“Paranoid? Worried I’ll take your girl, Brett?” Stefan laughed.
My stomach twisted.
“That’ll never happen, asshole,” Brett growled.
“Brett, we should go. He’s clearly not going to tell us what he wants.” I rose to my feet when my hand was tugged.
“Sit,” Brett demanded.
I sat back down and huffed.
“You going to let him boss you around like that, Evvie?” Stefan frowned. “If you were mine—”
“Well, she isn’t. So shut the fuck up.” Brett gripped my hand tight.
I looked between the both of them, my heart thumping hard against my ribs. “Okay, this needs to stop. I don’t know what your problem is, Stefan, but—”
“The problem is Claire.”
“Claire. What does she have to do with this?” She had left us alone. I didn’t know if that was good or bad but neither of us had heard from her since Brett’s birthday party. I made a mental note to call Ethan and asked him if he talked to her.
“She hired me to send you those pictures and I haven’t been fucking paid. I want my money and then this will all go away.”
My heart sped up and I looked at Brett.
“I’ll pay you. How much?” he barked.
Stefan rubbed his chin. “1 million.”
I gasped. “You can’t be serious.”
“I don’t have that kind of money,” Brett ground out. “Even if I did, that’s a lot of cash to be handing over to someone who could be lying.”
“Either way, I will get my money.” Stefan rose to his feet. “You should also know that she hired me to go to Mexico. I wasn’t there on vacation. I was paid to watch you and report back to her.”
“Why the hell are you telling us this?” Brett snapped.
I couldn’t believe my ears. Shock tore through me at what I was hearing.
Stefan shrugged. “She fucked me over.”
Brett grunted. “She does that.”
Bile rose to my throat.
“Get me my money,” Stefan demanded.
“Get me proof and I’ll see what I can do but I’m not giving you a million dollars.” Brett sat back and casually spun my ring around and around on my finger.
“You better—”
“If you want the issue with Claire gone, you will take what I give you once you get me the proof that I need. Until then, leave me and my girlfriend alone.” Brett’s voice was firm as he stared at Stefan head on.
Stefan stood up and stretched. “One last thing, you need to treat her better.”
I gasped.
Brett shot to his feet. “Listen, mother—”
“No, you listen to me, asshole.”
“As if you’re here telling me how to treat my girl. You just asked me for a million dollars,” Brett said, his jaw twitching.
Stefan pushed him. “Paranoid, Brett?”
“Guys, stop. Please,” I said, shoving between them.
“Not on your fucking life, asshole,” Brett snarled.
“Stop. Now. Both of you,” I cried.
“Yeah, Brett. Listen to your whore. Claire was right about one thing, she is a little slut.”
I gasped and before I knew what was happening, Brett dove at Stefan, knocking him to the ground. His fist flew so fast against Stefan’s face, bones crunched under the contact.
“Brett,” I screamed and grabbed his shoulders. With all of my strength, I pulled him off of Stefan, landing hard on my ass.
“Fuck, you broke my nose,” Stefan said, sniffing past the blood pouring out of his nose.
“Get out, now,” a deep voice barked.
We all looked up as a large man came into view wearing a shirt uniform for the coffee shop.
Brett stiffened in my arms. “I’ll pay for the damage—”
“Not you. Him,” he pointed at Stefan.
Stefan glared. “What the hell?”
“I heard what you said about this young lady. You’re lucky she’s not mine or else I wouldn’t have let her pull me off of you,” the older man snarled.
Stefan rose to his feet and wavered. “You can’t make me leave.”
The man took a step towards him. “No? Try me.”
Stefan looked between the three of us before his gaze landed on Brett. “I hope Claire makes your life a living a hell.”
My eyes widened.
“The name’s Sam,” the larger man stated as Stefan left the small café shop.
“Thank you, Sam,” I mumbled and rose to my feet before sitting on the couch.
Brett joined me and rubbed his red knuckles. “I am sorry about the damage.”
Sam’s chocolate brown eyes warmed. “No need. The damage already left. How about some ice for that hand?”
Brett nodded and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I’m sorry.”