Chapter 25 Chance
Chance
Bone-tired, I fell into bed after a shower. I’d worked extra hours the last couple days, trying to get ahead on a few projects, but mostly to keep myself from fucking up more with Evie.
She kept refusing to listen when I tried to talk to her, and I didn’t want to be like those creeps who couldn’t take no for an answer. That didn’t stop me from texting her throughout the day, hopeful that she might answer. Each day, I didn’t get a reply, so I had to ask Reid if she needed anything.
He never told me more than yes or no, which meant I had to resort to asking Everly for any updates.
Like a beggar asking for scraps of information about the woman I was drowning without.
Weirdly enough, Everly was always ready and willing to talk to me.
She still called me a bloodhound or some other variant of canine.
Insulted me. Bitched at me. Told me what a fuckup I was being and to get my shit straightened out.
But she gave me the small things about her sister’s life that were the most important.
What made Evie laugh that day, how cute she’d been when she tried the hand-scooped ice cream at the campus café.
Vanilla with chunks of Georgia peaches. I soaked up every last detail Everly supplied me with, stored away the intel for future use.
Grabbing my extra pillow, I held it to my chest. It smelled a little like Evie because Everly had taken pity on me and slipped me a few of the laundry tabs her sister used. Pretending like my peaches was lying there beside me, sleep descended…
A blood-chilling scream was loud enough to raise the dead.
Sitting up, I reached for my gun, already on my feet, scream after scream echoing in the night.
When I opened my front door, the screams were louder.
Other doors were ripped open. Elias ran out in a pair of sweats, his gun drawn, Sammy at his side.
Her own gun was up, ready to shoot anything she deemed a threat.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“Is someone being murdered?”
“Is she okay?”
Our tenants were out of their apartments, scared, concerned, phones out, a few with their own guns I wasn’t sure they knew how to use. They ran to the railing, looking over to where the screams were coming from.
“Evie,” I whispered, running downstairs, sweat already coating my body, my heart in my throat. She kept screaming, louder and louder, the closer I got. Everyone on the first floor was already out of their apartments, blocking my way.
Shoving them aside, I finally made it to number four, my gun lifted as I burst into the apartment, ready to end anything and anyone who was making my precious peaches scream.
What I found made zero sense to my brain.
Reid stood off to the side, his face pale, his eyes huge, mouth moving, but I couldn’t hear anything he was saying.
I couldn’t hear anything but Evie’s screams.
Everly was on her knees on the floor in front of Evie, who was screaming and rocking. Tears spilled down both women’s faces. Everly sobbed something, a plea, as she tried to hug her sister. And Evie kept screaming. Louder. Louder.
Someone bumped my shoulder as they came in behind me, moving forward without hesitation. Sammy dropped down beside Everly, her gun nowhere in sight. “Do you have anything in case of emergencies?” she asked.
Everly shook her head. “No, no. She refused to let me fill the prescription. It was too much for her. She was afraid because…” She didn’t finish, didn’t say what her twin was scared of.
Evie’s screams and rocking continued, her tears coming faster.
How she still had a voice after everything was a miracle.
Seeing her like that made it hard to breathe.
Everly wasn’t helping. Neither was Sammy.
I didn’t understand what was going on, but standing there doing nothing wasn’t an option for me.
Placing my gun on an end table, I dropped down onto the floor behind Evie, pulling her into my lap. Her screams made my eardrums ring. I lost the battle with my own tears. She was helpless and hurting—that was all I knew, all that mattered. She needed me.
Keeping my arm tight around her middle, I rocked with her, pressing my face into her hair, squeezing her close to my chest. The level of her screams slowly began to lower, but only because her voice was fading.
Time meant nothing as I held her, rocked her, whispered to her that it was going to be okay.
Around us, I caught snippets of low conversation.
“It’s a panic attack. She needs the door open, Reid.”
“I’m sorry. I know you said that, but I didn’t think this would happen.”
“What happened to her to cause this kind of reaction?”
“Her father kept her locked in his house her whole life.”
“How did no one question that?”
“He homeschooled her. She was completely isolated, except for our birthdays when he had to bring her for our court-appointed meetups.”
Everything became a little clearer. Evie’s reasons for being haunted by her father. Her venom when she said she wasn’t sorry he was dead. Why she was so attached to her sister. Her total innocence, not just kissing or sex, but life in general at times.
At some point, flashing blue lights appeared outside.
Reid and Sammy went to speak to the deputy, while Everly stayed close by.
She didn’t try to take her twin from me, didn’t tell me I didn’t belong there, that it was none of my business.
When I looked at her, she was still crying, her eyes full of so much despair, more tears spilled from my own.
“Is this the first time this has happened?” I whispered.
“No, but it’s the worst,” Everly admitted. “All of this is new to her. It’s overwhelming. She thinks she has to be strong all the time so I won’t worry, so she can be normal. God, I don’t know how to help her. Nothing’s working.”
“Nothing.”
I jerked, my hold on Evie tightening. Everly and I both looked at her, surprised she was no longer screaming, cautiously optimistic that she was coming out of the panic attack.
“Nothing,” she muttered again, her voice raw, hoarse after screaming for close to an hour.
“Wh-what, Evie?” her sister asked, brushing trembling fingers over her tear-soaked cheeks. “What’s nothing, sweetheart?”
“Me,” she whispered, staring ahead sightlessly. “I’m nothing. William always says it. Every day. I’m nothing. He won’t shut up.”
“Oh, Evie,” Everly breathed.
“Chance thinks I’m nothing too. He told his mom that I’m nothing. First, I was a whore, and now, I’m nothing. Always nothing, never anything.”
“No, baby,” I choked out. “I didn’t mean it like that. You’re everything, peaches.”
She wasn’t listening, though. Her eyes closed, her breathing evening out. Dropping her head onto my shoulder, she completely stopped moving. A new panic took root. Was she okay? Had I hurt her?
“Don’t worry, she just fell asleep,” Everly said, blowing out a relieved breath, stroking her hand over Evie’s tangled hair. “That’s what usually happens afterward. She’s going to feel like she has a hangover in the morning. We all are.”
“Should I carry her to bed?” Everly nodded, and I stood with Evie in my arms, following her into the bedroom. Reid was still outside talking to the cops, but the front door was open.
Placing Evie in the middle of the bed, I reluctantly straightened, but I didn’t make a move to leave. I couldn’t. Fuck, I wasn’t sure if I could ever leave this girl again. Everly tucked a blanket up over her sister, not rushing me out the door.
“What she said the other day when she was upset—” Everly lifted her eyes to me as I spoke “—about killing herself. I thought that was just an emotional bomb people throw out to catch attention.”
She was quiet for a long moment, her hands restlessly tucking and retucking the blanket. “That’s her story to share, Chance.”
“But it did happen.”
Her silence was louder than any verbal answer she could have given. I swallowed the lump that kept filling my throat. “I-I’d appreciate it if you let me stay. Just tonight. I’ll go as soon as she starts to wake up.”
After a small hesitation, she nodded. “I’ll be in the living room with Reid. Keep the door open. The door always has to be open, Chance. No exceptions. Do you understand?”
All I could do was nod.
Once she was gone, I carefully crawled in behind Evie, tucking her gently against me. Pressing my lips to the back of her head, I closed my eyes but didn’t sleep. I replayed her words from earlier. What had happened with my mom both times she’d seen her, my stupid nonactions.
I’d fix it, though. I’d make it right.
If she’d let me, I’d spend the rest of my life cherishing her the way she deserved, showing her that she was my everything. Not nothing. Never fucking nothing.
“I love you, peaches,” I whispered into her hair.