Mag was so surprised this was what she was there to say, he had absolutely no clue how to reply.
Though he didn’t have to, considering Sidney wasn’t done.
“Now I know bloodshed has caused Evie to reevaluate things. Mom’s in a snit. Rob’s left her. Dad’s in a panic and worried like fuck for Evan. And Mick’s being all dramatic talking about Evie signing his death warrant and bitching that she told him to fuck off, which she should have done,” she leaned toward Mag, “years ago. But, as you can see, in all this, the one name that doesn’t come up is,” she leaned back and jerked a thumb at herself, “mine.”
“Mm-hmm, share your truth, sister,” Elvira encouraged as she moved to take her seat, not only for comfort, but because it was a better audience position.
Sidney looked to her and gave a sharp, sisterhood nod.
“Sidney,” he called, got her attention and carried on, “it’s really not up to me—”
“Wrong,” she interrupted him.
Okay.
Now he was getting ticked.
“I don’t even know you,” he bit out.
“Did you know I exist?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Did you know she hasn’t involved me in this?” she pushed.
“Yeah,” he grunted, seeing where this was going and nipping it in the bud. “But it was dangerous, she didn’t want you involved, and that was her decision to make.”
“How about this, hot guy,” she started. “Considering it was dangerous and it not only involved my sister, but my fuckup of a brother, who fucking cares what she decides? I should know.”
It sucked to admit she was correct.
He then said what he did not want to say because, even if it was right, it might mean headache for Evan. “You should be telling this to Evie.”
“Well, I’m not, seeing as I’m telling it to you.”
“Sidney—”
He didn’t go on because she suddenly looked to her feet, the carefully arranged tendrils of hair that framed her face drifting, then she looked up and Elvira made another noise.
But Mag braced.
“My sister was kidnapped,” she whispered.
“She’s fine,” Mag said softly.
“She was kidnapped because my brother is an asshole.”
Mag had nothing to say to that.
“She doesn’t tell me this shit not because she wants to protect me,” she continued. “She doesn’t tell me because I wasn’t hired out by Dad to fix all of our neighbors’ computers when I was eleven. She doesn’t think a lot of me and the choices I make in my life and I’m okay with that. It’s her opinion, she’s entitled to it. Does it hurt? Yes. Can I allow that to change who I am and what I want to do with my life? No. I don’t want her stripping and not because I look down on strippers. Because that’s not Evie. But do I say anything? No. But when my sister’s boyfriend gets shot and she gets kidnapped, it doesn’t matter what choices I make in living my life, I should know.”
“Give me your number.”
She seemed visibly relieved.
Mag was not, visibly or otherwise, for a variety of reasons.
He got into one of them.
“How did you know who I am and where to find me?”
“Dominique, one of Smithie’s girls, is a friend of mine.”
Well, that explained that.
Mag pulled out his phone.
Sidney opened her massive designer bag and pulled out hers.
They exchanged numbers and then Mag shared a few things of his own.
“This dramatic, or otherwise, just so you know, this kinda thing is not gonna happen to Evie in the future. She’s come to a few realizations about your family and acted on those.”
“Yeah, Mom shouted through the phone at me for a whole half an hour about her part in those realizations and how she blames Evan for Rob leaving her.”
Not a surprise.
Fucked up.
But not a surprise.
“What I’m gettin’ at, Sidney, is Evie is coming to some realizations about your family so maybe coming here and throwing down with me shouldn’t be the only thing you do in regard to looking after your sister and your relationship with her.”
“Mm-hmm,” Elvira hummed.
Sidney looked to her.
“She’s kinda bullheaded,” she told Elvira.
“I hear that. My sister’s a nut and works my nerves regularly. My brother isn’t much better. If they got their shit together, though, I’d still be all in to listen to them,” Elvira replied.
Now it was Sidney humming, “Mm.”
Mag didn’t have much to do for work that day, being on light duty, which meant desk work, and that meant monitoring the screens to keep track of shit they had going on and running other shit on their systems the guys out in the field called in.
Even so, he was done with this visit with Evan’s sister.
“We finished?” he asked.
Her attention returned to him and he saw right away she wasn’t.
Fuck.
“Rob’s a good guy and he’s worried sick about Evie,” she shared. “He also needs to look you over and,” her eyes did a sweep of him, “I’m seeing you’re the kind of guy who would understand where he’s coming from with that. So, it’d be cool you didn’t make him wait too long to do that.”