Chapter 36
Eve
I was never able to go back to sleep after the spontaneous tryst in Wylder’s backyard with Kortez. The clock ticked the seconds away for hours until I got tired of tossing and turning in my bed, deciding to go downstairs and make myself a cup of coffee to watch the sun come up from my front porch.
That’s where Wylder found me, a throw blanket tossed around my shoulders and a now cold cup of coffee clutched in my hands.
The sun is now an hour into the sky, at least, but I can’t bring myself to go inside.
The world is quiet, peaceful – something I’m sure I’ll never feel again after this morning.
Wylder comes up my steps, light on his feet with a pep in his step he tries horribly to disguise. I’m happy for him, though. He deserved to experience that happiness with Ro.
He may hate us in an hour.
They all might.
Wyld grabs my cup, having to reach down and pry my fingers from where they’ve hardened after being tense for so long. He sets the cup down on the small table next to me then drops down into a crouch, taking my hands in his and massaging them one by one until they loosen up.
“I’ve never known you to let a cup of coffee go to waste.”
I feel the tears begin to gather in my eyes as I look down at him, his face gentle and loving. It’s wrong. He should hate me for the heartbreak I’m about to cause him.
A tear begins to slide down my face, and he reaches to wipe it away before it has the chance to fall. “Don’t cry, love. Everything is going to be okay.”
I shake my head, my curls still wild from my bedhead swaying with the movement. “No, it’s not. They’re going to leave me, Wylder. He’s going to leave you.” My voice breaks as I admit to him my biggest worry, that someone else I love will be collateral damage in the whirlwind I call my life.
He doesn’t ask how I know. He just shakes his head and reaches up to catch another tear, this time sucking it from his thumb as he pulls away. “He won’t. They won’t. They fucking love you, Evie. They’ll understand. Hell, Roman will probably marry you on the spot for being so ruthless.”
I can’t help the small laugh that escapes, the movement releasing a few more tears. “He is a little odd, isn’t he?”
Wylder shrugs, “He is, but that’s why we love him. His oddness compliments our own.”
I continue to sob and Wylder’s face changes from something loving to the dom he turns into when I need release.
The smirk on his face falls and his eyes drop to the still full cup of coffee on the table. His tongue comes out to wet his lips as he looks over me, lingering on my hair and the shirt that’s somehow on backwards.
“Get up, Evangeline.” His voice demands I do what he says with no questions asked, but that’s not who I am.
“What?”
“Get up, Evangeline. Now.”
When I don’t make a move to do what he says, he grabs my hand and pulls me up until we’re practically chest to chest.
“Wylder, I – “
His words cut off my own. “Enough.” He raises my hand up and moves the coffee mug into my open palm. “Drink the damn coffee. Then we’re going to go inside and I’m going to pick you out an outfit while you brush your teeth. Do you understand me?”
“Wyld, I don’t think this – “
He shoots me a glare. “You tried it your way, Evie, and it didn’t work. That’s why I’m here. Now drink your damn coffee.”
He looks back down at me, raising his eyebrow until I take a tentative sip.
Oh God, this is the best coffee I’ve ever tasted.
“Good girl, Evangeline. Now finish that coffee and get your cute ass inside that house.”
His face melts as he watches me finish my coffee as he requested. When I’m done, he takes the mug and sets it back down on the table.
He leads me inside, throwing a quick command at Altas to get Abel ready for school. How did I get so lucky to find men that loved my son as much as they loved me? Ones that would be my support when I was failing?
Failing miserably right now.
I shake away the dark thoughts as I make my way inside and up to my bedroom, Wylder following my every move with a heavy foot and a swish of his leather jacket.
When we get to my room, I head directly for my ensuite bathroom while Wyld heads toward my closet, hangers shuffling around as soon as he turns the light on.
I return to the bedroom to find an outfit waiting for me on the bed. A pair of leather pants, a red flowy tank top, and my combat boots. An outfit sexy enough to kick ass while comfy enough to break down in, if I needed to.
Wylder leaves me with an order to get dressed, and heads into the bathroom I just vacated. When I’m done with that, he calls me in with him. He has a stool pulled up to the mirror and the counter full of hair products and tools, his face scrunched as he looks over them.
“Wyld, I can do my hair.”
He dismisses me with a shake of his head as he picks up a comb and a bottle of hair oil. “Sit your ass down, Evangeline.”
Once again, I do as he says. What else can you do when a man is taking care of you like this?
He gets to work on my hair, combing through the tangles before adding some hair oil and running his fingers through it.
I fight the urge to roll my eyes in the back of my head at the feeling, but I’m glad I did.
When I look into the mirror, it’s to watch him separating my hair into different sections, a determined look on his face that is so at odds with the love shining in his bright green eyes.
He braids my hair quickly, expertly, just like he has a thousand times before when I was too depressed to do it myself.
With the braid done and a band wrapped around the end, he pulls a few hairs down by my ears and curls them around his finger, just like I would.
He gives me a small smile in the mirror at the pleased look on my face, his hand coming up to wrap around the front of my neck.
He doesn’t squeeze, but his presence there is enough to ground me.
“Look at yourself in the mirror.” He waits until I drop my eyes from him to myself, staring blankly at my reflection.
I feel him tighten his hand just a fraction.
“That hate you feel for yourself? I want it gone, Evie. The only thing you’re allowed to feel for yourself is pride and love, because that’s what you deserve.
No matter what happens downstairs, you deserve that. ”
Wyld uses his hold on my neck to wrench my head back and bring my eyes back up to him. His lips come down on mine, forceful and infused with the strength of an army, but too quick to fall into like I wish I could.
“Downstairs, Evie. No fear, no worth.”
I give him a nod and square my shoulders. “No fear, no worth.”