Chapter 12 Evangeline
EVANGELINE
Evangeline’s heart pounded as she closed the door to her room behind her and picked up the call.
“Hello?” she gasped, desperately wanting to shout her brother’s name, but not wanting to give herself away if someone else had his phone. “Henhouse Extended Car and Truck Warranties.”
“Do you have a warranty for a worn-out pair of Sketchers?” her brother’s familiar voice asked.
“Rory,” she sighed in relief. “Thank goodness. What’s going on? How are you?”
“Easy, tiger,” he teased her. “I’m just fine. And it’s going to be okay here.”
“What happened?” she asked, remembering to whisper now as she crawled into bed, cradling the phone by her ear.
“The cops had a warrant,” he told her. “That bike was used in a crime, I think.”
“You think?” she echoed.
“They didn’t exactly tell me everything,” he said. “They were going to take me in, but André Washington reminded them about Grandpa and said I was a good kid.”
André was the uncle of one of Rory’s friends. He had joined the force years ago and clearly Rory had been lucky that he was on the scene.
“They took everything I had in the shop as potential evidence, except my tools,” Rory went on. “And they told me I can’t do anything more for the Vagabonds.”
“Obviously,” Evangeline agreed.
There was a moment of silence.
“What does that mean for you?” she asked. “Doesn’t the gang understand that you can’t work on their bikes anymore? They can’t expect you to go to jail just to keep the peace?”
“One of their bikes was taken,” Rory reminded her. “Now they say I owe them for the bike.”
She had been worried about something like that. Of course they would try to pawn it all off on Rory. The Vagabonds weren’t really known for taking responsibility for their mistakes.
“How much could that bike be worth?” she asked, wondering how long it would take her to just pay it out of her new salary.
Rory cleared his throat.
“How much, Rory?” she repeated. “You know I’ll help you.”
“You can’t help me,” he said softly, and then named a number that left her speechless.
“It can’t—it can’t be worth that much,” she murmured after a moment. “No bike is worth that much. And that bike was smashed up.”
“I can’t argue with them,” Rory said.
He had never been one to give up easily. But for the first time she could remember, her big brother’s voice sounded tired, resigned.
“What are you going to do?” she asked him.
“I’m going to work it off,” he said.
“Oh,” she said. “Well that’s good, I guess. If they’ll let you work it off then at least they’re not going to hurt you.”
Of course, it would take a decade to work off the kind of money they were talking about. But that was a problem for another day. For now, she was just glad that Rory was safe and not behind bars.
“How are you doing?” he asked. “I don’t want to know where, just how.”
It seemed odd that he still didn’t want to know where she was, but Evangeline figured it didn’t really matter.
“I’m hours away,” she told him. “The town name wouldn’t mean anything to you anyway. I got a job as a live-in nanny for a baby.”
“That’s great,” he replied, sounding more like himself. “That was quick, Eva. I’m proud of you.”
“I got lucky,” she said, shrugging.
“Are they good to you?” he asked.
“So good,” she told him. “It’s just a single dad with the sweetest little baby.
He’s great with him, but I guess he really needed the help.
He even bought me all new clothes and gave me a nice room with its own bathroom and everything.
We went to a party last night at this beautiful inn on the lake. ”
“Be careful, Eva,” Rory said, his voice low and worried.
“What do you mean?” she asked, smiling. “We’re in this tiny country town, nothing can happen to me here.”
“I’m glad you’re happy, sis, I really am,” he said. “But humor me and lock your bedroom door at night.”
“Rory,” she said, horrified.
“No one’s that nice for no reason,” he said simply. “He obviously wants something else.”
Evangeline sighed, feeling offended on Grayson’s behalf and on her own. Did her brother think she was so naive that she wouldn’t have an instinct about something like that?
But the more she thought about Grayson’s extreme kindness, the more her stomach began to twist. And she didn’t even want to think about what had almost happened after dinner last night.
“Okay, Rory,” she said quietly. “I’ll lock it.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, his voice warm again. “Do you need anything?”
She had no idea what he would do about it if she did. He was hours away and in hock up to his eyeballs to a bloodthirsty gang now.
Though knowing Rory, he would find a way to help. He always did.
“Nope,” she told him. “I’m fine.”
“I need to go now,” he told her. “But take good care of yourself, okay?”
“Okay,” she said. “I love you.”
“Love you too, Buttons,” he said.
She slid the phone back into her pocket and crawled to the edge of the bed.
She didn’t feel ready to go back out and face Grayson just yet, but if she stayed in here too long, or let herself cry like she wanted to, he would suspect something was wrong.
He might even grill her about the phone call or maybe even ask to see the phone. He did buy it for her, after all.
I can do this, she reminded herself. I can do anything.