

“Yeah. It turns out his daughter was at the party too, and she’s Aaron Sutter’s goddaughter.”

“No shit.”

I nodded. “She and Talia bonded, and she’s the one gettin’ her in to see Sutter on Monday. So really, it’s all handled.”

“Kage really cares about us.”

“He must be lovely,” Talia said, “because his daughter is an angel.”

“And kinda spicy as well. I mean, she wasn’t takin’ any crap from Alcott.”

“No. Not at all,” Talia agreed, then looked at her brother. “But really, I’m not out here in the world walking around helpless. And when I wasn’t sure, I called Del, and he was right there, showing up like you would have.”

He nodded.

“You don’t have to be the guy on the white horse all the time. You have good backup.”

His eyes flicked to mine and then returned to her. “It’s just, you’ll always be my baby sister.”

“Sister, yes. Baby, no,” she made clear. “Okay?”

After a moment, he exhaled deeply. “Yeah.”