Until Trevor (Until, #2)(38)

I wake to the sound of someone banging on the door. I look over at the clock; I’ve been asleep for about two hours. “Coming!” I yell. I don’t even look to see who it is; I just open the door, still half asleep. I’m caught off guard when I’m slammed into the wall by my neck.

“What the f*ck are you doing with my sister?” Tim asks, his arm planted in my throat. I use my free arm to swing over, switching our positions. He’s not expecting the move, judging by the way his body slams into the door.

“Listen to me, you piece of shit,” I growl, my hand going around his throat. “I love her, and that’s more than I can say for you, the one who had the nerve to steal her money, forcing her to take a second job that just so happened to be working at a f*cking strip club.” I’m so pissed, I can feel my blood rushing through my veins.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he coughs out when I loosen the hand around his neck.

“I don’t know what I’m talking about? I’m the one she cries to,” I retighten my hold around his neck. “Don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“I didn’t have a choice. I need the money. I found out that Kara was pregnant and had to pay off some debts.”

“So you stole from your family?”

“You don’t have a kid on the way; you don’t understand.” I shove away from him, walking into the room.

“You’re right. I don’t have a kid on the way. But I’ve got a girl and a family, no way I’d put either of them in the middle of my shit.”

“Oh, the great Trevor Mayson is all of a sudden better than everyone.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“Oh, but doesn’t everyone know about you?”

“Did you really come find me to talk about this shit?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. My blood is boiling. If it wasn’t for my promise to Liz, his ass would be hanging over the balcony.

“I want to know what you’re doing with my sister.”

“You don’t get to ask that; you don’t get to play the role of the big brother.”

“I love my mom and sister. You may not believe me, but I do.”

“Prove it. Come back to town and earn back the money you owe her.”

“I have Kara. I—“

I take a step towards him, cutting him off. “That’s your choice; but I’m telling you now, if you push me, I will insist that Liz press charges.”

“I can’t come back to town right now. I’m working undercover.”

I shake my head in disgust. “That lie might work on your mom, but it’s not working on me. “

“Fuck you,” he shouts, his face turning red.

“How long are you going to keep that lie up for?”

“It’s not a lie. The people I owed money to trusted me. The cops had no one on the inside, and when they found out about my debt, they offered to pay it off in exchange for me going undercover.”

“If they paid off your debt, why did you take the money from your sister?”

“The money I took from her paid the debt; the money the cops gave me paid my interest.” I watched him start to pace, his hands running through his shaggy blonde hair. “I had been seeing Kara for a while when she told me she was pregnant.” He stops, his eyes meeting mine. “This was around the time that I lost my last bet. I knew I needed to get out from under the people I owed; no way was I going to have a kid and have to look over my shoulder.”

“So you took the money, started working for the cops, asked Kara to marry you, and went on your merry way. All the while, your sister is staying in the back room of her store after losing her apartment, working for Mike so that she doesn’t lose her dream, and you’re living it up, not wondering about the damage you left behind?”

“If you’re with her, then why the f*ck was she working at a f*cking strip club?” he yells.

“Me working for Mike had nothing to do with Trevor,” Liz says, walking into the room. She sets her bag down on the bed, coming to my side. Her arm goes around the back of my waist.

“How—”

My girl must not be in the mood to listen. “You need to leave, Tim.”

“What?” Tim asks, looking at me. Wrong person. I would always side with Liz; even if I liked him, I would still side with her.

“You need to leave,” she states, more firmly this time.

“We need to talk.”

“The only thing that I want to hear from you right now is that you’re coming home to pay off your debt.”

“I can’t do that right now.”

“Well, then, we have nothing to talk about.”

“Sis, don’t do this,” he pleads, his face looking panicked.

“You never took my feelings into consideration when you did what you did to me.”

“I want you to have a relationship with your nephew; you can’t just cut me out.”

I look down at Liz when her nails dig into my side. “That’s not fair,” she whispers.

“You need to go,” I tell Tim, stepping in front of Liz.

“We’re not done talking.”

“Until you’re ready to tell your sister that you’re going to pay back the money you owe, I don’t think there is anything for you to talk about.”