Chapter 22 #2
I peeled her off me with a curse, setting her back onto the linoleum floor.
‘Eva,’ I growled, stepping back to establish my boundaries. ‘The hell?’
‘I missed you, Angel,’ she whispered, her eyes flicking from me to the bored motel clerk behind the bulletproof glass.
‘Fuck that shit, Eva. Focus on what’s important here. Is this Maurice after you just because you’re the only witness to his crime?’
She shrugged.
‘I might have also stolen cash straight from his wallet to buy my ticket.’
‘You robbed a narcotics dealer?’ I asked, my blood running cold. ‘Are you insane?’
‘I’m scared.’
She then began to giggle, which threw me.
I rocked back on my heels, hands crossed over my chest, staring at her, still trying to get my brain around her play.
‘You high?’ I gritted.
She stopped laughing and gave me a saucy smile, and I got my answer.
‘Tell me you didn’t also lift his stash along with his cash?’
‘I didn’t, but I used Maurice’s cash to get me a score soon as I landed in Nashville, met my local hookup outside the motel.’
I almost lost it.
‘How freakin’ much?’
‘A quarter of a key.’
‘Damn, Eva, why do you do this, and why do I keep getting sucked into your chaos?’
She blinked, conjuring up tears in her big blue eyes.
They once moved me, not now.
With a huff, I shook my head.
‘First things first, you’re exiting this dump right now,’ I growled. ‘But if I’m to take you, you’re leaving the dealer’s wallet with the front desk. Then we’re flushing down the snow in the bathroom.’
We faced off until, with a cry, she threw up her hands in surrender.
I made her walk to the bathrooms as she dug out the packet of coke from her jacket and washed it down the toilet.
After that, I frog-marched her to reception, where she handed in the billfold.
‘A man called Maurice is going to come by for it,’ I told Kenneth, the wary, spotty-faced concierge. ‘Steal a dollar from it or keep for yourself and you’re dead.’
The kid gulped and hid it in a drawer.
I had Evangeline send Maurice a final text with the location of his wallet, then block him.
Grabbing her suitcase, I bundled her into the passenger seat of my truck and drove across town through the deserted, rain-slicked corridors of downtown.
My tires flew over the wet asphalt as storm runoff filled the gutters.
When we pulled up to a sleek, modern eight-townhouse development.
Tapping my phone, I unlocked the central gate to the property via an electronic keycard. I parked, exited the Defender, and guided Evangeline to the ground floor.
I owned the development outright, and it ranked among my most lucrative investments.
This was no cheap Airbnb setup; the premises catered to wealthy music executives flying in and out of Nashville.
I carried Evangeline’s bags into the bedroom, then back into the lounge area.
‘You’re to remain inside this townhouse. Do not leave the building. Call my number if you need anything else.’
She stepped close, her eyes gleaming as she tried to wrap her arms around my neck for a kiss.
I jammed my palm into her shoulder, pushing her back.
‘We’re way past this, Evangeline,’ I stated. ‘You and I do not exist beyond me helping you out one last time for old times’ sake.’
‘Fine,’ she pouted, tossing her limp hair. ‘Will you at least stay until I get changed?’
I nodded, eager to leave so I could get back to Roxy.
I leaned on the kitchen island, amazed at my immunity to her charms while she disappeared into the primary.
Pulling out my phone, I opened a delivery app to order her a meal and basic groceries.
A minute later, the bedroom door clicked open, and Evangeline walked out into the lounge, naked.
Shoulders thrown back, tits out, biting her lip in what she imagined was a sensual gesture.
I jolted and stared at her, my stomach twisting with revulsion as my eyes swept over her gaunt frame, bony hips, and track marks dotting her pale skin.
She had lost an alarming amount of weight, hollowing her curves until she appeared like a walking ghost rather than the woman I once craved.
She had never seemed less attractive to me than in this exact moment, her former hold on me long gone.
What the hell did I ever see in this woman?
I shook my head as she strutted toward me.
Evangeline had always been entitled, full of herself, and spoiled rotten, never hearing the word no from anyone in her life, including me back then.
She might have had a chokehold on my youth, but those days were dead and buried under six feet of cold, hard reality.
‘Thought I made it clear that you and I are done,’ I snarled.
‘We were never done in the past, Angel,’ she purred, stepping close and running a brittle fingernail down the front of my shirt. ‘We always made up; you know you want this.’
‘I’m married, Evangeline,’ I said, leaning back and locking my jaw as I stared down at her with cold disgust.
