Page 63 of Silver Tears
“Oh hey, Tam. How’s things?” My good mood turns sour.
She twirls a piece of her hair around her finger and pops her hips out. “I’m good. So, you and the Silver girl. I don’t get it.”
I roll my eyes. Here we go. “What don’t you get, Tam?”
She shrugs her shoulders, reaching out a hand and placing it on my chest. “I just wouldn’t put you together. I mean, you’re one of us and she’s—”
“Waiting for you to take your hand off my boyfriend!”
I jerk my head at the sound of her voice. She comes up beside me and slips her hand around my bicep, glaring at Tam.
Tam giggles nervously and slowly moves her hand away. “No need to get territorial. I was just saying hi to Seb.”
She continues to scowl at her. “No. You were manhandling him. He’s not yours to touch as you want, Tam.” She turns her attention back to me, smiling up at me. “Are you ready to go, babe?”
“Sure am,” I reply, smirking down at her and wrapping a possessive hand around her waist. Tam tracks the movement with a look of displeasure on her face. We don’t acknowledge her as we leave. Leaving her standing there staring after us.
“Thanks for that.”
Mills shrugs her shoulders like its nothing. “Just doing my job as your fake girlfriend.”
I frown, studying her as we walk to my car. What’s eating her? She was in a great mood five minutes ago.
* * *
We reach her mum’s house at just after one. The curtains are still closed. The grass outside is overgrown, making the house look unloved. I felt her mood decrease the closer we got to here. It bugs me that she’s shouldering so much on her own. I get it. She doesn’t feel she can confide in her family, but it still troubles me that at sixteen she’s carrying all this.
“You okay?” I ask her as I kill the engine and we both sit and stare at the house.
“I wish I could just take him away from this. She doesn’t deserve him.”
I reach out and place my hand over hers. “He’ll be okay, Mills. We’ll make sure of it.”
“We?” she asks me uncertainly. “Once this whole ruse is over, you’ll go back to your mansion on the hills.”
I shake my head. “No, Mills. We’re friends now, right? I’ll be here to help you with Chops, no matter what we are to each other.”
“Friends,” she repeats and nods her head. “I can do friends. I guess you aren’t as bad as I had you pegged for Sebastian Collings.”
I grin. I like it when she calls me by my full name. It stirs my desire for her.
“You go get Chops. I’ll head inside,” I suggest, holding out my hand for her door key. She doesn’t protest. I know she doesn’t enjoy being in that house when he’s there. I don’t like her being anywhere near that creep, either.
I unlock the door and walk inside, and the stench hits me. Dirty bins and sweat. Beer cans and food wrappers litter the living room floor. I grimace. She’s right. We can’t let Charlie stay in this situation much longer. We need a plan.
I move through the house, and up to her mum’s bedroom and push open the door. The two of them are passed out and they’re still wearing their clothes from last night. My eyes stop when I notice the white powder residue on the bedside table. I quietly walk into the room and dip my finger in the powder and examine it. Coke. I need to speak to the Brownlee brothers, and soon.
Leaving the room, I pull out my phone. I text Dan and ask him if he can find out if Andrea has been buying from the brothers as well. That’s one of the few good things about being an Ace. We have power in this corner of the country. We also have the police in our pockets.
I check the kitchen cupboards. We’ll need to go to the supermarket later because there’s barely anything in them. I open the curtains to make the house looked lived in, before I lock up and head over to Peggy’s. I knock on the partially open front door and a voice calls from inside for me to come in. I find them all in the kitchen. I smile when I see Chops wearing an apron with flour all over his face.
“Woah! What’s happening in here?”
“Seb!!” He jumps down off his chair and comes tearing towards me. I scoop him up and hold him on my hip.
“Hey, Chops. Are you and Peggy baking again?”
“We made shortbread biscuits and chocolate loaf cake. Do you want to try some? It’s in the oven.”