Chapter 37
Cooper
Iknew she was coming. Seb mentioned bringing her with him casually, as if it meant nothing, but I knew the second she walked through the door, especially if in swimwear, I’d notice.
I noticed too much these days. A body I shouldn’t be looking at when I suddenly couldn’t look away, as if a switch had been flicked.
I grabbed a heap of snacks to take outside, before confirming with Tammy that her and her friend were coming. She’d almost cancelled, and I knew Seb wanted her here, so I spewed whatever I could and was relieved when she agreed.
The soft click of a door closing caught my attention, followed by a choked sound.
What was that?
Stepping into the hallway, someone barrelled right into me and I caught them just in time.
I inhaled at the sight of her red eyes, arms wrapped tight around herself, as she stumbled backwards.
“Evy, what are - are you okay?”
I shouldn’t have used the name. Her name. The one I only ever said when it was just us, when things felt different.
“I’m not feeling well,” she said, voice brittle and my chest instantly burned with worry. “Tell my brother to call me when he wants me to come get him.”
She walked around me, head down, hiding like she would with everyone else. Everyone who wasn’t me.
“Evangeline, wait!” I called, panic flaring at what could possibly be wrong. What or who caused her to be so upset.
But she didn’t stop. She didn’t look back. And I was left standing there, heavy with fear, as she walked out the front door wearing nothing but a damn bikini and the look of someone broken.
“Where is she?” I asked Seb, already scanning the clusters of people drifting through the backyard.
Time felt slippery, my senses blurring around the edges as I fought to keep my emotions in check.
Emotions which were connected to confusion and now fear.
Did she leave? Did my father upset her beyond repair? Was it all too much?
“Eva?” he clarified, frowning. “I thought she was with you?” His gaze dropped to my hand, lingering on the mess of blood I’d barely managed to wipe away.
“She was,” my voice was hurried, heartbeat ticking louder. “And now she’s not. I need to find her.”
God, I needed to find her. Because the alternative was, she fled after a conversation I didn’t hear enough of to know what was actually happening.
My hand itched to go back inside and make him tell me everything.
Itched to do more damage than I already had.
Years of anger exploding in the worst way.
“Look,” he said, resting a hand on my shoulder. A gesture meant to soothe, though his face was far from calm. “Maybe she went home. Let me call her.”
“I’ve tried like five times,” I snapped. “I’ll let you know though,” I added, already turning away before he could protest.
I’d heard her in my father’s office, her voice sharp with bitterness. Then I heard him, and those words he fucking dared to call her. A vicious, looping soundtrack that only stopped when I reminded him exactly how I felt about her.
The flicker of fear behind his haughty scoff only fuelled me.
And then came the final threat - choose us or her.
As if it had ever been a fucking choice.
She was family. And unlike them, she had chosen me more times and in more ways than they ever would.
Even now, I felt no guilt over the mess I left him in.
Truthfully, it was only my mother’s screams that pulled me away - made me retreat, made me finally see I’d done enough.
He was a pathetic, miserable man whom I owed nothing. Not my loyalty or my anger.
A nobody.
She, however, was different. She was what I wanted. What I needed. And now I couldn’t fucking find her.
“We’re coming with you!”
I heard the thud of multiple footfalls behind me, knowing without turning that it was the whole gang. I appreciated their willingness to help because I didn’t even know where to start, but they weren’t my concern.
She was. Only her. Always her.
Andy yanked me towards his car, and I followed without protest, knowing it would be quicker than locating the driver I’d hired for tonight. The car ride was short, but it stretched painfully long inside my head. I couldn’t sit still - leg bouncing, heart pounding.
Had I lost her? What the hell were she and my father arguing about before I got there?
Why did she leave? Was it too much?
God, I had more questions than she did and no one to answer any of them.
Visions flashed forth of her fleeing that same house when we were teenagers, disappearing from my orbit, and how it had taken so many years to see her again.
I couldn’t let that happen. Not again.
“Coop.” Sebastian’s voice cut through the storm in my head. I turned to the opposite side of the car, Marlee wedged between us, and I registered the edge of panic in his tone. His phone was facing me, his text messages open on the screen.
