Chapter 13
August
I think if someone asked me what my personal version of hell was, it would be this moment right here.
Not only is Emmett polite and all smiles, but what in the seven circles is with him calling her Evie?
The fact that she hasn’t asked me to call her that has me reconsidering if I want to call Emmett my brother or bury him.
From the second she walked through those double doors and Emmett started smiling and staring at Evangeline, I’ve had to reign in every ounce of self-control I have. I want to bash his face in.
I have a temper, but I’m not a violent man by any means, so these irrational thoughts are entirely out of my nature.
Evangeline sends me into emotional spirals with visceral reactions I’ve never felt before.
And having to remind myself I have no claim to her outside of her being my daughter’s teacher is the purest torture.
But it felt like something had changed last night after I carried her.
Which I can’t even believe I did. I may have eventually set her down, but I didn’t let her go.
All of the spots where I held her feel like they’re mine now.
When I helped her with her car I thought she felt it too.
I guess I am worse at reading women than I thought.
Maybe there is some validity to Larissa leaving us.
And the cherry on top of it all is them deciding to work on something together, all the while having an amicable conversation that Evangeline is thoroughly engrossed in.
Emmett can’t stop talking. He’s always talked so much he could rival a parrot and it’s never bothered me until right now.
It feels like the yank in my lower stomach and chest I have for Evangeline is being violently ripped out and squeezed.
The hardest part is watching them work together and knowing that she deserves someone exactly like Emmett.
He’s not a Von, but he might as well be for the love and memories all of us have shared since childhood.
I know what I’m talking about when I say he’s a good man through and through.
Definitely a huge flirt, but that somehow only makes him even more attractive to the ladies.
I can’t deny that he is the perfect man for any woman, and I hate that I’m watching that play out with the one woman who has started to ignite something in me.
I head back to the rest of the crew who came with us, hoping they can provide enough of a distraction from what’s happening in front of me.
My men don’t need babysitting. I keep them at Von because they’ve proven themselves reliable, but I like to be hands-on with things as well, so it doesn’t surprise any of them when I make my way over to help out.
It’s been thirty minutes. Thirty minutes of me and the guys working in silence with only Emmett’s voice and Evangeline’s laughter filling the gym.
I’m trying so hard to keep it together, but I’m half tempted to call it a night and pick up Addie early from Ms. Wilma’s house.
But the idea of not being able to keep my eyes on Emmett and Evangeline is somehow worse.
I know my imagination will torture me with “what if’s” if I don’t actively have eyes on what the two of them are doing.
Especially for the way Emmett was appraising her when she got here.
I’m fairly certain it doesn’t get worse than this.
And then it does. They’re working on what looks like the Christmas stands and Evangeline just brought a hammer over for Emmett to use.
Or that’s what I thought she was doing until she gets down on her knees with Emmett and he sets his hand on top of hers, wrapped around the hammer to show her the pressure she needs to hit it with.
Evangeline seems like a very independent woman, there’s no way she needs help with a hammer.
Emmett will seriously go to any lengths, I swear.
All the while neither of them look at the nail, but smile at each other and I’m unequivocally done.
I don’t even know what I’m holding or working on, and it doesn’t matter because I drop it unceremoniously to the ground and my tunnel vision engages.
Everything around me is blurry except for the complete sharpness with which I can see Evangeline and Emmett laugh and look at each other.
All I see is red. I’m tall enough that it barely takes any strides for me to eat up the space across the gym to where they are working.
I know the heat building up inside of me is irrational.
I know Evangeline is not mine. I know I haven’t done a single thing to deserve feeling as possessive about her as I do, but I can’t continue to watch this.
There’s a weight on my chest and I can’t pull a deep enough breath to relieve it.
This gym is full of people, but right now there's only Evangeline. Smart, beautiful, hardworking Evangeline with the most melodic laugh I’ve ever heard.
I want it directed at me. And I’ll pack it up and move before I have to hear her laugh because of another man again.
Even if that man is one of my best friends.
I have to remind myself to not be mad at Emmett. He hasn’t done anything wrong. They’re both single and free to do whatever they want, except each other. I refuse to let that happen, and I feel like that’s exactly where the night is going.
Thankfully, I’ve calmed myself down enough to remember that Emmett is not the enemy here, which is good because I was seconds away from physically disengaging my best friend from this woman and that is not my place.
