Chapter Three
There was something to be said for the passage of time.
One day there was a gangly boy, subconscious and a little too quiet—wearing clothes that were a little too big—and the next there was a man standing in the place of his memory.
Not completely unfamiliar, but absolutely not the same small boy Eve had met in the space between their houses when she was just as young.
Time hadn’t paused because Eve had left.
Instead, it had built a boy into a man.
And it had apparently taken care to make that man quite the looker.
Darius Williams was one heck of a sight.
There were no two ways about that. Built like a capital T, his upper body was wrapped in a button-up and corduroy jacket that fit him like a glove, and his Levi jeans hugged him right comfortable like an old friend.
There wasn’t a scrap of fabric on him that didn’t fit him.
Not an inch of awkward to see. In fact, Eve couldn’t help but think if Darius ever wanted to leave the life of law enforcement behind, then he could make one heck of a living out of modeling denim for the masses.
It was obvious that he worked out or ate right or a little of both, she had decided as he’d walked across the asphalt to meet her.
And that was to speak nothing of the fine form that face of his was.
Eve could see the boy she used to know in the coloring of his dark eyes and the overly serious set of his matching brow, but the rest had taken to growing up mighty fine.
His jaw competed with the seriousness of his expression—hard and slightly intimidating—and he had undoubtedly grown into his nose.
Though, it looked like it might have been broken in the time since Eve had seen it last. There was also a small scar at the top of his lip, barely noticeable but there all the same.
Eve saw it with ease before he had even stopped across from her.
Its corners never pulled up from its frown.
She had started to mentally comment on the slight wave of his dark hair—and how it, too, was a far cry from the buzz cut he’d been forced to keep as a kid—when a new reality had hit her beneath the smile she couldn’t help but give when seeing him after all these years.
Darius hadn’t recognized her.
Only after she had mentioned his height had she seen the connections start to form.
If she had had more time, Eve would have smarted at that.
It wasn’t like she had changed all that much since her preteen years.
Her hair was still just as middle-of-the-road brown as it had been then.
Her eyes, a muddling hazel. A few freckles, a jawline that was nowhere near as cutting and eyebrows that still rarely pulled together with such severity.
While she had been cute when she was a kid, that cuteness had only grown into ordinary as an adult.
It was, after all, one reason the gossip had been wholly unkind to her once it had been announced that she, an average woman on all fronts, was marrying into the Keys family.
Still, Eve couldn’t help but feel a little sting at being overlooked by him.
But there was a time and place to think longer on such things, and as the wind bit into the skin above the cut of her wedding dress, Eve reminded herself that now certainly wasn’t it.
Her last words still hung heavy in the air between them.
“My wedding is in an hour…and I need you to stop it.”
Darius looked just as serious as before, if only a bit confused on top of that.
He finally responded, but it was only one word.
“What?”
Eve reined in all thoughts of the little boy whose voice had never been that strong and barreled into her bottom line.
“I’m marrying Mitchell Keys at the old library downtown at five thirty,” she said.
“The wedding planner acts like we’re an army unit going to war, so I’m sure that’s a hard five thirty, and even if I try to stall she’ll find a way to cut my metaphorical legs off.
So if you can’t get there before and find a reason to stop it from starting, then you have until five fifty to do something.
After that we’re saying I do and being told to awkwardly kiss in front of everyone. ”
Darius was wearing a watch. Eve went for it. He was faster and batted her hand away.
“I’m sorry but I’m going to need more than that,” he said, holding his wrist up and away.
Eve still tilted her head to see the face of the watch. The minute hand was a little too close to the two.
She had wasted more time than she had thought waiting for Darius to show up.
“There’s not enough time to get into specifics. I just need the wedding to stop.” She also needed to leave. The drive back would eat up at least ten minutes. She was already playing way too close to the line.
Darius didn’t understand, and although she knew that was a valid reaction, that didn’t mean knowing fixed the issue.
“Why don’t you just stop your own wedding?” Darius’s expression hardened ever so slightly. “Unless you’re being forced to go through with it?”
Eve could understand that worry with the Keys family involved—what couldn’t a family so wealthy get away with?—but this problem was solely hers.
“I’m not being forced, but I can’t stop it myself.” Eve grabbed his wrist to steady her gaze at his watch. Darius let her this time. She indeed had read it right originally.
Which meant she had to leave.
Now.
“Why not? What’s going on, Evelyn?”
She didn’t like the use of her full name, but Eve let his wrist go and took a step back.
“I don’t care what you do to stop it, but please don’t let anyone know that I asked you to do it.” Eve watched as confusion washed over Darius’s face. She didn’t have time to explain so she reiterated the only point she had to convince him. “You do this and we’re even, Darius.”
Eve turned so quickly that her coat slapped closed against her chest. She didn’t wait to see what his next move was. She didn’t look back at him at all, in fact, as she started her engine and got back onto County. For the second time that day she pushed the gas pedal all the way down.
THERE WAS A road that was old, weathered and worn that only a few locals knew about. Most of those called it the Twig.
Just take the Twig, they might say. If it’s dry out and your tires are fine, use the Twig to shave off some time.
Darius’s tires and truck were fine—it paid that the department had their very own on-call mechanic in Rose’s husband—and the rain hadn’t been coming all that much since the cold snap had snapped at them in the last week.
Taking the Twig from County wouldn’t get him stranded or find him in any inconvenience.
