Chapter 49 Kashton
FORTY-NINE
KASHTON
I’m in the shower, my head on the wall while the warm water runs down my back. My jaw is clenched, and my fists are up by my head.
A recruiter?
Evan got greedy. He wanted to keep her for himself. To be what to Eve? Her pimp?
Everything Everett went through, and he was going to punish her. He wanted her to help capture innocent women to be trafficked. He knew what he was doing. He knew how much it would hurt her.
She’d rather die than put someone else through what she’d gone through.
My phone beeps, and I push away to see it lit up on the bathroom counter. A part of me wants to smash it with a hammer. I’m tired of all the incoming texts and videos. It beeps again, and I reluctantly turn the water off and get out, grabbing a towel off the hook.
I wrap it around myself when I hear Eve scream from the bedroom.
Shoving the bathroom door open, I enter just in time to see her sitting up in bed. She’s wide-eyed and gasping for breath. “Eve?” I rush over to her. “What’s wrong? Are you hurting?”
Her green eyes are frantic, and I gently push her hair from her face. “I’m—” She swallows.
“What? You’re what?” I pull the covers off her to glance at her thigh. It’s still wrapped, and there isn’t any blood, reassuring me that her fresh stitches are holding.
“I’m going…” She places her hand over her mouth, and I yank her from the bed and rush her to the bathroom, knowing exactly what she’s trying to tell me. Falling to her knees, she leans forward and gets sick. “I’m…sorry…” she says before she dry heaves.
“You’re okay.” I hold her hair, crouching behind her to rub her bare back with my free hand. “It’s okay. Let it out, Eve.”
She gets sick once more and then sits back.
I flush the toilet and grab my phone off the counter. I message Devin, asking if the drugs will upset her stomach. He responds immediately.
They shouldn’t. Is she feeling ill? I can give her something if that’s the case.
I begin to respond when I see her getting to her shaky legs.
Putting my cell down, I walk over to her, but she takes a step back, wrapping her arms around herself.
Her watery eyes are on the floor, and it makes me sick to think about what woke her up.
I spent six months with Isabella here at Carnage while she trained us.
Eve spent more than half her life in hell. First Carnage and then Dollhouse.
What did she dream about? Was it Evan? Did he hurt her? She blocked out so much for so long that now there’s no telling how much she’ll start to remember.
Running a hand through my hair, I notice she has vomit in hers. I wasn’t fast enough to pull it back for her. “Would you like a bath?” I ask, not wanting to point it out to her.
She nods, and I shut the bathroom door and turn on the water to the tub.
Once I get it to temperature, I send a quick text to Jessie and then reach my hand out to her.
When she just stares at it, I speak. “It’s okay, angel.
Let me help you.” The last thing I want is for her to fall and hurt herself.
Eve allows me to assist her into the tub, and she pulls her knees to her chest, laying her forehead on them.
“You can’t get your stitches wet just yet, so I have to let it drain.”
She doesn’t show me any sign that she’s acknowledged what I said.
I grab a cup, fill it from the faucet, and let it run down over her hair and back.
She sits facing forward, softly rocking back and forth while I shampoo and condition her hair. Once I’m done, I lower myself to my knees and place my forearms on the side of the tub to look at her. “Feel better?” I ask.
Licking her lips, she whispers, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Her green eyes stare straight ahead at the wall. I place the back of my hand on her forehead, down over her cheek and to her neck. I can’t tell if she has a fever or not. She feels warm, but that could be from the hot water.
“Jessie is bringing you some soup.”
She drops her eyes to her legs. “I’m sorry,” she repeats and adds, “For saying you’re like them. You’re nothing like them.”
“Who is them, Eve?” I question, wanting to keep her talking to me even though I have an idea of what she meant. Every man in her life has drugged her. Now that includes me. This was different from when I challenged her at her house. When she was going to drug me to run.
“Our fathers,” she answers softly.
I open my mouth, but she goes on. “She told me you were a good boy, but I didn’t believe her. No one who survives hell comes out holy.” Her eyes glance at my nun tattoo when she adds, “We’re all damned.”
She’s talking in riddles, which makes me wonder if Devin gave her too much. “Who told you that?”
Her eyes meet mine and my frown deepens. She looks tired…off in another world, but her answer makes my blood run cold. “Your mother.”
“My mother?” I repeat.
She doesn’t answer. Instead, her eyes go back to the running faucet.
