CHAPTER 54
Phoebe
“Holy shit,” I say it out loud.
Whoops.
Rick’s attention snaps to me. I pretend like nothing happened. But how’s a girl supposed to react to this?
Evander has combed back his hair. He’s scruffy and impossibly handsome, with eyes as intense as a summer storm.
Ginny must have given him that pair of scrubs. They might be slightly too small, since they’re not doing a very good job at hiding everything Evander is.
Not that I’m complaining.
I see the hint of sparse, dark hair peek from the top of the vee neck. I admire the power in his arms and shoulders, his trim hips, thick thighs, and muscular neck. The front of his top is tucked into the tied waist of his bottoms, which are as a snug fit. He’s barefoot.
He’s so fucking hot.
Phoebe!
The room is silent until my mother speaks. “Hello, Evander. It’s very nice to see you. How’s your burn?”
“Hello, Mrs. Travis. It’ll be absolutely fine, thanks. How was the helicopter ride?”
“It was wonderful! How awfully kind it was for your brothers to bring us!”
“Of course.”
Evander isn’t attempting to look through the sea of Travis men to search for me. I suppose he’s got other things on his mind, since all of them have now turned to face him square on, staring daggers.
Oh, great.
Jake looks him up and down. “So. Big, bad Evander MacLaine had to get himself rescued, too?”
Evander nods.
“Oh, Jeez.” I drop my face into my hands.
“Who’s that guy?” Rick asks, his voice cracking.
And just then, all the MacLaines walk in—Cal, Finn, Declan, Special K, and Jamie.
“I hope someone remembered the chips and dip,” Declan says, smiling.
“No, but I brought a can of whoop ass,” Special K says.
Jamie walks right past my brothers to Mama, bends down, and gives her a polite hug. “What a relief that everyone’s safe, right, Izzy? I’ve never seen anything like this storm in my whole life, and I’ve been around a long, long time.”
My mom pats his hand and smiles up at him. “Once in a lifetime, that’s for sure.”
“They’re calling it the “Storm of the Centur—”
Jamie’s small talk ends because Jake’s walking over to Evander. He leans in and gets right in Evander’s face. “Why were you with my sister?”
“Just worked out that way.”
I try to get out of bed, but Rick puts a hand on my shoulder and presses me down. I stare at him in disbelief.
“That’s a bunch of shit,” Jake says. “Did you follow her out there or something?”
“Nope.” Evander’s voice is flat. Totally calm.
“The State of Nevada has laws against stalking and harassment.”
“As an attorney, I’m quite familiar with the revised statutes.”
“You better not have touched her, asshole. If you laid a finger on Phoebe…”
My other brothers form a semicircle behind Jake. The MacLaines do the same behind Evander.
Mama rises from the recliner. “Jake! That’s enough. Leave the boy alone.”
“Hey, now!” Jamie says. “I’m sure you all can resolve—”
Jake grabs Evander by the neck of his scrubs, but that’s all he gets to do. Evander hits Jake with an uppercut nastier than anything I’ve seen him endure on the ice.
Jamie yells for his sons to stop, pulling my mom toward the window and away from the chaos. My mother screams for my brothers to stop, too. No one listens.
They’re too busy beating on each other.
Rick backpedals his way into the bathroom doorway.
“Stop it!” I scream. “Enough!” No one hears me.
So, I jump to a stand on the mattress, grab the avalanche whistle from the nightstand, and blow it with all my might.
The melee ends instantly.
Everyone freezes. There’s a lot of heavy breathing in here and I see blood in Jake’s mouth. Cal, who had lifted Bo several feet off the floor, lets him drop to the tile with a thud.
“News flash!” I scream. “I'm not a virgin!”
Complete silence.
Bo pushes himself off the floor. He stares at me, horrified.
“I’m sorry you have to hear this, Mama, and I’ll understand if you want to plug your ears, because…” I look around the room. “What the absolute fucking hot sauce Christmas cake is wrong with all you people?”
“Preach,” Declan says.
I’m panting. My heart’s thudding. Everyone’s staring at me in disbelief. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to start this conversation, but I’ve definitely succeeded in creating a distraction.
Ugh.
I haven’t had enough sleep for days on end. My filter is nonexistent at this point. And since I’ve already mucked it up, I decide to keep going.
“I haven’t been a virgin since my first year of nursing school! Which means that no one—I’m talking to you, Jake Travis—is required to protect my virtue or start fistfights to uphold my honor, got it? I am an adult woman. I live how I choose to live.”
Jake steps back from Evander and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, blinking at me.
I point a shaking finger toward him. “You want to know what happened with Evander and me in the blizzard? You want to know if he touched me? Is that it? You’re asking for details about the type and frequency of any touching that might have gone on while we tried to stay alive in the worst storm this state has ever seen? ”
Rick steps forward from his bathroom hiding place. “Phoebe. Sit down. You might fall.”
I wheel around and glare at him. It’s nice being taller than everyone else. I wonder if this is how Evander feels all the time.
“What the country-fried fuck are you doing here, dude? We broke up three months ago!”
“You invited me.”
“I invited you in September! Yes, I forgot to uninvite you, but come on! You decide to show up at your ex-girlfriend’s family home at Christmas without even checking with her first? Seriously? Who does that shit? How self-important do you have to be to decide that’s normal?”
“I was hoping I might convince you—”
“No, no, no. Don’t do this, Rick. I’m begging you.”
“Oh, heavens,” my mother says from her spot with Jamie near the window.
This has to be a hallucination because I swear I’m seeing Rick go down on one knee by the side of my hospital bed. He pulls out a little black velvet box and looks up at me in anticipation.
“Oh, goodness,” my mother says.
“Da fuq is this?” Special K asks.
Good question.