It would simply take him from the big road to the mouth of Harper’s Hill, a neighborhood that was a hop, skip and a jump away from the church on Main’s parking lot.
Which just so happened to be across the way from the building that had once housed the Seven Roads Library.
Darius tightened his grip around the steering wheel. He hadn’t moved the truck an inch since watching Eve drive off. The kids in his car hadn’t moved either. Only their mouths had gone to work and, to be fair, each question had been valid.
“What’s going on? What did she say? Where is she going? Are we following?” Theo’s questions had come out in short, consistent bursts, concerned about the current situation and what came next.
Winnie had been more people-oriented in her queries.
“Do you know her? Are you all right?” she had asked on the boy’s heels.
Darius hadn’t yet answered anyone. Instead, since sitting back in the driver’s seat, he had been doing everything in his power to calm down.
Evelyn Myers was back.
Evelyn Myers was back.
And she was getting married.
Darius felt his own jaw start to ache. He let his too-tight grip on the steering wheel go and rubbed a thumb beneath his chin.
You, Darius Williams, owe me a favor.
He did. He really did.
Darius checked his mirrors and pulled onto County. He didn’t answer either kid’s question. Instead, he flipped the script.
“What do you two know about a wedding going on today in town today?” he asked.
Theo was fast with a reply.
“The younger Keys brother is getting married, and the entire town is blowing it out of proportion. Wait. Was that the bride?”
Darius nodded toward Winnie. She didn’t miss the direction.
“It’s a big deal because Scott Keys is the groom’s brother.”
“Scott Keys,” Darius repeated. The name was familiar, but he couldn’t place it.
Winnie helped him out.
“He’s known as the White Knight of Small-town Living,” she started.
“He finds ways to invest or bring in jobs that help rebuild more rural, forgotten or failing small towns. He had a few interviews at the steel mill here before he announced that his brother would be getting married in Seven Roads. Nothing’s been confirmed, but the hope is that he’s about to white-knight Seven Roads. ”
“But it’s his brother getting married, Mitchell?”
That name wasn’t at all familiar.
Regardless, Darius didn’t like it.
Out of his periphery, he saw Winnie nod.
“He doesn’t have a fun nickname or really any kind of popularity other than being called Scott Keys’s brother. His media presence, at least, is pretty low.”
“My bet is that his wedding wouldn’t be that big of a deal if he wasn’t marrying the White Knight’s assistant,” Theo tacked on.
“She’s Scott Keys’s assistant?” Darius asked.
There was a small silence. He bet the two kids shared a look.
“The bride-to-be is, yeah,” Winnie answered after the moment. “She used to be a local… Is that how you know her? From when she lived here as a kid?”
Darius nodded, but even he knew it was tight.
“She was my neighbor.”
Theo made a noise. Out of his periphery, Darius saw Winnie swat back at Theo.
“So that was her just now?” he asked. “What did she want? Was she waiting for you? Is there something between—”
“Theo,” Winnie hissed.
“What? Don’t act like you weren’t asking me a billion questions while he was out there talking to her—”
Darius saw it up ahead and to the left. If you didn’t know it was there, it would be easy to drive by. He glanced at the truck’s clock.
If he wanted to get to the old library in time, the Twig was his only option.
But did that mean he was actually going to—
“Son of a—” Darius turned the wheel and bumped along into the Twig. Whatever Winnie and Theo were arguing about, they stopped.
“What are you doing?” Theo asked, but Winnie proved that she was less analytical than the boy. She had already made the jump to the more human problem of the equation.
“Are we going to the wedding?”
Darius cussed a good cuss.
“No,” he decided. “We’re not.”
Despite good tires and an engine that could move mountains, the Twig bounced them good and dirty as he continued driving it.
“Well, we sure aren’t going to the department this way,” Theo pointed out.
Darius was growing hot under the collar. Bothered every bump and divot they drove over, annoyance growing like the clouds of sand his tires kicked up into the air.
Theo was right. He was heading in the opposite direction.
He cussed low again.
It wasn’t like hiding it from them would do him any good.
Darius was out of time to do anything other than floor it to the library.
Plus, he couldn’t just drop them off on the side of the road.
Not only had he promised to watch out for the two, it just wasn’t good policy to ditch the sheriff’s son and one of their star deputy’s daughters on the side of the road.
Though, for a moment, Darius did entertain the idea.
He would have preferred not to have an audience for what he couldn’t believe he was entertaining.
“We’re going to the wedding,” he finally caved.
“Oh, so the bride just invited you,” Theo guessed.
Darius tilted his head a little, trying to figure out exactly how to say what he needed to—and exactly what it was that he himself intended to do.
Without wanting to, he recalled the distinct smell of blood. So strong he had to fight the urge to touch the scar on his back.
He wasn’t in that room anymore.
He wasn’t that kid anymore.
There was no blade, no blood and no terror gripping his chest so tight he could barely breathe.
There was no girl with her arms around him, bleeding too, but not at all scared.
Yet, even though he wasn’t thirteen anymore, there was the smell of blood filling his nose.
But, then, there was also bubble gum.
Faint but still a memory that had endured over the years.
The anger in Darius, the frustration and confusion, the feeling he couldn’t quite define, floated away.
He took a deep breath.
Then he let it out.
“We’re not going to watch the wedding,” he told his passengers. “We’re going to stop it.”