“What about my mom, Eve?” I dig, needing her to explain. My mother has been dead for quite some time. When would she have seen or spoken to her?
She sniffs. “I had an imaginary friend. Isolation will do that to you…make you see things that aren’t there.
She was so pretty.” A smile tugs at the corner of her lips.
“Golden blond hair that flowed down her back. Big eyes. They were so bright.” Her voice drops.
“The prettiest thing about her was that she never had any bruises. Her skin was so vibrant and…perfect. I wanted to be her.” Sighing, she licks her lips. “She and I would play in the basement.”
I stiffen, knowing my mother was caged down there.
“When we would go down there, there was always a woman. She looked cold and hungry. I wanted to help her…set her free, but she never would let me. Told me it was too dangerous. That she was where she was meant to be. One time, I was down there with my imaginary friend, and my father caught me. Threw me in the cell across from hers. It wasn’t long after that I heard someone new join us in the basement.
It was you.” She pauses and I swallow. “You gave her a brownie…” Eve drops her head to look at the water.
“Your father found you, dragged you to the elevator. That’s when she spoke to me.
She said, ‘He’s a good boy. Not like them.
’ I didn’t believe her because I didn’t think people were born bad.
I thought ‘Just give him time…they’ll change him. ’”
I run a hand down my face and take a deep breath, wanting her to continue but giving her time.
“Your father came back, opened her cell. He started to beat her. He didn’t know my father had thrown me into the cell across from her.
He unlocked my cell and removed his belt.
” Her shoulders start to tremble. “He tied my wrists together with it and shoved me face-first into the cell door, using the rest of his belt to secure my hands above my head to the bars. I had to stand on my tiptoes. Your mother yelled and begged him to not rape me. He didn’t, but he…
did other things. Once satisfied, he shoved open the door and slammed it shut, leaving me hanging there.
Your mom sat on the floor of her cell, hands wrapped around the bars, sobbing.
He walked over and spit on her before he left us alone. ” A tear runs down her cheek.
I wipe it away and realize my hand is shaking.
“I managed to untie the belt from the bars, and once I was able to sit down, I used my teeth to undo my wrists. Your mother cried. She just kept saying, ‘He’s a good boy. He’s not like them.
’ Then she…” Taking a second, Eve sucks in a shaky breath.
I know what she doesn’t want to say. My mother killed herself.
“Then there was just…silence. It must have been morning when you came back down. Your father told you she was gone. You started screaming for her.”
My heart thunders in my chest as I begin to comprehend what she’s telling me.
Everett was the girl huddled in the corner of the cell across from my mother.
She was right there in front of me. I could have saved her, but my focus was on finding my mother who was already dead. I should have saved Eve.
“I remember thinking I’ll do that one day. I’ll get the chance to end it. The only difference is no one will scream for me. No one will miss me.”
Her watery eyes meet mine. “I’m sorry, Kashton. It’s my fault…” Her eyes redden. “It was me that night…she ended her life because of me.” Sniffling, she goes on. “I took her from you—”
“No.” I reach out and cradle her face in my hands. “It’s not your fault, Eve. None of it was.”
She nods her head and I shake mine. “No. My mother…” I sigh. “She wouldn’t want you to blame yourself. She made that decision.”
“Because of me.” Eve begins to cry. “It’s my fault…everything is my fault.”
“Stop. Stop, Eve,” I say firmly to get her attention.
Her watery eyes meet mine and she blinks rapidly to clear her vision.
“Quit blaming yourself, angel. My mother…” I’m not sure what to say to her.
She felt she had no other choice. To her it wasn’t a life worth living.
But I can’t say that to Everett, because she’s tried to end her life twice.
Eve blinks, fresh tears falling from her bottom lashes. “She would be proud of you, Kashton.”
My stomach knots at her words. Eve is wrong. My mother would be ashamed of who I’ve become. As hard as I tried not to become my father, I did. The woman sitting in front of me is proof.
It doesn’t matter how many videos are sent to me; I’m not letting her go. She may not physically be in the basement chained to the wall with a collar around her neck, but I’m going to make sure she is chained to me for life. I’m going to make her my Lady.
“Come on,” I order, standing and helping her do the same. “I’ll dry your hair. Your soup is going to get cold.”
EVERETT
I’ve been locked in Kashton’s bedroom for a week. The only fresh air I get is when I sit out on his balcony like I am right now.