“She’s gone to The Cellar.”
“What the fuck!” Every drop of blood drained from my face. My stomach turned to ice. Why would she be at the fucking Cellar? And why did she tell her brother and not me.
“What the hell is The Cellar?” Andy asked from the driver’s seat.
My mind reeled as Seb relayed the quickest route to a place I never wanted Evangeline, my pure angel, to even know about, let alone go. Especially alone when I still had no fucking idea what the hell was going on.
My phone buzzed against my leg, distracting me from my own thoughts and I fumbled for it, breath catching as her name lit the screen.
Eva
I’m not leaving. I’m at The Cellar. I’ll explain soon.
My eyes scanned the message, once, twice, like if I read it enough times, it would suddenly have more words. More detail.
My grip on the phone tightened.
Of all places. That was the last place she should be.
I felt like a kid again, helpless and full of pent up anger without a healthy coping mechanism of release.
As a kid, I hadn’t fought hard enough every time I was met with disappointment, sadness, loneliness and longing, but when enough was enough I told myself if I ever got another chance, I would.
I’d fight for the things I cared about. The things that mattered. The things I loved.
I’m not leaving - her words felt like a lifeline tossed from the edge of a storm, and as we rounded the street, screeching to a stop outside the venue which to any passersby looked like a gymnasium, I was already sprinting towards it, only three people hunched in the shadows caught my eye, before I spotted one of my trucks.
“Wait here!” I barked, running over without thinking.
The closer I got the more confused I became.
Grant was slumped against the wall, clutching his eye. Evangeline stood frozen, mouth open in shock - but there was something else there too, a flicker of admiration she didn’t bother to hide and Xavier was flexing his hand like he wasn’t sure if it was broken.
At once, all three of them turned to look at me and whatever expression I wore must’ve given me away, because Evy was already moving toward me and I didn’t hesitate. I pulled her into me and held her tighter than I ever have before.
She was safe! It was all I could think about, until she whispered my name and the look she wore now had morphed into worry.
The gentle tug of her downturned mouth made my chest ache, yet the tightness in her jaw betrayed the anger she tried to hide.
Without thinking, I held her tighter like a lifeline, letting her weight and her turmoil rest against me why I tried to work out what the fuck was happening.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“I’m really sorry,” she started, “but we found the missing whiskey. I didn’t want you to find out like this, it just happened too quickly tonight.
” Her face twisted with something close to pain.
Her eyes darted to Grant, whose fear had bloomed, hands raised and excuses already pouring out before the realisation suddenly dawned.
“Why the fuck is my truck here?” I asked. The confusion hadn’t cleared, but the anger was starting to rise anyway.
“Look, I can explain,” Grant started as Seb joined us, a quick look passing between us.
A knowing look. One which told me he recognised shit was about to go south.
Stepping towards us, he took Evangeline by the arm and pulled her away from me, while Grant fed some bullshit about Marcus being his uncle and needing the truck.
“Grant, it’s embarrassing at this point,” Xavier interjected, “you and your uncle are thieves. Cooper, I just watched while they unloaded six barrels of your product. So unless you organised a delivery tonight, I think we’ve discovered Grabby Grant is your problem.”
I whipped my eyes back to Grant, whose face was noticeably pale, every line of his body screaming dread.
“You’ve been fucking stealing from me?” My hands twitched, restless with barely contained fury. This whole time. This whole fucking time.
“Seb, get her out of here,” I said through clenched teeth, knowing my emotions were about to run wild and I didn’t want her to see this.
Without another word, I lunged at someone I once trusted.
A storm of rage unleashed at another person in my life fucking letting me down and my fists flew.
Every ounce of hurt I’d carried from those who tried to take everything spilled through each punch.
The pain of giving my trust and having it shattered again, fuelling every strike.
“Coop,” Seb’s voice sliced through, a layer of panic causing me to turn from the bloodied heap at my feet. “She’s fucking gone inside. She ran when I turned my back.”
I didn’t hesitate. I ran after her.