She scoffed.
‘To my fuckin’ weak, pathetic sister.’
‘Don’t you dare mention Roxy with your trash mouth. She’s more woman than you, and if you ever speak of her like that again, you’ll never see me again.’
She reared her head back in shock. ‘You’ve developed feelings? For her?’
I clenched my teeth, refusing to give in to her needling.
‘We were meant to get married, me, so imagine it is me,’ she purred, trying to rub herself all up on me.
The fact that she was pushing me to betray Roxy made my stomach turn with pure disgust.
The irony of turning down the woman I once loved for the sister I now respected and called my wife hit me like a sledgehammer.
Meanwhile, Evangeline latched onto me, running her hands all over my chest.
I shuddered and shoved her back hard until she stumbled back three feet, tumbling into the couch.
‘Stop this sick game and put some clothes on,’ I growled.
The liberation of being able to say no to her face surged through my veins like fire.
Her face twisted into an ugly, sour mask of rage as she realized her beauty no longer had any pull over my soul.
‘You just fucked up, Angel!’ she spat, her eyes wild. ‘I’ll tell the cops you picked me up, brought me here, and raped me!’
I let out a bitter laugh, pointing a finger up at the black lens mounted flush into the ceiling above us.
‘All my properties have a security camera in the living areas.’
I pulled my phone from my pocket, tapping the screen to display the live feed showing her standing naked before me.
‘The feed is being recorded; I’ve your threat down on film, so don’t even try that shit with me.’
Enraged by her failed trap, she swung a wild right hook at my jaw, trying to hit me just like she used to in our past.
I caught her wrist in mid-air, squeezing my fingers together until I crushed her knuckles inside my grip.
Evangeline screamed, dropping to the polished floorboards on her knees before me as tears burst from her eyes.
I had zero pity left for her abusive, toxic behavior, letting go of her hand and stepping away without a second glance.
‘Cover up, Roxy,’ I growled. ‘Right fuckin’ now.’
She glared up at me, pouting like a spoiled child caught stealing as she flounced away into the primary bedroom.
Gritting my teeth, I watched her bare, skinny ass disappear inside.
‘I’m leaving. I’ll have someone from my team reach out to help you situate yourself and work out how the hell to get back on your feet.’
Turning my back on her, I strode out the front door and slammed it shut behind me, furious at the years I wasted on her.
The rain finally ceased during my drive back to Forest Hills, the storm clouds parting to reveal a bruised, violet dawn sky.
Thin ribbons of electric blue and pale amber cut through the horizon, casting a cold illumination over the wet asphalt.
I was still torn about whether to tell Roxy or not about Evangeline’s return.
However, if Roxy found out about this midnight rescue, she would think I was still trapped under her sister’s spell.
I was worried she’d think our whole marriage was a lie just when it was beginning to feel fuckin’ real and righteous to me.
When I unlocked my front door, the interior of the house was shrouded in peaceful stillness.
The only sound was the rhythmic ticking of the clock in the hall, as I prowled into the kitchen to make a coffee.
I brewed a cup and leaned against the counter, sipping, brooding as I stared out the bay window, processing the night and how different the two sisters were.
Evangeline was a parasitic leech on every level.
Roxy, on the other hand, had a successful career, was independent, and lived life with simplicity, realness, kindness, and fierce loyalty.
She was the real deal, and it hit me I’d be a fool if I never got my act together and built a life with her.
Just then, I caught the brush of bare feet, and Roxy appeared in the doorway.
I jolted as I took her in with mussed bed hair, wearing an oversized sleep tee that fell over her long legs.
Freakin’ sexy.
‘Babe,’ I rasped.
Yearning flared in my chest as Roxy leaned on the doorframe, her eyes scanning my car keys on the counter.
‘You left in the middle of the night?’
I pursed my lips, a brutal internal war waging over whether to tell her the truth or shield her from Evangeline’s mess.
If I mentioned Eva was back in town, and I went to her rescue, it’d ruin Roxy’s peace of mind.
Possibly even wreck what we’d both bled so hard for these last few weeks.
Fuck.
So I went with a carefully worded omission.
‘I had something to take care of,’ I growled, my tone clipped and defensive.
She gave me a long, piercing look as I glanced away from her gaze.
‘Right.’
She said it so softly I almost missed it.
With that, she turned and disappeared back down the hallway without another word.
I stood alone in the growing morning light, rocked to my core by a wave of guilt.
Fuckinghellshit.