But luckily, I’m still his boss, so I can separate them easily enough.
I stand right over them, and clearly I’m invisible because neither looks away from the other until I clear my throat.
They fumble away from each other like I just caught them in the act.
That thought definitely has the anger rising back up inside of me, because that could eventually be a very real possibility.
Emmett might actually be the enemy here.
“Emmett, since the guys weren’t with us when Ms. Jake did her run through of her vision for the set, I’m going to need you to head over and give them a quick run down and walk through of the plan so we’re all on the same page.
” I know this demand is rude and unnecessary because that’s something I could have easily accomplished on my own earlier, but if I have to hear Evangeline laughing at this man for even another second, I’m going to lose my mind.
Emmett gives me a look, knowing full well that this attempt at separating the two of them is a load of crap.
“Oh, is that right, boss?” he chides back at me.
“Well, since I’m the only one who was listening to Evie well enough to be able to relay the info, I’ll happily fill them in.
” He knows just the right thing to say to get under my skin.
Bounding up from the floor where Evangeline still kneels, he turns back to her to drive just one more dagger into my chest.
“So tomorrow still works for you?” Emmett directs the question at Evangeline. “I can pick you up at around seven.” Oh absolutely not. He can’t actually be taking Evangeline out on a date. He keeps talking but the blood is pounding so hard in my ears that I can’t zero in on what he’s telling her.
“I can’t wait. I’ll be ready then. Wait, what should I wear?” Evangeline beams back at him and I’m beside myself.
“It’s a surprise. But feel free to wear anything comfy and casual.
It’ll be a relaxing, chill evening.” Emmett bends down and pecks her on the cheek and bounds away to do the menial task I gave him.
The task, which now seems like it’s bit me in the butt, since I just had to watch my best friend of over a decade, who is dead to me now, give a peck on the cheek of the woman who courses through every vein in my body.
Yeah, this isn’t going to happen. I turn back to Evangline who’s looking at me with incredulous eyes.
She can’t possibly know my motives for doing this.
And if she does, it’s only because she feels the same way.
We stare each other down for longer than necessary.
It does nothing to help me because she’s still kneeling down by the Christmas tree stand that her and Emmett were working on.
And she has a knowing fire behind her eyes.
“Well…” I begin.
“Can we speak outside?” Oh, it’s her turn to cut me off and if her tone is any indication, she’s livid at what I just did. Little does she know I’m ready to go toe to toe with her for whatever tiny reason and all her fervor does is spur me on more. Makes me want her more.
I nod my head with a slight smirk that seems to get even deeper under her skin. She jumps up deciding that she’s going to be the one to lead me out of this gym. I think I’d hand her a leash and enthusiastically follow her anywhere. Even if she’s mad.
“Look, I shouldn’t talk to a parent of one of my students this way,” she begins.
“Especially since you’re doing so much to help the school right now, but what on earth gives you the right to do that?
” Okay, I love this side of her. When she backs down in fear, some engrained reaction that I will learn the meaning behind, I hate myself.
But this bold, assertive side is knee-buckling, and the euphoric pull I feel toward her is even more profound.
Each side I learn about Evangeline makes me ache a little more; her selfless, giving side, her brilliant and creative teaching side, her nurturing and patient side.
This girl is everything I’ll never deserve.
But I’m selfish enough that I’ll make her mine anyway.
“I think being his boss gives me the right to tell him to do his job.” I retort back knowing that’s not what she’s talking about. But I’m going to make her spell it out.
“August, you know full well that’s not what you did.
He was already doing his job with me. Or are you so incompetent that you couldn’t fill the other men in yourself?
” She spits back. I’m grossly enraptured by the fire pouring out of her and the angry tone in which she says my name.
I want to know at what other times that venomous little attitude comes out.
I fill the void between us to the point that our breath is mingling in the cool, dark October air, and she doesn’t back down this time.
Good girl. “That’s the only job he’s going to be doing with you, Princess.
” I assert, looking down at her pert nose and glaring eyes.
Her breath hitches and I know I invariably shifted everything.
She glares back up at me and without missing a beat demands, “No. It’s not.” And turns on her heel, marching back to the gym leaving me aching in the wake of her attitude.