Chapter Eighteen #2
Eve had grown up loving Darius Williams without reservation, without any doubt and without knowing it. And after seeing him again on the county road, her wearing a wedding dress and him wearing a badge, that love had stretched its legs and decided to walk somewhere it hadn’t yet walked before.
“I guess I’m in love with him,” Eve admitted.
She nodded once to herself to confirm it.
“And I suppose I always have been. Maybe that’s why I never noticed.
Like one day you open your closet and all your clothes are blue.
You never realized it was your favorite color, but the evidence sure is clear once you look close enough. ”
Eve watched as the younger girl’s gaze widened.
She couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to have such a personal epiphany right in front of you,” she said. “Probably not what you expected to hear.”
Despite the potential awkwardness, Winnie collected herself well. She showed a smile that felt as genuine as every smile Eve had seen the girl make since they had met.
“I’ll take a beautiful epiphany over drama-filled gossip any day, so don’t worry. I’m actually grateful you told me. I feel honored.” Her smile grew until her eyes wrinkled a little. Eve mimicked the growth. Just as she let it drop as Winnie’s started to fade.
“Are you going to tell Darius?” she asked.
“Tell him what? That he’s the only person I think I’ve ever fully and completely loved?” Eve snorted. “After the trouble I brought him—brought you and this town—I don’t think I have the right to flood the waters any more than I already have. Not after I left him alone here.”
The last part Eve hadn’t meant to say. Truly, it had been the only part of her feelings she had hoped to keep close to her chest.
Because it was guilt.
Winnie’s eyebrow arched high.
“You mean when you went to Texas with your dad to take care of him? It’s not exactly like you had a choice.”
That guilt in Eve soured the warmth she had finally been able to identify in her chest.
“Then, what was my excuse for the last twenty years?” she asked. “Why did I only come back when there was trouble?”
It wasn’t a question that was meant to be answered. Not by Winnie and certainly not by Eve. There was no answer that would ever be enough in her opinion.
She had made a promise to Darius’s mother that he was hers. For life.
Then she’d disappeared from his for twenty years.
Loving Darius Williams was one thing.
Asking him to love her back was another.
And Eve just couldn’t do that to him.
Winnie opened her mouth, probably readying to encourage her, if Eve had to guess, but the attempt was cut off by a knock against the doorframe.
Eve swiveled in her chair to see Theo and his laptop bag swung over his shoulder. He shared a quick look between them before pointing in the direction of the front of the department.
“Everything has been taken care of for now, which means it’s time for us to head home,” he announced.
Eve stood at once, the chair rolling back behind her and hitting the desk with a little too much force.
“Is there any more news? What do we do when we get there? What happens next?”
Eve and her confession were replaced by Eve and her anxiousness to be done with Scott Keys and his potential retaliation.
Theo put his hands up in self-defense against the interrogative onslaught, but it was Darius who spoke next. He came into view with his eyes down on the phone in his hand.
“What happens next is us going to get some sleep, since none of us got anything worth anything last night,” he said.
“Wait. You can’t just go back to your house,” Winnie pointed out. “What if another hired killer or someone else shows up to attack you? Especially now that they know about the flight records?”
Winnie the Feral Fighter of Theo-attackers was coming back up to the surface. Her words were no longer gentle and warm. Theo’s eyes went to her at the change. It might have been Eve’s imagination, but it almost seemed like his cheeks reddened a little at it.
Darius didn’t look up from his phone as he answered.
“Everyone has a place to go that should be safe. Theo is going with you back to your dad’s place, Mitchell is going with Deputy Gavin to his sister’s place since she’s out of town for a while, and Eve and I are going to my second house.
Since only two people know about it, it’s the best option for now. ”
“Your second house? You have a second house?”
Eve tilted her head to the side, once again physically moving like the act would shake an answer loose before he could give one.
Which would have been nice considering how slow it felt for Darius to answer her with a nod.
Those eyes—dark and familiar—met hers a moment later.
“If you want to find out, follow me and see.”
Eve didn’t need more than that. She grabbed her bag, let Winnie out into the hallway first and paused as Darius reached around her to turn off the office light. Then she followed him without hesitation out into the cold midday air.
It wasn’t until they were sitting in Darius’s truck that Eve spoke again.
“What if I really did put a larger target on myself?” she asked. “Are you sure that it wouldn’t be safer for everyone if I stayed at the department?”
Darius snorted as he put the truck in gear.
“We’ll never know, so there’s no point in wondering.”
Eve gave him another questioning look.
“What do you mean, we’ll never know? I could stay and we could—”
Darius was quick this time. He cut her off before she had a chance to continue.
“We’ll never know because leaving you isn’t an option.” Those dark eyes were back on her. She could see herself reflected in him as he leaned in close.
“Just so we’re clear. From now until the end, I’m going to be by your side, Evelyn Myers. So I suggest you get used to it.”